Tundra's 15,000 Mile Service

[03SilverSky]

I had the dealership perform the 15,000 mile service on my truck today. Weird thing was when I was about 2 miles out I looked at my odometer and noticed I had 14,998 miles. It turned over 15,000 just before pulling in. I told the service advisor he wasn't going to believe how many miles I had. Any how, I was wondering what some of these charges on my invoice were.

Element Sub-Assy, AI $111.53????
Oil additive MOC $29.88????
Fuel additive $4.00????
Washer solvent $1.99???? (this can't be window washer fluid can it? I figure that would have been a free top off.)

Any help here would be great.

I forgot to ask about my limited slip. Were they supposed to do anything with that at 15,000?

I also forgot to ask about the recall until I picked it up. Found out my truck is affected and they could have performed the repair. I would have expected them to check on the recall matter and perform the repair if needed. Seems to me this is a safety issue, which was ignored.

[xedge]

Dealer "services" are rip-offs. I had gone to my dealer for a warranty issue & inquired about the 15k service. What a joke...the svc. writer listed off the items, half of which aren't even on the list Toyota recommends with your vehicle. Bottom line is I only go for warranty service & use a reputable local mechanic for the other wrenching. I don't have a garage to do my own work, but my neighbor does.

[jasbus]

Just look at the service schedule in your manual, most of the stuff is simple do it yourself stuff...
save the dough.

[duke boy]

I hate service depts at dealers. They all screw you on almost everything. I am never going to a dealer again unless it's an electrical problem or I know the problem and have already gotten estimates elsewhere and they can compete with the other estimate.

[BobXRC]

A lesson I learned a long time ago was to get the break down of items a dealer does at the service intervals before I agree to bring it in (sometimes the advisors are too dumb to understand anything and need to call in their supervisor to talk to me - be careful here, the advisors use to be smart, I think the dealeships have learned they can get brainless people at half the price - don't be suprised if they have you talk to a tech if they cant get the supervisor, if so, be happy, they tend to be honest)

I've found some dealers are really good at doing whats necessary - and yes, some are going to rip you off if you come in and look and act clueless.

One dealer I dealt with (not for my tundra) had 15K priced out at $89 and 30K at $330. I got them to list out the items done, the only difference was fuel cleaner and drive belt check. The 15k work was resonable and matched the manufacter's recommendation, but the 30K was BS. The auto manufacture only added a drive belt check from 15K to 30k.

Anyway, I got them to confess that the fuel cleaner was priced near $200 and was nothing more than adding a can of cleaner to the fuel tank - which probably cost them no more than 4 bucks (I had a friend get the service done and he even got the techs notes with his invoice - the tech wrote "snake oil" next to the item - like I said, they tend to be honest).

So at 30K, I asked for 15k service with a drive belt check and paid under 100 bucks.

I also notice a lot of seniors in the waiting room at the dealers - I'm sure they are getting ripped big time (I've never seen one question the work needed).

Good luck

[Jonnie]

I realize this is an older thread, but didn't really want to start a new message.

My dealer emails me for service, and they log my service history onto www.idriveonline.com. Yesterday I got one for my 15k service.

The email listed reccomended items like changing the transmission fluid, spark plugs and air filter, along with setting the timing and tuning the engine. How do you tune a fuel injected/computer controlled engine? (with a laptop I guess)

Anway, when I looked at the user's manual, the 15k is oil/fliter change, tire totation and check the brakes, etc. Looks like the major services are 30/60/90/120 thousand and none of those include changing the transmission fluid. Plugs are reccomended every 30k, and so is changing the fluid in the differential (LSD).

So I'll just get oil/filter changes until I hit 30k. And I'm sticking with the Toyota Motors service schedule, not the dealer's.