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30 years ago, a dealer charged me $60 for shop supplies to diagnose an issue I told them about. I pushed them to explain. They told me it was for oil and rags. I asked them if they used oil. They said no. I asked them to give me the $60 rags that I paid for. They dropped the charge.
They do the same scam on cans of brake disk cleaner. I had a rear axle replaced on my 1995 Chevy Blazer and the Chevy dealer charged me for 4 cans of brake disk cleaner. I said: "why 4 cans and not 1 can?" The dealer couldn't explain it and took three cans off my bill but still charged me for the shop rags used. 🙄🤑
@@jamesburns2232 Might be the hospital excuse. I was in the hospital and they charged me $50 for a bandage (same bandages you and I have in our bathroom). I asked them why it was so high. They told me, because they had to open a new box. Again, I asked them for the rest of the box. They dropped the charge.
@jamesburns2232 1 can of brake cleaner would definitely not be enough for a rear axle change if you properly cleaned everything. If I were the shop, I'd have gave you all of the grease and grime back that we cleaned out of there
I brought my 86 BMW 535i to a local shop that was highly recommended. My aunt was a long-time friend of the owner, but I didn’t bring that up when bringing it in because I don’t like doing that. All I needed was a NY inspection and a valve adjustment. I sent it in for the valve adjustment since I broke a few fingers and doing it one-handed wasn’t worth it. One week goes by. Two weeks goes by. Finally I go in on the third week and the car still hasn’t even been looked at. What I was told was it would take 1-2 days, bring it in on X day, pick it up next day. Every time I called, I got the same “oh yeah we’re about to work on it now” answer. Finally when I went in, I saw the inspection was done, with some other work I never authorized. They replaced both rear axles, which I had already replaced maybe 3 weeks before bringing it in. They took the tint off my windows, which yes isn’t legal in NY, but they scratched up all the windows doing it. They “adjusted” the valves, as soon as I started it I knew it wasn’t done. Opened the hood and showed I could see the original gasket still sticking out. I went ballistic on the owner, to the point that other people waiting came outside to look. He had the balls to tell me “he’ll write off the axles, but I still had to pay the rest of the bill”. I tore the bill up and left. I called my aunt and told her what happened and how her “friend” screwed me over. He called me an hour later apologizing up and down and he didn’t know I was related to her. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he tried to screw me completely, or if he would’ve treated me differently if I said that he knew my aunt.
Hoovies cars are not daily commuters and the man with the Corolla was dead in the water-for a battery replacement=even AutoZone ,Advance, O'Reilly's can do that-if you can get the car to their location
Thanks for putting this out there, I absolutely detest when people are like oh, it's going to be such a hassle to go to court and do anything about it If more people actually encouraged fighting the scam or crappy jobs done by businesses, that would help everyone because then businesses would do things right the first time or to the best of their ability
@@Maria_Moon_Angel I agree-I sued GM in Small Claims court and won! Just make sure you have all your evidence and proofs-and you can win. In my case, I got want I was asking, plus the car.
Tell the customer to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit. Tell the local TV station how they ripped him off. Report them to the State General Attorney’s Office and report them to the BBB.
You are 100% correct about everything besides the BBB. The BBB is a strange private organization with no power at all, and a tendency to practice the same practices as yelp but on a much softer scale. Businesses that pay the BBB fees just magically tend to end up with better ratings & reviews.
Some local tv stations will investigate by bringing in vehicles with known issues and seeing what gets done and for how much and running a story in the results.
I live in downeast Maine and run my own small shop solo. My wait time is always 2-3 weeks out, but after 2 years of working hard being honest and having no big come backs other then part failures a couple times. I'm constantly getting new customers show up, making a appointment to get in cause they just left a shop and either didn't fix the problem or put a bandaid on it. Just last week had a guy in a titan come in for and ask me why he had a bunch of lights on his dash, after he just had a steering rack replaced. I scanned it and said your clock spring got broken when doing the rack, evidently they didn't lock it in place. He called and the shop gave him so much attitude cause he wasn't very happy, and this wasn't his first problem there. So he had me do his clock spring, and was so happy when he picked his truck up, made a appointment for his escape to come in. He said ill just wait for you, cause I've been asking around about you and your shop, and haven't heard one bad thing, only good things. I don't get why shops screw people, cause word gets around quick especially in a small area.
No reason for the owner not to leave a review on Google and Facebook - as long as it’s truthful should be no comeback. You will be amazed how quickly the scam shop will trip over themselves to try and get it taken down.
YES! I took on U Haul like this, I called and reserved a truck and 10 minutes later I canceled it because my wife hurt her self. The local U Haul charged my credit card anyway, after then told me they took off the charge. Well, I jumped on the computer and complained on FB about the local shop and on the Corporate Sight. I had the charges reversed very quick! (Visa was no help)
I had a situation where the shop out of town sold me a new tire that was bad and wouldn't replace because I took too long to come back. I left a review on Google maps and within half an hour they called me.
I totally agree, the owner of this car should leave a review and get back at them for being so dishonest. Even if they refund him/her the shop should be disgraced so they cannot do it to someone else.
Sadly they keep popping out under different business names, and they can close and open multiple ones if they are big enough. One person, an individuals effort is needed, thank you for helping the local communities to not be scammed of their hard earned money, but this extends beyond to systemic issues of consumers/citizens being protected. There is no cap on the materials and services shops can charge , correct me if i am wrong, there is no regulations on how much business can indirectly make off from a consumer. Meaning, if it cost 100 dollars for materials and services, technically all the dealer I the entire area can charge 1,000 of they wanted to as long as everyone is doing it 😅. business dealer repeat everywhere, reaching beyond local individuals effort to stop the spray, as the spray is due to systemic errors.
Put them out of business??? The business has an advantage over the customer in ALL situations. You hear many stories of even oil change places ripping off customers.
@@Canberra_advriderexactly! They cleaned it, just not as thorough, over charged for it, and they probably physically moved the blade, which in a lot of vehicles, doing that alone will cause a relearn to need to be performed. One thing that does NOT cause a throttle relearn to be performed is replacing the battery. Kind of disappointed to hear him say that...
