yeah some dealers are involved in the local scion groups and actually do their own mods to the cars. its great to see what you can do to the car if you wanted. some are like dont go touching that cause we dont want anything to do with it if you do. seems the ones that are more involved do much better business.

 

i dont get it its not like they dont get paid if they fix the car if its modded or not.

 

i dont get it its not like they dont get paid if they fix the car if its modded or not.

 

Being devil's advocate here, the reason is simple - if you mod your car and screw something up and the company pays for it, they will over time, lose money.

If Toyota (or anyone) on average has to repair $300 worth of bad parts per car, and mod'ers cause an average of $500 worth of repairs per car with bad/cheap/improperly installed mod's, you can see why they do what they do.

To be fair, a company needs to look at each car individually and determine if that is the case.
Scion itself sells many mod's, but you also need to install them properly.

I wouldn't warranty my car either if someone put a turbo on it - I didn't design it that way, and I don't know who/how it was installed or designed.

When you mod, you have to decide then and there if it's worth blowing your warranty.

You plays, you takes yer chances.

 

So you figure I will get screwed if I hook up an oil pressure gauge?

 

they told me my a/c wasnt cold cuz i installed a kenwood hu. stuff like this is what im talking about something totally non related . it maight work on most people but not sl members.. id like to think we know more than most of those people at the dealer.

 

No way to know.
If you do it correctly, they'd have to prove it screwed things up.
I'm trying to find out now about adding a tranny (auto) cooler and if it will hurt the warranty.

 

plz do. but that prove it to me thing is all whats it cracked up 2 be they can just say no go to another dealer.

idn they just think every one is so dumb . i think te dealers suck around here and they cant fix stuff for crap and only go when i realy have to.

 

^^^ I totally understand.

 

glad we agree on something

in scion comercials you know those arent trd parts . dont say personalize then screw us when we do. its not personal its all business i guess.

 

Off to a bad start maybe, but some of my best friends and I started that way

I agree with you, but being older and a little more "experienced" I also see how they have to be careful.

As I said, it should be on a case-by-case basis, period.
And they need to have proof of something causing trouble before declining your claim(s)

 

You may actually know more than a lot of the folks at the dealership, HOWEVER, one of the consistent problems with the A/C system used in these cars is the critical adjustment of the push-pull wires from the controls to the A/C mixbox, etc.

In fact, on the early boxes, which use the same mixbox, there was even a TSB to re-adjust the push-pull wires if the owner complained of the A/C not cooling enough.

Now, something interesting to do might be to look through ScionLife and notice how many times someone removing/replacing or changing the HU in Scions has screwed the A/C so that it doesn't cool well (a lot).

Notice also how many times removing the HU again, sorting out bent, crimped, slipped, broken push-pull control wires, and sometimes even electrical connectors that have become poorly connected, and reinstalling the head unit more carefully has fixed the problem (most).

Maybe those folks at the dealership aren't quite so dumb.

Tom

 

wow has this thing grown. ASked my dad about it and said it was normal. The non toyota coolant I guess got used up already. but other than that the coolant level hasnt been moving =)
Thanks for all the help and suggesstions

 

Tomas- I can agree with you on cars with control wires for the a/c. Only problem here is that the tC has all electronic controls for the hvac. "drive by wire" if you like. So that's the joke that people are trying to convey. I guess a better one would've been, I changed my tires to aftermarket and the dealer told me that's why the a/c isn't cool enough, funny indeed.

 

I will never say all dealer techs are bad, but I would have to say a higher percentage of them are in my experience. My father owns a shop and I could write a novel around the work he has gotten after dealers totally screwed someones car. It is about the same regardless of dealer. It seems they put more weight on that ASE patch and passing a few tests then they do actual experience, which is what I think is the issue.

I have heard first hand accounts of electrical explanations that are not only incorrect, but show zero knowledge of electricity. I have seen them swap out 5 or more parts (good old part swappers) to fix an issue, finally find the bad part and still charge the customer for all the parts replaced. Explaining that is "part of troubleshooting" That isnt even close to troubleshooting, that is parts replacing and anyone with minimal training can do it. And dont get me started with how they tell people something isnt covered under warranty, charge them, then get thier payment for warranty coverage from the manufacturer, so they get paid twice. I know of cases where they slipped up and told on themselves to other mechanics in these cases.

This type of stuff is what makes people distrust dealerships, and sadly, any mechanic in general. I bet at least once per week my father has a customer baffled when he only charge half the book rate cause thats all the time it took him, doesnt charge them for doing something like popping in a light bulb, etc. They cant believe that not everyone is like the dealer that got done screwing them for the last 3 years.

I know there are good ones out there, and I try not to generalize. But people have some good reason to be skeptical when every issue is attributed to something they did to the car magically. CAI causing a spun bearing, new battery "pushing too much power" to the ECU (I LOVE That one), etc.

 

if you can find a good dealer or shop that you trust stick with them because they are hard to find.