1mz coolant question?

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

My wife took our car in for service and the dealership tells her that the coolant is in serious need of change..she calles me up and i was like NOPE, don't get it done from them. How could this be? I just changed the collant in July 2003 (yeah, i had turned on the heater for those wanting to know and yes i had used toyota red coolant - had measured it in an ozarka bottle..for every bottle of coolant, i did fill the same with DISTILLED water to keep the propotion 50:50). The service tech said that he took a sample from out coolant and dropped in a paper to see the color spectrum and ours was on the bottom lowest. I have that testtube thingie at home..(one with small beeds - made by prestone) i test it every two weeks and that gismo didn't indicate anything wrong with my current coolant. Eithercase, i'm flushing my system again this weekend.

What do you all do to guage your coolant efficiency. Is there a way we can buy that color-spectrum thing at the parts store....and its not i neglet my cooling system..i do it twice a year! so whats' up...why did the dealership say "SERIOUS NEED OF CHANGE" i was like wtf? need advise...opinions....

[Fenix]

There is no advise here but option.

This is my personal experience, in no way I meant to disrespect other who works for Toyota's service tech deparment.

IMO, service tech department of the dealership is a joke. (Alexandria Toyota in Virginia). They just try to make money by recommending services that sometimes not needed.

I took my car in for a oil change last year, they told me "your battery is weak, and you need to change it. Btw, the replacement battery is $80, and the labor cost would be around $50".
I was like "hehehehee, don't worry about it".. and til this day, I still have the same battery. The funny thing was 3 months later, I took my car in for another oil change, the battery was in perfect working order.

Just 2 months ago, they said my front brake pads were bad (down to 5%, and I always took my car in for service every 3 months, wft happend when my pads were down 10%, 20%, 30%? I only drive it in the weekend) and the rotors needed to resurface. Cost for front pads, resurface the rotors and labor would be $280.
Thanks to HappyAggie and the forum, I ordered the pads from Ebay ($50 shipped) and the rotors were not needed to resurface at all.

If it wasn't for the warranty I have with the dealership, I would NEVER get my car there for services. Total BS and ripped off.

Something I could do it for my car, I would do it.

[Jai_Jai_Binks]

Normally i'd agree with you to say some dealers try to sneek in services to make extra bucks. But the dude comes out with a sample of what our coolant was (ok we didn't see him take out that sample from our car) and he placed a paper and it changed colors..and then he showed my wife what that color meant (OLD COOLANT). I was like WTF? - (On a side note....it shouldn't matter when i bought the coolant right? cus' i bought the coolant in 2002 december, but never got around to opening the seal)...i still think the dealer was full of KAKA!

[WTF??]

i still think the dealer was full of KAKA!

Well if you know for a fact that you did it yourself and wouldnt F up... not to mention you have a tools at home that measures things like that... why bother listening to them? gunna get you more paranoid... you know what you did, when you did it, how you did it... keep it that way

my 2 cents

[kubi]

I took my car into the dealership for an estimate on body work about a year ago. Dealership wanted 5700, I got it done for 2500 including painting and installing my body kit using parts purchased from that dealership.

[onefiend]

awhile back I took my car into Northridge Toyota. They said I needed the 15,000 mile service, oil change, tranny flush...etc They never did the tranny flush, i found out one day when I decided to check the tranny fluid level, instead of finding red fluid I found black burnt fluid. So, not to talk smack about ALL dealerships, but most of them are full of craaaap.

[Mole]

^ go to a bigger reputable dealer like longo... they have over 120 work stalls. small dealerships tend to be the rats

[onefiend]

I'm thinkin about taking it to Hamer Toyota for any future "major" service. They seem to have good customer service, and I havent heard anything bad about them. But then again I'm satisfied with taking my car to JiffyLube, Midas, and Tune-Up Masters for services (atleast I get to see my car get worked on at these places).

120 work stalls, wow thats alot...but what does having alot of works stalls have to do anything with reputation, reliability, and overall customer satisfaction. Maybe they get the work done fast, but who knows... alot of dishonest people in this world, becareful you dont become a victim.

[adam2562]

lol i work at 355 Toyota so i dont get screwed over but i kno wut u guys r talking about lol we have 65 bays but it means nothing