I live in Columbus, Ohio. My parents retired and moved to the sun of Las Vegas, Nevada. Dad passed a number of years ago. Needless to say, Mom, calls me a lot for home repair advice and such. So, I get a call. Her Money Light is on. "Take it to the O'Reilly Auto Parts down the street and have them tell you what the trouble code is." She does. One of the cam variable-timing oil solenoids is acting up. The Equinox is well taken care of. It isn't a neglected oil change interval problem. So, "I tell her to take it to a local Pep Boys. It's an easy job. No sense in paying the high dealer rates to have such a simple job done." Well, Pep Boys quoted her $550 in labor alone to swap out the intake and exhaust solenoids. Unbelievable! It's a twenty minute job even after having a smoke, refilling the coffee cup, *_and_* running to the corner donut store... Needless to say, I ripped the service writer a new one over the phone. I then drove 2,000 miles for visit and repair time. "Mom, stand right here and watch how fast I can do this job..." I had both solenoids replaced and the hood down in twenty minutes. Mother goes, "Is that all there is to it? Boy! They really are out to rip people off." Why? One can make a lifelong fantastic living at being a good honest mechanic. And if you're good and honest, opening your own shop will fill your pockets even more.
If there’s one thing that pisses me off is so called mechanics ripping off old ladies cause I to get calls from my mom I’ve driven to shops and ripped them a new one for trying to pull fast ones on my mom
it's really bad out there. I've actually had friends fly me in to work on their cars. they'll cover the ticket, baggage check in for tools and pay for everything while I'm there even when we go out so I'll do the work for free..
I just bought RAV4 with "Lambda Lean mixture" codes coming on constantly. I had watched this video about cleaning these things. It fixed the car and no more codes popping on constantly. Also car got multiple used lambda sensors stored as last owner had try to fix it. Thank you, this video helped me a lot here half way around the world.
Loved the "A/T service" recommended for my Nissan years ago at a "Japanese Auto Specialist" near me. Loved the look on the service advisor when I showed him the 5speed lever and clutch pedal. 😃
That was a pretty clean throttle body. On my Ford they recommend taking out the throttle body for proper cleaning and to avoid damaging the motor and finger injury.
Yep, its getting very very hard to find honest mechanic shops that don't rip you off. And to make it even worse, so many mechanics are incompetent. If you manage to find a good one, hold onto them with both hands!
A shop with a good reputation locally told me I needed a new rack and pinion. The problem was really a strut mount. It was actually the dealership that was honest with me. Lots of crooks out there.
@@SergiuM42nah, a busted strut mount has a very specific feeling, a decent mechanic should be able to tell before they even need replacing, assuming the rest of the suspension is in relatively good condition.
I'm sorry, but 99% of car repair shops are complete scams. My gf just had a shop sell her on the need for a fuel injection cleaning for $99. When she said that it was a carbureted car they actually said that fuel injectors and carbs were the same thing.
I agree. I do most of my work. But for those few things I can't do easily without a lift I take them to specific shops just for that like tires and alignments.
My story of this type of thing happened several years ago. I brought my car to a dealer's attached shop for a normal oil change and tire rotation (the former since it was lower priced than anywhere else, the latter since it was still OEM tires and no free rotation/balance was purchased), and the dealer tech tried to tell me that I needed a power steering flush and fill. I told the tech to speak to their manager, that I wasn't getting it. The car had electronic power steering, no pump or fluid. That day... I ended up with the oil change and rotation for free. If you aren't going to do your own work, then (a) at least know your own maintenance schedules and (b) know just enough about your car to know when someone is trying to rip you off.
@terr281 sadly, but comically, when the gf informed the guy he was full of $hit, a woman in the lobby stood up and said, "you're wrong! I need that service every time I get my oil changed"...no lie...
There's certainly nothing new about a shop that flat out rips people off, charging for services that were not done. In 1977, our neighbor bought a Plymouth Volare brand new. She had never driven before, but her husband had passed away, and she had to learn. In the meantime, I got married, went to nursing school, got a job, etc. The neighbor quit driving, and we got her car. She bragged about the mechanic shop she had used. They came to her house every three months and took her car in for "service." According to the service records, that shop had replaced practically everything, but the engine block. She barely drove the little car. It had slightly over 3500 miles when we got it. I looked the car over closely, and it was obvious that aside from oil changes and one battery, none of the other things they charged for had been touched. Everything was factory original. Shameful, they targeted the elderly people who are trusting by nature. That shop went out of business. We live in a small town, and word gets around. We got a very good little grocery getter, slant six, automatic transmission, and air conditioning. We drove it several years.
@@joecap2919 agreed, and the elderly are their favorite people to target. They are more likely to trust the service advisor who tells them their car will explode unless they replace the blinker fluid.
@@ettcha They collected and sold private health information from people who used their services. A sleezy to thing to do in general, but also a violation of their very own "privacy/confidentiality" policy they advertise to attract people. How are they still around? They use "influencers" like the Wizard and other major RUclipsrs to push their service as an affordable alternative to people in need who don't have or can't afford other options.
@@ettchaThey claim the therapists are licensed by a professional body, when in actuality they're not. Anybody can sign up and pretend to be a licensed therapist and Betterhelp just believes them without checking.
I see! I think I may have filled in a questionnaire right back when they launched but haven't paid attention to them since back then we literally couldn't pay them from my country even if we had the money. It's crazy that they don't vet their therapists/councillors and sell data. Sounds like they should have been taken down 5 different ways by now
These kind of videos make me sad for ppl that never learned some simple car maintenance basics and have trusting natures, and for honest mechanics that get caught in the fray.
re: the other shop's oil change prices - it was almost certainly $30 for the labor and the other $60 labeled "shop supplies" was probably for the oil and filter. $90 for an oil change is not uncommon these days.
I am an ordinary citizen, but with some RUclips tutorials I have managed to clean the MAP and the TROTLE BODY of my car, also changed the battery as well. It is not something out of this world, one can do it by oneself. I also change the oil and all the fluids in my car because I'm tired of being fooled by these shameless mechanics.
Likewise. I've done all this myself too. My last new battery cost under 100 pounds (100Ah). My mind boggles at prices in the USA (I'm in the UK). I actually used a very reliable and fairly inexpensive independent mechanic's shop for more serious work. Once you find one, don't be tempted to 'look around' thinking you can save.
IKR, the MAP is literally toolless to remove on some cars. In fact a surprising number of items on my BMW at least are toolless, Air filters, cabin filters, headlight bulbs. Plus there are tons of other items that require only basic knowledge.
