Almost a $3K oil change... (not really)

Also, Maybe you really don’t care why other people say chill out, but just asked as a way to show you were mildly offended. If that’s the case, chill out bro. It’s all good!

Nothing wrong with being mildly offended at somebody being mildly offended by your mildly offensive tone.

 

Best part of carfax is seeing where the car was registered. It’s so common for dealers to build up there inventory with auction vehicles that came from the rust belt.
If I see that shit that sold and registered in Minnesota, I’m not even considering it.

 

Bought my 4R in January. Purchase process was fine, lots of mutually professional haggling but I know what I'm doing. First trip to service to install cat shield, no estimate, then they tried to charge me $1,320 labor. Per cat shield manufacturer, it's normally a one hour job. They offered to remove it and return car with no charge, I said yes. Finished the install in 20 minutes with a local, tiny hole in the wall repair shop, they charged $50 (I gave them $100). I will NEVER go back to my dealer for service. I searched Yelp for other local dealers and it seems they are all whores and crooks these days. I am seriously thinking I will just do routine stuff myself or with small local independents. For warranty, there is one dealer that seems to be OK, a bit of a drive but probably worth it. This is all way beyond just being expensive, a lot of this is downright theft.

 

Yep! When my wife had a RAV4, I took it in for one of the “free oil changes”. As I was in the waiting area, someone comes out and stated “the tech says that your cabin air filter is dirty and needs changing”
I replied, that’s funny, because I just changed it yesterday. ” Their jaw dropped and the gig was up.

 

What I want to know is why people say "I could care less". If you could, then do.

 

Love the $70 cabin air filter service. $10 - $15 filter that takes about 60 seconds to change.

 

At 5k, I took my runner in, but told them I already changed the oil and rotated the tires. They told me there was nothing else for them to do, I would have expected they had other things to check. It’s time for the 10k service soon, I plan to do the same and see what they say. Makes me wonder what the actual do look at.

 

Omg. I’ve met my match. Nobody. NOBODY touches my car. I have an Excel spreadsheet of every single thing that I’ve done with a corresponding receipt. Every entry has a cross reference number to the corresponding receipt. When I say a receipt for everything I’m even talking about crush washers. I can’t even change my oil without 30 hours of oil research. Just literally today I watched videos on transfer case oil for waaayyyy too long. However I’ve never owned a car that I had with less than 300k miles.

 

Service advisors are salesman. I know a few who work at various dealerships, there is a commission they make on non-warranty sales. Sometimes 1%, sometimes more. Tire sales were never included in that commission either.

That receipt looks legit minus all the flushes and fuel induction nonsense. You could save a quite a bit changing those filters/fluids on your own.

 

Agreed, it is all on my 'list' as well as the brakes were scheduled a few weeks ago... Just thought most on here are heavy DIY'ers and would get a kick out some of the pricing...

 

I prefer to do all maintenance and repairs myself, or I use a local 4x4 shop. I've just always had bad experiences with my local dealers.

 

Yes. And I don't mean E-bay or Amazon. My dealer has one set price for parts whether you walk in to buy them or let them service your vehicle. Since I do all my own service I order OEM parts from their own online parts department website and pick them up. The price is always 10% lower online. Their parts department will tell you whether they have it in stock or not they will not honor online pricing unless you order online. And 4 times a year I get e-mails from them offering 35% off online parts orders. Knowing what parts you need when and planning accordingly can save a bundle.

 

For those folks not familiar with BG, they manufacture chemicals, fluids and professional equipment for professional mechanics and shops. Think "Snap-on" tools.
They have a pretty cool history: https://www.bgprod.com/virtual-tour/
Also, they manufacture most of the pro equipment used for transmission flushes, brake flushes, A/C refrigerant removal and system charging.

Your list... mostly looks legit for the mileage (except the fuel induction service ... since we have port injection there's not much to clean).
Pricing (for a dealership) is pretty close to market if those are OEM parts.

The OEM brake front parts - Toyota Part#'s:

• 43512-60191 (Rotors x2)
• 04465-AZ200 (Pad Kit)
• 04945-60090 (Shim Kit)
• 47735-60300 x4 (Pins)
• 47743-60280 x2 (Pin Clips)
• 04947-35050 (fitting kit)

Parts Cost: ~$305
Labor in my market is $100 an hour
Book labor time for a 4Runner front brake job: 3 hours

Your quote is $613 so in market if using OEM parts.

It's great know how much we save when we preform the maintenance ourselves!

 

If you do not want to DIY. Find a reputable 4WD shop and get a quote.

