At the dealer for anything

Yep. Both the dealer and an independent tire shop lowered the pressure in my tires without asking and without telling me. I was clued in at the tire shop because the TPMS light was lit on the dash. I figured that they just didn't fill the 2 new tires they just mounted, but when I checked, they had lowered the pressure on all 4.

The idiot dealer once lowered the pressure to 30 all around.

 

The dealer is, most likely (and understandably), going to set the pressures to the sticker on the pillar unless you specify otherwise when you have the car written up for work.

Checking air pressure (along with fluids, bulbs, tires, etc.) is a part of any standard oil change.

 

Sure, and there is a liability issue with setting it different than the door sticker. But it still doesn't excuse them setting it lower than the sticker (i.e. 30 psi when the "correct" setting is 35F/33R).

 

I disagree. No they don't have the "right" or "obligation" to unilaterally change my settings. If they are paying for the tires & the gas then they can set the tp at whatever they want. CHECK all you want. CHANGE if I agree. It's a shame the customer has to remember to tell the Service Advisor things like "don't wash the car" and "don't touch the tp". If I catch the dealer lowering my tp I am parking the car in front of their garage door & keeping it there until I correct the problem.

 

Any chance they were hot when the grease monkey let the air out? If so, the cold pressure you see on a following morning can be significantly lower.

I ran into this when having an oil change during a long vacation road trip. The shop policy didn't allow tire pressure above 40. Well, 40 psi at highway temperature at 6200 feet leaves the fronts underinflated when cold at sea level.

 

I took mine in last week for one of its free oil changes. I knew from the posts here that they'd deflate the tires to the normal specs so I put a yellow sticky note on the steering wheel to not deflate the tires. I only run 37/36. They left the sticky note there and deflated them anyway. Oh well, I tried. I also checked the service report and it showed 5 qts of 0W20 so I checked the level via the stick after sitting for 1 hour and it was correct. At least it was not over filled. So they got the most important part right. I'm not going to sweat it too much.

 

Jim,

They are going to "normalize" everything to factory spec unless you specify otherwise. Case in point: if I run the special "high-zoot" washer fluid in my vehicle and don't tell them not to top off the washer fluid when it's in for service, I can't get mad at them for topping it off. If I choose to operate my vehicle's parameters outside of the "normalized" range, I would expect them to be brought back into the "normalized" range by the factory-trained technicians at a dealership unless I specify otherwise. If I want them to leave the crankcase a quart low after an oil change because I want to dump in some Slick50 I bought at the K-Mart before it went out of business and don't tell them to leave it a quart low, I can hardly be upset if it's at the "MAX" when I pick it up.

Mark has good cause to be upset. He left a note and it was disregarded.

Unfortunately, my telepathy isn't what it used to be and I usually leave the crystal ball at home, for fear of breakage.

And, another thing: parking your vehicle in front of their door and refusing to move it until the situation is rectified is not only immature, it does little to endear your cause to those from whom you are requesting assistance. In fact, it smacks of the foot-stomping tantrums my three-year old nephew throws from time to time.

 

Then they can put the car in a bay & replace the air they let out. That will take much less time than my portable compressor. The poor woman that calls later asking if I was satisfied with the service will also get an earful.

 

I'm sure if you asked nicely for them to put air back in they removed due to your neglecting to tell them not to, they would be happy to do it. But, perhaps things are done differently in Jersey. I've only been there once.

 

Here's what I do.

In regards to topping off washer fluid, If the customer is using a special fluid (like I do and used to get irritated when they would top it off with the blue stuff, however, I did the easy thing, told them not to, or I would fill it up before I went there) I do NOT top it off.

In regards to tire pressure, If a customer has higher then recommended(the recommended pressure is too low anyway) I leave them alone. Thanks to me, many of our Prius customers ask to have 42/40 put in their tires when they come in for service. I personally run 65psi during summer and 45psi in my studded snows. In both cases I still have more shoulder wear. I have plenty of experience trying different tire pressures and only recommend something that I've done and noticed a positive difference from.

In regards to engine oil overfill. Every car I do leaves here with the oil level 1/4" to 1/8" below the full mark. I've seen first hand that an overfilled Prius (independent shop put in 5 quarts in 2nd gen car and it came to us on a roll back) will not run. Not only that butyou cant severly damage other components of the engine. For me, 2nd gen gets 3.5qts, and 3rd gen gets 4-4.25qts. I've informed our other techs of this as well.

With all this being said, we're not all the same are we? Please, I beg of you, stop all the dealer bashing and voice your concern to them or the regional Toyota office.

Any questions?

 

Agreed, Josh. I've been a service writer for ten years now and I have yet to see an instance where someone yelling at me has endeared me to their cause. I don't need customers to be obsequeious, I just don't want to be treated like a doormat. I understand you're frustrated and inconvenienced. However, I didn't engineer it, build it, sell it to you, drive it or break it. I'm just trying to get it fixed for you. :kiss:

 

No questions Josh but thank you for doing a good job for your customers. I wish there were more like you. I am probably one of the worst ( or maybe best) dealer bashers on the site but if they had more people like you and a couple of other techs that post here I wouldn't be. :thumb:

 

i won't comment on any dealers or service writers i have not dealt with personally. but unfortunately, in my 40 years of buying and driving experience, the four toyota dealers i have dealt with are no better than any other car dealer i have dealt with. sell you a car, you're their best friend. go to have it serviced, all they ever do is try to sell you what you don't need and if you ask a technical question? clueless and condescending.

 

I had the opposite done to my Prius. They overfilled my tires from 38/36 to 46 psi all the way around. Next time they brought it down to 34 on all 4.

 

It might be time to change dealership???