Concern about quality of service on 2021 TRD OR 6MT

This is just part of the joy of owning a stick. Getting to watch with fascination and horror as other people try to work yours.

Its actually one of the reasons why I chose to not have kids. RIP my dad's foxbody 5.0...

 

I’ve never had a problem at the dealer, car wash, valet, etc. with my manual, so I just take it for granted that it won’t be a problem. Every once in a while I do wonder how I have not had a problem and if those places put the skill of driving a manual on the job application.

It’s really not that hard to learn the basics. It takes a while to get proficient at it though. Not to long ago I gifted my 2001 Subaru to my friends kid. When showed up to get it I learned he couldn’t drive a stick, so I had to give him a crash course. He picked it up in 10 minutes, but it was jerkity jerkity.

 

That's part of the reason I ordered a MT.... Its always fun watching them struggle a little bit. Then you just hope they don't hurt something.


I learned to drive on my dads MT foxbody 5.0. Loved that car! Will never forget what he told me that fateful day when I was 15...

"You stall this thing one more time your walking home! "
*stall*
"Get the F**k out!"

after 3 miles of soul searching and wondering what I could do better I finally made it home. I never stalled that mustang again!

 

I had to valet my car at a funeral once, l swear the guy was bouncing off the rev limiter and he put the car in the wrong place in line.

 

Actually, I did just that. The service manager was a nice young lady who was already aware of what happened. She assured me that those in the service bay knew the difference between an automatic and a manual. Then she came to look at my truck to see for herself and said that it was easy to see that it was a manual transmission and that the whole situation was "embarrassing." The next service includes an oil change. I am forwarned and forarmed as what to expect and what assurances to obtain before someone works on it. I am not concerned that someone has to be called that knows how to drive it. I am concerned with the fact that someone cannot identify a manual when they see it and goes so far as to pop my hood and attempt to jump start a brand new battery. It makes me wonder what could be misdiagnosed moving forward, but dealership personnel were very courteous, the service manager fell on her sword, and I will come back for my 10K service and see how it goes then.

 

Luckily I don't have a new truck to worry about this with, but it still hurts on an older one too. Clutch jobs are expensive. I have to walk away after I drop my truck off for new tires or an alignment, if I stick around I'll inevitably see someone jump in, bring the seat all the way forward which immediately tells me they don't know what they're doing, then proceed to rev the engine to 4k RPM while keeping the clutch pressed in trying to get it to move forward. It drives me fking insane.

Luckily the alignment shop I go to now the guys seem to know how to drive it.

 

As someone who used to be bitch boy at a dealer, it is very common for the mechanics to just grab the nearest low-paid employee to move the car/truck while they put their tools away and fill in the work order.

I worked at a european dealer with tight diagonal bays too, so it's a little surprising the trust they put in a 16 year old...but I was able to identify and drive a manual though.

 

Two bits here.

1. The lugs, yes. My first service they nascar whipped them with an air gun, cross threaded 3 studs/lugs, 2 rear wheels and one of the front. And they were torqued to high hell. Recently, went and got some stuff done with my wheels, 3rd party not Toyota. They did an air gun but at least hand threaded them first, holy hell taking those off was rough. Not a fan.

2. The oil filter is a weird one. There is a torque spec, and it is pretty snug, BUT as you thermal cycle it, the housing since it's some type of plastic, will actually tighten itself in there. So, 10K miles later, you think "WHAT APE DID THIS!?" when, no, it's just your normal driving causing them to be quite snug.


My service history with one dealer is a nightmare, other dealer in my area is a ton better. After the first service, I called the service rep and told him "hey, I still have a couple warranty services left, I didn't buy the truck with you guys but for the love of god, can you take me in on your department?" and they were happy to. My sales team was great, service department is horrendous.

Anyway, for the OP, yeah the people moving the trucks in and out are not the ones (usually) doing your services. Depends on what it is. Depending on the scale of the dealer, they have 1 or more people just moving cars (into and out of service bays, showroom, new cars, getting them gassed up for delivery, etc).

https://www.autoblog.com/2019/05/15...t6BnEa63PF5Jynn4IPqTo3vOhyo8ons1I4Rx_F_S3VPe6

With how many people have a manual, let alone in a truck, not surprising if the person moving the cars told management "I can't drive a manual", and they said "Don't worry there aren't any" and they got confused by your truck

 

I can see this happening since the manual is so rare now .all these new techs probably have never seen a stick shift lol . “Tech gets in hmm this a new auto shifter ? “

 

After experiencing rotors with an induced warp, I always back them off and retorque when I get home. Only a few places gave me the feels of even and proper torque. There are enough posts here that the heavier duty parts on the Taco still need a bit of care when torquing.


I have a poll thread and now a couple of my own oil changes done. 5k was no problem to loosen, nor was the 40k. 50k will be in a week or two. I also have 10 oil changes on our previous car with a nylon cartridge. No issues there.

The poll and posts seem to confirm that the first service after ToyotaCare is finished usually starts with an overly tight cartridge:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-oil-change-poll-stock-nylon-cartridge-filter.688074/



Yeah. I no longer have an expectation that folks can drive an MT, and that is fine. I try to take my own precautions as reasonable as they can be. Beyond that, I don't mind if other folks drive my stuff as long as they are competent. I gently forced my daughters to take it for a spin.

 

I did an oil change at 1k and 5k, no issues. They did 10k, I did 20k, no issues. 30k I have to do this week.

Do me a favor - get a TQ wrench, and torque the housing down to the toyota spec next time, then drive 10k, then try to get it off with a normal ratchet (not the TQ wrench, those are usually longer and give a better leverage). Chances are you'll see it's tight as hell.

I'm of the opinion - they don't need to be to the torque spec oh well if it's a little loose, same with the drain plug. I haven't had issues with probably close to 200k miles doing my own maintenance across 4 vehicles

 

I have a torque wrench as I'm a bit of a torque nazi. If I don't use one, I tend to go over by a lot. I have never stripped threads in aluminum parts, so I feel that I got the process down pretty good.

As I said, I have 12 cartridge oil changes under my belt with zero issues. Removal torque has not been any different than I have experienced with a canister which takes more to remove than the hand torque that I used to install it.

 

I've had 4 services done on my OR M/T and no issues. Whoever is was might be new or just having an off day. Don't sweat it or do it all yourself

 

That is why I do services myself. My local Toyota dealer however is actually great to deal with. I would just rather pay less for better quality and know it was done right.

 

Lol you are not going to the right place to eat. Every once in a while my wife and I will splurge on a nice meal. The valets there park everything from beaters to supercars and last time, a Dodge Hellcat widebody manual was in line ahead of me. Guy never missed a beat.

 

That is fine with me, actually. I've had some good restaurant fun, but I prefer more relaxed dining or unique hole-in-the-wall places.


No doubt that some valet / porters are great in any seat, I just never understood the need or felt comfortable with the reasoning.

 

I spent a couple years as a porter and oil change guy at the local dodge house by my college. It was a great gig while in school, drove everything from the most disgusting neons to souped up vipers, after getting to know the viper tech of course. It was not uncommon for that mechanic to just toss keys at you or hit you up on a radio to get me to move things.

If you couldt drive a stick then you couldn't work there.

 

After they saw the third pedal, they probably thought the truck had the TRD® Way Off Road® Ultra Duty Double Brake System®

 

okay girls let’s get those push-up bras out, we need to increase traffic to our channel!

in all seriousness I would be asking to meet with the service manager.

 

It works!