Just got my car serviced at the dealership and all I can say is do not be afraid to bring it in.

Price wise it's actually a great deal. 450 bucks for everything they do is a steal in my opinion.

PCV valve, oil change, gear oil change (manual trans), spark plugs, tire rotation, tire/wheels balance, drain/flush/refill all fluids (excluding clutch housing), add distilled water to battery if needed, adjust front and rear brakes, grease down all chassis parts/tighten all screws (including under the car), throttle body clean, MAF sensor clean, and new oil filter.

So if anyone can get this done in 3 hours at a normal shop for under 450 be my guest but my car feels amazing.

I had BG syncro II (similar to redline MT90) in my gear box and well, I hate to say this, but the OEM oil is much better. Tranny dosn't "skip" at low RPM's, 1st dosn't snap out into second anymore, syncro's actually work much better, and overall shift feel has improved.

My mpg is better, car feels better, pretty much a great deal.

Just thought i'd let everyone know that even though it seems like a big price it really isn't and the feeling you have of servicing your car 100% is great.

in good regards,

Regis

 

one i doubt they did all that work. battery should be sealed they're shouldn't be any components that need grease since they are all sealed front brakes don't have adjustments. highly doubt they even did anything with your throttle body. i've never seen them re-tighten any chasis fasteners.

 

i'll let the dealer do all my fluids (brake, rad, and power steering)... the rest i can do my self

 

If they actually did everything AND your car actually needed it, I would say it was a good price. It really depends on what your mileage is (you didn't post it), what the service interval is for each of the items they are supposed to do, and how much your time is worth.

I'm not one to blindly hate all dealerships (All but one I've had to deal with has given me reasons to hate them individually), but a lot of that doesn't seem to be value added. if you actually needed your tires rebalanced, transmission flushed, and didn't have the tools, place or time to do the other stuff it's not too bad. At least now everything is squared away for a while.

If you want to try DIY next time, here's my take on the service needed.
- PCV valve - not exactly a high failure item, should be good for at least 90k miles
- oil change - $29 for Mobil 1 synthetic AND filter at Advanced Auto
- gear oil change (manual trans) - dunno what service interval is, usually don't need a full flush unless trans is having issues
- spark plugs - $2.14 / plug at Advanced, for NGK V-power copper plugs
- tire rotation - I do it free at every oil change, $49 for jack and stands @ Walmart, one time purchase
- tire/wheels balance - once a year or when I get new tires, more than that is overkill, tire place is $20-$50 for rebalance (they seem to jack up prices for service if you're not buying tires from them)
- drain/flush/refill all fluids (excluding clutch housing) - flush not needed for anything. Refill on brake / power steering / washer fluid, under $20 for all bottles. Coolant is called long life for a reason. No other fluid in vehicle.
- add distilled water to battery if needed - sealed battery
- adjust front and rear brakes - front is non-adjustable, rear should not need adjustment between brake shoe changes, it has an auto-tensioner
- grease down all chassis parts/tighten all screws (including under the car) - ??? Way too broadly defined and impossible to check if they did anything, unless you purposefully loosened something to see if they would do it.
- throttle body clean - easy to DIY, but sometimes needed
- MAF sensor clean - can of MAF sensor cleaner does the trick. Sensor bolts are allen head, probably to make it harder to do on your own
- new oil filter - Toyota OEM is a good filter, but $34 / 10-pack at TRD sparks

 

My car has 60k. My steering wheel was tilted to the left a bit, and I hadn't rotated my tires in 10k because of financial issues.

I double checked everything and they did all the work.

Took me a good hour to check everything thoroughly and everything was grease, no nuts were loose, throttle body was cleaner than before, air filter was brand new.

Oil was new, gear box felt much better.

Tires were inflated to what they "recommended" which was 33psi vs. 29psi on the door.

They did everything they said they would, and I didn't have a whole day to do work in the summer heat, or the time to do it since I was getting ready to part off to college 2 days later.

The spark plugs I cannot confirm...but I am 100% sure they changed them.

They guarantee their service for 30 days no questions asked...so if anything goes wrong they replace it/fix it etc. I still have a warranty (extended..bought my car used) so I don't really mind.

I checked the fluids too...much brighter in color...brake fluid was better and yes they did adjust my rear brakes. My car stops quicker..much more responsive on the pedal and my hand brake only needs two clicks to keep the car from rolling on a small hill.

As for the DYI thanks a bunch for the info.

 

for rotating and balancing... Walmart is the ticket!

$30 gets you a lifetime rotation/balancing. $20=one time balancing.

Every 4-5k miles go shopping at walmart for groceries and other stuff you need... drop off the car... they will rotate and balance your tires while you shop.

it takes time to rotate tires... especially if you are using a floor jack.

 

my favorite is when i took my friends xa in for service (she's a girl and worries about being taken advantage of). they tried to sell me a 15k service package, basically an oil change with a bunch of inspections. one of my favorites was "inspect and adjust serpentine belt", which i laughed at cuz the belt on the xa isn't adjustible.

my dealership is great, i just think some of their service packages at theirs and most other dealerships are somewhat outdated and such. but the prices are fair. i sat down and did the math and figured that to buy oil, oil filters, tools, such, it isn't worth it when they'll do it for nearly the price of buying the oil in the first place. plus, it would suck to change oil on a freezing day in the winter in your driveway.

 

i've done that before and it wasn't too bad...

now washing your car is the middle of winter is harsh on your hands when it comes to drying your car...

but i only do that when its like around 38-44 degrees out... and thats still cold... and thats on the warm days of winter

 

over the years I have learned that you should do as much of the work as you can yourself. You will save money... but also you will probably do a better job than most shops will.

I'd rather change my oil myself (even if it cost the same) because I know I won't break any parts (had a shop break my oil cap and I had to buy a new one) and I can do it in less time once you factor in waiting for the car for so long.

 

First, I'm new to the site and I've tried figuring out how to post a new thread...just can't seem to figure it out so I'm replying to this thread - help there would be appreciated. Next, I'm looking at a 2005 xA w/ 76K for about $7,000 and was wondering what advice you can give me on what to look for (planning on taking it to Toyota for $100 inspection). I did notice a little grinding when downshifting from 3rd to 2nd - but thought it was my rust from not driving a stick for a while. So, besides the clean car fax....and passing the look test...what else should I be aware of?

 

Scionbuck, I honestly haven't seen any model-wide issues with the xA / xB to look out for. I would look if the xA is stock or if there were aftermarket mods on it, some of them can lend their own problems. if it's stock and everything works, it should keep working until at least 200k miles.

The normal stuff for any car, and if Toyota is inspecting they should find anything wrong, is to inspect the belts, tires, CV boots, suspension, fluids (oil, coolant, power steering, brake) for leaks, obvious rust, anything broken on the inside of the car (plastic loose, etc.), all electronics working (stereo, check all four speakers, lights, wipers, deforst, A/C, heat, turn signals) and make sure the engine isn't generating error codes. Toyota can even scan the long term memory to see if something was recently reset.

7k is a good deal, normal price would be 9k.

 

Vettereddie - thanks for the reply!