Massive Dealer Repairs List 90k Miles

Typical dealership bs. All of these items are incredibly important to address right now -but under warranty- "we'll keep an eye on that and address it when it becomes a problem"-like when your warranty expires lol. F' dealerships and their warranty. I never buy extended warranties. I'd rather take care of the problems myself. Having some idiot who would rather be doing ANYTHING other than working on my truck isn't part of the plan. Warranty or not.

 

OP take a look yourself. Last service on our 4Runner, dealership said sway bar leak needed replaced along with all 4 shocks that were “loose”. I crawled under it and cleaned the grease off. Inspected the boot on the link and found no issues. Next service when I took it in they reported zero issues with sway bar links or shocks. It pays to start learning how to do inspect and work on your own stuff. YouTube is a great resource.

 

Dealers make the bulk of their profit in service and the service department keeps the dealer afloat when sales are slow.

 

I'd just bring it to a local mechanic and save 75%. Dealerships are for buying a vehicle and warranty services only.

 

Sorry, I didn't have a chance to come back and read all the posts this weekend. Thank you all for your advice and info.

I do have an update. I took it back to the dealer, and had them place it on the lift and show me all of these issues. Turns out every single thing they pointed out was just as most of you had suggested, minor seeping, and almost nothing leaking from the timing cover (sorry no photos). So yes, they were just fishing for my wallet. Their lead tech told me straight up that most of these issues could go 20-60k (or more) before becoming a real problem. They did blame a junior tech for setting all the flags on the inspection report to red, when really they should have been yellows. I'm not quite sure about the truth of that statement.

This was at Precision Toyota of Tucson. They have a huge service garage with over 50 bays, so you know that place is a cash machine.

Needless to say, I am not trading in, and I will continue to enjoy my Taco, and when the time comes for work going to an indy that was recommended up in Phoenix.

 

Good on you for going back and looking for yourself, and making them show you all of the "problems".

 

Nice.

textbook case of a little due diligence going a long way.

 

Great to hear! Glad you held them to account and referenced advice here before going.

 

I’m surprised they put it on a lift.

 

Great news!

It would have been interesting to see if they had bothered to fix any of the issues they pointed out to you if you had traded your truck in and they had put it on their used lot. I bet they would have detailed it and filled out a clean window sticker for it.

 

I wrote a nasty review of the service and was immediately contacted by the service manager. I wasn't even planning on dealing with them anymore, but Toyota sent me one more email reminding me fill out a survey regarding my service experience, and it was that last email that put me on the path to let them have it. They did regain a small amount of respect from me after confessing that most of the things listed are not at all immediate. Will I go back there to buy another car? I'm not sure just yet. This is the same dealer I purchased my Taco from new. I got a great deal with no attempts of up sale from the lie-nance manger's typical list of BS and I ended up very happy with the overall purchase of my truck.

My wife was interested in a new 4runner or Sequoia, but now I might have to find something else...

 

Yeah buy it from me for $20k and turn around and sell it for $35k. Just wipe off the "leaks", and its a good as new.

 

Don't believe everything the dealership says. Shoot my local Toyota dealership didn't even flag that the coolant in my Sienna was green AND NOT pink...sighs. Probably waiting for it to corrode the coolant lines and slap me with a huge repair bill.

 

If the boots on the Sway Bar links, upper ball joint, tie rod ends are torn open and "leaking" then sure replace them eventually. Those joints will likely last a long time still. But grease will seep out of the boots as the joints are manipulated around too and its not a huge deal.

My steering rack has been "leaking" for years now. I topped it off one time and the leak is so small that its not worth replacing the whole rack for. Just watch the fluid level. It is likely just leaking a little on the driver's side into the boot that covers the inner tie rod. I see steering rack leaks all the time with Taco's with a lift and bigger tires. I would just keep driving until a bigger problem comes with the rack. Now if you have a puddle on the ground then that is different.

Timing cover leak can also be so small that some people don't bother with it either.

 

When I took my 300zturbo in for the FI recall, [after fighting with the dealer who claimed there were ''no parts' available for 1/2 year and finally calling Nissan direct which got me serviced in less then a week] The list they gave me was around 4 K. Unfortunately for them, almost all of them had already been done by me over the winter and even an actual casual inspection would have picked up on that. Most of the time I think dealers just shotgun required repairs based on age or mileage and never actually inspect the vehicle.

 

Great information from this group I just got rid of my extended warranty from the dealer to get the 2700 dollars they charged me off my principal to refinance later for lower payments

 

It amazes me some dealers don’t try and sell you a full tank of gas @10x cost since yours is partly empty and must therefore be bad and in need of replacement.

 

They probably thought you would toss in the towel and trade it in. They would have taken it off your hands for 50% of its value. Then they would change the oil, run it through the car wash and slap a 4sale sign on it at 125% of its value.