 

Totally agree! Most of the time the tech at 4x4 shops are much more knowledgeable then the toyota techs.

 

Alot of these shops have actual Toyota techs who own Toyota's themselves. I am lucky enough to have a couple of these shops around me if I ever need them.

 

This has been a good read. It's funny how people will say they don't trust the salesmen but they'll be 100% okay with taking it to that service department. They're all in business to steal... kindly take our money. I don't always enjoy my car maintenance, but I always have that peace of mind knowing that it was done right. The only time I took mine is was for the transmission flush. Everything else is easy*. I do need to start keeping better records. I usually take really good notes on the big things, but get lazy with the small ones.

*If you have the right tools and a patient wife who knows when you say it's going to take an hour it means 3.

 

anthony, There's an old engineering saying regarding estimating time to do a job.

Take the number of hours you think it will take, add 30% then add 2 hours to that number for "float". Finally double your total and you should be pretty close to about half of the hours needed...

Look on the bright side. You'll be a hero if you finish early, (Sure, honey, I'm done w/ the 4Runner. I'd be happy to go with you to visit your mom...). And if it takes the full estimated time you can say "I told you so." Remember though, if you use that tact be sure to take an extra blanket to the couch with you...

 

Hahaha! I'm not sure why I always get the urge to underestimate the time. It's as though my brain is saying "This is how long it would take a professional at a shop with a proper lift", then I just blurt out a time. Over the weekend I greased the slip joints and spider joints. I said "15 minutes". Sure pumping the grease took only seconds, it was the cleanup that took forever. I was easily under the car for 30 minutes.

 

Keeping records! While I agree it is good practice. On my toyotas I never kept records. I do/have keep/kept records of maintenance on my less reliable vehicles though. Haha

 

the brakes are around 75K MILES are you did the brake pads ! $400 ....
the transmission fluid is around 120K miles ...$250
the drive shafts and the yokes every yrs grease it ..and change the oil engine $60
the air filter is $25 ...cabin ...
the transfer case / front /rear diff is the fluid $400 ...
the power steering fluid around 90-100K changed it ???

 

I just did front pads and rotors yesterday. New hardware and shims...it was about 1.5 hours total from placing jack stands to pulling them out.

 

That seems like not enough time to enjoy the process and smell the roses. That’s what I tell myself when I take the better part of a Saturday to do something like that.

 

Haha, that’s pretty good!
Another estimating method, especially for a task you’ve never done before, is to raise it to the next higher unit then double it.
So a 10 minute job actually takes 2 hours.
A one hour job takes 2 days, a one day job takes 2 weeks, etc.

Mostly in jest, but it often works out that way.

 

Few years back my dad took my mom's car for tires. They came out and told him that it needed brakes, and they had the time to do it right then.

He and I did brakes on all four corners the week before, which was when we realized she needed new tires.

 

This cracks me up. So sad. There are good shops out there. Shame that you never know when you are getting lied to by one.

 

Hm... my 4runner is on the way, but a couple questions. Are all those maintenance items and mileage intervals what is listed in the user manual (I though the transmission was a sealed and didn't need flushing, hence no transmission dip stick). At least that is my understanding of what the manual says (I know everyone recommends getting it flushed). Also, if BG is a brand, shouldn't A Toyota dealership be using Toyota branded OEM fluids?

 

For those of you following along at home. I changed both filters last night, cabin filter was BAD, engine filter looked totally fine but replaced regardless.

And, this truck has only been at the same Toyota dealer for oil changes since I have owned it (bought it with ~30K on it in 2020). Funny how the bolts are snapped off the plastic air dam connected to the 'skid' plate and the one in the middle is missing. The broken ones are pretty rusty so it didn't happen during this oil change. Service advisor and tech didn't want to mention that? My OCD brain will not allow me to keep driving it like this... Need to address skid plate and start my spreadsheet for my at home maintenance... I have always kept every single receipt for work/maintenance on all of my vehicles as it certainly helps with resale, warranties and record keeping down the road. However, as I am now an old guy and plan on keeping this one for a long time I guess I need to step it up... Odd, I never really cared about other people 'touching' my past vehicles...

Also, I have mentioned this on here before, it is so disappointing to see everyone's pictures under their trucks and then actually crawl under and look at mine... New England, sigh.

 

do you fluid film/woolwax/surface shield the underside?

 

I planned that the last two years, but then got analysis paralysis about covering up what is already there. Seems like I could never clean it all up first like some people say you have to do.

I see your in southern ME, I am in seacoast NH area, so it looks like we both probably get the double whammy with road salt and some nice salty air...