I’ll start with the TLDR update (since it’s an exhausting - Disappointed_Customer
I’ll start with the TLDR update (since it’s an exhausting review), though feel free to read-on w/ the detailed update below if you wish to feel my pain:
TLDR: Advisor I’ve never worked with prior (following dropping off my daughter’s vehicle for a check engine light) asked my daughter to sign off on a nearly $5k maintenance to “tear down the engine to investigate the head gasket.” We of course were suspicious (this is a Toyota & why we purchased Toyota’s for reliability), calling 3 other Toyota specialty shops (ALL who said ALREADY? & that this was very rare/unusual), with one of the shops (following comprehensive diagnosis) stating, "I can tell you with 100% certainty, your gasket is not the issue… Issues with misfires were isolated to loosely secured & oxidized 3rd party plugs & nothing more… Upon replacement/clearing lights, the vehicle has been running flawlessly for over a month…
Detailed Update:
My daughter's Corolla displayed a check engine light less than two weeks after scheduled maintenance at Dublin Toyota, where the vehicle had been previously signed off as "Perfect/No Issues."
I performed initial diagnostics w/ my OBD2, which isolated misfires (primarily w/ cylinder 3) suggested checking/replacing spark plugs/coils. I scheduled service w/ Dublin Toyota for further diagnosis, with the vehicle managed by an advisor we’ve never dealt with before (I won’t name him outright, since it doesn’t matter anyway / “one bad apple”). Within a day or so, the advisor called my daughter directly to approve a $4,800 quote for a head gasket replacement. The advisor stated the cost could exceed $4,800 following engine tear-down (depending on what else they may find), sending links for financing options and following up daily with texts. They later trimmed $300 from the quote. These daily calls/texts felt like pressured sales tactics which raised a massive red flag.
Despite being told by the advisor that the car was not safe/should not be driven, I retrieved the vehicle ($250 out of pocket for the "diagnosis") while the advisor was on vacation. The Dublin Toyota Report only mentioned a simple combustion leak test citing excessive hydrocarbons, recommending a complete teardown of the engine to review the gasket. I had contacted (3) other mechanics (all of whom specialized w/ Toyota & stated the same thing after relaying the Make/Model/Years/Mileage, etc…, i.e.: “ALREADY?” The independent mechanic we chose (master mechanic referred/trusted to by a close family friend) ran more comprehensive tests, including a seven-minute combustion leak test (revving to around 2500 RPMs) where the color never changed (remaining bright blue).
Their high level report (though more tests were performed) provided the following feedback:
* Block test determined no evidence of excessive hydrocarbons
* Engine Oil = CLEAN
* They stated that our coolant was completely full & typically drains quickly with head gasket leaks.
* Spark plugs, however, revealed that one of the plugs was so loose they barely needed a tool to remove. They took side-by-side pictures of the plugs, with Plug 3 being discolored, and so loose that the engine was not fully sealed, stating that this would absolutely result in a misfire.
* They also ran a borescope into Plug 3’s bay (providing me with the video) and stated, "I can tell you with 100% certainty that it is not the gasket," stating again that the loose and corroded plug is the likely root cause (then swapped our plugs with Toyota OEM 90919-01275).
* As an extra test, they even swapped the Cylinder 3 and Cylinder 4 coils as well (with the new plugs) and cleared the codes.
It's been about a month since this service, and the car has been running flawlessly following the spark plug replacement, with check engine lights not returning. I am disappointed, and as a result, I will be finding another (now inconvenient vs local) location to service my vehicles.
Shame…
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