Fuel gauge updated, odo is the same - They admitted error!

I took my Prius in today for the fuel gauge update. I actually received a postcard last Saturday informing me that my parts were in. Certainly was nice of them to call. Of course the postcard took a week to get to me. At any rate I was a little suspicious of how they would handle this as the service department has been everything but cooperative. I picked up the car after work which meant everyone was gone. I looked over the paperwork and my first reaction was that the bill seemed cheaper than others had reported. A total of $667 which included both the fuel gauge update (both parts) and the engine seal. They did list both fuel gauge parts and total hours for this was 2. Due to the delay in receiving the parts (no one ever offered me a loaner) I was very curious as to what my odometer woud read. Would it be 9500 as I had reported to corporate Toyota when trying to get the service people to take care of this, or would it be whatever was in the local system the last time I went in for an oil change? Well you can imagine my surprise when it was exactly what I had dropped it off at! (10,099) I remembered reading the TSB bulletin where it talked about installing the combination meter. Within those directions (page 6) the technician is supposed to do a sequence of buttons that will result in the Trip A mileage reverting to 0. So of course I checked my Trip A mileage - it was around 3000 miles! So something seems pretty fishy to me. I plan on calling the service manage tomorrow to hear their explanation but I must say I'm quite dubious. For the 4 or 5 of you who have had this done, did you notice if your Trip A was reset? Does anyone have a reasonable explanation of why my odometer wouldn't have changed? I'm not jumping to any conclusions yet, but ...

 

Re: Fuel gauge updated and odo is the same - Updated Round 1

So here's the latest:

First of all to answer one question, no I did not pay for the service. The invoice I signed is to be paid by Toyota. FYI It only took the Prius Tech at Miller Toyota in Culver City 2 hours to perform this service which does appear to be much quicker than what other people are reporting.

Before calling the service manager I decided to do a little research and try talking to other service managers and techs to see if they could provide any insight as to if the odometer could possibly remain the same. Of course a few of you that I contacted would not recommend their service people and some I am still waiting to hear back from. I did speak with Bob Allen's service manager Sean who was very nice and told me all about how they would have taken the car out for a 20 mile drive to make sure everything was okay. If you're in the Seattle area it seems like Toyota Of Lake City does care about their customers. He agreed that something seems fishy.

The '04 Prius I have been taking to Miller Toyota in Culver City which is closest to my work. When I just called in to express concerns about my fuel gauge update, Mark the service manager did listen to my concerns (which is much more than I can say for the asst. service manager that I usually have to deal with.) He thought that they could just transfer all of the information from one computer to the other but the tech who did my service wasn't in today and he promised to check with him and get back to me tomorrow. I am happy he didn't try to b.s. me but I will definitely be interested in what they have to say.

I know the guy at least did something as I forgot to mention earlier that the maintenance light which did flash when I took it in was no longer blinking when I picked it up. Sure I could have reset this myself but I figured that since the new computer would be reset there was no reason to pull out the directions.

Since the "update" I did fill up the tank and was only able to put in 7.8 gallons (not unusual) with the low fuel link blinking.

Stay tuned to the saga.

 

Re: Fuel gauge updated, odo is the same - They admitted erro

Well the service manager called me again this morning and I once again explained why I thought something seemed strange. Mark is actually a decent guy and does listen, compared to the asst. manager who is full of b.s. This time Mark did agree that something seemed wrong and said they would get to the bottom of it. Fifteen minutes later he called back and said I was correct. They had not installed the new computer because when it went to put it in they noticed the mileage was less (8300) than what my current odometer read (10099) He seemed to imply that they had ordered another computer with the correct odometer and had mistakenly told me that the service was complete. At this point I really didn't want to be belligerent so I thanked me for his honesty and said I appreciated that fact that he didn't try to b.s. me like the asst. service manager. Mark then replied "Well Jennifer, the problem is that you scare Bruce. You know way more about this car than he does. Where do you get all of this information?" Yes, flattery does help and at this point I just want the correct part replaced so I will not take any further action. They are going to put in the computer with the 8300 mileage, not that I really care as I do plan on putting quite a few miles on this car.

 

Re: Fuel gauge updated, odo is the same - They admitted erro

Yes, it made me laugh too (as well as my co-workers) I'm only 5'2" with bleached blonde hair so not exactly the scary type. After the correct meter is installed I plan on checking out some of the other service centers in the Los Angeles area.

 

Re: Fuel gauge updated, odo is the same - They admitted erro

Bruce, I do know quite a few Bruces that I adore (my father was a Bruce and my boss is a Bruce) Hopefully I don't scare any other Bruces!

This dealership gets a ton of Prius in. Every time I go there I see 3 or 4 waiting for service. Of course I'm always providing helpful tips and advice to misguided owners. Generally I'm beginning to think that those in smaller towns get better service than those of us in the big cities. The smaller town techs may not see as many cars, but at least you can talk to them, and if they don't know something they will try calling someone who does.