You are the mechanic people look for. Your honesty is your calling card that car owners want. When you go to "the dealer" look at the new shop and free food you get. That is paid by the high prices. Independents have a lower overhead that equals fairer prices. Keep up the good work.
You are trusting his word and videos that he is an honest mechanic. Every mechanic says they are the honest ones and everyone else is a scammer. I am not saying he is dishonest, I assume he is not, but scammers succeed by gaining trust.
Personally, whenever I clean a throttle body, I remove it. I clean it thoroughly and re-install with a new gasket/O-ring and relearn with scan tool. Even then, it's not even close to $400!!!
$800 for a new battery and throttle body cleaning?! I own a Sienna and at the local Toyota dealer I service my Sienna at, that would amount to around $500 CDN, parts/labour, so even less USD based on exchange rate. That shop DID rip that person off! Criminal!!
Those simple maintenance items can be done by the average person that is savvy enough to look up the how to video and follow directions. I personally just did a MAF cleaning on my car the other day. And I have changed multiple batteries over the years. Plus it can be more of a hassle to take my car in to a shop and wait on them.
@@rdhudon7469For real... Imagine bragging about $500 for a battery and mass air cleaning like that's a great deal 😂 Look at the $300+ dealer battery, 99.9% chance it's made by East Penn/Deka, JCI, or Exide. Now go to any of the major parts stores and get that exact same battery for $200, or go to Walmart and get it for $150... Literally the same battery, just a different label depending on what chain is selling it. Don't forget to grab your $8 can of mass airflow sensor cleaner while you're there.
@@rdhudon7469 Actually in my area, dealers servicing is very competitive with independent shops. I know as I've priced out several service jobs and the prices are pretty close and sometimes lower. I'm sure it has to do with the fact I live in area that a population of 4 million people within a 2 hour driving area so competition is fierce.
As a shop Technician if the check engine light isn’t on I’m not touching or cleaning any throttle body or maf sensor components. I won’t even recommend it. The only time it will be done is when diagnosing a maf code or rough running condition. They will be charged a 1hr diagnostic fee. Not including parts and labor. Guaranteed work is not cheap.
I had a 2012 Corolla with a bad idle on start and the shop wanted $450 for a MAF and throttle body cleaning. Took me 30 mins to clean it besides letting the throttle body soak a little with a rag.
That's why it's not even worth it to take your car to the shop for simple repairs and maintenance. Anyone that is smart enough can look up a how to video for their specific car on RUclips and follow the directions. Even if they have to buy tools and materials it's still going to cost a fraction of the cost to pay someone else.
In additional to that, it is a hit and miss when you bring it to the shop, it is very hard to find a honest auto repair shop especially if you are a woman. Sad but true.
I took my car to a local dealer for some extended warranty work, I'm in Wichita, and they tried to sell me a list of Maintenance. One of the items was to change the spark plugs. I had just done it the week before which means they didn't actually check to see if it was needed and said they just go by miles. I confronted the service manager and he said he didn't see a problem with it, the owner should know if the maintenance was done and if they didn't oh well. When I was a tech at another dealer we had a couple guys that did that, we considered them crooks. Apparently it is now how business is done. I gave them an appropriate review on Google, they responded saying they would reach out, they did not. I'm glad to see how honest you are.
Small clamed court pay 100 to file and if you win you have the company pay that also,bring the paper work of what was not done by the mechanic write all the stuff that was not done .
Thought I would tell a story on this video. I am a lifelong DIY mechanic and work professionally in shops in my youth - when my back could take it. My elderly single female friend has "Corolla 90's era". She had a 2 liter bottle fall over in her trunk and it was rolling around. She took it into a shop down the way and told them about this odd noise. They gave her estimate for $ 1300 which included changing out the motor mounts and a CV joint axle. She took that printed estimate and brought it to me. I looked at the car. The motor mounts were as good as new and not even cracked or dry etc . . The CV Axles were intact - not leaking and were as good as brand new. SO I looked in her trunk - found the 2 liter deal and told her about it - and that was that. The service managers who work the COUNTERS at these places AND work on COMMISSION absolutely LOVE a single elderly female who walks in the door. Now - I seriously have this question - I think that some shops actually don't do any work at all on cars that are brought in - in this situation - an elderly female etc . . and just take her keys for a day - then call her the next day and have her come in and pay the bill - and they simply hand her the keys and wave. And the reason I suspect this is because the motor mounts and the CV Axles on her car were so clean and new looking - a person wouldn't be able to tell a newly installed part from the original part already on the car. And - considering that the CV Axles would have to be openly torn open and leaking etc . . ( and making noises ) to then say you need a new one - this proves their purposeful fraud. And this is just the unnecessary and possibly not even performed work. It is NOT addressing the other shop and dealer scams of not accepting any customer obtained new parts - and ONLY obtaining parts from their vendor account ( at a discount to even the general public ) and then marking that part up 400-800% on the final bill. AND "book time' labor hours at goofy absurd amounts like $ 149-299 per labor hour - depending on the shop.
He makes more money on commission if you take his advice.Then a "tech" puts your car on the lift and takes a look around for the low hanging fruit.That's called UPSELL,and it can be a good thing or a bad thing- how often do you look under your car? Unless he's salaried (RARE) he only make a paycheck from WORK HOURS he's accumulated on the Work Order.You've got kids,mortgage,shop rent, insurance,food bills all kinds of leaks in your Money bucket Why, even the diagnostic software The Wizard uses costs PLENTY OF DOLLAR$ every year,Alldata, Mitchell,Autel, Identafix.......Not Cheap
This is why I do all my own work. I have done control arms, wheel bearings, sway bar bushings, oil changes, ball joints, alternators, water pumps, full brake jobs I order parts off Amazon and watch a RUclips videos, most stuff you can do in a weekend. In your driveway. I never take my cars to shops any more.
Beware of a chain called "Christian Brothers". They are a **well organized* scam. They know when you're stuck and have no choice but to pay. And they play "Christian music" in the lobby and all employees incessantly say "Praise the Lord" and "Have a Blessed Day". I'm not kidding. Then they charge more than the total value of the car. "Well, that steering needs to be replaced or you'll be in danger." "New plugs are $220 but it's guaranteed."
