One day this past week my "check engine" light came on in my 2003 Toyota truck. Figured I'd take it the local trusted Toyota folks. After sitting in the waiting room for 2 hours the service writer comes out and tells me that I have fuel filler leak! Huh? I don't see anything leaking, not leaking gas anywhere, surely I'd a noticed that. She tells me it'll be $469 to fix it!!! Huh, fix what? Then she mentions that I have an aftermarket gas cap and that probably caused my problem. Hmm, wait a sec. You're telling me that because I installed a locking gas cap, I have to spend $469 to fix it! Doesn't make sense to me. So I tell her, have the mechanic reset the computer, I'll re-install the factory gas cap and we'll see what happens. So I go out to my truck, open up the gas lid and voila' what do I find, my stupidity, when I filled up last, I didn't put the gas cap on tight!!! No wonder the warning light came on, the system lost its vacuum!!!!
Had a few other issues from that service visit, but I won't go into them. I will say this. The little experience I had that day, after dealing with these folks for over 5 years, caused me to lose all trust and respect with them and Toyota. Within 2days of the incident I traded the truck! No I did not and will not, buy another Toyota.
My point and my label to this experience is "Legal Stealing." My fault, I should have just brought the truck to my local gas station mechanic. More than likely he would have said, "looks like you didn't tighten the gas cap, there its tight now, shouldn't have any more problems. Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!"
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