Done with OEM skid plate

amen brother. I watched in horror one time as the mechanic didnt even grab a couple threads, just hit it with the impact and yes, it cross threaded it. I see you're in Utah. We spent a month there in September and every day we off roaded. We did Moab. The scenery there is breathtaking. So beautiful. Thats why we bought the 4R so we can "explore" where a car cant get to. Mine is a 22 and we already have 74k miles on it. Every year we head out west and start in North Dakota and work our way down to Arizona over 3 months. Every single day we are hitting the trails. I have absolutely no regrets we have racked up so many miles. We bought it and modified it to have fun. You only get so many days on this earth, ENJOY LIFE TO THE FULLEST!

 

I’m the OP. Finally got the RCI skid plate installed. Very nice and was able to sell my front skid plate and the oil pan skid for what I paid for the RCi.

 

My 21 has 77k miles. Sometimes I feel bad I’m putting so many miles on it, but this thing is literally made for travel like you’re doing. I have a fair amount as daily driver miles, but a very good amount of actual traveling and off-road miles. No ragrets!

 

Sorry to be off topic but I had similar experience. It was for my BMW F10. I paid for an oil change and it was never performed no filter, no oil was replaced! They just re-set'd my oil light and sent me on my way. How I knew about this was because prior to taking the vehicle back, the SA mentioned something about a leaky oil housing that needed a gasket change. I politely declined it and drove less than 10 miles home, parked it for a week or so and never drove it since coming back from the stealership. During that week, I ordered the parts online so that I could do the work myself. When I went to drain the oil, it was darker than dark. The filter looked so dirty and dark compared to a new one side by side. There's no way driving less than 10miles will contaminate the oil this much. NO WAY! So I'll never go back into a dealership again for work unless it's warranty work. I still have my 1st free oil change from my 5th gen. If it was transferrable, I'd be happy to give it away to someone.


BTW, there's quite a few oil filter drain tube on Amazon for like $10-13, no need to pay $30 for the motive drain tube. I have the generic one and it works great. Never get any oil splatters or spills.

 

Did you let the scumbag dealership know you're on to them?

I also got one of the other filter housing drain tools.

 

Get "save old parts" or "return old parts" on the work order in writing. They could give you any used filter lying around, but that's less likely if it's in writing that you're watching them.

 

I only did it because it was "free". Ive never been back, i now do my oil changes. Plus i know my skid plate bolts wont be cross threaded

 

Great idea.

But I’ll add my initials on mine so I would know if they try to give me some random parts instead.

I’m still leaning towards doing my own maintenance even if I have free ones. Stories here scare me away from the dealership service

 

Similar thing happened when I had my Scion tC serviced at the stealership. Half off oil change and free tire rotation. On the inside of the rims I had written in the brake dust, LF, RF so I could see if they rotated them. Upon pick up I asked the service manager if they rotated the tires, he was hamming it up with an emphatic, oh yeah! Topped off your fluids too. So I walked him over to my vehicle and showed him where I marked the rims and his jaw dropped and he started stuttering, uhhh, ummm, Hey “techs name”, why didn’t you rotate the tires!?! Well sir, I didn’t have the wheel lock….(I told the advisor I placed it in the console top shelf for them).

 

I think they have a front piece that replaces the plastic piece that protects the radiator from crap coming up into the radiator. Why didn’t you get that too?

 

I left the plastic piece on mine, it overlaps a little so I didn't bother bolting it to the skid plate. It worked out fine.

 

I tucked the back edge of the plastic piece under the front edge of the RCI skid for a while. I then got the RCI filler piece, but ended up selling the RCI stuff later.

 

Depending on the brand of oil and filter, DIY is anywhere from $25 to $45 cheaper. I did my last one with Toyota Synthetic Oil and OEM filter for $39.50.