Yes sir. Alex the car guy has customers got screwed by them and he had to fix what they screwed. This shop chain is exactly what you said they are, but unfortunately some have high reivews
The local shop quoted me $612 to change my starter. I immediately said thank you and exited. I bought the starter for $80 and changed the starter in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Just because I had to keep sizing up nuts and screws and finding my click ratchet. I was actually watching and listening to a game while I was doing it. The next day, I wanted to mark the gear mesh, so I ramped up the car, went back in, took the starter out, painted the gear mesh, and put it back in all within 20 minutes ( since I had the tools laid out). Shops are getting crazy with the prices. It literally takes 10 minutes to take out a starter on my car. I would have let the shop do it if they ask for $200-$250. But nope; they tried to get me as a simp. Starters (on older cars) are easy quick money. I could understand $612 if the starter needed reprogramming or a new flywheel, but not the older cars. You just switch the part.
13:40 It is advantageous to remove the TB and replace the gasket, allowing better handling of the TB to clean it. Also not allow stuff to go down into the engine. Not that it will hurt anything, most will evaporate and the carbon build up will be burnt away. Its piece of mind thing. Also allows you to clean behind that blade much better.
After watching this video, i went and bought some TB cleaner, I clean my MAF ever 2 years when I change my air filter. Cleaned them both on my 13 Camry with 100,000 miles on it. Car runs and ideal better than ever, thank you for the video!
On an electronic throttle body you should disconnect power (battery) to avoid fingers getting hurt because electronic ones can close flaps on you and cause injury versus a old school run by wire system where you dont have that issue. For those trying to do that at home.
I am so glad that you’re an honest mechanic I love scan tools. And by watching RUclips, I was able to fix my car myself because all the honest mechanics in my area disappeared because of greed.
Wow, now I don’t feel quite so bad about the last time I took my daily in to a local shop. I usually do all my own work, but that is limited to what I can do in my garage with the tools I currently have available. I recently did my timing belt, water pump, cam seals and front main seal, valve cover gaskets, harmonic balancer, plugs wires…all in my garage on an ‘03 Lexus IS300 with original OEM parts and I was able to do everything for far less than a grand. (Just to give an idea that I am decent with cars). I’ve also done upper and lower control arms, ball joints and caster arms myself on this platform. This particular car has almost 250k on the odometer but the body and interior are super clean so I consider it worth it. I recently had front wheel bearings whining BAD, and I mean bad. Was afraid they were going to seize. This is a fairly straight forward job and if I had a press at my disposal I would be able to do it, but alas, I don’t, so I took it in. To do both front wheel bearings and hub/spindles with a front end alignment cost me just shy of 2 grand all things considered with parts and labor. I was so pissed, but after hearing this shit show it softens the blow a bit I guess. Will be investing in a cheapish press VERY soon.
My car had a delayed starting problem and brought it to the shop. I got a $700 quote to replace my intake system because mine was aftermarket which they blamed for the problem (I had it on for 5yrs already). I got a story about how it messes with the sensors because it draws too much air 🙄. I took it home and started to clean all of the sensors with mass airflow sensor cleaner. I found the throttle body to have a lot of build so I cleaned that with the same $5 cleaner. Starts like new again.
Looks like they may have just sprayed the blade in the throttle body never actually opened it and scrubbed where the build up is. The blade looked shiny to me. But yah it wasn’t a thorough cleaning.
I once had an oil change at a well known shop and they forgot to refill the oil. Thankfully, I caught the problem right away. Please remind your viewers to ALWAYS check the oil level after an oil change.
The first thing I do after my oil is changed is pull the dipstick and check that they put oil back in! Some people just drive away without checking the oil!
I had a problem with my Celica. Hesitant acceleration at the worst possible time. After some research I deduced it might be a mass airflow sensor. I replaced it in 10 minutes with a $20 part. Worked like a charm. I know absolutely nothing about cars and hadn’t even heard of the sensor before.
The cat’s toothbrush broke the bank 😂. Hey , I just bought a 2007 Corolla, color the same , it’s Mica Sandy color,.. weird name I know. It drives down the road as straight as an arrow, easy to park (good visibility) , 125K miles. A pitty that it’s from a small city London Ontario, too much salt over there, but not as bad as further up North Canada 🇨🇦
Yikes! The MAF on this car also contains the IAT sensor (red dot). You can compare how clean upstream vs. downstream side of hot wire is. I also spray connector as well. I clean mine every 30k with CRC MAF cleaner and shake off excess. 2006 Toytota Matrix 4WD with 236,000 miles.
Unskilled labour will cost you more, in the long run. The two problems with mechanics are that a) they are crooks and will rip you off, or b) they're not crooks per se, but they don't know what they're doing. Either situation is not good.
Yes, a lot of the problems I’m seeing is misdiagnosis and unnecessary work as a result, not that they’re out to intentionally scam customers. Sometimes it’s poor and/or sloppy workmanship. Occasionally it’s substandard off-brand replacement parts where OEM parts, while more costly, are the only good choice (like most sensors and other electronic parts). Unfortunately, the real scam begins when they defend their misdiagnoses and poor work, and refuse to admit a mistake or make it right.
Not to get too complicated the car will reset its self after a few startups. The two parts of the air flow sensor are temperature thermostat and an air flow sensor that uses the cooling effect of the passing air these work together to help tune the engine for better fuel usage in varying conditions and do not work well with a layer of dirt insulating them.
This is why I refuse to drop of my cars and insist on watching the service. I was a tech before I blew out my back, so I can diagnose things myself. I just need to make sure that whoever is working on it is actually doing the job, and doing it right.
Thats why shops wont let you in the work area. And most mechanics will refuse to work on your stuff. Just need to find the good shops and give them the business. Unfortunately in the auto repair business, a mechanic and or shop is only as good as their last job
Most shops will not allow customers in the service area. They say it is for insurance and liability reasons. Really, I believe it is to keep arm-chair mechanics out of their hair. My brother has a sign in his shop: Labour Rates: $50 per hour $75 per hour if you watch $100 per hour if you help. That was many years ago. The rates are likely a lot more now.
@@surferdude4487 I've never found a genuinely good mechanic reluctant to let you watch some of what's being done. When we have the annual inspection (called an MOT test here) my usual garage has a seat where you can wait and watch the work as it's done.
