Was I Snookered at the Dealer?

[eskimo2]

Toyotas have a reputation for lasting a long time; your car should go well past 200,000.  The key to keeping vehicle ownership at a reasonable cost is to avoid paying for things that you don’t need. Paying too much is secondary IMO.  I’d rather pay an honest guy a good amount than a dishonest guy/place for ripping me off.  My father in law takes his Lincoln and Toyota to an independent mechanic who is honest, knowledgeable but a bit pricey.  He doesn’t pay for anything that he doesn’t need to.  I take my Volvo to an independent mechanic who is honest, knowledgeable and for some reason cheap.  I always tip him because he almost always fixes things for mush less than I expect and he knows his stuff well enough that he never misdiagnoses a problem.  He even gives me free advice on the things I fix myself.  Generally when it comes to tipping I’m not a big tipper, but my mechanic deserves it.  Dealerships are nearly organized crime; do whatever it takes to find an honest mechanic.

[SteveBailey]

Originally posted by Xargos
Never buy another air filter again.

http://www.knfilters.com/

Also you might want to try one of these.

http://www.tornado-fuelsaver.tv/default.asp

There's been several studies done... K&N filters allow significantly more particulates in the motor than regular filters. In other words, they don't do their job as well as even a regular old Fram.
 K&N are for the trendy and the wannabes.  

Tornado...... put a NOS sticker on your car, that adds 15 HP too.  Blahahahaha!    

I like them because the fact that they filter better,

Again... no they do not.  You can find this info readily on the net.

[storch]

my 99 toyota is approaching 240k with nothing other than maintenance.  it pulls trailers up 5k GVW routinely.  when I change the tranny fluid it is dark and burnt.  by draining the pan every oil change and replacing the 3-4 quarts it takes the breakdown in the fluid can be mitigated never the less I change it every 15k or so as I stated.  it's pennies and easy to do.

my previous truck was a ford ranger that got clobbered by a tow truck I forget how many miles I had on that but it was over 200k as well.

[mora]

Originally posted by DiabloTX
Yeah, I'd say you got taken.  Clean the rear brakes?  Never heard that one.  Especially since the fronts provide the majority of the stopping power.

That's exactly the reason why the rear brakes need frequent "cleaning" in many cars. The calipers and the pads get stuck because they aren't getting sufficient stress and heat. I guess you really don't need to worry about the rear brakes over there, as you don't have vehicle inspections, and maybe that's why it's an uncommon procedure. Over here the rear brakes actually need to work, and therefore brake "cleaning" is a common procedure.

[storch]

if you drive the car regularly there is no real need for a cleaning

[mora]

Well unfortunately I have to fail about one car a day(out of abt 30) on average because of a corroded brake disc. Of course the need depends on the enviroment, and how the vehicle is driven, and whether it has a manual or auto transmission.

[DREDIOCK]

Whatever you do. Stay away from PEP boys

Had Breaks  and rotors done there a little over a year ago.

A few weeks ago all of a sudden I hear grinding.
chit. breaks are that worn already??
Not even any sqeeking first to indicate they needed changing.

So.. I VERY gingerly limp it back to pep boys. And they take it in to look at it.

Took em a full hour between the time they took it ut of the lot and into the bay and they come back telling me I need all new Breaks again AND new front rotors....again. oh...and a left side tie rod.

Im like WTF in 20+ years of driving Ive never had breaks wear out on me in a year (actually it was almost exactly 14 months)
Not to mention I brought it to another PEP boys a couple months sooner and had them  check everything including the breaks since they said they would do it for free  and they came back telling me everything was fine.
So we argue back and forth them telling me they only warranty Breaks for a year and the year had passed and basically I was SOL. and they tell me ist gonna be like $600 to fix it.
I say thanks but no thanks saying this entire deal was BS and I was going to bring it to my who is now my regular Mechanic.
Takes em another hour to bring the truck back out .
During the wait A lady who was also waiting stopped me and asked me what the problem was. So I told her.
Now SHE had also been waiting. sjhe brought it in for a basic tuneup and they tried telling her she needed all sorts of crap. Her car was less then 2 years old. and SHE had been waiting since before I even got there to get her car back

so they bring my truck out to the lot again
Then they tried billing me for the inspection which right behind the friggen man was a sign saying they did "FREE BREAK INSPECTIONS"

So we Argued some more about that.  Him telling me its only free if they are doing the work. LOL then how is it free? and thats NOT what it says on the sign. More arguing and he drops the inspection charge. and I finally get out of there.

so I bring it to my mechanic and yes I did need  new FRONT breaks. but I didnt need rotors or new tie rods. the  rotors just needed to be cut.
total bill including an oil change and lube job $250.

Hell. the guy even cleaned up my chrome wheels for me.

This was the second bad experience I've had with Pep boys.

