- Oct 18, 2009
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OK, as a continuation of my previous thread about my incredulity over the Lexus dealer's 33% markup of a repair service vs. a Toyota dealer's quote for the same service, I left out some "details" of the Lexus and Toyota service dept. visits.
When we took the GX in to get the key cut, the Lexus service dept. whisked the truck away and did a free multipoint check on it. When the key got done, we were ushered into our service rep's office and given the new key and the estimate for service we'd asked for and estimate for repairs of the problem they found. (We'd asked for an estimate of timing belt/wp replacement, diff. and transfer case drain/fill, flush ps and brake fluids.)
He presents us with a sheaf of papers and says our exhaust manifolds are leaking--"Massive leaks" is the way he put it. Says they have to replace the exhaust manifolds, manifold gaskets and manifold/exhaust pipe donuts. That'll just be a paltry $3800 for that, no one else sells the manifolds, and it's dangerous to drive as it sits.
I defer the "repair" for now, rep. says "OK!", and truck appears seconds later to be picked up. Now, in all my years driving and having suffered through more than a couple of bad exhaust manifold gaskets, bad donuts, and cracked exhaust manifolds, I have to say this GX with its "massive" exhaust leaks was the quietest running vehicle with that defect I've ever encountered.
Five days later, the truck is at the Hyannis Toyota dealer for all the service I wanted done and I asked them to inspect the vehicle, please.
Get a call that afternoon, they say there are a few problems that will need to be addressed and can I come down to assess the situation.
Great, I think. The damned exhaust really is leaking despite no noise, just hope the quote Toyota's about to drop on me is at least a bit cheaper than the Lexus dealer.
Get there, I get shown an inner front half-shaft boot, driver's side, that's beginning to tear and is leaking a little grease. Can look inside and there's lots of grease left, thankfully. Then I get shown two cross-threaded lugs on the passenger's front wheel. Guess when the new tires were put on, the monkey crossthreaded the damned lugs. Need to replace two.
Then I get shown the rear brake pads are down to 3mm...will need replacing soon.
I ask, did y'all check the exhaust system? Yes, front to back. I inform the mechanic that another said the truck had "massive" leaks. He says none he can find and he looked. And I must admit, it runs waaaay to quietly to have any exhaust leaks, much less "massive" ones that need replacing both manifolds.
So, I can conclude one of a few things...either the inspection at the Lexus dealer was totally bogus and I was being scammed into an unnecessary repair and the Lexus mechanic is incompetent in missing the torn boot, semi-worn brake pads (I'm guessing they must've had the truck on a lift to find the exhaust leaks---you can't see a damned thing from under the hood), or that the Lexus dealer mixed up our repair needs with another vehicle (more incompetence), or that the Toyota mechanic is completely incompetent in missing the exhaust leaks while picking up the torn boot, semi-worn out brake pads and the stripped lugs.
Hmmmmmm......
When we took the GX in to get the key cut, the Lexus service dept. whisked the truck away and did a free multipoint check on it. When the key got done, we were ushered into our service rep's office and given the new key and the estimate for service we'd asked for and estimate for repairs of the problem they found. (We'd asked for an estimate of timing belt/wp replacement, diff. and transfer case drain/fill, flush ps and brake fluids.)
He presents us with a sheaf of papers and says our exhaust manifolds are leaking--"Massive leaks" is the way he put it. Says they have to replace the exhaust manifolds, manifold gaskets and manifold/exhaust pipe donuts. That'll just be a paltry $3800 for that, no one else sells the manifolds, and it's dangerous to drive as it sits.
I defer the "repair" for now, rep. says "OK!", and truck appears seconds later to be picked up. Now, in all my years driving and having suffered through more than a couple of bad exhaust manifold gaskets, bad donuts, and cracked exhaust manifolds, I have to say this GX with its "massive" exhaust leaks was the quietest running vehicle with that defect I've ever encountered.
Five days later, the truck is at the Hyannis Toyota dealer for all the service I wanted done and I asked them to inspect the vehicle, please.
Get a call that afternoon, they say there are a few problems that will need to be addressed and can I come down to assess the situation.
Great, I think. The damned exhaust really is leaking despite no noise, just hope the quote Toyota's about to drop on me is at least a bit cheaper than the Lexus dealer.
Get there, I get shown an inner front half-shaft boot, driver's side, that's beginning to tear and is leaking a little grease. Can look inside and there's lots of grease left, thankfully. Then I get shown two cross-threaded lugs on the passenger's front wheel. Guess when the new tires were put on, the monkey crossthreaded the damned lugs. Need to replace two.
Then I get shown the rear brake pads are down to 3mm...will need replacing soon.
I ask, did y'all check the exhaust system? Yes, front to back. I inform the mechanic that another said the truck had "massive" leaks. He says none he can find and he looked. And I must admit, it runs waaaay to quietly to have any exhaust leaks, much less "massive" ones that need replacing both manifolds.
So, I can conclude one of a few things...either the inspection at the Lexus dealer was totally bogus and I was being scammed into an unnecessary repair and the Lexus mechanic is incompetent in missing the torn boot, semi-worn brake pads (I'm guessing they must've had the truck on a lift to find the exhaust leaks---you can't see a damned thing from under the hood), or that the Lexus dealer mixed up our repair needs with another vehicle (more incompetence), or that the Toyota mechanic is completely incompetent in missing the exhaust leaks while picking up the torn boot, semi-worn out brake pads and the stripped lugs.
Hmmmmmm......
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