30,000 Mile Service Experience

[liverpool54321]

My Rav4 XT3 Auto went in for 3 year service and MOT today (done 26,000 miles) at one of the main Toyota dealerships in London. The basic service is £230, plus free MOT, although they did try and include this on the original charge sheet (another £50). Similar to the 20,000 mile service they rang soon after I and dropped the car off to say that the car was in good condition and there were just a few things needed doing - all £420 worth! As with last year they said the brake discs should be deglazed, new pads as probably only 2000 miles wear left, new Wiper Blades required and new air and pollen filters. The intermediate service consists of little other than replace engine oil and engine flush.

I have chosen to decline all the extras - I find it hard to believe discs need annual deglazing and would prefer to wait until pads replaced - but done by local garage for half the price. The quote for the air and pollen filters was £85 but with the parts costing about £25 I will fit these myself. As for the Wiper Blades, they replaced them last year - changing one of the wipers at the same time for some strange reason, and leaving me with a new wiper that simply flapped from side to side when working and making driving over about 30 miles an hour a nightmare in the rain from the constant thud as the blade flipped over. So when I go to collect the car I will be looking for a refund on said wiper which had to be replaced almost immediately.

Last year I kicked up a fuss with their head office about problems with the service (not sure why I went back to them again!) and the manager rang to offer me a free tank of petrol when next passing. Sadly I only pass by there when the car is to be fixed so by the time I made it, I was told the manager had moved on and no records had been kept of my complaint.

I await to see if the car passes its MOT - having declined the extras.

[D Winter]

Hi, if you are at all worried about the MOT you could always take it to your local council run test centre. More info here :-

http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-mot

[anchorman]

My Rav4 XT3 Auto went in for 3 year service and MOT today (done 26,000 miles) at one of the main Toyota dealerships in London. The basic service is £230, plus free MOT, although they did try and include this on the original charge sheet (another £50). Similar to the 20,000 mile service they rang soon after I and dropped the car off to say that the car was in good condition and there were just a few things needed doing - all £420 worth! As with last year they said the brake discs should be deglazed, new pads as probably only 2000 miles wear left, new wiper blades required and new air and pollen filters. The intermediate service consists of little other than replace engine oil and engine flush.

I have chosen to decline all the extras - I find it hard to believe discs need annual deglazing and would prefer to wait until pads replaced - but done by local garage for half the price. The quote for the air and pollen filters was £85 but with the parts costing about £25 I will fit these myself. As for the wiper blades, they replaced them last year - changing one of the wipers at the same time for some strange reason, and leaving me with a new wiper that simply flapped from side to side when working and making driving over about 30 miles an hour a nightmare in the rain from the constant thud as the blade flipped over. So when I go to collect the car I will be looking for a refund on said wiper which had to be replaced almost immediately.

Last year I kicked up a fuss with their head office about problems with the service (not sure why I went back to them again!) and the manager rang to offer me a free tank of petrol when next passing. Sadly I only pass by there when the car is to be fixed so by the time I made it, I was told the manager had moved on and no records had been kept of my complaint.

I await to see if the car passes its MOT - having declined the extras.

Welcome to the club and thanks for sharing that with us.

Its just that kind of conduct that gets dealers a bad name. Poor old kingo works his socks off to help us and gets frustrated when owners refer to "stealers" but your experience shows they do exist.

In the first place charging £60 to fit 2 filters is appauling when there is literally 10 minutes work involved. If you buy the filters at retail they could throw fitting in and still be in pocket.

What really irritates me is the garbage talked about brakes. I worked in R&D for Ferodo for 17 years and I can assure you that the discs should not be deglazed (feel free to tell them from me). Bedding of brake pads is a two stage process. The first and most obvious phase is that the pads conform to the shape of the discs - they become shiney like the disc. The second and less obvious is that as the resin system breaks down it exposes the friction particles to the disc. This second part can only take place when the pads see some heat and it is known as conditioning. When properly bedded and conditioned for optimum performance the discs will shine like polished stainless steel - nearly like mirrors. Look through the wheel of any vehicle that has been driven normally and I'll tell you what you will see............you! If somebody breaks that glaze they will lower performance until it beds in again - right back where you started.

Occasionally if the duty is low enough you may see a brownish hue to the shine (remember that a cast iron disc will go red rusty overnight in the rain - which is normal and should be ignored). This brownish residue is a build up of wear debris, resin and oxidation from the disc and pads. If you want to get rid of it AND not unbed the pads you go down one decent hill and use the brakes until they are hot. One motorway slip road down to the island from 70 to stopped with sufficient deceleration to roll a can of pop (unopened!!!) or similar off the passenger seat is all it needs.

