andy sipowicz

Spot on about Castle Hill Toyota. Sales department are great and the spare parts department guys are also awesome. But their service department is a bit of a joke. Which is also at odds with their service manager who seems to be a nice guy who is genuinely interested in making customers happy. I have personally caught them out on a number of occasions regarding the quality of the work carried out and in some cases the work not being done at all (see my other thread). It's a shame that an otherwise great dealership is let down by the service department. I really don't know who is to blame in a lot of these situations. The dealer principle can't keep an eye on everyone 100% of the time. Are the mechanics not paid enough and under pressure to push the cars through quickly? I have no idea. I've also had issues with Truscotts Toyota at Five Dock and Alto at Pennant Hills so i'm not sure I can personally recommend any Toyota Dealer in Sydney sorry. I do my own servicing now since my car isn't under warranty and use smaller local repairers for large jobs such as brakes etc. If you need your brakes done in Castle Hill I can recommend B & R Brakes. BTW this seems to be an industry wide problem with dealers and not isolated to Toyota.

Thanks for the replies. I don't believe the story either but I guess there is only so much you can do. I let the manager know I didn't believe it and got a refund so I guess I'm satisifed with the outcome and relieved I went to the effort to do the oil change myself. Not wanting to play devil's advocate too much but after complaining the level of customer service I recieved from the Customer Service Manager was very good and he did seem genuinely concerned about what had happened. BTW I live in Castle Hill NSW ;)

So the big meeting with the dealer took place today. I took in all my samples etc. to the Customer Service Manager. The official line from their mechanic is that he changed the oil and filter as per the normal service then filled the car with their standard oil. After refilling he realised I had my own oil so drained only the sump (not the filter) and refilled with Mobil 1. The problem with this story is that the volumes still don't match as the oil filter holds 0.4 L and they used 5.7L of my oil (pressuming they didn't just tax the first bottle) so 6.1L in total. But the car was over full and we drained close to 6.5L out of the car. Plus the colour was not 2 day old oil. Plus the filter looked old. I'm still not sure what was done but admitting you did something dodgey is enough for me to not believe anything else. Also I left the oil on the front passenger's side floor in clear view so you would see the oil when driving the car in and it was written on the work order. They have also admitted their mistake regarding the fuel injector cleaner. There were a number of other small issues that show a general lack of care but I can't really be bothered listing them. They agreed to refund what I paid for the service and the cost of my oil. They also agreed to replace the oil housing removal tool and a cabin filter that wasn't cleaned or inspected as was claimed on the service. The Customer Service Manager was more than helpful and very interested in trying to get our trust back but since it was going to be my last service with Toyota anyway it's a moot point. I'm glad to know my instincts were correct. :)

I'm still giving them the benefit of the doubt for some reason and would like to first give them the opportunity for an honest explanation and resolve the issue. I will never take my car there again however. The thing is I've spoken to the Customer Service Manager a few times and even the mechanic who was working on the car that day and both were very nice and helpfull. The mechanic took the time to put the left over oil in a plastic bag and left it in the car for me. Small thing I know but I was half expecting not to get the remainder of the oil back. The mechanic even got me a few extra spares (wiper blades, AC cleaner, AC filter) I was after and put them on my service so I was only charge at trade price for them. This was around 6pm after spares had closed so he could have easily told me to pi$$ off. I guess in short I'm more than happy with their customer service (including the mechanic) but just not at all happy with the actual work or lack of work done. The two almost seem complete opposites. I'll let you all know the outcome after I speak to them this week and take my samples in.

Thanks for all the replys. Glad to know it's not just me who thinks this is shocking. The dealer didn't seem that surprised just suggested bringing it back in to get it changed again. I would have gone straight back in the next day but the problem is the dealership is only open during the week and I need my car to get to work. I took a day off especially for the service and couldn't afford to take another day off. We had a tripped plan for the weekend and no way was I leaving that **** in my car so I had no choice but to drop the oil myself. I let the dealer know I would be changing the oil myself and bring him in the samples. He said he'd be very interested in seeing them. Not really sure what that means. They did the previous service on the car too so they can't blame another delaership for over torqueing the filter housing unless they didn't change the filter at the previous service too. <_< I plan on writing up a letter with photos for toyota aust regardless of the outcome from the dealership. I also have another more minor issue with this dealer and my front brakes that they are following up with toyota aust for me. They claim the discs need machining but they were machined by another dealer 10 000kms ago and the pads really aren't that worn to be causing damage. When I explained the discs had just been machined recently the service manager implied that by the look of it he didn't think they had been done by the other dealer. Not sure who is lying here all I know is that I paid for discs to be machine 12 months/10 000kms ago and now I'm being told they need to be done again. Guess I'll need to service the brakes myself too. I'm not sure about the forum rules and naming dealerships with liability etc.

Went to a different dealership and picked up the injector cleaner in the white bottle for petrol engines. The guy in the spare parts also said deffinately do not use the diesel cleaner in the Aurion.