@@rustystubbs242 That’s fine. If they don’t let me “supervise”, I just go elsewhere. That tells me that they’re doing something that I wouldn’t approve of and don’t want them working on my cars anyway.
My coworker had the battery go last week on holidays. Battery tested 8.0 volts. 2018 Jeep grand Cherokee. Go's to dealer & they charged him $759 + tax for a new battery & install. Unbelievable!! Great video mr & mrs wizard!!
(1) Friend took his *Ford Focus* in with A/C problems. The mechanic told him he needed complete A/C replacement for like _$2,000_ . Friend declines, and took his car to another shop down the street. Turns out it needed a $10 can of R134. (2) Took my *Corolla* in for a "service special" (bunch of check up stuff as I was leaving on a trip). When I got the car back it was barely drivable. After 1/4-mile I returned to the shop to get some help. I could clearly see that some of the vacuum hoses at the engine were not attached (as you could see the bright brass barbs with no hoses. These were the vacuum advance for the distributor, etc.. Owner of the shop said I'd have to "get with the mechanic" about this; even though it was *his* shop. Mechanic had removed hoses to do a test, but forgot to reattach. Apparently never test drove vehicle afterwards. I reattached the hoses myself, and drove off. $200 buck useless "check up" down the drain. (3) I had a tire blowout on the way to work. Pulled into a small tire shop and the (honest) kid showed me the damage and I needed both front tires replaced (due to wear). Owner (dishonest) grabbed the two replacement tires from the back. A few months later it was obvious that these were really old and sun/weather damaged (display?) tires. When I went back, the owner was all over the place with explanations. I pointed out the date code on the tires indicated they were *TWO YEARS* old when he sold them to me a few months ago. One of the date codes was on the chunk of rubber separated from the sidewalls. He claimed not to know anything about "date codes". But he knew enough to tear the rubber off and tried to palm the date code hidden in his hand. Then he referred me to a Michelin shop for warranty service (except they no longer with Michelin shop.) I must say that Big-O tires was decent as they called Michelin corporate hotline and explained the damage was NOT road damage. Big-O got me about a 50% discount from Michelin on my replacements. (4) Had one shop tell me that I needed a right rear wheel bearing. While the manager was writing this up, the mechanic came over and showed me that I did *NOT* need any work. This was my Toyota Corolla which I recently retired after 37-years (2022) and 220,000 miles. Still all _ORIGINAL_ wheel bearings. (5) During covid I was forced to buy a used car (and you know those prices!). Anyway I got a used Prius from a Toyota _dealer_ , but was comforted by Toyota's 130-point inspection (advertised on this vehicle on the dealer web site). So, turns out the 130-point inspection doesn't apply to vehicle over a certain mileage or age ("sorry, our mistake"). After a few days I detailed my car. The cabin air filter was full of leaves, twigs, hair, and debris. So obviously *NOT* cleaned by Toyota dealer. And the engine coolant reservoir was dry. Took 1.5qt to get it to the Full line. When I went back to dealer, they pointed out that mechanic had changed *Coolant Control Valve* before the vehicle was offered for sale, and likely "forgot" to "burp" they system. So even if appeared full, it was way low until after being driven a while and the bubble worked itself out. This deal has pulled similar crap before. Don't get me wrong, I love my two Toyotas. It's just a shame the most the Toyota *_DEALERS_* are complete assholes.
I have a Toyota that I also bought during COVID. I do all repairs myself. I can't afford to be hundreds out of pocket much less have my car waiting for weeks in a shop.
I did a full service and fluid exchange on my elderly neighbor's car. A month later she took it to the dealer for a recall item and came home with a $900 work order. EVERY item on that work order had been previously done 30 days earlier...
It's not just auto service It's ALL SERVICE If you don't know you're being ripped a new one You will get a new one Why? Business Pressure,the cost of paying all your shop's bills versus actual income of the shop- turns many honest guys into scammers-but was it a dishonest employee packing on time or an unscrupulous owner/manager? Business Pressure Which includes the salaries of the owner that might think very highly of himself and the cost of labor,which is what it takes to keep a talented efficient employee or two I my shop I might have taken in a 1 hour job to keep a good customer happy.No matter the backup already in the shop-this customer is out $800 for a cheap battery and he cannot be a happy camper any more
I had a MAF sensor fail on my while driving. Had to finish the drive home while the car was coughing up a store. Decided to check the MAF sensor and I could see a small hair like object across two of the sensors. Spayed some cleaner and put it back in and problem was gone.
So another shop destroyed their own business for a few hundred dollars. They know this owner uses Omega, so the car will go back there at some point, and their “cleaning job” will be found out. They actually made sure of it by not properly addressing the throttle relearn. Now the owner will never go back to that shop and will tell everyone in the area how they ripped them off. My bet, the shop will see this video (or hear of it), the owner will blame a rogue tech and offer a refund, all in an attempt to salvage their reputation.
@@rafmatt1607 "the shop won't care for a second" Agreed, too many people in a hurry. As in any professional job, if the "pro" can do it the next day, his order books are empty, and that'll be for a reason.
If you're already that far down in it, Why not just remove the 4 bolts and coolant lines to fully remove the throttle body and clean it back and front? Because all the black gunk is on the rear side, not the front side. Also, I was under the impression that you should absolutely NEVER, EVER force the throttle body butterfly valve open with your finger because it can skip teeth on the plastic gears inside.
Something that bothers me about that oil change is that there was no mention of changing the filter. 30 dollars won't buy good oil AND a filter. The 'shop supplies' is nothing but a way to inflate the price. Seriously 95 for an oil change of which only 30 is the oil ??? What brand oil was it anyway ? Obviously not Mobil 1. Cheap 'dino' oil is a dreadful way to save money with today's highly stressed engines.
i spray the throttle body cleaner on a microfiber towel and then wipe out the body. I never spray it directly into the body. CCN says there is no programming throttle re learn on Toyota's. my 2007 corolla did not need any re learn. It self adjusts
Another wizard scam. The car will relearn the parameters without this memory erasing thing. The computer is continually adjusting the parameters so if the battery is replaced then the computer memory will reset anyways. I've replaced my Corolla's battery several times now and it takes about 10 miles of driving to get the idle back to normal.
I've replaced the battery and the throttle body in an '09 Mitsubishi Lancer several times and it never required the MAF sensor recalibration because the ECM relearned on its own. I scanned it recently and has no codes related to idle or any issue with the throttle.
