Dealership Experience(not feeling too good about it)

I am the type who likes to do my own work, but I respect the hell out of someone who doesn’t let their ego get in the way of having something done by a professional if you don’t think you can do that level of work. That is good judgement! I fixed a lot of things that people attempted to do themselves and it was a mess as a result. Yes there’s the idea that doing it yourself is how you learn but the ideal situation is having someone who you know, trust and has experience to show you. Things like frozen/ broken bolts can’t been foreseen and add a layer of complication. Heating the frozen bolt was the right approach. Penetrating oil works sometimes but you’re paying by the hour so the most direct/ most probable successful approach is the right call. I’m just glad it all worked out and you left there feeling satisfied.

 

it was noted to me before the service that the pan bolts remaining 2 pan bolts could break( I broke 2 myself and repaired them) there WILL be a T&M charge for drilling them out and re taping, I told them go ahead and break them and leave off the pan I will take care of the repair myself. If u refer to my post #37 I had it all planned out what I was gonna do with those weld nuts.

 

I do what I can and have learned a mother load of stuff here on TW, my ideal situation would to pay a knowledgable capable person a cash deal I would be his/her helper this way I learn the basics and would have the skills to do it myself in the future. a idea that I would like to float on this website is a thread that people can give reviews on places and garages and mechanics for reviews, just like they do on YELP or those other consumer rating sites, where u can get a good referral on who in your area can do a good job for decent price and whatnot, its easy to say Ive done that job in 1/2 hour or something, but can u refer me to someone good that can do it in 1/2 hour? a good thread that peeps can refer or not refer folks here to get outside work would be a Gem, kind of like the product reviews thread only with mechanics and garages.

 

From what I’ve seen here on this site there’s a lot of people who just want to help out when they can with little to no compensation. Dealships have their time and place and given the complications they had this may have been 1 of them. Not everyone has a set of torches in their garage and that’s what was needed to get what’s normally an easy 2-4 hour job completed. Sounds like you need to antiseize the hell out of everything on your truck. Just don’t let anyone convince you to do the underside of your door handles though.

 

exactly, I wouldn't feel comfortable watching a YOUTUBE video and trying to replace the coils in my driveway, but that's me

 

rusty seized bolts are not the responsibility of the technician. I am a toyota technician and if I need to remove a pan and the bolts are frozen I will try to get them out without breaking them. If they break it isnt coming out of my pocket. Now if for instance I went to tighten them and cross threaded them and locked them up before they tightened and broke upon removal then its on me but I dont take responsibility for rust and what the previous person who worked on them did. Those cams are notorious for seizing up more often then not they need new control arms. They are a piss poor design by Toyota. I have an old rusty chevy and can still turn them no problem. As for the writers well I dont know what to tell you about them.

 

This!!!!! It’s expected of a tech to go out of his way to fix a seized bolt for no payment. Just like wheel lock removal when a dumbass loses their key.

 

that's why I fixed my pan bolts myself, how do you feel about sending an alignment job out with a non centered steering wheel? mines about 12:03 o clock was close but not 12 o clock like I would want driving down the road. also they over torqued the passenger side cam for more positive camber, these are the only 2 things about my repair im displeased with, im going to have to deal with them tomorrow but im a little hesitant to let the same person who sent it out that way to redo it,even tho I payed for it.

 

Thats the problem with the 2nd gen skids, they never come off, so they break easy. I simply don't touch them, if the camber eccentrics are seized I let the customer know they need arms/bushings.

For the most part I check the eccentrics prior to calling any alignment or lift.

 

so theres no real way to align 2nd gens cause most of them have seized alignment cams? don't know how this shit could fly cause there are 100s thousands of them on the road at some point an alignment will be needed and the customer is respondsible for replacing the control arms etc etc at the first time an alignment is needed, well that sucks.

 

Being that I’m very particular about my vehicles I understand that weird feeling when the steering wheel isn’t 100% straight. I’ll will give the tech who did your alignment the benefit of the doubt that when he had your truck on the rack it was likely set straight. Basically most roads have a crown to them and it’s probably a rare occursnce that your steering wheel will be straight at any given time. If your steering components have worn or mechanical looseness then that’ll be a contributing factor. It took several attempts to get the steering straight on my Dodge Ram and the tech actually had me sit in the cab and hold the steering wheel exactly how I wanted it. I have our roads and my worn out old truck to blame for that- not the tech.

 

I was thinking exactly that, the crown of the road may have something to do with it since if the truck is parked the wheel is dead center, start to drive even on what I would think is a relatively flat and im at 12:03, I was thinking about contacting the dealer or another shop to have a tech test drive it, I put a lot of miles a day on the truck and this little inconsistencies fuck with your head

 

When I first bought my Tacoma, I removed the pan bolts and applied a good helping of plumbers pipe dope and when I need to remove the pan they always come out easily.

 

I wish I knew man, but I bought the truck used I think they were seized at the time of purchase, but its a good heads up for 3rd gens tho, I think I read a couple of posts about problems getting those bolts out already in the 3rd gen forum, they really over torque them from the factory once the rust sets in its all she wrote with them

 

Believe me I obsessed about mine and there’s a very small stretch of road by me that I feel is really close to straight and flat so I used that as my measuring point. I suggest you find that road by you and drive it several times to see if it’s the same every time. If it’s just a little off it should be a easy and quick adjustment.

 

Now we know what they used the torch for.

They often need the torch to free up the jamb nuts on the tie rod ends. They freeze up and the only way to free them is to heat them red hot.

This brings up my 2nd question. If the truck wheel was straight before the work, there should be no need to to adjust the tie rods. They screwed up the steering wheel alignment.

Check the jamb nuts and I'm sure you will see that heat was applied.

 

im kind of feeling its a little off, just enough to bother me. I could contact that service manager and see if they can tweak it, only other issue is a cam dial that they torqued into those metal side guards and bent the guard as to get more positive camber I don't know if that will cause an issue or not down the road

 

To be honest with you, the only reason I used anti-seize on the bolts was from the experience with my previous truck. About a month after having the truck serviced I noticed the pan missing while changing the oil, remembering how difficult the bolts were to remove the last time, so made sure that never happened again.

 

Heat doesnt work when the rubber is seized to the camber bolts. It just melts and damages them.

 

Yep, they could only heat the tie rod jamb nuts. No way to apply heat to cam bolts.