NO...I can't trust Toyota!!!

They had my truck only once. Said they had trouble with several things and kept the truck for 4 days. In the end they had not touched it. APparently short of staff and only wanted to charge me for half the labour. All nipples ungreased 3 jobs said done , not done. i refused to pay and never heard anymore. Guilty as sin.

Now I do it myself. Still swear but only only at awkward bolts not nuts behind the desk.

Skinny

If you want a professional job done, do it yourself or find a real mechanic if you can.

Too right.

Its a shame that forking out the extra cash for that peace of mind isnt always the smartest way to go. Ive taken to doing all my servicing myself now (where possible).
I took my 80 into Karratha Toyota to tighten the handbrake and get a tune up done- the next day the battery mysteriously died and I had to buy a new one to get out of the toyota dealers. They offered me a cost price battery at $240. I went to opposite lock and got one for $160- I went back to toyota and installed it myself at the back of their workshop. Then I found they hadnt tuned it or tightened the handbrake- it was only a reset ECU from the fried battery that made it run differently.
I left it there another day and they cracked the intake air hose, and didnt bother with the handbrake coz it needed to be adjusted from the rear of the car (the reason I took it in) and to boot, they didnt have the emissions tester for the tuneup. The car came out spitting and farting, stalled when the air con went on and wouldnt hold idle. I left it there another day and they found the air hose rip, replaced the hose and they charged me for the tune up.

The faults were blamed on the apprentice because "theres a shortage of qualified mechanics". I took it in for a warranty job after it stank of unburnt fuel a month later in perth- Scarborough toyota happily footed the cost of the tune up whilst karratha toyota dead set argued that I'd never been serviced by them before. I guess it was just a shame they had stamped and signed my service book.

It came as no surprise when a copper laughed at me after I told him I got it serviced at Karratha Toyota. "Nothing but criminals and convicts there!" he said.

This practise of not doing what should be done goes way back in the automotive industry. I was involved in a bitter dispute as a 1st year apprentice between my boss and the customer. It was a frightening thing for me then as i had to decide weather to lie and save my job OR tell the truth and end up loosing it.
All over 8 spark plugs that were NOT replaced as required in the service. The owner marked his old plugs with texta before we got the car for service, During service i was approched by the boss telling me NOT to replace the plugs.
I did what i was told and didnt think anything of it....until the owner took a spark plug lead off and noticed his old plugs still fitted.
Problem was, before they came to me, the boss insisted the plugs were replaced until the owner convinced him they were his old marked ones still in there. SO the owner got me involved, asking me why i didnt replace them. The rest was history.

There is no diference between using a good quality hand grease gun and a high pressure workshop one. As long as there is NO grease popping out the grease nipple head as your pumping it, eventually the area you are trying to fill will be filled. The only advantage is that with a high pressure gun, its much quicker to fill.

Im amazed how these people can spin these stupid stories thinking that we are all idiots and dont know a thing about cars. If they said that to me, all hell would break loose there and then. I cant stand liers..especially if money is involved.
Angelo

Amazing! I wonder if Toyota know of or monitor this website!!! There is obviously an ongoing problem.

I know that people only talk about the bad things that happen, but really, these things just shouldn't happen ATALL!

After I have been convinced to get all nipples greased there coz it's "better" and then not to grease them is "complete and utter incompetence", there is no other description. Worse still is they didn't grease the slip yoke among other things. Now as I am aware, not greasing this will cause backlash and wear on the drivetrain.

Most people probably don't check that the nipples have been greased...(but then again, why the hell should you) and would probably wonder why their gearbox has worn permaturely even though they have had their car "serviced" regularly with Toyota.

I guess there's clowns in every industry, it's just that in this one they often get away with it!!!(or try to)

I took my Rodeo to a dealer once for a service. Charged a fortune and left plenty of bolts loose. Some were put back in their holes but the nut not put on. I get it serviced at Moorooka UltraTune now. Never had a problem with them and happily recommend them to anyone.

Had a Nissan once and I took it to a dealer to have a problem fixed. They had the car all day and couldn't find the problem and wanted to charge me $160!!! I told them to get stuffed and fixed it myself with an $80 part and advice from a mechanic in-law.

Had some Commodore work vehicles serviced at Holden for years without too many issues.

However I think we could employ someone full time just to fight with the dealer who services our current work cars.

I had a good friend who (on his dad's advice) superglued a hair from his head between the tappet cover and the head at the back of the motor. Toyota were supposed to adjust the tappets during this particular service.
When he picked the car up, the hair was still intact.

