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2015 RAV4 1st oil change disaster

tbplus10

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Last Friday my wife took her 2015 RAV4 Limited AWD to a local dealer for a complimentary first oil change that she had made a prescheduled appt for.
The vehicle only has 2600 miles, but on new vehicles we normally have the oil changed early the first time just as a precaution.
After waiting 1.5 hours and having been promised the service would take no more than an hour, she asked the service desk how much longer it would take.
They were apologetic about the delay and after checking status told her the original tech had gone to lunch midway through the job and a new tech had just taken over and it was being washed and vacumed prior to delivery to her.
10 minutes later the tech came in and told her it was ready, she paid and went out to get her car.
The tech was out near her car and asked if it had always been a loud running car.
Not really understanding his question she commented no it was very quiet compared to her last car.
As soon as she started it up she heard it running loudly, she noted the temp gauge immediately shot above normal, and there was no oil pressure.
She shut it down just as fast and asked the tech if he'd checked the oil level before starting it.
After much shuffling and uh's, she finally informed the tech his supervisor was needed now.
The supervisor came out and with my wife they both checked the dipstick to find it dry.
At that time he told my wife running the engine without oil voided the warranty. She asked him how the oil issue applied when his techs drained the oil durring a servicing and never refilled it prior to returning her the vehicle. His classic response was"Mam you shouldve checked the fluids before starting the car". After she informed him his tech drove the vehicle from the service bay to where it was now parked and had asked her if it always ran loud he had no come back.
They went inside to have a discussion about what would need to happen, 10 minutes later another tech came in and said it was now full of oil and ready for her.
At this time she called me, mostly stunned they would actually tell her it was driveable after being run with no oil.
I made a call to a friend of mine thats well placed in the Local Toyota regional management, then proceeded to the dealership.
My friend beat me there, had the dealership put my wife in a loaner Avalon, and was instructing the GM about how to proceed with making things right.
So we assumed crises averted.
Saturday we were informed our engine rebuild would take a week.
At that time I told them dont lay a wrench on that car, for 1 ya'll screwed it up with a simple oil change, you dont get a second chance. And #2 that particular engine will not be rebuilt and placed back in the vehicle.
Another discussion with the GM that got no where, then my friend contacted me.
The dealer wanted to place a new engine in the car, I was agreeable provided every part that couldve possibly be affected was replaced.
It was finally decided to replace our car, untill the GM saw the invoice for our original purchase, he became upset because we were given such a good deal when we bought it that he would be losing money by replacing it in an even swap and paying any transfer and title fee's.
So here we are 4 days later with no final determination on what will happen, my friend is at the regional corporate offices attempting to come up with a solution.
Hopefully tomorrow brings us answers and an agreeable solution.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
wow, just wow. It just takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. Just shortened the life of the engine by how much have we? Wow, is it really that loud?
 

tbplus10

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Yea, even with oil in it there isnt that "sewing machine" sound associated with Toyota 4cyl engines.
Its got a low volume hum and slight scraping sound.
To say Im pissed at this point would be an extreme understatement.
Im extremely thankful I have a friend well placed in Toyota looking out for us, I can only imagine someone in this situation fighting the dealership to get the right thing done.
Since our car is a Limited with AWD and every other option except leather and Entune, its proving hard to find a similiar replacement.
And were being hard to please since this car was outfitted exactly as we wanted, no Entune, no leather, but Limited package with AWD. Im told its a 1 of 50,000 and there might not be another like it in stock across the US.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
Wow good luck to you on that. Hopefully somebody with half a brain will put two and two together and realize that they caused the problem and gave an unfinished vehicle back to the customer without any notice and they're 100% to blame for the problem.

Now answer the question of trying to get an exact duplicate vehicle, other people have been down this road before specifically I remember somebody with a certain type of Corvette that was damaged by a Joyrider at a Chevrolet dealership a couple of years ago. Of course the employees / Joyrider who caused the damage was fired they couldn't actually prosecute him because he technically you legally had the right to drive the vehicle as an employee. However even though they offered a financially comparable vehicle, it wasn't the same type of vehicle that the Corvette owner had wanted. And now that I think about it maybe it was a Camaro, I really just don't remember. So eventually they do I think just came to a cash value and that was the best they could do, and on all honesty that's all you can do if you can't get the vehicle then you can't get the vehicle, and it all comes down to cash payment.
 

tbplus10

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We were offered a solution this afternoon that might resolve the issue.
I somewhat remember the Chevrolet issue you mentioned, if Im right it was a limited number ZL1 Camero, at that time almost a year after the assembly line it was mfgrd on had been shut down for ZL1 Camero's all replacement vehicles available were higher mileage than the damaged vehicle.
We have been offered an exact replacement from the factory, the only difference will be its a lower mileage vehicle than ours was at the time of the "incident".
The other problem is it wont be be available for another 8 weeks, it hasnt been built yet.
We agreed to the factory replacement as long as my wife can keep the Avalon until our new car is ready.
So far everyone see's no problems with this but were awaiting official approval tomorrow.
 

tibadoe

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1000 Posts
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I hate to even read stories like this but it does happen - more than you think. My wife has a 2014 RAV4 Limited and I have a 2014 Tundra SR5. We don't take either vehicle in for any of the "free" or paid services at the dealer. Between forgetting to fill with oil or maybe body damage, we don't want to take a chance.

