10k mile service

Hi all,

So i have an appt tomorrow at my dealer for the 10k service. Not sure if I should go or not and need your help to convince me. I skipped the 5k as since it was basically just a tire rotation and to let air under the hood. Since then I've changed my own oil at 5k and have done nothing else. As of today I'm at 9,6xx miles.

Is it worth bringing it in? I ask because I would be getting a free oil change and tire rotation, among the other "inspection" items... but I hesitate because I fear the dealer will F something up like I've read about several times on here from other members. Should I take advantage of this "free" service or skip it and do my own maintenance? Am I just being paranoid? what did you do with your ToyotaCare appointments?

Thanks!

 

The service isn’t free...it’s factored into the cost of the truck. The odds the dealer will damage your vehicle and not make it right is greater than you hitting the Powerball jackpot on Saturday.

 

Frankly, the questions you're asking could have been mostly solved by going in for the 5k? I did an oil change at 5k, but let the shop have at it for all the scheduled services so far. I was able to get comfortable with them at the 5k. I pulled the wheels when messing with stuff and found the lug nuts to not be over-torqued and they felt to be evenly torqued also. About the only thing that I find odd is that they always mess with the seat adjustments. No big deal there, just weird.

Since, I have found the oil filled perfectly to the top notch. And found similar lug nut torquing when swapping the wheels across to finish up the cross rotation since I didn't feel like asking them to do it.

I can't resist free service work and will even go back to do the last needless 25k service. From then on, it will be all me. I am curious about the oil filter canister come the 30k service. I have no worries about it being nylon, but will it come off nicely? It sure did at 5k.

 

There are thousands of 5K/10K checks done everyday... not many, if any, articulate the successful service center experiences versus almost all that have had a bad one do. You did pay for the ToyotaCare (nothing is free)... go and get the service done, and follow up with your own Quality Control check if still concerned.

 

Yes 'Free" over tightening of your oil filter housing and lug nuts. Free grease spot on your seat and an extra free scratch on the door. I avoid that place like the plague.

 

Just had my 10k done last weekend. No issues and they also did the recall fix of the wave sensor.

 

Haha! With the torque printed right on it, there really isn't much other that hoping the shop trains and supervises well enough.

 

Yes, do your own oil changes and/or buy a Baxter Performance spin on filter adapter like I did.

 

Do your own service, you will be happy you did. I do not bring any of my vehicles in to a dealer unless I have to..........................

 

The goons in the service dept don't pay a lot of attention to torque specs I can assure you that.

 

Just curious as I haven't taken a look into it, what's involved in changing the filter in the canister?
Sounds like a big mess, like the old pre-spin on Ford and Chevy canister filters.

 

I know where you are coming from.

I can tell you, though, that my lug nuts from my dealer are golden. I honestly have no complaints, and I am not a comfortable with shops touching my stuff. Like I said, the final verdict will come in 9k when I swap the filter.

 

It's a piece of cake. Just download the Service Manual that is posted around here somewhere. The OE filters come with a drain valve that makes it mess-free.

 

I've been bringing it in to the dealer because I'm paranoid about them trying to void the warranty in case I ever need it (knock on wood) and figured it only helps the resell value if you have all maintenance records

 

like IEsurfer said..take it in!

 

I take mine in, if they overtighten, guess who gets to deal with and fix it? The dealer. I’ve got a pretty good service department that has serviced my Toyota vehicles for over 10 years. They also know me, and if I catch something not right, they’ve always fixed it, and at times went above and beyond. Other than some past instances that required higher intervention, no complaints usually.

 

Stats:
Toyota sells 250K Tacomas a year.

Less than 3% of vehicle owners now change their own oil.

There are not many people who post on Tacomaworld compared to total owners.

Most people only post when there is a problem.

If dealers screwed up as often as people say, there would be hundreds of thousands of posts about dealers. There's not. There's not even hundreds of those posts here.

My dealer has been taking care of my Toyotas for 15 years. They have screwed up exactly once. Cut O ring on filter. Got home and oil leaked out on my driveway. I called them, told them my problem. Within 30 minutes there was a roll back picking up my 4Runner and putting oil dry on my driveway. Within two hours there was a cleaning company that came out, scrubbed my driveway and removed all trace of oil. The following week their sales manager called and they gave me a Toyota Platinum warranty because I had inquired about possible damage to the engine from lower oil level. The light never came on tho. I drove the 4Runner 100K and traded it in on another one.

Does this sound like a bad dealer experience?

Make your own choices instead of strangers on a nameless, faceless internet.

 

Its just oil change and tire rotation and maybe air filters, the dealer is giving me a free engine air filter for filling out a survey.

 

My '18 TRD Sport is nearing 9000 miles and even though I nearly changed oil at 5000 miles I decided to follow Toyota's 10,000 mile recommendation as I've followed their recommendations on my '96 4x4 the entire 23 years I've owned it and and have experienced 412,000 trouble-free miles.

I believe I will change oil myself as even though I've never heard any negatives regarding Toyota performed oil changes I own a C7 Grandsport Corvette and there's horror story after horror story regarding Chevy dealers changing oil in their 10-quart 'dry-sump' systems. Everything from under-filling, over-filling, lose oil filters, double-gasketing oil filters, not draining both drain plugs, filling oil in coolant reservoir as opposed to oil reservoir.

It's really a sad state when one has to worry about having such a simple routine task performed at new car dealerships.

 

The level of paranoia over dealer service is ridiculous. You’d think trucks across the brand spectrum were blowing up daily.

Go get your service. You paid for it. If you don’t want them to rotate your tires, tell them not to do it. If they over tighten your oil filter, well, just turn your wrench a little harder to get it off when you do your own services.