Fed up with dealership

[MisterSheep]

Originally Posted by jasonojordan

On my brz I had one taillight that every spring for about 2 months would get constant condensation in it. Would burn off while I drove next morning would be all foggy again. I bitched and moaned about it since the other side wasn't doing it(this was after a reseal kit and a whole 2nd set of tail lights). Finally called SOA and they said our engineers say they are designed to do that and yada yada basically just to get me to let it go gave me $500 for the dealer that I could spend any way I wanted.

HAHA even though $500 at a dealer doesn't get you too far...

[ATaraxias]

Originally Posted by MisterSheep

Let me explain everything start to finish as to what is going on before I get into why I am so pissed off with this dealership (we'll call it dealership1 for now)

Almost 2 months ago I brought my car into dealership1 because I had a very loud whine coming from my trans. When I brought the car to them I showed them the whine in the trans and a flywheel/ throw out bearing rattle that was highly audible at idle. They then took my car and gave me a courtesy vehicle and I was on my way.
The next day rolls around and they explain to me that they can no longer hear the rattle at idle, but can in fact hear the whine in the trans. They then proceed to ask me if I wanted to come down again to identify the rattle with the shop foreman. It was no big deal so I went down there after work and showed them the rattle. The foreman did in fact hear it.
The next day I get a call saying that they need a Toyota representative to come out and check out the car because of the modifications I had done to the vehicle before they do any warranty work. In my mind I was wondering why in the hell do they need to check and see if springs, exhaust, and wheels need to be "checked out". Anyway wasn't a big deal at the time and didn't think about it too much.
So the weekend passes over and the rep showed up on Monday. I got a call later that Monday saying that they will proceed to replace my transmission under warranty.
They ended up replacing my transmission and my throw out bearing.

I have the car for about a week before I bring the car back in to the same dealership1 with a new problem, my shifter vibrates horribly off and on in 5th gear and only in 5th gear whether it be shifting 4th to 5th or 6th to 5th or it just resting in 5th gear. There is a vibration and I've never had it happen before. Anyways brought it back to dealership1 to have them check it out. I went on a test drive with one of the techs and he did say that he noticed it and that they would need the car overnight in order to compare it with another tech's personal FR-S the following morning.
I get a call and they tell me that this is a normal characteristic of the FR-S transmission and I should not be worried. I didn't argue with them, I just went back and picked up my car.

I gave it about roughly 1500 miles driving it that way thinking that maybe the new transmission needed to be broken in. It wasn't getting better so I took it to a local shop who the owner specializes in the twins and I had him drive my car. When he drove it he said "this is definitely not normal, I have never felt this before in any of the FR-S' or BRZ's and I drive around 10 different ones a week. If I were you I'd take it to a different dealership and see what they say."

So that's exactly what I did, I had a free oil&filter change at another dealership (we'll call this dealership2) and while my car was there I asked them to take a look at the vibration in 5th. After the test drive and diagnosis they said that it seems the rear shifter bushing looks to be damaged and to take it back to dealership1. Here's the dealership2 notes; Test drove veh verified body vibration in shifter at 4th to 5th upshift inspect shifter bushing and gromets found rear shifter bushing looks to have been damaged from trans repair return to repairing dealer and repair rear bushing and perform diagnosis.

I call up dealership1 and told them about dealership2's findings. They said to bring it in the next day. I bring the car back to dealership1 to have them finally check out what has been going on with the shifter. I got a call and they said that they inspected the rear shifter bushing and it doesn't look to be damaged but seems to have a bunch of *something* grease. (I can't remember what grease he was talking about.) He then proceeds to tell me that they ordered a new shifter bushing so that they can compare the two. My car has now been at dealership1 for 10 days with no new news about the bushing showing up. They said they don't know what is taking so long but it might be on backorder, "so it might take a couple days, a couple weeks, or even a couple months to show up." I then asked for the part numbers and I called dealership2 back up and asked them if they had those parts. They said that they don't have them on hand but they could order them and have them here in 2 days.

So here I am, my car is basking in the California sun just sitting at a dealership and the longer my car sits there with no work being done to it the more frustrated I am getting with dealership1, and I just don't know what to do..

I must say, it is a terrible shame when people misrepresent part availability after taking your money/vehicle. Especially when the parts could easily be obtained by another merchant in a few days.

I know the feels bro... enjoy the wait

[Summerwolf]

Originally Posted by MisterSheep

I'm surprised I have an actual update for you folks. I got a call back from the dealer and they said they're basically replacing the whole shift lever assembly. I tried getting more details but the guy I talked to said he isn't a mechanic and isn't working on my car but can print it off for me when I pick it up after work... (fingers crossed)

Here's some things I was able to make out from what he was trying to say;
Shift Lever Floor control unit
Rubber cushions
Complete sub assembly
All bushings (don't know which ones in particular)
Shift Lever assembly

Damn, what did you do to your car?!?!?

[MisterSheep]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

Damn, what did you do to your car?!?!?

you mean what did THEY do to my car!

[Summerwolf]

Originally Posted by MisterSheep

you mean what did THEY do to my car!

Right!!

[Pat]

Glad to hear the update. Now let's hope the work is done properly and they don't screw up anything else.

[MisterSheep]

Originally Posted by Pat

Glad to hear the update. Now let's hope the work is done properly and they don't screw up anything else.

I honestly don't have high hopes at all... I just hope they didn't make it worse.

[jasonojordan]

Originally Posted by MisterSheep

HAHA even though $500 at a dealer doesn't get you too far...

It got me rear spats, a trunk tote,spt battery tie down,spt oil fill cap,set of 4 subaru drinking pints, and a tshirt

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

Damn, what did you do to your car?!?!?

[MisterSheep]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

close but imagine more like this..

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by MisterSheep

close but imagine more like this..

That is one JDM sheep!

[MisterSheep]

Alright guys I picked up the car yesterday and here are the dealer's notes;

.... Racked and inspected rear shifter bushing, it does not feel broken and it is normal for it to have moly grease. Ordered another one just to compare. Per Ricky D.

Correction: Replaced floor shift lever assembly and floor shift lever retainer sub-assembly with new as per FTS for Cust satisfaction. This is not a repair attempt. Did not find fault in material or workmanship. Test drove after repairs and found that shifter quality is the same as stock personal FR-S. If cust still has concern the car will have to be returned to stock beginning with the exhaust.

Removed Rear shifter bushing, compared it to the new one. No issues found with the bushing that _______ Toyota said was defective.
Opened up TAS Case, The TAS agent said not to replace the bushing and owner needs to put the exhaust system back to stock to see if his issue goes away. Photos of the new and used bushing were sent to TAS. Returned new bushing and bolts to the parts department.

[Summerwolf]

Ok..... Now they're just looking for an excuse not to repair.


Did they fix your issue?

[MisterSheep]

Originally Posted by Summerwolf

Ok..... Now they're just looking for an excuse not to repair.


Did they fix your issue?

It's still present.. somewhat.. honestly haven't been able to drive the car enough but it's seems to still be there..

From the notes it seemed like they just slapped extra parts in there hoping for it to work and then giving it back.