Excess Dealer Spark Plug Change Expense?

Hi Tacoma World
1st post here
We have a 2013 Tacoma, crew cab, V-6, tow package, 125,000 miles that we use to tow our 2016 Escape fiberglass travel trailer.
The Taco has been an excellent tow vehicle and matches well with the Escape trailer.
My Question follows
Our Davis CA Toyota dealer recommends a spark plug change at 120,000 miles for a cost of $1,600. This seems extraordinarily expensive. According to the service tech, the V-6 manifold has to be disassembled to access the plugs requiring about 3+ hours of shop labor.

Has anyone else had experience with this periodic service repair cost?

Our Tacoma has been an excellent piece of equipment from day 1, and maintenance has been regular throughout its service life however I would prefer not spending excess cash if a service repair cost is excessive.

Thank You
Jim Tischer
Woodland CA

 

The book time is really high, most dealers introduced a flat rate of 1 hour for the 4.0.

No tech. At any dealer. Removes the intake plenum.

I do them in about 20 mins, charge 1 hour. I even clean the throttle and maf while I'm in there.

Lastly, even at 3 hrs, it should only be around 500$, no where near 1600$.

Absolute grift. You are correct.

 

3 hours is extremely excessive, but even if that was fair are they charging you $200 per spark plug? Either they plan to do a lot more or they think you are an idiot. A tech worth their salt should be able to change all 6 plugs in less than a 1/2 hour.

 

The manifold does not have to come off to do plugs, even if it did that would add an hour tops.

Sounds like they either don't want to do it or want to rip you a new one for doing it.

 

Gotta remember to a dealer this is a very old truck.

It might be possible some of the techs have never seen that year Truck

Have never changed those plugs and have no idea hence the crazy high price CyA type of thing.

 

And they wonder why they are called stealerships.

I would get that in writing and contact toyota to let them know about that. Who knows how many people have been ripped off from that place.

 

If you are mechanically inclined or not mechanically inclined, watch this guy change his spark plugs.

You can decide if this job is worth the $2,000 (incl tax)

Changing 2Gen Tacoma Spark plug.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EDONxuxYbvQ

Them quoting you such a number is basically saying no get out, without formally saying no.

 

$1600 is beyond absolutely ridiculous. My dealer quoted me $359 p&l w/OEM Denso plugs for my 2014 V6, which I thought was high enough. The intake >>DOES NOT<< have to be removed to change the plugs. The passenger side has direct access to all three plugs with the air filter cover removed, and the driver's side may require nudging a few things aside or remove a bracket and that's it. I can't imagine it being more than 1.5 of labor for any experienced mechanic. Run: don't walk from that place.

 

Run forest. RUN!!!!!!!!!

 

Not sure how you guys bang them out in 30 minutes. Power tools?

It should take an average tech 1 to 1.5 hours. Removing the plenum is definitely not necessary and no one actually does it.

Labor should be $200-$400 max. Any more and you are being severely ripped off.

 

Ridiculous.

You aren’t a young female who walked into the wall while on the phone right before stepping up to the service counter. Jim, not being a female name I’ve ever heard.

Has this same dealership been doing the maintenance? With the recommended interval being 30k miles, you’re overdue x4.

Good idea. This type of dishonesty makes life difficult for the rest of us.

 

That is beyond ridiculous. My local dealer does that work for around $330. I would either call another dealer or find an independent shop if you are not up to the task.

 

Driveway, and 1 hour of time done
This is way too easy to bring to a dealer/shop
I’d you live in the North East, swing by, I put them in for 200. Lol

 

Waaaayyyy over priced! On my old Tacoma I did a plug change in about an hour without rushing!

 

@Jtischer - Welcome to TW , maybe edit that dealer from your post , tort law is real , just saying

 

Write up a nasty review while your at it. Never set foot in that dealership again. Spark plugs are about $30 total( copper plugs recommended) learn to do it yourself if your capable.

 

This thread hurts my soul.

I splurged and paid 14 dollars-per to get the proper manual-specified plugs.

84 bucks. Well, actually, that's not fair. I had to buy a new torque wrench, and I had to buy a new socket extension. So really, 120 bucks.

Fuck me, if I hired out every mechanical, electrical, and plumbing job that needed done, I wouldn't be able to afford a car OR a house. I'd be forced to live in a box. How the fuck can you guys pay these rates? I thought I made a dang good living, but I can't afford to hire other people to do my shit every time shit is due.

 

Everybody gets triggered over what I'll bet is a miscommunication. I'll bet that price is for an entire 120k service and the customer just wasn't listening.

I think it needs to be a rule that if you're going to start a "what do you think of this price?" thread, you have to post a pic or screenshot of an estimate so we can actually see what is being quoted

 

But, they did try and say the intake needs to be removed. Maybe it was a new guy doing the estimate and hadn't got the memo yet. He doesn't want to get yelled at for under-quoting, and doesn't know how inaccurate the reg book time is.

I dunno, I'm just always going to lean toward giving a shop the benefit of doubt, even when it's a stretch.. I deal with a lot of customers and my shop isn't exactly cheap..

We need to see actual estimate on most of these. People don't always relay the best info

 

I would hope so, but even then, I paid around 500 all in to do my 60k service.

Oil, filters, spark plugs, differential, transmission. Most of it was the transmission.