Another dealership horror story

WUT!!! X3

 

When removing tie rods, ball joints, control arms, etc, it is actually intended to be hit with a hammer

 

You are WAYYYYY over thinking this.

 

Not all dealerships are like this. Every dealership makes mistakes at some point. I just have the shop foreman work on my car haha

 

Nope. I remember the church key and the hard tin beer cans.

 

just got a 2015 trd sport double cab long box last month in erie pa- I got the undercoating - they sprayed right acrossed the outside of my rear dr wheel.i live 70 miles away.they cleaned the shit off but could've filled my tank. they were good about it though. shit happens when you are a tech under the gun and are expected to pump lots of rigs through the bay.my best friend is a tech at luv in Jamestown ny---doesnt mean the dealership is bad.

 

Man, if I didn't have a BFH I'd never get anything done when working on my 4runner

 

A mechanic that has never used a hammer working on a truck ... Has never worked on a truck.

 

No.

But we didn't have reverberations and contaminants back in our day either.

 

You can get a bad tech at a good dealership and a good tech at a bad dealership. It all depends on what kind of tech you are getting. Usually the lube techs are the ones just starting out.

 

My wife's Ford is cloaked in old beer cans.

The sweet thing is aluminum flexes and returns back to shape better than steel. A few months of ownership and she's seen people hit there car door again hers and still no dings.... maybe beers cans are the answer

What irks me about my dealer is how they brag up there google rating.

The funny thing is they sit over your shoulder as your signing the papers while you google review the dealership. They also feed you a sob story about how anything less than 5 stars is seen as a failure by management and will result in them getting fired, hurt, etc.

 

Since this turned into a random oil change thread, I'll add this here and share some helpful info:
1. You can add a small length of plastic tube from a hardware store (3/8 ID I think?) to the drain tube of the filter collar and run that down to your drain pan when you do your oil changes. Takes 5 seconds and all the oil drains directly to your pan. No fancy attachments or anything, the tube stays snug without any clamps. I keep that tube with my oil drain pan.
2. For added protection, there's something on the market called a FilterMag (http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ftm-ss300pr?seid=srese1&gclid=CLq2z9vq8cUCFUiPfgodsq8AIw). Basically a small magnetized sleeve that you stick to your filter and attracts any tiny metal particles (that are the main reason our oil gets dirty in the first place) and keeps them stuck to the inside of your filter until you remove the sleeve. Being the cheap bastard that I am, I went to my local craft store and bought a bunch of rare earth magnets (the super strong tiny ones) and just stuck them to the outside of the oil filter's body. Cost me about $6. I've been doing this or years on several vehicles with no problems. Even showed my old man an got the "sonofa..." reaction from him...

Hope this helps!

 

My dealer was bought out by a bigger dealer. Now all they do is E-mail me wanting to sell me a 2015. The place reeks of Corporate as soon as you walk through the door. I just use them for recalls. If I need a mechanic, there's an honest John independent dude in Bend, Oregon that just does Toyota's.

 

I had them test my alternator and it wasn't putting out more than 12.5v after it happened.

 

At my dealership I used to work at, a lot of the lube techs were cuurent or recent graduates of expensive automotive technician training programs that were frustrated to have a job that paid barely above minimum wage to handle the responsibility of customer vehicles. They also had to do so many cars in a certain amount of time, so they are rushed which increases chances for mistakes. In addition to that, they were given warranty work that none of the flat rate techs wanted and of which they were completely unqualified to do, but if they made a mistake and ruin the customer's vehicle, they face a good chance of getting fired. Lastly, the tools that the lube tech stalls were supposed to be supplied with by the manufacturer were either missing, broken, or were POS harbor freight replacements. After dealing with all this, I've seen it countless times, the tech starts off excited, but as the weeks go by, they get frustrated, angry and eventually they stop caring and just want the cars out. They would blast the lug nuts onto rims, tighten the crap out of oil filters and drain bolts... No F's given. Turn over rate was high, and so were the complaints. But you know what, in the end, the dealer still made $$$ for mediocre work. Not all dealers are like this tho... but a lot are.

That is why I avoid the dealer at all costs, unless if it is something that I can't handle at home or I just don't have the tools for and I can't find some competent independent guy.

 

I live in SoCAL... which dealer? I'm now concerned

 

I've been punching holes in oil filters for over 40yrs . Put one hole in the center or near it - it will be in the area that is past the media and keep the dirt in the filter where it belongs , enuf said . By the time the pan is done draining as well as the filter there is very little oil left on the filter after removal of the filter . Just wipe up the excess and your done . I have a drain tube attached on mine that resides in the front splash plate when not in use , takes care of anything that goes down the drain hole .

I have come to mistrust dealerships just based on Corporate attitudes of late - they don't care about reputation or customers for the most part . No matter what the issue they create , you'll politely get told to pound sand - simple as that . I think it's coming down to a matter of some serious head bashing to make them change their ways - and it starts with the overpaid management . I'm sick of service managers and such being trained in "human management" and using those tactics to screw people over for monetary benefit . Unless you spend the money to retain a lawyer and sue the snot out of some of them you get nowhere , and that is driven by pure greed on their part . No Honor , Character or Accountability , big business at it's best .

Sarge