Dealer Problems with oil Changes

You should have your written service report from the last oil change-----I always keep these in glove box for my own records. Plus, they are excellent to have in case of a sale, you have the service record in the car. You can always log on to ''Toyota Owners.com'' and enter your VIN #, all dealer records right there. I should think that Toyota would take you serious, it would be goofy to make an issue like this---if untrue. Hey, we all believe you.....

 

I do indeed have the invoice from the service in question and talked to Toyota the afternoon of the day of my discovery.
I followed up with them a couple of hours ago. I floated the idea of Toyota providing a powertrain warranty extension and was firmly informed that such a thing was literally impossible. The CSR did suggest that maybe the dealership could be convinced to sell me an extended warranty and I made it clear that I wasn't interested in purchasing anything.
Toyota's going to talk with the dealership rep on Thursday and report back to on how the situation stands then.

As I've experienced before, the OEM and the dealerships are in an "associate" relationship. They profess that they feel bad about how I've been treated but won't even go as far as send me a written statement that this lapse in maintenance won't in any way void the warranty.

I expect that the car will do OK despite this but would like to at least make sure that people know what happened.

 

See: Lester wants to see the service manager get a flat foot too.

 

It's your call, but maybe you can get a consultation with a lawyer? Or just mention something along those lines to the dealership, that you're considering talking to a lawyer. If you haven't already, it'd be good to talk to the franchisee, the person who owns the dealership, who'd be directly impacted by litigation.

This is kind of an unusual situation, with the permanent canister and separate filter element, it's too easy to screw up, and that's where rushing service departments come in.

The way they are behaving, they don't seem to be your "friend" anymore.

 

Please keep us posted on what Toyota says about this matter, I am curious now.....

 

To be clear, the Toyota CSR is the good cop in this scenario. His "hands are tied" but will try to see what he can get the dealer associate to agree to.

I was amused that the extension of the powertrain warranty was "impossible", as if it were a law of physics or something.

 

Well, I am 70 yo old, and can remember when some of the late 50's- early Chevy 6's had a canister to install a roll of toilet paper in--- for the oil filter. Needless to say,, sometimes this was skipped and soon the car looked like a skeeter wagon going down the road. No oil filter is bad ju-ju, not sure how long you went without one. Although---- engines today are built LOTS better and are lots more cleaner burning

 

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css28, comment #2 must be you? I gave it a vote.

 

The car went 11 months (~6,000 miles) without a filter. Assuming they changed it the first time around.
Yes, comment #2 is mine.

 

I'm not sure how you strip out an oil plug... -actually I do. For some people, the term "overkill" is not a bad thing, and to them, over-tightening a plug is somehow a good thing.

Oil plugs do fall out, but it's not because they weren't torqued like wheel nuts, it's because they weren't tightened properly at all.

 

Idiot-proof has very negative conotations, but can actually be smart engineering. A disposable, canister style oil filter, if forgotten, would be a glaring omission. And on engine start up, all hell would break loose.

With the Prius, having separate filter element and housing, neglecting to put in the new filter element is an easy oversight, with no immediate tip off.

Maybe something could be designed (by Toyota) so that without a filter element the housing would refuse to screw in.

I did an oil change a couple of weekends back, had replaced the O-ring, put the drive socket on the housing, and JUST caught myself, hadn't put the new filter element in...

Edit: red text added.

 

Perhaps that saves them some of their own oil and filters?

 

Does the service report show the filter? If not, you already have written proof.

 

The service invoice indicates that they used oil and a new filter. It also indicates that they rotated the tires then mentions that I requested that they not rotate them (because I was about to change over to snows anyhow).
The wording on the invoice appears to be a standard summary for a 20,000 mile service.

The good news is that so far, neither party has accused me of lying.

 

As I recall, I read the Apollo 204 fire report in 1968.

Some North American (the contractor for the command module) employee had left a ratchet wrench and socket in the wiring.

The answer became "fitted" tool boxes, that had spaces that were "empty," to show missing tools.

It does NOT take a PHD to put the NEW filter on the workbench before going to work.

After the job is finished, ALL you'd see would be an empty box, a use "o" ring and a dirty filter element.

Not "rocket science" at all, but I've done "rocket science," before.

 

I certainly noticed the lack of a messy filter to dispose of as I was finishing up Saturday.

It made me sad.

 

Over torqueing or stretching a bolt beyond it design limit is not positive overkill. It's just killing or damaging the bolt.

28 ft. lbs. is the correct design torque for an M12x1.25 bolt holding one part to another.

The oil plug bolt only holds itself in place by friction and tension between the threads and the bottom of the head and the sealing washer.

All it needs is enough friction and tension to keep it in place from loosening due to vibration and enough compression of the sealing washer to keep it from leaking.

18 ft. lbs. might be enough, and only a very small minority of experienced professional mechanics use torque wrench.

They just tighten the bolt about 3/4 to one turn after encountering resistance.

 

The Repair Manual specs 27 ft/lb for the drain bolt, 18 for the filter cap.

 

I agree with everything you said but one: There is no such thing as "positive overkill." Overdoing anything makes it a negative.

 

Toyota customer service hasn't yet managed to talk to the dealer group rep but called me this evening to say that they expect to talk tomorrow.
While the one I spoke with Tuesday wasn't in today he had passed my case to another who called me with the update.

Nothing new really but they're keeping the ball rolling.