Another Dealer Scam

I'd also ask not just what the 2 more quarts cost, but how much more they charge for the other five quarts to be 0w20 as recommended.

 

Yeah. Viking garage taught me how to do everything you listed. Cool guy. I’m with you, I paid for my Eibach suspension/lift. I took it to a guy who’s been in business for 30 years and had a 5 star rating on Google. He did a fantastic job. No complaints. Ironically TCCN is the next shop over from him. I didn’t even realize it until I went to pick it up and took it for a test drive and drove past TCCN. I damn near slammed on the brakes. Had I known I would have had the lift done at TCCN

 

I don't lift the 4Runner to do an oil change.. It is really not hard.. Anyone who is afraid of doing it. It is not hard at all..
Get an oil change container. motivx oil canister remover, torque wrench, oil filter with gasket , some 0w20 oil and it should take you about 30-45 min.
You will enjoy and you will sleep at night, knowing that you did it right...

 

I’m the OP. I’m going to call the dealership tomorrow. Here is what I’m going to ask

why is 0w-20 extra- it’s synthetic
How much extra is 0w-20
How much is two extra qts?
Given almost every Toyota is with 0w-16 or 0w-20 why are you doing this to people.

 

Amen. Not hard at all. The worst part is dropping the skid plate

 

You will have skid plate bolts you can get back out.

 

I think they have to get bottles if I remember correctly. Line oil is regular 0w20 or whatever they have. Synthetic comes in bottles when I was there. Looks like they would use synthetic line oil and recycle it to save us all from ourselves

 

Most dealers do not use the quart oils. They buy bulk containers ... Not sure if same quality as Toyota 0w20 or not. yet another reason to buy the oil and do it yourself...

 

You could probably use 5w20 no problem. They use the 0w-20 for more mileage and power. It's pretty amazing how many more times a minute 0w-20 circulates through the filter than thicker oil

 

When I was there ages ago and we first started we had synthetic 0w-20 in the bottles for 5.7 Tunda and 0w-20, 0w-30 regular oil on the line. It was all new with 5.7 Tundra was introduced.

 

I am at 180k plus. I do not have Xreas.
Normal wear and tear due to age. My CA bushings were leaking. So I replaced both UCA and LCA front. My shocks were gone, so replaced those all around. Sway bar bushings and links front and rear. Outer tie rod end.

 

I have some wear on passenger inner tie rod. Only thing I ever replaced on my 97 at 225k. I'm going to replace them all if I have to crawl my old ass down there and be done once for new tires. I upgraded to Energy bushings and spring isolators, heavy graphite applied for squeaky. I converted my sway bar diameter to SAE for universal greasable bushings and brackets. Cheaper than specific model parts. Universal trimmable polyurethane bump stops for $22 instead the stupid money they want. My bushings, other tie rods, ball joints were in really good shape. Electric fan, aluminum radiator, LCAs next. Right before it gets totaled.

 

I also had the dealer fail to change my filter during my final free oil change. I have never gone back. I wonder how common it is for the dealer to ignore filter change for “free” oil changes. I assumed I was the only one this had happened to.

 

For me, I know it was bc he had to drop the skid plate. But I put a piece of duct tape on the filter that read “give to customer”. Guess what I didn’t get? I was livid.

 

HAHAHAHAHHA..

I used to do something similar when rotating tires.. I used to mark each tire with different color from inside, and see if they actually rotate them...
I could imagine that a big percentage of these so called free oil changes are either done without changing the filter, or not even done at all.....

 

It’s unfortunate that I had to do that but I trust nobody working on my car. That’s why I do all the maintenance myself. Think about how you need to lube the drive line. Are they doing it? I can’t live wondering if someone did it or not. I’ll just do it myself

 

Fucking assholes.

 

This conversation is funny. It describes me perfectly. I just went in to get a warranty replacement for my Transfer Case shift knob ( it had the broken plastic piece rattle). The Service Advisor said I needed to leave it with them to replace the part. I told him that I would bring him the old one and he could hand me the new one. I think he decided it was not worth the argument and ordered the part, which I picked up and put on in the parking lot. He didn't even bother walking outside to verify mileage (only 17k on it).

 

I got lucky when they did my throw out bearing on my 2020 Taco 6MT under warranty. I crawled under the truck afterwards to inspect everything, and it looked as it did from the factory.

 

That’s interesting. What year is your rig and how did you know you needed that knob? Was it easy to replace?

 

Mine is a 2021. I knew I needed it as it started to rattle loudly. I could hold or hit it and the noise changed (or went away for a little bit). I unscrewed it and shook it and it rattled. It just screws off and on so easy to test and replace.

The problem is that a tab breaks off under the cap and starts to rattle. Think it was a design flaw. New part has a B1 revision number at the end of it.

 

Almost every oil change shop upcharges for synthetic oil. Dealerships usually service all makes and models, so this is why they advertise their lowest price for conventional oil. Unsure how this constitutes a scam.

 

Can you ask for specific technician if you know him during service at the dealer? E.g., I would like to have _techician_name to work on my car.

 

They probably wouldn’t and I don’t know any techs that work there anyway. For an oil change it will always be the new guy which is hit or miss

 

The experienced mechanics are usually doing brakes, suspension, etc.....

 

It says synthetic oil for 68 dollars but then says 0w-20 is extra. 0w-20 is synthetic. Now do you get it.

 

I should have read through your post a bit better. I retract my previous statement

 

lol. All good brother

 

I took my '23 in for its first oil change at 5K miles, and as expected, the service advisor told me the "free" Toyota Care oil change wasn't until 10K miles. I told him no one in their right mind goes 10K miles in-between oil changes, and I have no problem paying for it. I think it was $80, give or take...

 

Your statement shows that you have little knowledge about modern synthetic oils and the fact that driving habits have more to do with oil change intervals than milage alone.
I change my oil once a year and it usually occurs at about every 10,000. The 2010 Corolla I just traded in had 153,000 miles on the clock. With 10K oil changes the engine was so quiet that unless the AC was on, one could not hear the engine running.

My typical drive is 20 minutes or longer over rural highways. That prevents the worst factor of oil contamination which is from condensation after cold starts. The oil reaches well over 200° F for the last half of that drive evaporating any condensation that was present from the 1st 5 minutes of operation.

My GF does a lot of 5 minute drives followed by a shut down of several hours. She changes (synthetic) oil every 5K miles as is appropriate.

Changing oil more often than necessary is not a good economic or environmental practice. The oil change industry is promoting the blanket 3000/5000 mile oil change interval to line their own pockets.

Synthetic oils do not suffer from breakdown the same as organic oils. With synthetic oil the major problem is contamination.