I do all services myself and keep detailed records. Hope they get your new vehicle to you soon.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
I said this before but I had a dress-kit on a 5.0 mustang back 20+ years ago and one day I went to look under the hood and my nice heavy fastener that holds the air cleaner on was gone and replaced with a cheap plastic piece. Still ticks me off. Since then I check under the hood 100% of the time when I have someone work on the vehicle.

This is not it, but it's the right idea ... the center thing.



Replaced with something like this ... (again, just the center wingnut)

 

tbplus10

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:)You deserved it for buying a Ford, your just lucky they didnt take a dump in the intake.
Our new special order 2015 RAV4 AWD Limited without leather or Entune is on its way.
I recieved an email from the assembly line director this morning with the final assembly number and VIN, along with color codes and options.
He promised to send me an email at every point of the assembly line once it starts, which should be in anoth 1.5 weeks.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
:)You deserved it for buying a Ford, your just lucky they didnt take a dump in the intake.
Our new special order 2015 RAV4 AWD Limited without leather or Entune is on its way.
I recieved an email from the assembly line director this morning with the final assembly number and VIN, along with color codes and options.
He promised to send me an email at every point of the assembly line once it starts, which should be in anoth 1.5 weeks.
That's awesome! Feels good when you finally get some good customer service and people follow through on the job that they're supposed to do, I know that sounds funny but a lot of people don't do the job they're supposed to do they do the absolute bare minimum to not be fired.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
I hate to even read stories like this but it does happen - more than you think. My wife has a 2014 RAV4 Limited and I have a 2014 Tundra SR5. We don't take either vehicle in for any of the "free" or paid services at the dealer. Between forgetting to fill with oil or maybe body damage, we don't want to take a chance.

I do all services myself and keep detailed records. Hope they get your new vehicle to you soon.
Do you have a hard time doing your maintenance on the rav4? I get the tundra, that's a full size pickup that should be pretty easy to do oil change, lube, filter, look to make certain breaks, air pressure and everything else is working properly. I just personally have a problem working on smaller vehicles, specially nowadays.
 
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tibadoe

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1000 Posts
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Do you have a hard time doing your maintenance on the rav4? I get the tundra, that's a full size pickup that should be pretty easy to do well change, live, filter, look around make certain breaks, air pressure, eggcetera. I just personally have a problem working on smaller vehicles, specially nowadays.
The first service on the RAV4 seemed to take a bit longer but I think it was just because of the oil filter canister. But now it only takes about 20 minutes to do a service from start to finish. I rather work on the RAV4 because I don't have to drop the front shield like I do on the Tundra.

I enjoy doing all the upkeep on both vehicles - I bumped both of the oil change frequencies from the recommended 10k to 5k miles.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
I'm just like most people anymore, my current house is great but the garage is only 400 square feet, it's just so small that it's hard to get much of anything done in there ... if I want to keep it as a garage.

My dad built me a pretty sweet built-in workbench in the back left corner of the garage (the door to the house is on the right-side) and I'm able to just barely store all of my tools there. Honestly if I had a better storage system on the back wall, I would be much better off, but it's still too small of a garage for me to really work in, so I get my services done for me.
 

tbplus10

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I totally agree with you about doing my own maintenance.
When I was on active duty unless I was deployed I did all maintenance.
At each place we were stationed I made a point of doing lots of research to find a reputable trustworthy shop to do work in case I was deployed and maintenance were required. this always worked out good.
When I retired I resumed doing all maintenance until a few years ago when work became to time consuming and I ended up with more money than time.
This particular vehicle and shop are both new to us, unfortunately since the shop closer to us than one we trust run by a friend of ours, my wife chose this one since it was associated with a shop I take my truck to (and have had great service at).
This wont happen again, next time she'll drive 40 miles across town for any service to our friends dealership.
 

tbplus10

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1000 Posts
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We were notified Friday afternoon my wifes "COPO" RAV4 Limited (Yea thats what they called it. My first thought was your really gonna associate a RAV4 with a late 60's GM muscle car?) will be ready for delivery next Thursday afternoon.
Their delivering the vehicle directly to our house so we wont have to go to the dealership.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
The first service on the RAV4 seemed to take a bit longer but I think it was just because of the oil filter canister. But now it only takes about 20 minutes to do a service from start to finish. I rather work on the RAV4 because I don't have to drop the front shield like I do on the Tundra.

I enjoy doing all the upkeep on both vehicles - I bumped both of the oil change frequencies from the recommended 10k to 5k miles.
Yeah, that's a commonly held view, the "cheap insurance argument" is hard to dispel actually.
 

toyotafan

Toyota Truck Club Founder
Staff member
1000 Posts
We were notified Friday afternoon my wifes "COPO" RAV4 Limited (Yea thats what they called it. My first thought was your really gonna associate a RAV4 with a late 60's GM muscle car?) will be ready for delivery next Thursday afternoon.
Their delivering the vehicle directly to our house so we wont have to go to the dealership.
That's awesome, but you're right how can you order a COPO Toyota? Keep the docs on this one for when you go to sell it, lol.
 

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