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Did I just get ripped off at the Dealer?

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Care, Maintenance and Troubleshooting' started by nate358, Jul 9, 2012.

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  1. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    Back story: I bought my 2006 Prius last December from Florida with 93,000 miles on it and had it shipped to Columbus, Ohio. The seller said he just took it to the Dealer and they replaced the Hybrid Batter pack. All other service, unknown. The car came in great condition and I have had no issues with it.

    Today: My car hit 99,585 miles and with the change oil indicator lit I figured it was time to take my car in for the 90k mile checkup since I didn't know if it was done. I booked the "Major Maintenance Service" through the Toyota dealer's website for $389.95 which had everything listed in it that needed done according to my Passport for the 90k services and I asked them to check out the Hybrid battery since the warranty would be up by the end of the week.

    I got there and the dealer said that wasn't what I needed and that according to the records of the car I would need more things done. He said that in fact the hybrid battery was replaced and all oil changes were done at the 5k recommendation. (I noticed when I got home and logged into Toyota website even the 60k service was done.) He said that what I needed was:

    Rotate tires
    Oil & Filter
    Throttle body Service
    Spark plugs
    Coolant flush
    Inverter flush
    Transmission flush
    Rear Brake clean and adjust
    New Drive Belt

    I said, well I don't think I need a flush can you do just a drain and fill? And I agreed to the rest. Here is a breakdown of price for service including parts, labor and a 10% discount the salesman gave me.

    Tire Rotation and Brake Inspection- $23.35
    Throttle Body Service and Fuel Injector Cleaner-$85.46
    Tune up/ Spark plugs replacement- $157.46
    Coolant Exchange/Circulate system cleaner & Coolant Conditioner-$118.75
    Replace Hybrid Inverter Coolant- $80.68
    Drain and Refill Transmission-$89.90
    Brake Inspection with Cleaning and Adjust/Lubricate-$62.95
    Full Synthetic Oil Change (Mobile1)/90915-YZZF2 filter-$27.40
    Replace Drive Belt-$140

    Shop Supplies-$14.97
    Tax-$58.18

    Total-$859.43

    Did I get taken for or is this pretty normal for the 100k Mile service? I hope this only happens every 100k. geezzz. This is on a fully working car. I'd hate to know how much it would cost if it broke down.

    There is a funny sound coming from the engine after it's been run for a couple miles which I told the dealer about and was not fixed/addressed. I played him this sound that I recorded starting at the 10sec mark. let me know if anyone else has had this issue and what's the fix.
     

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    #1 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  2. vertex

    vertex Active Member

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    Prices seem normal, except for Mobil 1 oil change, which is too cheap. The oil alone is $27 at Walmart.
    The audio is not clear enough to comment on. List of items looks normal.
     
    #2 vertex, Jul 9, 2012
  3. xpcman

    xpcman Senior Member

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    Tune up/ Spark plugs replacement- $157.46 is rather high since all they can do is replace the Spark plugs. There is no timing or other "tune up" service that they can do.

    That's a strange sound. It might be from the Inverter cooling pump. You should check to see if the pump was replaced. I think Toyota has a recall for that problem.
     
    #3 xpcman, Jul 9, 2012
  4. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    Yeah, the oil change was a good deal... they didn't charge for labor and then gave 10% off. They have the Mobil1 down as 5.99 per ct.

    I went to Toyota.com to see what work had been done and I don't see anything about recall work. And it says I don't have any recall/service campaign work available for my car. Here is the history for the car pulled from Toyota.com.
     

    Attached Files:

    #4 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  5. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    Yes, I'll be doing it myself next time. I've changed spark plugs many times before. Kind of crazy to charge $101 in labor to unscrew 4 plugs and screw in 4 new.... about 5 min. worth of work.
     
    #5 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  6. JimN

    JimN Let the games begin!

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    The pdf of the service history as posted is incomplete. When you opened the service record did you see that the traction battery was replaced? If so that warranty is 1 year unlimited miles.
     
    #6 JimN, Jul 9, 2012
  7. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    Thats not too bad really because the dealer charges $ 125 an hour for labor. If you could have found a decent independant they could have done it all alot less but hard to find an Independant on the fly. Its all pretty easy stuff.

    But since your suspicious and I don't blame you lets check real quick and see how honest this service dept is.

