Garbage service at Michael’s Toyota of Bellevue?

That's what I thought. The lady wasn't really open to talking to me about it either. I wa slike, oooook.
But other than that Bellevue has always treateds me well. I like them.

 

I've been taking my vehicles to Michael's or Kirkland for maintenance, and I learned to just completely ignore any and all of their "recommended" service that's not on the Tacoma scheduled service list, except when they told me I needed new brake pads.

Guess which service Michael's recommended my Camry about 70k miles ago? Power steering leak repair. Yep. No matter how hard I tried, could never see it. Periodically check the fluid level as well. Never saw any drop (or at least any significant drop).

Kirland Toyota had my water pump leaking (also in my Camry) since over 100k miles ago. Again, never saw any leaks. When I asked them to point it out, got wishy washy "you really need to look with good shop light when the car is lifted, it's a small leak, blah, blah".

When I brought my Tacoma to Michael's for 60K service a few months ago, guess what they recommended? Throttle body service, mass air flow sensor service, pcv valve replacement. They didn't exactly straight out say they were dirty, just recommended service on them. Can't accuse them of blatant lie there. I think I was quoted about $270 total or so. Didn't go for it of course.

I wouldn't trust service recommendations from either of those two (Kirkland or Michael's). OP, I'm curious if you checked your power steering for leaks and found any. I'd guess not, but you never know. Would be good to have a data point there.

Thanks to these forums, I'm starting to do my own maintenance and it's getting harder to pull wool over my eyes, but man is it frustrating dealing with stealerships.

I probably really should find a different stealership to give my money too... At least they did change spark plugs in my Tacoma at 30k in Toyota of Kirkland (changed them myself at 60k thanks to this site, and definitely looks like they were changed before because both sides of my V6 were Denso).

 

I think it was noted in another thread about hardware swaps, some dealers use a database of failures to say that yours is going bad. I don't know if this database is only in their heads or on their actual computers. It was noted when pushed as to why / where the problems were. For example: "we've replaced a lot of water pumps at xxx,xxxmi, so you should have yours swapped also."

I suppose it gets down to Toyota reliability. When they work this well, all you got is predicted failures.

Good on you for questioning and poking around. You can imagine that a lot of money is maybe on folks that don't verify.

 

It’s funny because I personally have been trying to diagnose my own issue that Michaels so happily annoyed to me on my 3rd gen Tacoma. I’m at 85k now, but around 70k there was a small leak but no drips around the PS Pump/TCS and they ran their trusted “diagnostic” test for $120….only to not be able to determine the source and further diagnosis would be needed…my fluids are normal, I did have to add some PS fluid awhile back but other then that it’s still a nice sheen of mystery oil on the rack, around the oil pan and yeah. Forget them. Gotta remember it’s a Toyota, Iv never had one that didn’t leak something somewhere.

 

They've been hit or miss for me. I had no issues with them lately up until they diagnosed my brake issue as basically everything they could find related to a drum brake and threw out a 2500 estimate. I was able to fix it with a friend for 150 in parts, and 100 in labor to press out the bearing from the axle since no one I knew had the special tool you need to press it out. The parts lady was trying to scare my wife into leaving the truck there "ITS NOT DRIVEABLE!" Like how did you think I got there?

 

All i can say is parts guys. never taken my 2006 for service at a dealership and at this point i think they would scratch their head and ask what it is they want me to have them do....lol. But lake city toyota parts guys have always been super helpful and great to deal with. My buddy just bought his 4runner from Rodland and i know the parts guy from back in my nissan days 15 years ago...lol

 

drive it to los angeles and ill tell you if the frame is toastin up, heck put a pic here and we can tell you, what i learned after 5 years of taking my vehicles to mechanics is that they all eventually stiff you if not them the employees. I can afford mexhanics but now i do all the work myself. Thats bot that dealership theyre all like that, only people who wont stiff you is a guy who works by himself and no employees and even then. Yeah im sure ther are some honest ones out ther im sure

 

hahahahahaha reminds me of my dad when he told the guy “watch me drive it! “

 

I clean MAF's as part of my spark plug replacement. I also clean the throttle as part of it.

That way the customer feels like the spark plugs had a huge improvement on performance. I never charge extra, thats silly.

 

I had a leak coming from the timing chain cover of my 5th gen 4R with 20k miles. It was a warranty service that took two weeks longer than their estimate (after ordering parts). They returned it to me with the front bumper and fenders covered in scuffs and scratches. No offer to fix it after bringing it to their service department. Won’t be going back for anything.