Dealer Service Confidence or Lack Of

I think Im about ready to stop taking my truck to the dealer for oil changes. A couple years ago I did a drain and fill on my auto transmission. When I drained it close to 3 qts came out. I put 4 qts in and then pulled the check plug in the proper temp range to drain the excess.
A couple months later I had a transmission flush done at the dealer.
I had been experiencing the shudder that is common on these so I first wanted to make sure that the fluid level was good before I had a flush done since the machine is supposed to replace the same amount of fluid it takes out.

I just did another drain and fill and wow wasnt I surprised when only a hair under 1 1/2 qts came out.

I have been driving around for a couple years with a transmission that was underfilled by 1 - 1 1/2 qts. Nice huh?

 

Does not surprise me. I have an auto repair business and I hear almost on a weekly basis how other shops and dealerships have botched repairs on customers vehicles. I think its just a lack of qualified technicians. But it seems like no one is taking pride in their work or even has the common sense to check their work or confirm that its fixed. Pretty sad

 

Yeah the dealership is the last place I would take a vehicle for service. My truck hasn’t been back to the dealership since the day I bought it.

I’ve had too many bad experiences with dealerships from various brands, including Toyota. Plus all the horror stories from everyone else. Taking your truck is there is just too much of a gamble in my opinion.

 

I always laugh inside when someone is selling a vehicle and they advertise of having all dealer service documents. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing. Maybe better than no service at all. Maybe.

 

Oil changes shouldnt be a problem at home, only the tire rotations might be a PITA.

 

tbh everyone does shit work for everything today so pick your poison or do the work yourself if you're lucky enough to have the space, tools and time.

 

My daughter drove a brand new 2025 Subaru Crosstrek yesterday - got a really good deal on it too.

She was going on about how she is entitled to 3 oil changes and tire rotations.

I busted that little bubble and said no - no no no no no - never, EVER let the dealer touch you car except for recalls.


She lives far away and has been using Jiffy Lube to change the oil in her 2013 Jetta. It was on it's last legs so I wasn't that concerned
but I told her no-no-no-no-no on these in-and-out places either.

Find a GOOD reputable place where employees don't come and go and use them exclusively. Lucky for me I have a Subaru guy nearby
for my wifes 2017 and a strictly Toyota dude for my Tacoma.

Wish I had the tools, place, know-how, and a younger body to work on my own. Lots of satisfaction in doing yourself and knowing you
did it correctly.... less money too.!

 

Pretty hard to take pride in ones work when everyone pays peanuts and reinforces 'right to work' strategies that can put anyone out of work at a moment notice.

My #1 goal is to provide a roof and food for myself. Ethics are for those that can already afford those things.

If you want to see a rise in ethics, support the shops that value their workers, not the ones that treat them like a set of flea market wrenches.

Time spent diagnosing is another great one. If employee 'B' has an average ticket turnaround of 30 minutes, but blindly throws parts at every job, with constant repeats, but employee 'A' spends an average of 2 hours a ticket, but never has a repeat. Employee 'A is being reprimanded for poor turnaround.

 

Or you can spend the money that you saved on more tools!

 

My truck came with 30,000 miles of free service when I bought it. They only changed the oil twice during that time. The owners manual says to change the oil every 5,000 miles, but the dealership said it only needs to be done every 10,000 miles. Ok they rotated the tires as part of the service, checked the fluid levels and tire pressure. And one time they said they did a software update. After the 30,000 miles of free service ran out, they wanted me to pay for extended service. No thanks! Why should I pay for that if they won't even change the oil like the owners manual says?

 

The manual for 3rd gen Tacomas says oil changes every 10,000 miles unless it's under their definition of severe service where it cuts that in half to every 5000 miles and since most drivers do not qualify for severe service the general recommendation from the dealers and pretty much everywhere else is to do 10K intervals. If you want to do it more often, that's up to you but all you're going to get out or your complimentary service, which is already built into the price you paid for the vehicle, is going to be two oil changes. Some people have convinced the dealers to do the oil changes every 5000 miles but then you're done with the freebies at 10K.

You'd think that even the dealers would be competent at oil changes, but they generally put their newest and least experienced people on those jobs. I had Santa Monica Subaru do the first two changes on my wife's Forester and when I went to do the third, the drain plug was so tight (spec 31 ft/lbs) that I has to use a breaker bar to get it loose. I was surprised they didn't strip the threads. And I guarantee that none of those idiots ever uses a torque wrench for drain bolts or especially lug nuts. I'm pretty much in the camp of only using the dealer for warranty or recall issues and doing as much of the maintenance I can myself.

 

AMD, The Car Care Nut (YouTube channel). a Toyota Master Diagnostic Technician, has been posting videos explaining how the vehicle systems work, and has always emphasized changing oil every 5,000 miles or six months. He now maintains his Toyota certifications and database subscriptions since opening his own shop, TCCN Auto, in the Chicagoland area. In a recent video, he explains how he investigated a problem with a Lexus SUV that the owner's more local dealers could not solve, so the owner drove (many miles, left the car and flew home) while AMD researched the proximity warning system before checking the headlights. The right side worked, but the left headlight IR bulb did not. Turned out that in reaching in, the infrared bulb was missing, so he ordered one from the OEM, installed it, and the owner was very happy to fly back and drive it home.
AMD posts videos to help DIYers maintain their vehicles! Like our old veterinarian, who trained us to take care of livestock to the point that there was only one task that he'd come out for coffee and to visit with us.

 

I saw the Car Care Nut video you described. The Lexus had accident, body shop who did repair, forget to replace left side IR bulb.

 

This thread changed my thinking on the Toyota free oil change. If I have to drop the filter housing to see if a filter element was put in, I might as well do the entire oil change myself.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/no-oil-filter.748693/

 

My dealer wouldn't do the oil change at 5,000 miles despite my argument that the 2 free changes were mine to use and
I should be able to use them whenever. Never went back never looked back.

 

I’ve never changed my oil myself on my truck since I bought it, the dealer has done it every time with never an issue. Not only is it a cheap price it’s usually pretty quick. My dealership (where I actually bought the truck) is very good but the trick is after the service I drive 2 blocks away to a flat parking lot and go over the truck front to back top to bottom to this day I have never had an issue. So I really don’t want to hear from the I hate my dealership crowd when you can drive around for 2-3 weeks without an oil cap then complain about how the dealership screwed up. So who’s really at fault here?? You for never looking at your truck or the dealership who’s trying to stay in business by hurrying on simple tasks(I’m not excusing them). More power to the people who have the space, time and tools to work on your own vehicles. I on the other hand lost this ability 2 back surgeries ago.