About to do a 200,000km (125,000miles) service at Toyota. What costs should I expect?

'The previous owner had the entire bottom of the vehicle sprayed with a thick black rubber-like coating to protect it from rust'.
This is from the OP.
My first thought - your fucked.
Is this not the biggest RED flag, other than purchase from a used car lot.
Previous owner prob knew it had frame rot, undercoated, got it dirty and traded it in. Used car lot picked it up from auction house.
Can't wait to hear what condition the frame is really in. Much good luck to you and I hope I'm wrong.
Ohh and find a good local mom n pop garage for repairs/maintenance. They will appreciate you.

 

What are the chances you can remove the majority of the undercoating? I’m guessing the used car dealership saw extensive rust, had no idea about the extended warranty and caked it on themselves. Here’s hoping this works out for you one way or another.

 

You should be able to fairly easily complete the following - throttle body cleaning, coolant flush, power steering flush, rear diff flush, oil change.
Slightly more difficult - replace spark plugs, flush brake fluid, replace accessory drive belt
Most difficult would be the transmission, drop the pan, replace the filter, reinstall the plan, refill the trans, drain and fill two or three more times to get all the old fluid out.

You should be able to do most of that with the help of a semi mechanically skilled friend over a weekend.
Honestly its not worth paying a indie shop or dealer for something as simple as a rear diff flush.

 

Very helpful, thank you!!!

 

Sooo this hits home. The used car lot DID actually pick it up from an auction house. After purchase, I took it to my buddie's small shop and he did do a rough frame inspection (hit it in a bunch of places to check for holes/rot) and didn't see any issues. Maybe the dealership can do a better inspection

 

This is some nightmare shit. Hope you gave them some hell after!

 

Check out your springs and shocks, if they are old/original, consider replacing them before getting that alignment. On my 2011, they were original and very much needed to be replaced. Even the fairly new TSB leaf packs are not very good; one of mine (drivers side) is slightly inverted with nothing in the bed.

Check the vent hoses on the transfer case and front differential 4WD actuators. Make sure they are not cracked where they connect. Check for excessive play in the center bearing on the driveshaft. Check all of the spinny bits that the serpentine belt goes around, idler and tensioner pulleys in particular.

Do a search here on TW and look for threads regarding rust. There are common places that tend to be the first/worst and you want to pay close attention to those.

Good luck, let us know how it goes. And enjoy your new Taco!

 

Thanks very much for these tips, super helpful! Will look into this.

 

$320 bucks for oil, plugs and filters and all that other shit? That is a great deal.

 

Why in the world would you go to a dealership for maintenance? Maybe you live in a wilderness area but I’d look for an independent shop with factory trained mechanics. A shop that’s been around and has a good reputation. Dealerships are nothing more than a training ground for mechanics and the good ones leave soon as possible so you are left with rookies and those who cannot function by themselves. If they will not even quote you a price that’s a warning you might be getting ready to take a severe fucking.

look for a good independent

 

Sounds more like they bent him over

 

Going to the dealership because I need an alignment done, and the machines Toyota has are better than the one my buddy has (he's an independent mechanic and advised me to go to Toyota for this). They're just trying to tack on all this servicing and I want to squeeze it out of them what exactly they want to do, so I'm asking what to expect.

 

If you don't think that is a solid price then you should lay off the acid.

 

Listen, at least your buddy is honest and telling you he can't do the alignment. BUT don't go to a dealer. FIND, as local as you can, a mom n pop garage. They will be honest with you and can probably do the alignment.
FURTHERMORE, don't do anything until you have confirmed from a trusted source that the frame is OK.
Good luck, you will need it.

 

Sounds like voice of experience there chief were you tripping when you were violated?

 

Hey OP what you need to do to get that rubberized undercoat off is spray the whole undercarriage with Fluid Film or Krown. Inside the frames and outside. The FF or Krown will seap underneath the coat and it’ll eventually soften the rubberized undercoat and get to the rust and it’ll also make the undercoat come off eventually. You should do this at least once a year. Not sure where you live but this will kill two birds with one stone. It’ll protect you from rust and it’ll eventually soften the undercoat so you can take it off easier. Read up on this I did a lot of research about that rubberized undercoat crap. Watch a video on YouTube South Main Auto Krown and he talks about it also how their product weakens the rubber crap.

Also all these repairs people are telling you to do I would honestly just change the rest of your fluids and just change your lower ball joints and fix stuff that breaks after that. It’ll cost you a lot to do all those repairs at once.

 

FWIW I never quote maintenance stuff over the phone. There may be other things that need to be done that aren't on the list, some of things on the list might be fine. Any shop that quotes a bunch of maintenance over the phone without seeing the car is going to replace everything no matter what, even if the plugs are fine, filters are clean, etc

I charge 1 hr to inspect the vehicle, I'm taking into account what the manufacturer recommends and I've got my own list in my head of items to check

Any estimate given over the phone beforehand is a worthless estimate. There's no value in price shopping if nobody has looked under the hood yet