Now as far as the filters go you can find your cabin filter instructions in the pinned maintenance tips at the top of the RAV 4 thread page. To change the air filter is only a matter of undoing the over centre clips on the housing as shown here;

You should be able to seperate the 2 halves of the filter housing and slip the filter out but if not undo the jubilee clip at the back;

And unplug the airflow meter;

To remove the lid.

If it is a VVTi petrol - even easier! Undo the over centre clip on the left;

and then pivot the casing open from the claws on the right;

Sorry if this is all bldg obvious to you!!!

Well done mate, they don't deserve your business.

[Robert6920]

I'd also suggest that you think about using K&N filters, I've been using them for some years on a variety of vehicles (including my "male menopause" Honda CBR1100xx, where a filter change is anything but straightforward) and have always been more than happy with their performance.

Hopefully, the more knowledgeable amongst you won't dis-abuse me of my opinion by telling me that they are a waste of money They last "for a million miles", allegedly, and they don't affect warranty.

[anchorman]

:!Removed!:

[Parts-King]

Its just that kind of conduct that gets dealers a bad name. Poor old kingo works his socks off to help us and gets frustrated when owners refer to "stealers" but your experience shows they do exist.

Nuff said........The majority of dealers and those working in dealerships do a great job

Vote with your feet, use one of the good guys!

Kingo

[Bezzer]

including my "male menopause" Honda CBR1100xx, where a filter change is anything but straightforward)

the filter is easy, it's the plugs that are a pain, you've had the wrong teacher, Jaws???

[Robert6920]

including my "male menopause" Honda CBR1100xx, where a filter change is anything but straightforward)

the filter is easy, it's the plugs that are a pain, you've had the wrong teacher, Jaws???

I didn't want to mention the plugs.... tank off, or panels off, oil cooler off, radiator off, and in both cases, knuckles off. But you forgive the bike all of this everytime you open the taps...

[liverpool54321]

Thanks for comments. The upshot is that the car passed the MOT without any extra work required. I will sort filters myself. They have also agreed to order a replacement windscreen wiper after I showed them the one that they fitted last year - they spotted straight away that it was faulty - shame they didn't when first fitted. The one thing they forgot to do was check to see why I get a strange cracking noise from bottom of windscreen area when the engine is cold - a problem I've had since the windscreen was replaced. I will have to do a search of this forum to see if there is an answer to this one.

[anchorman]

There are several TSBs on windscreen/dash noises on R4W. You just have to resister first then you can read them FOC.

I think somebody reported fragments of glass from a previous windscreen replacement caused some problems.

http://rav4world.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=49162

[Parts-King]

Thanks for comments. The upshot is that the car passed the MOT without any extra work required. I will sort filters myself. They have also agreed to order a replacement windscreen wiper after I showed them the one that they fitted last year - they spotted straight away that it was faulty - shame they didn't when first fitted. The one thing they forgot to do was check to see why I get a strange cracking noise from bottom of windscreen area when the engine is cold - a problem I've had since the windscreen was replaced. I will have to do a search of this forum to see if there is an answer to this one.

We can do the filters for you on mail order, PM me with the vehicle Reg number if you want anything sending

Kingo

[Hoovie]

My Rav4 XT3 Auto went in for 3 year service and MOT today (done 26,000 miles) at one of the main Toyota dealerships in London. The basic service is £230, plus free MOT, although they did try and include this on the original charge sheet (another £50). Similar to the 20,000 mile service they rang soon after I and dropped the car off to say that the car was in good condition and there were just a few things needed doing - all £420 worth! As with last year they said the brake discs should be deglazed, new pads as probably only 2000 miles wear left, new wiper blades required and new air and pollen filters. The intermediate service consists of little other than replace engine oil and engine flush.

Just read this and confused. I had my 3 year service done start of this week (on 10th March) - got 27,500 miles so very similar to you. My Service cost £115 (before discount), although no MOT included - so a MASSIVE difference that cannot be explained just by higher London hourly rates?

They did also say the Brake Discs are rusty and need a bit of work, but will be doing that under warranty next week

Sounds like you need to find a proper Dealer, not a Stealer :(

[jonbr]

The basic service is £230, plus free MOT...

Only at a rip off dealer is it :o