1st service / oil change questions

Lol yeah I guess if you leak it out fast enough and add more it might be ok.

 

Here you go, I haven't tried it yet but assuming it fits and works it should make oil changes much less messy which makes them easier too...

$11 Oil Filter Drain Hose Tool for Toyota, Lexus, Scion 2.0L - 5.7L Engines

https://www.amazon.com/Yoursme-Filter-Drain-Toyota-Lexus/dp/B08BHPTCTG

You.may or may not want the oil plug valve f7moto makes also...

 

This should be required viewing on this site.

 

You want to hear another horror story?

I had been getting my oil changed in my old frontier at the same place for past 10 years. I didn’t realize they had a terrible reputation online, I kept going to them because I had gone to high school with one of the mechanics

I requested an oil change and inspection prior to taking a 2.5 hour trip up north to family cabin. After the oil change I just parked it in the garage and didn’t take it out until the next day

the next day my trip started with my ac shutting off. Then the service engine light came on, then very shortly thereafter the engine rattled and died. I requested AAA for a tow to the place that changed my oil, figuring they were the cause. When the AAA guy popped the hood, we discovered that the radiator cap was off, all the antifreeze had spilled out, and the cap was laying face up right where someone would have set it, next to where it screws in

I shouldn’t have brought it to the same place that fucked it up, but I did since they do repairs as well. They asked for me to leave it for a few days. Then they tried to claim that it wasn’t their mechanic who left the radiator cap off (why they took it off, I’ll never know, assuming my reservoir level was slightly low), and instead the cap shot off under heat and pressure. They even went as far as to bend the clamp on my radiator cap straight up to make their story more plausible

So these are the facts: This occurred right after an inspection that should have caught any heat issues. There was no sound of the cap shooting off like a rocket into the underside of my hood. There was no ding on the underside of my hood from the cap hitting it. And rather than the cap fall to the bottom of the engine compartment or anywhere else, it just happened to land face up right where someone would have set it after unscrewing it

Regardless of these facts, the oil change place continued to hold to their story that my cracked header wasn’t their fault, and that they wouldn’t be responsible for the engine repair. Now I have to take them to court

This is the reason I had to buy a new truck this past weekend, which happened to be a Tacoma, and essentially the whole reason I am here

 

That is why I do a thorough inspection when I get my vehicle back. Sure as $hit if a mechanic takes 7 things off, only 6 go back on. I just took my new Tacoma in for its 5,000 service which did NOT include an oil change. The idiots could not get it started and then tried to jump start my new Tacoma! With no success they came to get me to see if I knew something they didn’t.

It turns out that they didn’t know the difference between a manual and an automatic transmission and did not know to push in the clutch before starting it. When I got home, on a hunch I cracked the hood and found that they left the insulator off of the positive terminal on my battery when they tried to jump start it. Of course it was left off. Of course it was. Who knows what they will leave off (or out) when they do my oil change at 10,000 miles. You can bet I will do a thorough inspection before I leave the dealership.

 

Mechanics did not do that, that work was done by the guy just promoted from the car wash duty. Not saying that makes it right. It doesn't, but let the chips fall where they may.

Now remember that your oil change will be done by the same team. Not a mechanic.

Is it really worth it to be so stressed over a 'free' oil change?

If you can't DIY, that's fine. But find a good independent shop and quit paying for incompetence.

 

I guess from my point of view, I paid for the included oil changes when I bought my Tacoma and I should not have to forfeit them because the dealership has no competent personnel to deliver what I purchased. I appreciate the fact that a car wash guy might not have the mechanical chops to properly service my vehicle, but that does not relieve the dealership from its responsibility to provide a properly done oil change under Toyota Care.

 

Absolutely agree with the sentiment.

But to me it's still not worth the aggravation of having to check every dot and tittle regarding how the work is done.

Since you write like an actual barrister, maybe a conversation with the GM of the dealership would garner you favor?

Or you could just find another shop with higher work standards and get on with your life.