1st Gen Lunchtable Thread - General Discussion

damn

 

First they use my pressure washer, all my car soap, and all my wax and then they force me to make them dinner.

lmao

 

Sounds like you practically have a gf expect its a bounch of guys...

 

I know how much that costs. I was with my ex for three years.

 

Thats how long me and my girls been together lol

 

LOL How is this for OCD -

Picked up the truck today. They've had it since Saturday. You figure, parts could've been ordered Saturday and arrive on Monday which would've given the tech Monday, Tuesday to work on it. Wednesday was the 4th so that was a wash and today I get a call around 2 telling me its ready. Keep in mind this was to replace the rear axle seal, bearing, bearing retainer, etc. Also new shoes in the back, resurface the drums, flush/exchange on the brake fluid and bleed the system. Also had them install my extended brake line since they were bleeding the system anyway (supposedly, no charge for the brake line install).


Going over the paperwork I notice they are trying to doubledip on the labor for the rear brake service. Should've just been paying for shoes and the labor on the drums being resurfaced since they essentially had to tear down the thing to get at the axle anyway. I also notice the parts are nearly double of what their parts website lists. Of course I'm ready to draw blood with the serv advisor - he takes me to the parts counter and the parts guy proceeds to tell me that the website price is only if you pay with paypal. wtf??!? So lesson learned, if I have ANY work done at a stealership, I'll order the parts online and take them in and just pay labor. Rat bastards.

Had a sit down with the service manager and he resolved the labor part on the rear brakes.

Get home after a full to-do list and am going over the paperwork in detail - those charged me 90 bones for a ABS Speed Sensor/Rotor! WTF! I don't have ABS. Going over their monkey math, even the tax is off and calculated wrong.

Going to show up there tomorrow and go ballistic. F-ing calls into question the entire repair work when I see that they are trying to pull some extra $$$ out of me with bogus parts. Guess my search continues for a decent local dealership for parts beyond my ability work.

 

I have a good recommendation for a reputable shop if you need one in the East Bay. I take my cars there when I can’t do it myself, I called a lot of shops during my flex plate fiasco and this one takes the cake.

 

yes, please. I'll bookmark em to be sure. I want to find an experienced toyota shop that is straight up with their customers. Yeah, hard to find these days but there has to be a decent shop out there that still believes in customer service and word of mouth business. Happy customer = repeat business+referrals


side note: Been hearing quite a few good things about
https://www.yelp.com/biz/high-street-automotive-fremont

 

I called a million different shops when I was stranded on the side of the road when my flexplate imploded. I waited and called several shops before I even called a tow truck so I knew the shop I’d be sending my truck to A.) knew what they were doing and B.) wouldn’t nickel and dime me.

Most of the shops I called were rude and impatient when I explained my situation, some of them barely spoke English, and some of them refused to work on my truck.

And then there was this one shop that had the most patient and understanding service advisor. I told her my situation and that I would be calling other shops for quotes and she was very professional about the whole situation. I even got to speak to the owner about it, and he seemed like he knew what he was talking about.

So I brought it there. It wasn’t the cheapest bid, it was on the higher priced side of things - but it was the right choice. The way someone treats you on the phone made a profound impact on which shop I chose. I read all the reviews for this place and I was sold.

The tow truck got there 30 minutes after they closed (on a Friday, mind you) and the owner was kind enough to wait and stay behind so my truck would be locked in their secure yard. He even offered me a ride home, which I kindly declined since I had a ride follow the tow truck.

Here’s how I know this was a good shop. It was full of classic cars, hot-rods, and performance cars. You don’t see these kinds of cars that people put their life’s work into go into any shop. These people bring these cars into good and reputable shops. They even parked my truck next to another 1st Gen they were working on in their lot. Nice!

The shop owner’s diagnosis (ASE Master Tech) over the phone was correct, as I thought. Cracked flexplate. So I ordered a new one from Gunny, and brought it over. Two days later I was ready to pick up truck.

But then, disaster! As I was driving it out of the driveway of the shop - I notice that terrible noise again. The noise of a cracked flexplate. I make a 180, and drive it back to the shop and let the tech who fixed it take a test drive and agree it was broken again.

I leave it and don’t get a call until the following Monday. The flex plate was broken again. The service advisor who I talked to originally told me fear not, new parts were ordered and to not worry about the cost. They admitted that it was their fault the flex plate broke again and sought to fix it. Why did the flex plate break? The torque converter was warped. Warped from a front end collision from the donor truck. You wouldn’t know this until you measured the runout of the torque converter with a run out gauge. The shop owner along with the tech who did the R&I were stumped until they consulted the AISIN repair manual and measured everything they could, which they did not originally.

Three days after that I had my truck back. This shop could have easily made me pay for unnecessary work, and not admit fault from the broken torque converter. But they didn’t - they did the right thing.

And that’s why I will always trust this shop with my cars. The staff is honest, and the owner is the perfect example of an honest mechanic.

It’s T&L Transmission and Brake in Union City off Decoto.

https://yelp.to/qTKq/TA8XnjWfkO

Read the reviews if you don’t believe me. You better believe I read almost every single page before I brought my truck there.

 

Yes, definitely sounds like a winner and will bookmark them. Thanks for the recommendation. What you've described is spot on imo when it comes to finding a reliable shop.

I just pulled up the notes the dealership svc dept keyed into the DB for the service. lol. look at this (not my thing with the caps) -

 

Do you have a e locker? If so you have the abs sensor

 

Right. I read @Area51Runner then saw tylers is twice as long now im debating if I should read it lol

 

locker yes, abs NO. 2002. Wouldn't have ABS until 03.

 

No all 8” e locker axels have the abs ring even if you dont have abs

 

So you cant stick non abs axels into a 8” e locker axel
There is a guy in here that explains it https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/are-trd-axle-shafts-the-same-as-non-trd.555222/

 

Hmmmm... Thanks for pointing that out looking over the link now.

 

Yeah idk why that is. Even though abs was a option till 03 all e locker trucks had the abs ring on the axel shaft even if you dont have abs. It’s pretty weird

 

very odd indeed. you figure out that plastic piece yet?

 

High School love expensive LOL. I'm at that age now where I've seen a few men lose nearly all the shit in a divorce they spent 20 years working for.

 

To hell with that plastic piece, anymore mention of that plastic piece and the ban hammer should come out.

Let's see who can see the sarcasm