TSB & Oil change

We recently went to get our 'first' oil change on the 4Runner from the dealership. It was one of those 'did I go to the wrong place?' moments. Upon getting to the dealership a little early, we drove up to the Service entrance and was greeted by service personnel, he took a moment to enter the info in the computer, and asked "if there are any concerns or questions", I told him please do not grease the upper control arms, I have special grease suggested by JBA to use on them, he said OK, I told him you can grease the drive shafts though, he nods his head, and then I ask the question; are your guys familiar with the Fumoto oil drain valve? No I guess I never heard of it... I explained, then came the question; what is the TSB number for the front needle bearing issue? You could have heard a pin drop on the floor, since ours has the symptoms, I thought, get it checked out, once again he said he never heard of such a thing (hasn't this been going on for years?) When we got the truck back, I checked the oil level and we drove home, I then crawled under the truck to inspect the drive shaft, ha, never greased, could tell by the dust on the fittings, so I greased it. So now it's 'Hello ECGS, and I doubt we'll go to a dealership for a "free" service ever again.... Not going to bitch to them, it's like when we went to buy a new vehicle, I tell the salesperson "make it right the first time, or the next time I drive through your lot will be with a new one from somewhere else". Same goes for the "free" service!

 

For most of them(service personnel), it's a job(paycheck). Not a passion. Truth is, 99.5% of their clientele know less then they do, and they know it.

 

It’s such a crapshoot. At least you tried before deciding on the ECGS plain bearing. I really need to just take the time to take it in and mentally prepare for the game.

But of course, my needle bearing is playing hard to get. Sometimes it’s making the sound, but then it goes silent for like a week before it’s heard again.

 

I’m a bit of an odd character. Maybe because I am old. I don’t get the free maintenance, although it is a nice offer, and I follow the 10k oil change interval. For the same reason that has been mentioned. This is just a pay check to them. I’ve had them scuff a brand new set of pro wheels, over torque my filter canister, overfill my oil, etc. I just run into fewer issues if I do it myself. I keep receipts and records for the warrantee (which they will try and find something I did not do correctly).

Do it right (or learn how to), and have a savings for when they deny your warranty. This has worked for me in the past.

 

I have always done my own maintenance, when we "pay" for the "free" 2 year oil changes, we thought to oblige. I have never seen such obscurity in a service writer like I saw when we went to get our oil changed. We have a very decent shop to do own own service and maintenance, thought it would be nice to NOT get "dirty", once, we will be doing the ECGS bushing in the shop and future oil changes/lube. 5K interval here.