First I'll say I love your videos. There is a lot to learn so thank you for the teachings. There is no question the customer was majorly ripped off. Even if the work had been properly completed the pricing is way over. The $84 to assess the good alternator, et. al, could have probably been waived when it was determined a new battery was necessary and purchased. The $25 labor discount? Stroke to make the customer feel better about being ripped off. The battery was $164. They didn't charge $242 for the battery + labor... $19 of that was state tax which goes to the state. The throttle body... again if they had properly performed the removal, cleaning and re-installing the pricing of $302 is over priced based on time and materials (usually a flat 10% or so for shop materials), but you would never charge $327 and nether did that shop. $26 again was tax. Finally, The Mass Air Flow sensor $111.89... tax on it $9.50. While the whole thing was a ripoff and a lower bill would mean less tax... $54.14 was total tax! so they really didn't charge the quoted amounts. Subtract tax for the total parts and labor. KEEP UP THE GREAT VIDEOS!!! I'm learning a lot!
There's Yelp and Yellow Pages. Also, there's the old Better Business Bureau. Problem is, everyone goes there to complain, but no one ever checks there before they patronize a new business. You have to judge whether the reviews left are reasonable or not, but it's a start.
I replaced the PCV on my 2003 Corolla myself for about $8.00. Did new front brake rotors and pads myself for about $250.00. Replaced the starter, too. Got a new one instead of a rebuilt, so paid $220.00 for it after getting the core. Did the spark plugs, factory recommended type for about $40.00, cleaned up the throttle body and MAS for $10.00. All for less than the ripoff garage charged for next to nothing.
After cleaning a K and N air filter make sure the oil is dry. If not oil can get on mass air sensor affecting the airflow reacts You may have to clean it
There is some bs.ing going on. Throttle body looks clean to me as well as maf sensor. As to battery when you install new battery, ECU is already going to reset itself meaning it is going to set itself to relearning mode. He ain't different from other crooked mechanics.
@@valeriewilliams6294 they may have whipped down inside the throttle body but you can see the dirt still on throttle plate and bore it rests on. These components are very sensitive and that dirt on throttle blade WILL cause rough or inconsistent idle.
I couldn’t see any difference in the parts before and after. This car likely only needed an idle relearn. However the charges from the other shop are totally ridiculous. All of these jobs could be completed by a home mechanic!!!
I was appalled when you said that price. This is exactly why you should know at least the basics about a car. You can EASILY clean the throttle body and mass sensor yourself. Also idk what kinda PCV valve he quoted but they’re wayyyy cheaper than that. This video literally makes me sick to know people are out here scamming like that. Thank you Car wizard for be the Honest man you are!!
big fan and enjoy watching your videos 10:55 i recommend using a clean rough chemical resistant rag, spray the rag and DONT spray the throttle body itself unless its removed from the engine, scotch bright works good but is a bit aggressive, your washing the oil and dirt into your engine and sensitive electronics, EGR, PCV, O2 sensors Catalytic convertors, as minor as causing bad smell lingering in the mufflers/garage and worse case could even damage or hold up intake and exhaust valves and seat, you should definitely not use a tooth brush you are spraying junk all over the place making a mess and little bits of the brush will fall in the engine as its not ment for those chemicals the glue holding the brush pieces in
I just replaced 3/5 of my broken wheel lug studs because the prior tech had probably use an impact to tighten them. Probably thought wasn’t his problem over tightening them, let the next guy deal with sheared off lug nut studs! Only work on your own cars!
I think everyone respects an honest mechanic and is a major reason you have done so well along with your expertise. Its true, many shops make too many appointments for each day. Beware when new managers take over. They are there to make $ not necessarily do good repairs. I noticed a great difference in the shop i always went to after new people took over. They just depended on the reputation they inherited; but a reputation can change quickly. Businesses seem to do everything arse backwards in todays world. I think if one treats people right and are honest, they will always prosper. It's so important to have safe autos on the road; lives depend on it. 😺
Apart from ripping people off, I worked for a shop that DELIBERATELY broke stuff on people's cars in order to get more work in. Like burning car's clutches to the point where it'll start slipping in a week or two. Tightening v belts so tight that alternator and water pump bearings would soon go out. Turning up the fuel on company's diesel trucks so that a piston would melt. Removing brake pads and grinding them right down so the customer would be back very soon. Even pouring oil in their brake fluid! One thing I learnt there is to NEVER EVER take my car to anybody but myself. I'm a qualified tech, so my Camry is running, purring like a kitten at 400k miles 😊
@SergiuM42 It's scary to think that the place you entrust with your car will actually damage it. These were terrible people. Even to work for. After I got injured at work, they chased me away. When I told them it was wrong to damage people's cars, they screamed at me, asking if I wanted to get paid at the end of the month. I'm glad I'm gone from there. 😠
@@KrishnaSingh-ow1ie It is called fraud. It is illegal. If the customer decides to press charges, the crooked garage owners may go to jail, but it is much more likely that they will b required to pay fines, legal costs and damages to the car owner. There may be additional damages paid to the car owner but that would be a civil law suit.
wtf, the pcv valve from Toyota was only $18 for my Matrix (Corolla) and only took like 10 minutes to change and I’m not a mechanic. Wow these people got ripped.
What year was your Matrix? On my 2010 Corolla you need to remove the intake manifold and swing it carefully to the side to access the PCV valve. Some hoses need to be removed and two harnesses loosened as well. Not a 10 minute job.
@@michaelt1349 my Matrix is an 04 and the pcv valve it right at the back of the valve cover. Super easy job, same engine as every Corolla around the same year with the 1.8l engine.
I have been VERY lucky to have found a mechanic shop that goes out of their way to help and keep prices down. They are even a chain shop with about 12-15 locations in my city. My Mom went to dealer with her car for an oil change and they tried to push strut replacements on her. I said take it to my mechanic shop and they told her there was no strut problems, but needed a slight front end alignment and after that all was well. Even within past year they did free full inspection of my car, said the brakes would be due around my next oil change but when I went in they said the brakes were still fine. So I used the money I had saved for the job on other things that were needed in that mileage range. Good mechanics/shops are both hard to find and a godsend when you get a good one.