Further to my short post in another thread I was wondering what other forum members think my best course of action is in this type of situation or if you think I'm being paranoid and there is some other explanation. I recently took my Aurion in for it's 45K service. It was my last service for the car under warranty and I plan on doing my own oil changes from now on. I called the dealership and asked them if it was ok to bring my own oil and they said sure plenty of people do that. So I left the car with them for the day along with 2 x 5L bottles of Mobil 1. I picked the car up and was given back one bottle with about 0.6L gone from it so including the other bottle that's 5.6L they have used. I figure that's fine they just underfilled it slightly. I got up the next morning after having the car parked on a flat surface to find the oil level on the dipstick close to a cm above the full mark. I also noticed the oil looked darker than I was expecting on the dipstick. I called the dealership for an explanation and he mentioned maybe they just didn't let the sump drain long enough and to bring the car back in. Now I'm not game to let them touch the car again. So the next day I decided that something was up. The colour was wrong, they didn't use enough of my oil and the dipstick was over full. I purchased a new genuine Toyota filter and their filter removal tool to do the oil change myself. I changed the oil myself and I am now convince neither the oil or the filter had been changed by the dealership. What I think has happened is that one of my bottles of oil has disappeared and then the second bottle has been used to top up and over fill my car then the remains of that bottle returned to me. The oil that came out of the car was very dark. It looks like oil that has been in the car for 6 months not 1 day. The total volume I got out of the car was very close to 6.8L. The filter housing had been over torqued beyong belief. I destroyed the filter removal tool getting the housing off and nearly dislocated my shoulder. That filter had been on for months and the filter paper inside looked quite old. I wont mention the name of the dealer but feel free to PM me. BTW this was the same dealership that told me it was ok to use diesel injector cleaner in my Aurion. I've attached some pictures of the drained oil and a small jar of the original Mobil 1 for comparison.

I've had a look around the drivers side in the engine bay but can't really see anything. Was it just behind the ABS system somewhere or did you get to it from underneath the car. Thanks

Hi, I have an annoying rattle in my Aurion that sounds like it's coming from around the driver,s foot well area or in the very lower part of the dash. It could even be just on the other side of the firewall inside the engine bay. It's very hard to pinpoint. I've had Toyota check it out a few times and they can't find anything as the rattle does seem to come and go. It only seems to be present when I'm stopped idling. For example if I stop at the lights and apply the brake I can hear it. As I take my foot off the brake it disappears and comes back when I put my foot on the brake again. But then on occasions I've also heard it when my foot is off the brake completely and then it disappears as I touch the accelerator. The best way I can describe it is like a heat shield type rattle but a more plastic sound rather than metal. It doesn't sound like it's coming from the engine/gearbox etc. more like something touching something it shouldn't causing a vibration. I don't think it's at all serious just more annoying. Having the AC off/on also makes no difference. Any advice on where to look would be most welcome. Thanks

Interesting I've never heard that before. I'll keep it in mind and check the oil immediately after i drive home tonight to compare. Thanks

Hi. Thanks for the feedback but I've never heard of not waiting a few minutes to let the oil settle into the sump before. In fact everything I've every read or heard from other people is the exact opposite of what you recommended. Secondly since it was the 45K service and a filter was included on my invoice I would expect it to be change.

Thanks for checking. A couple more issues have come up and now this has made me really doubt this dealership so I'll be heading back in there tomorrow. A bit off topic but I thought I better check my oil level the day after the service was done. The dip stick is about 2cms over full which is bad enough by itself. Now what is weird is that I took my own synthetic oil in ( 2 x 5L bottles) and recieved back one bottle with only about 0.5L gone from the bottle. So they essentially used 5.5L but the car takes 6.1L and somehow the oil is overfull. I now think the oil filter wasn't changed. To add more to my theory the oil already looks brownish rather than the normal honeycombe colour it usually looks for the first few weeks after a service. I was very close to changing the oil myself but this was my last service under warranty and since it was capped at $130 I thought i might as well let them do it. The dealer asked me to bring the car back in but basically all the trust is gone. So I'm now going to have to change the oil myself tomorrow morning and then I'll take the evidence to the dealer and request a refund or credit. I plan to take photos and send a please explain to Toyota Australia. I love Toyota cars and Toyota Australia but like so many good car companies they are often let down by their dealers.

Thanks for the quick reply. Phew...I was so close to putting it into the car on my way home since I even double checked with one of the mechanics who spoke to the spares dept and was again assured it is the one to use. I'm heading back in next week to get my front discs machined and pads replaced so I'll swap it over then. I guess if they don't have it I'll try the fuel doctor stuff instead. Thanks again.

I just picked up a bottle of the injector cleaner and the a/c cleaner. The spare parts guy at Toyota gave me the diesel injector cleaner. I told him I had an Aurion and asked for the petrol version instead. He claimed that Toyota have stopped making the petrol version and the diesel one is fine to use in an Aurion. This sounds weird to me. I even gave him the part number from this thread and he said yeah they don't sell that one anymore. Does this sound right? I haven't actually put in my car yet.

Hi, Just wanted to say thanks for the instructions. While searching on the web I found these instructions from the US Camry. A little bit more detailed but pretty much the same steps you described.