Tweet
This post covers a number of areas so I thought I'd put it here.
I've just had our Prado 80,000km service done by the dealer round the corner from work. I didn't tell them to look out for anything special - at the time I couldn't think of anything that wasn't obvious. The hand brake wasn't working well (hit the end stop without really holding the vehicle) but I figured they should be checking that anyway.
First thing I notice is that the handbrake wasn't adjusted properly and comes all the way up till it hits the end stop. It seemed ok in their driveway, I was in a hurry and there was a queue inside because they were trying to close early so I thought I'd come back in a day or so to get it checked. But the question remains - how come they didn't adjust it.
Then I remembered that up in the Kimberley a few weeks ago the front right corner was making a knocking sound sometimes. I was at my non-Toyota mechanic so got him to jack the car up and wobbled the front right wheel - it has heaps of steering left/right play in it. My guess is that the steering rack end has failed.
I'm concerned that they didn't pick it up - how can they take the wheels off and not notice that much movement? My other mechanic thinks they should have - it's a pretty obvious problem when there is no weight on the wheel with the wheel wobbling easily by hand.
I'm also wondering if people think it should be covered by the factory warranty. My other mechanic says it should be - I think they'll blame it on me driving on corrugated roads.
Related to that, the CD player won't eject the CD inside it any more - should that be a warranty issue? I can't see how that one is my fault!
And once again they said they rotated my tyres but haven't - I know because I have 3 Toyo and 1 Cooper tyres (I cut a sidewall in Newman and that was all I could get) and the Cooper tyre is in the same spot (back left).
Do I jump up and down? Scream & yell? Talk to the front desk person or the service manager? Any hints on how to get them to fix it?
I think I need to find somewhere else to service it. I was using Toyota because we have the extended warranty/extra-care and I didn't want questions being asked if something went wrong in the middle of nowhere. When we stopped on the side of the road on the Mitchell Falls Rd, Kimberley, Toyota Extra Care were going to send out a flatbed truck to get the Prado back to Kunanurra whilst also towing our Tvan and they were looking at sending a car up with the flatbed so that my family could all drive back (since 5 of us won't fit in the tow truck, especially with a 6yr old who needs a car seat). My thinking was that if I had the car serviced by Toyota then they wouldn't be able to blame the previous service person for causing the problem and asking me to pay up. Does anyone have any experience with that? Otherwise I'll get it serviced at Arcus in Artarmon - not far from work (or the Toyota dealer...)
I've just had our Prado 80,000km service done by the dealer round the corner from work. I didn't tell them to look out for anything special - at the time I couldn't think of anything that wasn't obvious. The hand brake wasn't working well (hit the end stop without really holding the vehicle) but I figured they should be checking that anyway.
First thing I notice is that the handbrake wasn't adjusted properly and comes all the way up till it hits the end stop. It seemed ok in their driveway, I was in a hurry and there was a queue inside because they were trying to close early so I thought I'd come back in a day or so to get it checked. But the question remains - how come they didn't adjust it.
Then I remembered that up in the Kimberley a few weeks ago the front right corner was making a knocking sound sometimes. I was at my non-Toyota mechanic so got him to jack the car up and wobbled the front right wheel - it has heaps of steering left/right play in it. My guess is that the steering rack end has failed.
I'm concerned that they didn't pick it up - how can they take the wheels off and not notice that much movement? My other mechanic thinks they should have - it's a pretty obvious problem when there is no weight on the wheel with the wheel wobbling easily by hand.
I'm also wondering if people think it should be covered by the factory warranty. My other mechanic says it should be - I think they'll blame it on me driving on corrugated roads.
Related to that, the CD player won't eject the CD inside it any more - should that be a warranty issue? I can't see how that one is my fault!
And once again they said they rotated my tyres but haven't - I know because I have 3 Toyo and 1 Cooper tyres (I cut a sidewall in Newman and that was all I could get) and the Cooper tyre is in the same spot (back left).
Do I jump up and down? Scream & yell? Talk to the front desk person or the service manager? Any hints on how to get them to fix it?
I think I need to find somewhere else to service it. I was using Toyota because we have the extended warranty/extra-care and I didn't want questions being asked if something went wrong in the middle of nowhere. When we stopped on the side of the road on the Mitchell Falls Rd, Kimberley, Toyota Extra Care were going to send out a flatbed truck to get the Prado back to Kunanurra whilst also towing our Tvan and they were looking at sending a car up with the flatbed so that my family could all drive back (since 5 of us won't fit in the tow truck, especially with a 6yr old who needs a car seat). My thinking was that if I had the car serviced by Toyota then they wouldn't be able to blame the previous service person for causing the problem and asking me to pay up. Does anyone have any experience with that? Otherwise I'll get it serviced at Arcus in Artarmon - not far from work (or the Toyota dealer...)
), tyres rotation, torq spec they applied on wheel nuts (i hate over torq), engine oil level etc. At 12 months / 20K service I was supervised they had changed the fuel filter ( underneath between fuel tanks ), as you may aware they just don’t give a shit to change it, at least it happened to my friend’s 2014 prado kakadu diesel, found out 80K later the filter was the original one from brand new car. So my point is for $220 cap still worth to go but have to carefully pick the right one. Regards to the profit from $220 cap price servicing, if I’m not mistaken, Toyota service station will be able to claim back XXX amount of money for the labor and parts for the new car service from Toyota. Can anyone confirm this?
Comment