My daily rant.

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SrC said:
I was a Toyota tech at a dealer for 8 years. I feel ya.
My last and current Toy a HL., I had brought to the dealer for a Front Brake rotor and Pad recall. Car had like 400 miles on it. The Valet who took my keys to drive into the shop, had a slew of other keys in his hand from other customers, And He Grabbed my Leather steering wheel with all the keys and cut the leather on the wheel. I was livid, and Got no where. I even walked over to the Parts department to get a price on this $600.+ Steering wheel. And dropped it on the Service writers desk and said here you go, you have to eat this. I am not. It was a battle, that went no where, except apologies, and free oil changes for a year. Which I didn't want. I told them to give me a case of OE Filters. And they did. Then within 10 miles after I left the left to drive home, Left front brake let's go. The brake pads were installed backwards, squealing and 2 bolts were never tightened. Fell off, Lost them. They wanted me to drive the car back I said come and tow it. Not safe to drive. Horrible Stealership. Never again. They repaired it. And I insisted on walking into the shop to see the car on the lift to inpsect it myself. They freaked out. I told them, I will not accept this car otherwise. My life on the line here, not theirs. Toyota Corporate couldn't do anything. Because the dealer is just a Franchise, and it was their bad work. Not reflecting the mfr fault at all. The dealer just gets a black mark from Toyota USA for the record. To this day the cut leather on the Steering wheel urks me to no end.:mad:
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That's terrible. You have a right to be pissed. They don't like it when I say no apprentice's are to touch my vehicle.

It was a Toyota dealership I was referring to also. Once we have also had to convince them that our new vehicle had an issue with the dpf system as it was blowing white smoke for about a week. Like a crop duster. It's a very well known issue but they decided to played the dumb card at first and even trying to say my wife had done something wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I like Toyota's vehicles (I've owned 6 of them) and some of the guys at the parts shop are great but the service department needs to pick up their game.
 
Doing your own tire rotation or using anther Tire shop to do it will NOT void any warranty. Fact. It' s against the law for a New Car dealer to state this. They always try and scare you i regards. An old ploy, to keep you going there as a customer. I know people who kept going to the same old Dealer for years after they boght their car. The servce record was a complete scam. Many services weren't even performed. Like 2 Timing belts never replaced etc. Yet charged over $600. for he service. I seen it all. Dealers are the absolute worst place to bring your car. Especially for routine maintenance. The will ruin a wet dream. I've seen oil changes done and the car had no oil installed. They send you down th eroad , then you get towed back with a bricked $engine$. ANd they still won't own up to the fact that the engine is empty of oil. Horrible.
But, New car tires are technically warranted by the Tire Mfr. Not the Car Mfr of the vehicle.
 
SrC said:
Doing your own tire rotation or using anther Tire shop to do it will NOT void any warranty. Fact. It' s against the law for a New Car dealer to state this. They always try and scare you i regards. An old ploy, to keep you going there as a customer. I know people who kept going to the same old Dealer for years after they boght their car. The servce record was a complete scam. Many services weren't even performed. Like 2 Timing belts never replaced etc. Yet charged over $600. for he service. I seen it all. Dealers are the absolute worst place to bring your car. Especially for routine maintenance. The will ruin a wet dream. I've seen oil changes done and the car had no oil installed. They send you down th eroad , then you get towed back with a bricked $engine$. ANd they still won't own up to the fact that the engine is empty of oil. Horrible.
But, New car tires are technically warranted by the Tire Mfr. Not the Car Mfr of the vehicle.
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Your absolutely right.but it's the first ever bran new vehicle I ever bought right from the show room and I figured it's free and it was right before last winter and it was freezing out side and I just didn't want to rotate them in the drive way in the cold .lol so I took a chance.bad choice.learned my lesson..that's why I miss working in a shop.the bennifit of having the lift is awesome..it's been 8 years that I have changed careers.i now work for the government./Navy and I do nuclear submarine construction.so no lifts there lol
 
Warby said:
That's terrible. You have a right to be pissed. They don't like it when I say no apprentice's are to touch my vehicle.

It was a Toyota dealership I was referring to also. Once we have also had to convince them that our new vehicle had an issue with the dpf system as it was blowing white smoke for about a week. Like a crop duster. It's a very well known issue but they decided to played the dumb card at first and even trying to say my wife had done something wrong.