He confronted them and sure enough, they blamed the apprentice.

Most mechanics in dealer service departments are paid a bonus to finish the job in faster than the allocated time and are also paid bonuses if they identify other work the customer can be charged for.

I have many mechanic friends and all say that the dealer is the worst place to have a car serviced. Far better to find a good mechanic you trust. Its a myth that dealer serviceing is better for resale, it will cost you thousands more. Even if you trust the dealer, its still going to cost way more than an independant workshop.

So Wheeltravel!!! So you have just worked that out!!! There is no money in selling cars, just servicing. Most of that is pretty ordinary.. I know a guy that works for a Ford dealer, he supplies his own tools and all those beaut special tools that the original workshop manuals ,,,, the dealers,,, they dont have , The workshop he works in is so dull , they use dolphin torches. So when you part with your hard earned money, just think of that... Michael

Gday all.

Whenever you get it serviced at a dealer or any place it is a good idea to check that what they said they did they have really done. Even if this means marking item’s with white out before it goes in

Sometimes they are just slack or just plan forget they have not done it and then mark it off as done. That is just unexcitable for what you pay.
Not all are bad remember.

Talk about expensive ford wanted to charge me $2500 minimum to replace the front timing chain. Check post (Will the explorer explode for more info on this attempted rip off)

Just bought my first Toyota - an LC100, 4 years old done 38,000 kays and never been offroad. Took it to a major dealer in Sydney. A few minor issues (overfull oil, loose belts etc), a $700 bill on re-sealing the front axle turned into over $1300 - and the cause not fixed (possible blocked breathers). But what really got me was that there is a fault in the gearbox - an over senstive down change. Got told that it was a normal change and the "electronics get confused" - when I do a bit of research I find that there is an issue with the valve body and needs a conversion to fix.

Then I had a thought - lets check the fluid in the auto. Should have been serviced and it should be bright red. Was a dull brown. Lucky for me it does not smell of bacon'n'eggs (burnt clutches) yet...

There is good after market service for Toyotas - you gotta find them. Powershift Automatics up in Narrabeen are *very* good. Traction 4 in Artarmon are supposed to be good and are ARB agents as well. But I think that I am not going back to Toyota for servicing - warranty or no...

/viz

Well, I''ll add another one:
Had a car serviced for 20K service at toyota dealer, two
weeks later while installing second battery decided to check the air
filter - sligth tap and about 300 grams pile of dust dropping from it....
And I haven't been off tar since service has been done....

Well, reading these reminds me of one GOOD dealer, Mitsubishi in Mt Isa, some years ago.

Travelling through Mt Isa with my family towards Alice Springs in summer. Late on a Friday I checked under vehicle for some reason and saw that the sump had been bashed up on a rock. Worried about what damage might have been done inside, and needing to get back to Alice with my family in the heat over the weekend, I tried the local Mitsubishi dealer late afternoon as they were the last dealers open in town. The service guy said that they were busy with everyone coming in to get their cars from service but for me and my family to wait in their (thankfully) air-conditioned office, offering us cool drinks, while he went to find out if someone could have a look at it.

20 minutes later I went to ask what was happening. Ran into the service guy coming in to find me. Gave me back my keys. Here I was thinking that it was all too hard for them. But no.

He said that they had had a look at the sump. In fact they had put the car up on the hoist, dropped the sump, straightened it out (pretty good job with hammer) checked that nothing vital was damaged, replaced the gasket and refilled with fresh oil.

What's the charge? I asked. "No charge", he said, "because you are a visitor to Mt Isa".

As stated above, I'm an experienced EX mechanic, who, these days is too old to do my own servicing.

I too, have had my fill of main dealers that try 'n con me. My reply is something like "WTF do you think you're talking too, pal??" They usually back down.

On my first service for my used Cruiser at City Toyota in Aberdeeen St, Perth, I asked them to have a look at the brakes as there was a slight but noticeable shuuder when light braking. When I returned they told me the disc were warped and needed machining. The Cruiser had done only 50,000 kms and I told them they had to be joking. They were adamant. I asked them to put the vehicle on a hoist, take all the wheels off, set up a DTI (dial test indicator) on each wheel and call me to come and check it for myself.

I returned and checked it out. The rear brakes were within run out spec but the fronts were woeful. I asked them to skim the fronts only. They did. Problem solved. Cost was $45.00.