    Get a flashlight and open the hood. Undo the latches on the big black plastic air cleaner box. 2 in the front and 2 in the back. Take that cover off. Then lift out the air cleaner on the right side. Once air cleaner is out look down the throat of the throttle body with your flashlight. You will see the brass butterfly valve at the bottom. The throat and the brass part should look sparkling clean like they were scrubbed down with cleaner. If not really clean and looks sooty they ripped you off and never cleaned the throttle body and just threw in a can of Injector cleaner for $85. And all the other work would be suspect.

    I would take it back and demand a scrubbing of the TB. If it is very clean you have found the rare honest dealer and stick with them.

    Good Luck!
     
    #7 edthefox5, Jul 9, 2012
  8. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    What you see is what I got from Toyota.com and I can't seem to find any more info then this. I was told that the Hybrid battery (the big one) was put in new on 12/14/11, which was when I bought it. So yes, The hybrid battery should be covered for 1 year.
     
    #8 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  9. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    IMAG0385.jpg IMAG0386.jpg IMAG0387.jpg IMAG0384.jpg
     
    #9 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  10. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    And the vertict is..... RIPPED OFF!

    Hard to tell from the pics, but it looks sooty to me.
     
    #10 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  11. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    I checked on the (LSC)A0N TSB and my Prius doesn't fall in between the affected models for the HV Water Pump Replacement.
     
    #11 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  12. edthefox5

    edthefox5 Senior Member

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    No actually it looks pretty clean to me. They get really sooty. That dark edge on the brass butterfly is normal and will not clean completely off. But hard to be sure 100% from your photo but I see shiny metal which you normally wouldn't see after 100K miles.

    But if you get a cloth and soak it with carb cleaner and wipe out the throat it should be pretty clean. If you search back my old posts I have an easy and detailed method to clean the TB.

    Not sure of your car skills but the maf looks clean & be careful around it. It gets removed and put out ofthe way during a TB cleaning.
     
    #12 edthefox5, Jul 9, 2012
  13. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    Well great, now I'm worried. I just found a TSB on the transmission fluid. According to it... it doesn't need replaced for the life of the car! Oh and it says ATF-WS is what my car uses and according to the paperwork the dealer gave me they replaced it with ATF T-IV... which it says right in the TSB "ATF-WS is NOT compatible with T-IV or Dexron ATF."

    Hopefully they didn't do that either.... I wonder what kind of damage that's going to do?
     

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    #13 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  14. alekska

    alekska Active Member

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    You will not be able to do it in 5 min. You will have to remove coils that seat on top of the plugs, and some other stuff before that just to get access. Maybe 20-30 min if you are really good with your wrenches.
    - Alex
     
    #14 alekska, Jul 9, 2012
  15. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    When I was looking at that I thought to myself it would be prudent to unscrew the MAF and pull it out so it doesn't get damaged.

    I'm actually pretty good with cars... did all the work on my 95 Honda Civic with the Helms manual (Timing belt, removed the entire interior and put it back in, brake disk and pads) But I don't have the manual with this car and I'm really not familiar with it. I was also being lazy, but boy does that cost a lot!

    I also went to school for Aircraft Maintenance airframe, but that was 10 years ago and I never went into the industry.
     
    #15 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  16. alekska

    alekska Active Member

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    If they really put a T-IV, I would come back as soon as possible and make them correct their own mistake. ATF-WS is to be used in Prius. The electrical properties of T-IV are different from ATF-WS, and hybrid system electric motors and their windings are bathing in transmission fluid.
    - Alex
     
    #16 alekska, Jul 9, 2012
  17. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    Yeah it looks like they are at the backside of the engine near the firewall... removing the relay box might help get to them easier.
     
    #17 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  18. nate358

    nate358 Junior Member

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    should they do a flush to get the T-IV out? It says they aren't compatible.
     
    #18 nate358, Jul 9, 2012
  19. alekska

    alekska Active Member

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    They made a mistake and they have to correct it. Sorry I do not really know is the flush is needed.
    - Alex
     
    #19 alekska, Jul 9, 2012
  20. Avi's Advanced Automotive

    Avi's Advanced Automotive Independent hybrid repair shop

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    I would at least drain and refill it twice with WS with some driving in between. I'm not sure you could flush it exactly. They will probably tell you they put WS in it and that they made a mistake on your receipt. I personally wouldn't trust them and would make them change it twice while I watched. It should be changed by the way, even though Toyota says it doesn't need to be.
     
    #20 Avi's Advanced Automotive, Jul 9, 2012
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