Many years ago (30) I was working at a FLAPS one morning when this lady came in with 3 little girls in tow. The lady was buying 10 quarts of oil. I suspect it was all that she could do to afford that. In the process of small talk, it came out that she "had a leak" and had an appt at a Firestone on Sat to get a new oil pan gasket on her 4-cyl econobox. The 10 quarts of oil was what it was going to take her to get the 5 miles to and from work that day. I was highly skeptical and asked if i could see her car.
She popped the hood, and whatever it was, the side of the motor facing the radiator was very clear of stuff except the oil filter standing at attention like a girthy little erection. I could see that there was 1/4"-1/2" of space between the gasket and the mating surface. I could see the the threads that the oil filter screwed onto. I spun her oil filter and snugged it up, told her to put the oil in her car, and NEVER under any circumstances go to that Firestone again. If she had to go to FS (she had a FS CC) then find another one to go to. I was livid. I'd have loved to go all Jason Statham on the folks at FS that day.

Was the inpsection digital, with pics and or vids? Or written on a piece of paper?

Kudos for the alignment tech not wanting to do an alignment on a car with (what they say) are worn and out of spec supsension componnents. Too many shops would do the alignment any way which is waste of the client's money.

At that milage it is completing possible these parts are worn and need replacing.

Cheers

I have a friend who was very very well placed on a large, well known auto dealership. He said the repair/parts end of the dealership made 50%, the highest profit piece of the business.

Let that sink in for a while.

I had a Lexus SC400 years ago .... the local dealer was convenient and on my commute to work...

I still regret that only visit ....

Fantastic car .... stealerships suck :(

For non-warranty work I would not even think of going to a stealership. Why would anyone do that?

My 04 RAV just hit 100k so your post gives me hope of a few more miles ;)

The 08 Rav I gave my son now has 180K on the odometer. Yeah yours have some life left in it. Just don't put really heavy subwoofers in the back because the rear suspension will sag and need replaced. The AC compressor might start making a funny noise but it'll keep working for quite a while.


Full disclosure... not everyone owns the rare 04 Rav4 5.0. :D They had to beef that baby up to handle the powah!

I missed getting a pic last week - son had a replacement engine and transmission (auto) from a E36 in the back, the little RAV had a serious squat going on. Biggest load I put in is fishing stuff, a trolling motor and battery, and a canoe up top :) The guns and such weigh less than all of that :)

Thanks everybody for your opinions. I will take it down to my indy shop and see what he suggests.
Cheers, Guy.

Good luck and let us know.

PM me an invoice for the venting therapy.

I told you when the guys at the bone yard saw the 5.0 emblem glued on the back they laughed and said "Maybe five point slow"

Looking forward to hearing the RX350 news.

I think you'll ultimately get a different opinion of the present condition of the vehicle. I did have an independent shop tell me that a bushing was delaminating. I asked, does it affect alignment? They said "No". I said "then align the thing and send me on my way"

I think I'd have told them Don't make me show ya the Rav thunder...

I once pulled into a place with a trailer that was homemade and looked pretty rough. I told a few folks I know what you're thinking and No it's not for sale. Gotta get out in front of things.

They likely did a visual inspection, the only thing you’d be able to see would be torn boots on bushings. Crank your wheel to full lock and then take a look, if the bushings are torn and leaking grease you will see it. Then never go back to another dealership again, that’s the most expensive option for parts and labor with possibly worse service than many independent shops.

I always took my cars to whatever shop had the best mechanic.

There are some really ****ty independents out there, I just weaned my sister off of one she'd been using for years, they were incompetent.

It's not always black and white.

I agree with you on that. I encouraged my daughter to go to my indy shop to check out the notchy steering on her 2013 Audi Q5. The mechanic said it needed to be reprogammed which he said he could not do and then she took it to the Audi dealership and they found the steering shaft was cracked. It's a crapshoot sometimes....:confused:
A visual inspection was what was needed.