I was asked afterwards how I knew about this. I explained that in a past life I was a mechanic - and I'd like to thiink I was a pretty good one. After that I had no further attempts by the service guys trying to sell me "windscreen wipers", "new batteries", "coolant flushes" and all sorts of other junk items. They even used "tech talk" that I understod instead of treating me like a mechanicl moron with suggestions that if I didn't have a new gearbox mainshaft then the brakes wouldn't work and I'd kill myself, my wife, my kids (they're 33 and 29) or some innocent passer by.

My attitude is "Don't take the p*ss son, I was doing it before you were born".

Never had a problem since. In all fairness, if you do take your Cruiser into City Toyota, they are pretty good. Ask for Terry, a top young lad and very helpful.

Now if you wanna hear a Main Dealer Disaster Story ask me about my Honda Accord and Prestige Honda at Melville, Perth. What a bunch of clowns they are!!

Or ask me about Holden Main Dealers in Perth and the "flat spot Commodore". A b*****y joke.

Main dealers??? - I've had 'em up to my back teeth.

Bilbo

My father used to be in the upholstery / windscreen game - he was doing some work on his own vehicle one day in the back workshop when one of the local mechanics dropped a customer's car around for some minor work, when he saw Dad was replacing spark plugs.

"AWWWWW, can I have those?"

"What, the old plugs?"

"Yeah, I put them on the front floor of a customer's car and then I can charge them for a new set and they think I've changed them!!"

True story c.1985.

This is sounding more like a conspiracy theorists website now!
The wicked dealers are out to get us all!!
(tongue in cheek!)

Took my playdoe into Port Hedland Toyota with a hole in the sub fuel tank. The service manager told me to "go down to Repco and buy some metal putty and work that into it. That should get you home" (3 months and 10,000k's away)
Tessa

Yep - my Holden dealer will never see me again with the Jack - liars, cheats and fraudsters - and I don't say such things lightly - as the others have said, its endemic to the main players in the industry - they choose to see it as 'normal practice' - its fraud - BUT these dealers know its difficult to prove and would cost us to do so.........

Hi All,
We had our van supposedly fixed up before going on our trip by our local mechanic. On one trip down to pick it up after supposedly being fixed we arrived to see him with something like a crow bar atacking the clutch lever on the outside of the gearbox, then he asked if it was crunching into reverse (this is after him putting in a new clutch kit), we said no. So we had to leave it with him. Went back and he reckons he took it up to a hill and just burned the clutch in a bit. Sounded good to me. Another reason he had it was to fix a rattle which we ended up replacing Alternator, water pump, and then he said it was gone. Picked it up went to drive home and there was the rattle. I ended up getting hold of a replacement fan clutch, and putting it on myself, and guess what no more rattle.
I think his main problem is that he has 2 apprentices that do all the work and he is suppose to check it.
At one of our visits we watched as someones commodore slipped of the hoist, and then once we got our van home we noticed it had a couple of extra dents from where they had lifted it up with the hoist.
One ?, why do we get charged full mechanics rates for work being done on your car when it is actually a trainee doing the work.

I am yet to find a decent mechanic who is good at there work and honest.

PS. The one at Cooberpedy wasnt to bad, but he is a bit far away.

Cheers

Not to harp on this but!

Just got the cruiser back from warranty work, I changed the oil the next day andnoticed the drip tray missing, went back and was told they did not touch it and it must have fallen off, after a few minutes the service manager said they'd replace on goodwill. well now i have it and now i know why its not on there!
They snapped the bolt off in the hole!

Loosers.

Wow, what a thread. No wonder 4WD shops with a good rep are impossible to get into.

For my own part, I've given up too. Lucky the Nissan 3.0Di I have now requires very little attention that can't be administered by me. At least when I tick the items in the service schedule, note the exact products used and it sign myself, the next owner will know it was done.

When I had my Jackaroo the only faults the vehicle ever had were installed by the Holden Autorised Service Departments that it visited. I gave up on Sundell because they put the wrong diff oil in it ("same as the Commondore mate" Bzzz wrong answer) and did not change the Auto tranny oil (critical on the Jack) when instructed. Both these "errors" resulted in problems for me on trips. Then Barry Smith installed oil leaks around non-tightened tappet covers when spending $800 checking clearances that did not need adjusting. Not even an apology.

On the plus side, North Star Nissan in Mildura sorted a bung fuel filter lift pump under warranty at 4:30 PM on Friday afternoon when we limped in from Mungo fully loaded with the engine light on. "No worries Mate, have a good trip".