Don't get me wrong, I like Toyota's vehicles (I've owned 6 of them) and some of the guys at the parts shop are great but the service department needs to pick up their game.
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Toyotas are among the best cars out there. Will treat you well. Take it to the dealership, and you will have issues. And never accept the FREE inspection. They did this to my mom in Fl at a Toyota Stealership. Ed Morse Toyota. I had changed the Air cabin filter and Engine intake filter not 3 months prior. The dealer Service writer brings out a Cabin filter that was clogged to hell. She calls me here in NY sending me the pix of it ansd asks if she needs this for a $110. to replaace it? I said No. That is NOT your Cabin filter. I changed it already months prior withh one purchased form their own parts dept. She might have had 1k miles on that filter if that. I called the service writer directly and told him to scam someone elses elderly mother and called the owner directly to say I will call the BBB on them. They gave her a free oil change in the future. I told her to not even use the free oil change. Never go there again.
 
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King blitz said:
Your absolutely right.but it's the first ever bran new vehicle I ever bought right from the show room and I figured it's free and it was right before last winter and it was freezing out side and I just didn't want to rotate them in the drive way in the cold .lol so I took a chance.bad choice.learned my lesson..that's why I miss working in a shop.the bennifit of having the lift is awesome..it's been 8 years that I have changed careers.i now work for the government./Navy and I do nuclear submarine construction.so no lifts there lol
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In the end it wasn't really free when you think about it. I would have taken it to a reputable tire shop. But I get it, many think the dealer knows best.
I worked at one. It's a dirty business. The techs are underpayed and with little experience most of the time. The hourly labor rate will never equate to the poor Quality service you get. Why I got out of it as a tech. I let them send me to Toyota tech school and then I moved on. I was too good for them. They would call me years later to come back. Ironically. Dealers have a very High turnover rate with technicians. Because dealers suck. If you have warranty issues, yes you have no choice. But I would shop around for the best reviewed Dealer. Where you buy your car new, rarely means you will get the best service when needed. Dealers make most of their revenue with service and parts. Never with their new car sales. They even make more money selling their used cars.
 
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SrC said:
In the end it wasn't really free when you think about it. I would have taken it to a reputable tire shop. But I get it, many think the dealer knows best.
I worked at one. It's a dirty business. The techs are underpayed and with little experience most of the time. The hourly labor rate will never equate to the poor Quality service you get. Why I got out of it as a tech. I let them send me to Toyota tech school and then I moved on. I was too good for them. They would call me years later to come back. Ironically. Dealers have a very High turnover rate with technicians. Because dealers suck. If you have warranty issues, yes you have no choice. But I would shop around for the best reviewed Dealer. Where you buy your car new, rarely means you will get the best service when needed. Dealers make most of their revenue with service and parts. Never with their new car sales. They even make more money selling their used cars.
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I know a few good mechanics.notice how I said mechanic and not technician because there is a big difference..old school mechanic can just listen to a car and know what's wrong .technicians need scanners with these new cars to read the computer/ ecm.but back to the mechanics I know they are under payed but they have pride in there work and still perform great service..it's all on that person if they care about what they do .it all comes down to being professional
King blitz said:
I know a few good mechanics.notice how I said mechanic and not technician because there is a big difference..old school mechanic can just listen to a car and know what's wrong .technicians need scanners with these new cars to read the computer/ ecm.but back to the mechanics I know they are under payed but they have pride in there work and still perform great service..it's all on that person if they care about what they do .it all comes down to being professional
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These technicians get lost with out a code from a scanner.lol God forbid you ask to listen to your motor..they say oh bring it in I'll scan it.they can't tell if your motor is running to lean or rich by listening because that experience is missing.my wife has a 2013 Corolla and I so far the little that has gone wrong it I've been able to tell just by the sound of the motor.its more cost effective to have a old school mechanic diagnose a engine problem than having a technician having to scan and charge a diagnostic fee.sometimes near 150.dollars .that's bull
 
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In the automotive trade at least , a Tech. and Mech. can be used interchangeably. Tech sounds nicer. It's just marketting in the end, how you want to call yourself. The experience held by each person is what matters. Knowing how to use a scan tool is pretty much a given for anyone who works on cars for a trade. I've seen a Toyota Diagnostic Master Technician ( highest level, highest paid) blown away by someone who had much less experience. The guy at the shop who just does the Oil changes, is generally not that guy. An idiot can change oil IMHO. So Shops always have that one guy who does that low profit dirty work. He is the guy who never had any formal training. Just gets low wages and was shown what to do. Like many Jiffy Lube joints. Stay away from Quick lube places. Be warnd. They are all scammers. And will ruin you car, all while using the wrong and cheapest lubes. Trust me. Often suggesting to do repairs that aren't even needed and then never even performed. Many investigatons into this. Cams being concealed under the hoods of cars , and the work was watched. Sometimes intentional damage created, or work never even performed.
 
