So my 2012 Prius plug in recently had a misfiring cylinder and the dealership diagnosis was a cracked head gasket allowing coolant and oil to leak into the cylinder. Luckily the entire $5,500 repair was covered by my 7 year, 100,000 mile extended warranty that I purchased for $1800. So I got the car back and I was still feeling misfires/ vibrations from engine/ transmission. They are now saying the problem was a spark plug and that I need to pay to replace it. Wouldn’t this be the same spark plug that was getting coolant and oil from the cracked head gasket? Shouldn’t Toyota be paying for this repair/replacement since it came from the cracked head gasket? And they want to charge me an additional $135 just for the diagnosis fee!!! Yet they fixed the car and I got it back with the same issue!! Am I crazy or is this dealership trying to rip me off!
Why would you get the car back in same condition? They probably didnt performed the entire service and now that they hooked line and sinkered ya, its back to square back one. So theyre pointing something else and see if you will pay for it. Not sure why you’re feeling ripped off when you have the “extended warranty” to cover it.
I felt ripped off cause the spark plug was damaged due to the cracked head gasket, so making me pay for plugs that got damaged due to what was repaired under warranty sucks. Anyway long story short after talking to the manager they replaced the plugs for free and waved all the diagnostic fees. Let’s hope everything holds together now without issues...
depends on your situation, and how much you like it. i would probably ditch it. do you plug in? any idea how many miles you're getting on ev? if you do keep it, you want to clean the egr circuit. there are other potential expenses, like a/c compressor, but still much cheaper than a new car.
Yeah i dont really like it anymore and my commute is only 10 miles each way. I only get about 6-7 miles on a full charge so I don't even bother charging it anymore. Then again like you said a new car is another monthly payment which i enjoy not having...
They will most likely say spark plugs are a wear/maintenance item and not covered by the service plan (they usually aren't).
ANYTHING that effects what comes out of the tail pipe is under the emissions warranty. Which is normally 50,000 miles. May differ between states. Went through that at a Mercedes dealership. A lawyer took the Mercedes dealership I worked at to court over it and proved it was covered. So he didn't have to pay to have the plugs changed at 30,000. Within a few years all mileage for plug replacement was 50,000 miles. "lifetime" plugs!
just do the plugs yourself. child's play. and child's money. $50 (at most) and 30 minutes and you'll be sipping lemonade in no time (assuming they are right about the plugs causing your issue)
Got the car back and just got offer to buy it for just over $11,000 seems like a good price on a 7 year old car with almost 100,000 miles
The spark plug was probably fouled from the coolant. Spark plugs are sometimes not covered since it is a wear and tear item. As for why the tech did not recommend new plugs during the original job, I have no idea.
