Follow-up on Toyota Disaster

My previous post took a side trip from our Dodge truck conversation as I told you of my (less than satisfactory) experience with the service department at a local Toyota dealership.  Although I let the service manager know I was not pleased with my experience, the bottom line is that nothing happened.  He apologized, but didn’t offer anything more.  I don’t know what “more” would have meant, but just saying “sorry about that” didn’t do much to endear me to his dealership.

However, over the weekend, Toyota sent me a survey form to comment on my recent visit to their dealer.  I know these forms are VERY important to the dealer and the company. The dealer only wants favorable responses going to the home office.  I know this to be true because my local Dodge dealer always stresses the importance of completing the forms and if there was anything wrong, to let them fix it now before I say anything on the survey.  In fact, one day last year my Dodge dealer offered me a free oil change if I would bring my survey in to them before mailing.

These surveys hold weight.  I have a feeling that the Toyota dealer will be calling me back at some point in the near future… I’ll be sure and let you know.  Now, forget Toyota and let’s get back to Dodge talk!!!

Toyota Disaster

Okay, I know this is a Dodge blog, but my wife drives a Toyota. It has been a fine car for five years and I have no complaints about the “product”. However, we’ve posted some previous messages about the problems with Dodge dealers and I think we need to pay some equal time to their competitors – specifically, our local Toyota dealer. Here’s the story… (get out your kleenex).

The idiot light on the dash indicated there was an engine problem and the owner’s manual gave no help except to say “Take vehicle to the dealer”. So we did and learned that the catalytic converter was bad. Fortunately (and this is the only good part of this story), this part is warranted for 80,000 mi. so it was a no charge repair for us – in terms of money, but it was not in stock and we had to return the following week.

I won the toss and had to take the car to the dealer on a Friday morning for the repair that was supposed to take 1-2 hours. 3.5 hours after I arrived I was told that the mechanic stripped an oxygen sensor and that they had to order that part – and I would have to bring the car back AGAIN next week. This time they offered us a loaner car so that we could return when the car was ready. That was nice, but it didn’t make-up for the inconvenience, which was just getting under way… Since the car was to be there so long, I asked them to change the oil while they were making these repairs. “No problemo”, I was told.

I was called the following Wednesday (it was promised Tuesday) and told that my car was ready. I drove to the dealer, turned-in my loaner and while speaking to the service manager, it was discovered that they did NOT change the oil. “No”, I said, “I do not want to wait longer while you do this”. I left. That Saturday, my wife took the car to a oil change franchise to get her oil changed. While there she learned that there were missing bolts on the engine shroud and the dip stick tube was swinging in the breeze because another bolt(s) was also missing.

I called the Toyota dealer and expressed extreme frustration with a few expletives thrown in for emphasis. I was told to bring the car in (for the fourth time) and they would replace the missing bolts. When I got to the dealer, I “suggested” that the have a different mechanic make this latest repair – other than the one who already botched the job. They thought that was a good idea and promised they would get on this NOW.

The icing on the cake is that after almost 3 hours waiting, I finally decided that they must have discovered a serious problem, because it doesn’t take hours to replace a few bolts. By now I had it and was P.O’d big time. I went to the service manager’s office and asked what the new problem was. He looked at me like I was crazy and said that the car had been done for hours. It seems that someone “forgot” to tell me that I could leave with my car.

The bottom line is that IMHO, most dealers of any flavor suck. If the dealer’s going to suck anyhow, you may as well be driving the product that makes you happy – cause your dealer won’t!!!

Diesel fuel alternatives…

This post has been moved to here. Thanks.

Clutching at Straws

Bill G. sent me a question today for which I have an opinion, but not a “shop-proven” answer. So, I’m posting this in the hopes that someone will have better advice than mine. 
 
Question:  We have a 2002 Dodge RAM Diesel pickup with a manual 6 speed transmission. Recently the clutch failed and had to be replaced. The cost was almost $2000. It seems that 40,000 miles is a little soon to have this kind of problem. Are we just unlucky or have others had the same problem?

My $.02 cents… In my opinion 40k for a clutch to fail seems inordinately premature.  I’ve owned motorcycles with more mileage and no clutch issues – and MC clutches get more abuse than most 4-wheelers.  I did a quick Google on the question and here’s a few comments I dug up:

• How many miles does your clutch last?
• How many miles should a clutch last?
• The Auto Channel – If you got over 100,000 miles on the original clutch, you didn’t do badly. Clutch disk material is very much like the stuff that is used in brake pads and shoes, and it can take a lot of abuse. A clutch disk wears out pretty fast if you “slip” it during upshifts ….. Under normal conditions, a clutch should easily last 100,000 or more – unless a teen-ager is doing most of the driving.

If anyone has better information on this topic, please comment to this post.  Maybe we can figure out a way to help Bill out of this mess.