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SrC said:
In the automotive trade at least , a Tech. and Mech. can be used interchangeably. Tech sounds nicer. It's just marketting in the end, how you want to call yourself. The experience held by each person is what matters. Knowing how to use a scan tool is pretty much a given for anyone who works on cars for a trade. I've seen a Toyota Diagnostic Master Technician ( highest level, highest paid) blown away by someone who had much less experience.
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Yeah your right..just because they have the fancy tools doesn't mean they know how to use them..I have a few snap on scanners which took me many years to pay for them but I only know how to use them for certain things and there is so much more that I never got to learn .didn't use them on customer cars but bought them for personal use and serves me well to just scan and delete codes after repairs..
 
I love my tools also. SnapOn can be overkill for many wallets. If you are not $making$ money with them, hard to justify using them. There are many other sub $1k scanners out there that will do the same as a SnapOn scanner will. With SnapOn You have to pay for/subscribe to steady updates with them. I don't own one, but have used them many times.
The Many features the better scanners have, aren't always even used by many techs. Scope functions etc to check fuel injectors etc is not really necessary. The tool doesn't make the the mechanic/tech. The exper. of the tech does.
 
Usually there is that one SnapOn Scanner in the shop. Shop owned. Most Techs will have their own SnapOff scanners.
Not all SnapOn stuff is USA made. And much of the components are outsourced anyway, despite assembled/ made in the US.
 
Absolutely correct..I only bought them because my boss had one and the snap on truck allways every week came buy and the mechanics bought tools or payed there bills . payment plans.i would walk in and buy things for auto body.bought my tools like the simple stuff .and saw a few scanners on the truck and they were not even the high level ones that my boss had.so I bought it and I never really felt the pain paying for it because every week he would only take 20 dollars .did that for like 2 years . believe I payed a little over 2k on one of them..as for the updates on soft ware I just bring it to my old boss and does it for me .no charges.i bought them in 2010 and back then there really wasn't much out there that was better..I mean if you had no connections to a snap on dealer then you had really not much of choices out there..what was being offered on the net wasnt better and what was better than a snap on wasn't offerd by going on the webb..only dealerships had that tech..you could get a cheap scanner but didn't do all things mine does..even to date I still talk to my old boss and he still uses his snap on scanners and swears by them..
speeding_Infraction said:
^^^^ I try to buy USA made when I can but I can't justify snap-on tools lol. Maybe if I was an onsite welder or something similar I could but right now.... Too much 🤑🤑🤑
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Yes snap on is costly ..all of my hand tools are 100 percent warranty. but I've had the same snap on screwdriver set for almost 15 years..and never had to replace them ..Handel's wear off first before the heads do..we also had MAC tools guy come by the shop and they hated snap on tools guy..lol kinda funny to watch them on a Friday afternoon telling each other off.
SrC said:
Usually there is that one SnapOn Scanner in the shop. Shop owned. Most Techs will have their own SnapOff scanners.
Not all SnapOn stuff is USA made. And much of the components are outsourced anyway, despite assembled/ made in the US.
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Yeah my ex bosses snap on was made in Switzerland. Wouldn't be surprised if they make them now in Vietnam 🤣
 
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Don't get me wrong, SnapOn has decent service/warranty. A $luxury$ at best if you can afford them. Have seen side by side reviews and the other comparable brands do the exact same thing. Access OBDII protocols and give you user functional control of many Sensors, Activating ABS controllers, EVAP, TPS, control solenoids. etc, checking for function. Live data streaming etc. Key chip programming as well.
 
Rear and center diff broken at the same time on Kraton 6s. Never had that before. Center diff came apart and front diff had tooth broken. V4 center diff and V4 front diff. Just racing on pavement. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

20221231_135937.jpg
 
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It also melted the plastic side of the diff center mount. The bearing literally melted into it. Just had serviced all diffs about 4 lipos ago.
 
300k. That diff has held up for over 2 years of some very hard bashing. Front 50k, rear 20k. Rear diff is a V5. Front one broke a tooth. Using the older V4 diff in some rigs in the front.
 

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