A couplke years ago my oil pressure suddenly dropped to like zero.
I limp it in basically under impulse power to the nearest pep boys (which happened to be the same one. And tell them Im not getting any oil pressure.
they take it in and another hour later they bring it back out telling me they dont do that kind of work there and hit me with a diagnostics bill of $30 which said "No oil pressure"

Well no friggen chit! I knew that much thats why I brought it in to begin with.

Oil pump had crapped out on me obviously. I didnt need to be told what was wrong. I needed it fixed.

Thank god I had dumped in some slick 50 a yea r ealier as no damage was done to the engine.

Same thing happend back in Sept. Seem to be having bad luck with oil pumps dispite regular oil changes.

in any event. Find a local mechanic and stay away fro the chains
what Im betting happend with the breaks is they took it in. changed everything figuring I'd just say "ok" and they would just collect their money. then when I said no. they hadto undo everything.

I know it doesnt take an hour to see if the breaks are bad or not.

all ya gotta do is take off the flipping tire and look at it

A couple weeks later IO get a call from someone taking a survey of my exper9ience with PEP Boys.

I it is impossable to anyone to receive a lower score then I gave.
If it were possible. I would have given it.

[Mark Luper]

DREDIOCK ,

Perhaps the problem was due to the fact you asked them to fix your Breaks instead of your Brakes.  

Mark

[DiabloTX]

Originally posted by mora
That's exactly the reason why the rear brakes need frequent "cleaning" in many cars. The calipers and the pads get stuck because they aren't getting sufficient stress and heat. I guess you really don't need to worry about the rear brakes over there, as you don't have vehicle inspections, and maybe that's why it's an uncommon procedure. Over here the rear brakes actually need to work, and therefore brake "cleaning" is a common procedure.

When I managed the Mercedes repair shop we never had a "clean the rear brakes" procedure.  It was done when the rear pads and sensors were replaced.  Würth was the only chemical/cleaning products we ever used.  Also, I can't say for Finland, but in Texas you'll see the front wheels of all-disc braked cars have far more brake pad powder on them than the rears do, vastly more.  And we do have vehicle inspections mandated by the state: 2 years for a new car, 1 year for the rest.

[doobs]

yeah find an honest independant(snicker).


Cars are becoming way too advanced for most independants.

They call all the time looking to pick the dealerships brain to fix cars in there shop.

The biggest thing I have seen latley, is the independant shops not ordering parts for there customers, but sending them to the dealer to buy the part, while the customers car is in the independants shop.  Why?

Because they aren't sure of there diagnosis, and don't want to assume the responsibility of eating a wrong part, they tell the customer to bring back the part (that didn't fix the problem) to the dealer and get your money back.  Well they know damn well that we are not going to take back a used electrical item, but the customer doesn't.  So Joe customer comes in to return, I inform them that it is not returnable sorry. and that there repair shop knows the policy for returning used electrical parts.

We are picking up more and more customers bercause of this.

Not saying all dealers are on the up and up, but they are not all bad.

I'd say there are way more crooked independant shops than dealers

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Mark Luper
DREDIOCK ,

Perhaps the problem was due to the fact you asked them to fix your Breaks instead of your Brakes.  

Mark

Dont you have a plain to catch?

[DiabloTX]

Originally posted by Mark Luper
DREDIOCK ,

Perhaps the problem was due to the fact you asked them to fix your Breaks instead of your Brakes.  

Mark

lolz

[mora]

Originally posted by DiabloTX
When I managed the Mercedes repair shop we never had a "clean the rear brakes" procedure.  It was done when the rear pads and sensors were replaced.  Würth was the only chemical/cleaning products we ever used.  Also, I can't say for Finland, but in Texas you'll see the front wheels of all-disc braked cars have far more brake pad powder on them than the rears do, vastly more.  And we do have vehicle inspections mandated by the state: 2 years for a new car, 1 year for the rest.

I don't want to start an arguing match, but when I was a mechanic at a Volvo/Renault dealership I had to do it almost daily. Maybe calipers and pads don't get stuck in Texas, but here they do. It happens more often in compact cars, but it happens on bigger cars aswell. Front brakes don't tend to get stuck as easily because they are indeed under much more stress. BTW now that I think of it the the front brakes of G series Chevrolet Vans get stuck quite often.

[storch]

mora,

that is a very rare occurance here.  the only time I've experienced it was with a ford truck which was seldom used and was caught in a flood.  many months after the flood we went to use it and all the breaks as well as the clutch were rusted and fused pads to drums/rotors.  the clutch was fused to the flywheel.  a complete dis assembly was required.

do you guys use much road salts?

[rpm]

Wow Dred, I'm not sure you came out any better.

4 Wheel brake job -$99

Oil change & lube - $19.99

They only overcharged you $130.