What Have You Done To Your 3rd Gen Today?

I don't wrench as much anymore as I used to due to back pains so I called around and they wanted around the same for my 2GRFE Highlander so I just did it myself. Came out to around 90 in parts (OEM plugs) + 3 hours of wrenching. Given a different car and motor, but I'd recommend some youtube videos and just doing it yourself

 

Where’s the skewp?

 

That’s strange. The post I quoted was above yours and must have been deleted. Thanks though!

 

Maybe I should wait until I fit them so you get the whole look, my truck has also had the OR decals removed

I am tempted to just throw the sport wheels up for sale come winter time as I have pretty good A/T tires that haven’t failed me in some pretty extreme winter scenarios… reckon I could get $800 for the set…

 

$687 for 2 hours labour, that is ridiculous! This is the reason I did my own. It took 3 hrs but I was not in a rush and had never done it before on this vehicle.
Edit: $213 for 6x plugs. I purchased OEM iridium replacements for $130 Cdn. That markup is also ridiculous.

 

Dang!

I had TRD Lift done in April and the hourly rate was roughly $235/hr in northern Delaware...it's $215/hr in Dover.

I've seen the YT videos and remember that the driver side is more challenging than the passenger side.

Not sure if I wanna do it or have the dealership complete the task.

 

Don't quote me but I think Toyota's dealer labor rate is around $175 an hour at this point. If the tech is making let's say $34-40 an hour, what a windfall for the Stealership. Then you figure the service writer is getting their cut too.

My oil change and rotation was $95. When she added on the spark plug change it was over $1100 - I was thinking just shy of $400 or 500. I also had asked them to send me a quote ahead of time, which they of course ignored.

 

I had made an online appointment through the dealer website. So when she pulled up my appointment it showed the requested items. Then she clicked on each item or whatever, and it automatically put the cost into an estimate. My eyes nearly popped out of my head lol It was north of $1100 after tax.

In my mind, I had a ballpark figure, like $250-300 maybe. And the only reason I wanted to do it now was b/c I am back in the office 5x a week, so car maintenance means: Uber or Lyft to and from the shop, and waking up early, and all that jazz.

I have already reached out to 2 private shops - Precision Tune and The Toyota Expert - I trust to see what their numbers are. They're a bit more out of the way of work, but it will be worth the savings.

There's no way I'm doing this work - 1. I don't own the tools 2. I live in a triplex with a sloped gravel driveway I totally respect you guys who can do the work, it makes perfect sense.

 

I would definitely shop around. The work is not difficult, just tedious. With the right tools most can do it themselves if they have some mechanical skill.

 

Version 1 of "Adventure Taco" sticker

 

That seens like a crazy labor charge for a spark plug change. If it were me I'd check with a local independant mechanic or do it yourself. I personall get doing less mechanical work as you get older. I used to do my own brake work and even did a head gasket and timing belt job on a car I had when I was half my age with some help. Now I let the mechanic do brakes and suspension work. I stick to oil, filters and other fluids I can do in my driveway. I am on the fence about doing the spark plugs in mine when the time comes in 20,000 miles. I just had a brief discussion about maintance with my mechanic when I was there for state inspection last week. 60,000 is the next major service for me, nothing but oil changes and tire rotations till then. He even looked up the maintance schedule and read off the 60k stuff. I said I can do all that except I'm not sure how comfortable I'll be with the spark plugs. His response was that's fine I've got other customers that like to do some of their own work and we're here when you need us.

Finding an indepentant shop that's honest and isn't looking to over charge and upsell customers is valuable.
I had a friend that went to a Mienikee shop and they pull all kinds of tactics on customers. They upsell on maintance items like fluid changes or flushes, over charge for simple things like engine air and cabin air filters. They also have a finance company running an inhouse credit card they use to get people sign up for to pay for all that. it's all trapping less informed drivers in to extra cost and now debt too.

 

Here is another reason, as emissions and fuel mileage standards going up and up and up over the years, vehicles are getting more and more complicated, with HV, PHEV and EV's becoming the standard (hopefully that will ease up some now) and just plain ole ICE becoming a thing of the past, more and more mechanically inclined people are staying out of it as it is no longer an "mechanical" field to get into, now ya got to know computer stuff...

Funny, the whole reason I got into mechanics is because I am VERY mechanically inclined and sucked at the normal everyday school work lol, I have an associate degree in Automotive Technology and used to be the guy that would tow vehicles from other shops cause I could find and repair the issue with the vehicle, my downfall is I worked on about anything that came to the shop, from Corollas to 2.5 ton bucket trucks and even did a couple years working on all terrain Big forklifts (Case, Lull etc)... I also have well over $50K in tools, but I'd rather build an automatic transmission, or whatever than to mess with this can buss crap... lol

Yeah, $600 to $700 sounds about right, but no way over $1000 just for spark plugs, I would almost think she clicked on the 60 service or something... I would call and ask for a quote...

 

@James2406
@RichochetRabbit
@thomasburk

Thanks fellas, I’ll give those tips a try soon when I get some time. For now, I’ll continue to roll down the windows and crank the radio

 

Sounds like a great visit. We spent a few days in Portland, a day at Acadia, and a few days outside of Owl's Head Beach.

 

Damn. I was able to get mine done for $200 OOP. Dealer charged $500 for it and then used $300 from my credit card's cash back rewards. Was ready to do it myself until I realized I could get it done for less than the actual plugs.

 

The pain is real, and no, the price is not the same anywhere in the USA. Lancaster Toyota in California quoted me $212 for the 6 plugs alone ($35 a piece) I told him that's twice the price I can get the OEM's for from toyotapartsdeal.com and he said "I know, that's crazy".

I left and ordered from Toyota parts deal for $114 delivered.

 

Dealer pricing is wild; I just ordered 6 plugs for mine a few weeks back for $77.16.

 

Can I get one?

 

+1

 

I ended up setting it at the 5th perch and installed a 1" rear block for the time being until I put an AAL