Thank you, Mrs. & Mr. Wizard. You guys are the best kind of teachers. Know that your efforts are appreciated. What you do is not easy. This world is a better place because of you.
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they're a scam, you're better than this.
Betterhelp is dirtier than your local scammy garage.
Still shilling better help? Shame on you.
@@matthewf1979 dirtier than the tooth brush used to clean the corollas throttle body
better help is the scam job i understand it sounds good but its not look it up and its past
30 years ago, a dealer charged me $60 for shop supplies to diagnose an issue I told them about. I pushed them to explain. They told me it was for oil and rags. I asked them if they used oil. They said no. I asked them to give me the $60 rags that I paid for.
They dropped the charge.
They do the same scam on cans of brake disk cleaner. I had a rear axle replaced on my 1995 Chevy Blazer and the Chevy dealer charged me for 4 cans of brake disk cleaner. I said: "why 4 cans and not 1 can?" The dealer couldn't explain it and took three cans off my bill but still charged me for the shop rags used. 🙄🤑
@@jamesburns2232 Might be the hospital excuse. I was in the hospital and they charged me $50 for a bandage (same bandages you and I have in our bathroom). I asked them why it was so high. They told me, because they had to open a new box. Again, I asked them for the rest of the box. They dropped the charge.
@jamesburns2232 1 can of brake cleaner would definitely not be enough for a rear axle change if you properly cleaned everything. If I were the shop, I'd have gave you all of the grease and grime back that we cleaned out of there
no way they charged you $60 from 30 years ago for that
I brought my 86 BMW 535i to a local shop that was highly recommended. My aunt was a long-time friend of the owner, but I didn’t bring that up when bringing it in because I don’t like doing that. All I needed was a NY inspection and a valve adjustment. I sent it in for the valve adjustment since I broke a few fingers and doing it one-handed wasn’t worth it. One week goes by. Two weeks goes by. Finally I go in on the third week and the car still hasn’t even been looked at. What I was told was it would take 1-2 days, bring it in on X day, pick it up next day. Every time I called, I got the same “oh yeah we’re about to work on it now” answer. Finally when I went in, I saw the inspection was done, with some other work I never authorized. They replaced both rear axles, which I had already replaced maybe 3 weeks before bringing it in. They took the tint off my windows, which yes isn’t legal in NY, but they scratched up all the windows doing it. They “adjusted” the valves, as soon as I started it I knew it wasn’t done. Opened the hood and showed I could see the original gasket still sticking out. I went ballistic on the owner, to the point that other people waiting came outside to look. He had the balls to tell me “he’ll write off the axles, but I still had to pay the rest of the bill”. I tore the bill up and left. I called my aunt and told her what happened and how her “friend” screwed me over. He called me an hour later apologizing up and down and he didn’t know I was related to her. I don’t know what’s worse, the fact that he tried to screw me completely, or if he would’ve treated me differently if I said that he knew my aunt.
It's all hoovies fault for jamming up your shop with itailian hoopties
Exactly, lol
🤣🤣
1,000,000 subscribers and an unending supply of cars for videos. Car Wizard has a nice set up there. Hoovie helped him find his calling.
Hoovies cars are not daily commuters and the man with the Corolla was dead in the water-for a battery replacement=even AutoZone ,Advance, O'Reilly's can do that-if you can get the car to their location
Hoovie probably paid for Wizards kids college.
I took a "Stealership" to small claims court for a botched repair job & won my case.
Probably settled
How much was the court fee and time apent? Genuinely curious from your perspective.
Thanks for putting this out there, I absolutely detest when people are like oh, it's going to be such a hassle to go to court and do anything about it
If more people actually encouraged fighting the scam or crappy jobs done by businesses, that would help everyone because then businesses would do things right the first time or to the best of their ability
@@Maria_Moon_Angel I agree-I sued GM in Small Claims court and won! Just make sure you have all your evidence and proofs-and you can win. In my case, I got want I was asking, plus the car.
Wow that is so not even a litlte intersting in any way... this is not about you
Tell the customer to hire an attorney and file a lawsuit. Tell the local TV station how they ripped him off. Report them to the State General Attorney’s Office and report them to the BBB.
You are 100% correct about everything besides the BBB. The BBB is a strange private organization with no power at all, and a tendency to practice the same practices as yelp but on a much softer scale. Businesses that pay the BBB fees just magically tend to end up with better ratings & reviews.
@@tv321123 I can verify and have experienced it myself, you are 100% correct unfortunately the BBB is useless
When you eventually make it to court it will come down to two mechanics stating their personal opinions on what the issues were.
Some local tv stations will investigate by bringing in vehicles with known issues and seeing what gets done and for how much and running a story in the results.
@@williamegler8771 Yes, it would be an expensive exercise.
I live in downeast Maine and run my own small shop solo. My wait time is always 2-3 weeks out, but after 2 years of working hard being honest and having no big come backs other then part failures a couple times. I'm constantly getting new customers show up, making a appointment to get in cause they just left a shop and either didn't fix the problem or put a bandaid on it. Just last week had a guy in a titan come in for and ask me why he had a bunch of lights on his dash, after he just had a steering rack replaced. I scanned it and said your clock spring got broken when doing the rack, evidently they didn't lock it in place. He called and the shop gave him so much attitude cause he wasn't very happy, and this wasn't his first problem there. So he had me do his clock spring, and was so happy when he picked his truck up, made a appointment for his escape to come in. He said ill just wait for you, cause I've been asking around about you and your shop, and haven't heard one bad thing, only good things. I don't get why shops screw people, cause word gets around quick especially in a small area.
what’s your shop friend? i’m in that area and need a shop!
You mean business sir . Others are bad joke.
Same thing is happening with contractors.
Good ones are rare, because too many criminals pretend to be one as an easy way to milk $$ out of people.
No reason for the owner not to leave a review on Google and Facebook - as long as it’s truthful should be no comeback. You will be amazed how quickly the scam shop will trip over themselves to try and get it taken down.
YES! I took on U Haul like this, I called and reserved a truck and 10 minutes later I canceled it because my wife hurt her self. The local U Haul charged my credit card anyway, after then told me they took off the charge. Well, I jumped on the computer and complained on FB about the local shop and on the Corporate Sight. I had the charges reversed very quick! (Visa was no help)
Tremendous video / alerting us ! Thanks !!