I had a number of problems with the dealer that used to service my car.

1. Transmission was very intermittently, shifting hard. Problem was found after 2 years and 1 escalation direct to Holden. Funny thing is they worked the problem out after I called Holden and before they saw it next, in other words it was a known fix. The transmission inhibitor/range switch was replaced under warranty ... but it didn't end there.

2. After replacing the switch, the transmission t-bar selector was really sloppy. Took it back, they had it for a day and couldn't work it out. Mechanic says the whole selector assembly has worn out and will need replacing. We'll call you when the parts are in. A month went by, no call, selector was getting sloppier. So I get under the car myself and find the nut that attches the selector lever to the inhibitor switch about half a turn from falling off. I tightened it myself and applied some clear nail polish to stop it loosening again. Total time to fix - 2 mins. Total time abusing the service manager and dealer principal in writing, cc'ing Holden Customer Service - 30 mins. Total crawl calls received from the dealer - 3. They offered me a free transmission service. You think I would have learnt by now.

3. Transmission service (see a theme happening here?) - Went in at 7am one fine day, agreed to pick it up at 5pm. It was still on the bloody hoist and what freaked me out was the 2 mechanics working on it looked like they came out of primary school yesterday. Kept calm, got it back, it seemed ok. So off I went. Next day, first thing in the morning while it was still cold, on any right hand turn the engine would flare momentarily. Also noticed that both side steps had been pushed up at the front. Gave up on the dealer, took it to a reputable 4WD workshop, turns out they left the tranny 1.5L short of fluid. Also had the steps straightened. Mailed the bill to the dealer, faxed a copy to Holden ... got a cheque back

And they never saw me again. However I call this week from a young lady at the dealership saying my Jackaroo's service is overdue and I really should book now to maintain my warranty. The warranty ran out one and a half years ago.

Well what a relief I just thought it was me that had trouble with dealers.

I used to run one of Australia's top workshops in the 80's. Not a mechanic myself i paid the guys more than I was earning. We had 5 mechanics and 4 apprentices and churned out heaps of quality work. Why did I leave, the owner refused to continue to pay the higher wages and the ongoing training. One by one the mechanics left and so did I. Now it is a tin pot work shop doing grease and oils.

You pay peanuts and you get grease monkeys. I don't mind paying if it is done right. It is just that I am an untrusting bas#*$d.

A big market in do it yourself it seems.

Skinny

Good (?) to see its Toyota everywhere and not just me and my bad luck.

Took my 75 to a local adelaide toyota dealer to change the rear shoes which I had supplied (laziness which I now regret).

Got a call to say from the team service manager to say that the rear drum had seized on and it had to be forced off ( looked like they used a crowbar). Total cost $850. Recon drum assembley, machining ,brake cylinders and oversized shoes( didn't even use the ones I took in*^&%$#)

Funnily, I had the drums off only a month before. They probably forgot to take off the handbrake or mine was the training job for the first year apprentice.

The butchering had occurred without the courtesy of phone call when they "found" the problem.

This organisation has "two teams" in the workshop which compete against each other........in my case to my detriment.Get the jobs done faster, score more points take shortcuts to win.

rojac

as ive said before, just look at a job description for a service advisor next time you see a job ad , one of the key requirements is to upsell extras on services.

after ansett went down the tube i needed a job so went to a holden dealer to 'downgrade' and just turn over some dollars. Well glad i learnt all my skills from the best industry, cause i didnt need any of them at the dealership. The pressure to turn over services is unbelievable, eg- i used to do major services on commodores, including test drive and on/off hoist in 45 minutes, you guess the level of quality we were allowed to give........
In Victoria there has to only be 1 qualified mechanic on premises, they can be in the office etc, it doesnt matter, everyone else can be apprentice slave labour, hell they will happily let 1st year apprentices with no training work unsupervised on customers cars. I didnt even have time to train the young guys about anything.

My advise is to find a good local private mechanic, there are plenty out there, and purchase the service parts from the dealer spares if you are worried about warranty etc. The more you support the good independant guys& girls, the more equiptment they can buy to do the diagnostic and ecu checks, and keep up with the dealers.

But please dont automatically blame the dealer 'workers' next time something goes wrong, most likely they wern't given any time to even try to fix it, let alone the training and knowledge to actually do the job, and hell for $ 13 an hour for slogging your guts out, you cant blame em for allowing the care factor to be beaten out of them.