Advocate III
Advocate III
Traveler III
Advocate III
Advocate III
Member III
Advocate III
Traveler III
Advocate III
I have to be honest here and admit my mistake. It seems I have jumped the gun here and I want to rectify my previous post...If I may ask, if it's not an OEM tstat, what brand is it?
Advocate III
Sorry for the novel..I have to be honest here and admit my mistake. It seems I have jumped the gun here and I want to rectify my previous post...
Before I explain my ignorance, I’ll recap today...
I spoke with my mechanic for about 40 min. After reviewing what they had diagnosed and how they did it this is what has been done, & this is what was said.
-They did do a hydrocarbon test on the coolant (one at cool temp, one at hot & one in between)... passed all 3 tests and coolant is clean.
-They did check the oil for “milk”... oil was clean
-They did do a “pico” scope check... no leakage found in any cylinders.
-They did do a thermal camera scan on all hoses and radiator... found no cold spots.
-They have inspected the water pump for leaks and fluid coming out of the weep hole indicating failure... found none
-They just replace the 2 front cats(& headers) with oem that I bought from the dealership, while they were off...they found no leakage in those areas.
Okay now for my misunderstanding part...
-They did replace the thermostat with an Aisin THT-003. Which in my ignorance, thought was not oem. After asking him about the part in question, he graciously explained to me that Aisin is the brand that Toyota has make some of their oem parts, similar to what they do with Denso. It just doesn’t have “Toyota” stamped on it like you would get if buying through a dealership. Same part, different name on it. Sooo, I was wrong and I admit it.
At this point, with my foot placed firmly in my mouth, I asked what percentage does he think it’s NOT a blown head gasket given the tests performed and he said 98-99% sure it’s not the HG. He said that it just doesn’t check the boxes and the “Usual situation” math is not adding up. Therefore, it must be an Intermittent anomaly that they just haven’t been able to replicate under shop conditions or short, yet hard, drives. It only seems to happen after about an hour of driving and they needed to drive it longer to figure out the problem.
-So from here, the next test they will do is pull the bottom radiator hose, use a scope to see the water pump impeller & turn the motor by hand and inspect each blade.
After all that, he assured me that they will keep looking until they find the problem (no additional charge) and get it fixed properly. He also said if I wanted the parts to say toyota on them he’d be happy to appease me but may cost a bit more and I agreed to that if necessary in the future.
I feel a lot better about the situation (and my mechanic) after today and I will be taking it in tomorrow for further diagnosis.
I apologize for my jumping the gun and I will be doing my homework before posting from now on. Life’s about learning lessons and I have learned one today!
Explorer I
Advocate III
20990
Traveler III
Advocate III
Advocate III
20990
Traveler III
Advocate III
Traveler III
Advocate III
20990
Advocate III
20990
800 for a set of heads is on the cheap side... just had mine done on my Bronco... it was $1600 to get them each completely rebuilt. Would have cost a little more had their been a crack. I’m still skeptical on the 16 hours.Yeah, so some of this comes down to "if we're in there, why not replace it". In my experience (and again, I'm a complete stranger on the internet) it's not necessary to replace everything. It does provide a level of assurance, though.
Sidebar:: Parts markup is normal. In my experience, I can purchase parts cheaper online than our suppliers charge the shop. Online retailers cut out some middle men (which happens to be parts stores in this case). And most times, the price the shop receives is considered "wholesale" and is applied without tax. They are willing to pay that price because of the perks they get (hassle free returns and no restocking fees, free delivery, same day delivery, and supplier back warranty and even labor coverage in some cases)
Dont get too hung up on parts prices. Labor rates cover tech's wages, L&I, trainings, certifications, insurance (insurance is a bear in the shop), equipment, etc. Parts markup helps cover bills and subscriptions, service info, office and service staff, etc. And that extra cost you pay gives you a great warranty (3 years in your case; better than industry average btw) as well as the judgement and experience they bring to the job.
The list looks good. I question the need for the radiator (as you said it was replaced a few years ago), vvt solenoids and the cam gears (phasers/actuators). Sure they technically wear, but I've never had to replace any due to wear (only lack of maintenance causing carbon buildup). And the solenoids are easy to replace as they fail. Unless you have noise or codes (or if you've really skimped on maintenance) theres little functional advantage to replacing them.
Maybe ask about those and see if you're happy with the explanation.
The machine shop work seems high, but good shops charge well for their work and without an itemized list of their services, I dont feel confident speaking on the charges.
Edit: it also looks like they have coolant on there twice (totaling 3 gallons)
Traveler III