I work with a mechanic at work who got out of the dealerships to make more money. He has told me many stories about techs at the dealer ripping people off but in all fairness that's everywhere. The one tech that he told me about would squirt oil around the oil pan on customers cars and tell them that they had an oil leak. That oil leak was charged as a $250 repair so he'd put it on the lift, wipe off the oil, sit around for a few minutes, then give them back their car. Then he said that the service manager for that shop loved that tech for making the shop so much money. That last part is the most disturbing part to me. Then again I'm lucky enough to do my own work so I know if the work is bad that I screwed up.

 

Where did your friend purchase a $30 O2 sensor? Everywhere I've looked they're $80 to $100.

 

I have funny experience with Toyota dealer in Japan.
I needed my car to get inspection before weekend (2 year each and very strict and costs a lot comparing to US)
I let Toyota guy to do that because they come to pick my car up and bring it back in 2days. (inspectioon in JPN takes whole day)
Toyota guy mentioned that I had little oil leak from top of engine so I asked to replace packing after inspection. 2 days ago they drove my car to my office.

Night mare happened when I turn off the engine.
I get huge knocking every time I turn engine off.
I call up Toyota to fix it but Toyota mechanic say “it is diesel engine and it seems normal.”
And also “If you really think it is something wrong we can look into it.”
I could not believe what they say!!
Anyway I made them check into it but they could not find what is wrong after few days.

Second nightmare happened that driving about 20mpg and I see black smoke I've ever seen.
Every one on the street look back to my car.
My car went to Toyota again same day.
It should not be happened because my car should not passed inspection with black smoke before they touch my engine.
I call up the boss of dealer and explained what is happening.
He promised me to fix everything up.

My car was at Toyota for a whole month after that.
What they did was changing parts...
New engine mount, injection pomp, injection pipes, Air filter, fuel filter, and some more parts without asking me. but I asked for timing belt for service.

It sounds good right? I am getting all new parts!
Should be fixed wherever is wrong. But it did not fix anything after a month.

I talked to boss about checking with my repair shop and if they can not fix it I understand it was my fault but if they fix it Toyota should pay for them.
The boss accepted that.

I made Toyota to make a list what they replaced to new and passed it to repair shop with my car.
They started from where Toyota did not check and replaced mission mount and some but it did not work too.
So my repair shop started over from where Toyota touched.
They finally fixed it!!!
NO SOMOKE!! NO KNOCKING!!
Problem for huge knocking and black smoke was…… Toyota installed injection wrongly.
Repair shop explained that Injection area there is a way to install in order. Also bolts were tightened like a hell.

I called up Toyota dealer and talked to chief mechanic and explained that.
He was like “……….” Nothing to say. This means he did not check what his staff did and Toyota changed lots of parts but problem was only install miss for injection.
He also said “Yes, Injection needs to be installed in order.”
But his staff could not install collect. They paid all for my repair shop fee.

I learned the some dealers are not right place to fix. It is the place to buy.
They can not fix but replacing to new parts. Hey I can do that.
I know there might be good mechanic at Toyota but my dealer.
I will never let them touch my car and good experience for now.
On the other hand, I can say I was luckey to have bunch of new parts replaced without any charge

Thanks for reading my broken English

 

Broken english? Heck, you talk better than half the kids on the net! (me included). lol

 

Thanks! I still need to keep working on it to be talking like an kids to adult!

 

at least they paid for it all. In America, they would've billed us for it!

 

ATTEMPTED RAPE IS A CRIME... I suggest you call the police immediately!!!

 

Texted my friend and the error code given was...

"P0420 cat def belo thresh bank 1"

He explained everything to the mechanic at the dealership. They were well aware that he just installed an exhaust system (which makes the diagnosis of a bad Catalytic converter even worse). The only thing they did was plug into the computer and generate the same codes Advanced did and then look up the code in a book which said bad CC.

I don't mean to offend anyone working a Toyota dealership. I am well aware all dealerships are independently owned and operated and just like any garage there are good ones and bad ones. It's just that the dealerships are supposed to be the experts. The service my friend got was not expert service. Apparently there are no codes that will say bad 02 sensor, at least not for this 02 sensor. If this 02 sensor has failed, it states bad CC.

LittleRunner, if this had been your dealership and this taco was pulled into your bay would you have recommended a new CC? Is generating a code and then looking it up in a book what they all do? What would you have done differently at your dealership?