I had a situation where the shop out of town sold me a new tire that was bad and wouldn't replace because I took too long to come back. I left a review on Google maps and within half an hour they called me.
sounds like ray's repairs, he's always removing anything less than 5-star reviews.
I totally agree, the owner of this car should leave a review and get back at them for being so dishonest. Even if they refund him/her the shop should be disgraced so they cannot do it to someone else.
These scam shops need to be reported. I report all where I live. Put them out of business.
Sadly they keep popping out under different business names, and they can close and open multiple ones if they are big enough. One person, an individuals effort is needed, thank you for helping the local communities to not be scammed of their hard earned money, but this extends beyond to systemic issues of consumers/citizens being protected. There is no cap on the materials and services shops can charge , correct me if i am wrong, there is no regulations on how much business can indirectly make off from a consumer. Meaning, if it cost 100 dollars for materials and services, technically all the dealer I the entire area can charge 1,000 of they wanted to as long as everyone is doing it 😅. business dealer repeat everywhere, reaching beyond local individuals effort to stop the spray, as the spray is due to systemic errors.
Put them out of business??? The business has an advantage over the customer in ALL situations. You hear many stories of even oil change places ripping off customers.
As big as this building is... over half of it is full of Hoovie's cars
more money in youtube my guess
Mr. Hoover is a force of nature with the 'broken cars.'
@@cathrynmbecause he repeatedly buys cars without seeing them first. 🤦♂️
I was just about say I don't clean clean these....but was beaten to it😂😂😂
and the other half has the car wizards car,,,, yea,, lets piss off some customers,,,,maybe time to let Hoovie go,,,, he is hurting more than helping.
that throttle body looks like someone cleaned it but wasn't thorough. They are usually much dirtier on a car that age.
Thats what I thought, maybe didn't want to risk damaging the throttle body. Specially if they are electronic
Yup.
Best not to push the butterfly valve with the battery connected, too.
It did look quite clean. Wizard may be jumping to conclusions.
@@Canberra_advriderexactly! They cleaned it, just not as thorough, over charged for it, and they probably physically moved the blade, which in a lot of vehicles, doing that alone will cause a relearn to need to be performed. One thing that does NOT cause a throttle relearn to be performed is replacing the battery. Kind of disappointed to hear him say that...
I live in Columbus, Ohio. My parents retired and moved to the sun of Las Vegas, Nevada. Dad passed a number of years ago. Needless to say, Mom, calls me a lot for home repair advice and such.
So, I get a call. Her Money Light is on. "Take it to the O'Reilly Auto Parts down the street and have them tell you what the trouble code is."
She does. One of the cam variable-timing oil solenoids is acting up. The Equinox is well taken care of. It isn't a neglected oil change interval problem. So, "I tell her to take it to a local Pep Boys. It's an easy job. No sense in paying the high dealer rates to have such a simple job done."
Well, Pep Boys quoted her $550 in labor alone to swap out the intake and exhaust solenoids. Unbelievable! It's a twenty minute job even after having a smoke, refilling the coffee cup, *_and_* running to the corner donut store... Needless to say, I ripped the service writer a new one over the phone.
I then drove 2,000 miles for visit and repair time.
"Mom, stand right here and watch how fast I can do this job..."
I had both solenoids replaced and the hood down in twenty minutes. Mother goes, "Is that all there is to it? Boy! They really are out to rip people off."
Why? One can make a lifelong fantastic living at being a good honest mechanic. And if you're good and honest, opening your own shop will fill your pockets even more.
If there’s one thing that pisses me off is so called mechanics ripping off old ladies cause I to get calls from my mom I’ve driven to shops and ripped them a new one for trying to pull fast ones on my mom
Pep boys expensive don't use them
it's really bad out there. I've actually had friends fly me in to work on their cars. they'll cover the ticket, baggage check in for tools and pay for everything while I'm there even when we go out so I'll do the work for free..
Bro drove 2,000 miles so his mom didn't get ripped off. W Son.
Yeah.. that's why imma teach myself about cars. Fuck it.
I just bought RAV4 with "Lambda Lean mixture" codes coming on constantly. I had watched this video about cleaning these things. It fixed the car and no more codes popping on constantly. Also car got multiple used lambda sensors stored as last owner had try to fix it.
Thank you, this video helped me a lot here half way around the world.
I drive old cars and never let anyone work on them but me.
Agreed. I take my wheels off the car and roll them in for tire changes.
I can do that under 20 minutes, why I need to pay someone do it for me?
@@toguro1009 It's not good to drive on your rotors.
@@AbeIsLincoln I have four sets of wheels lots of good tires for one car, I’ll be OK, but thanks for the tip
same here, my car only goes into a shop for tires and an alignment. it's in the body shop now getting a painted.
Loved the "A/T service" recommended for my Nissan years ago at a "Japanese Auto Specialist" near me.
Loved the look on the service advisor when I showed him the 5speed lever and clutch pedal. 😃
Usually the throttle body is even dirtier. I'm thinking the other shop might have sprayed cleaner, but didn't brush.
My thoughts too.
Yep
That was a pretty clean throttle body. On my Ford they recommend taking out the throttle body for proper cleaning and to avoid damaging the motor and finger injury.
Yep
I totally agree. I've been a tech for a long time. That throttle body was incredibly clean. They even took time to spray the battery terminals.
Yep, its getting very very hard to find honest mechanic shops that don't rip you off. And to make it even worse, so many mechanics are incompetent. If you manage to find a good one, hold onto them with both hands!
A shop with a good reputation locally told me I needed a new rack and pinion. The problem was really a strut mount. It was actually the dealership that was honest with me. Lots of crooks out there.
Bizarre. How can they mix up a steering problem with suspension ?
@@grahamstevenson1740probably a noise they couldn’t figure out
@@SergiuM42nah, a busted strut mount has a very specific feeling, a decent mechanic should be able to tell before they even need replacing, assuming the rest of the suspension is in relatively good condition.
you can also reset the MAF sensor by disconnecting the negative battery cable for about 10 minutes if you don’t have a computer/scan tool.
my cat mouth toothbrush🤣🤣
I'm sorry, but 99% of car repair shops are complete scams. My gf just had a shop sell her on the need for a fuel injection cleaning for $99. When she said that it was a carbureted car they actually said that fuel injectors and carbs were the same thing.
I agree. I do most of my work. But for those few things I can't do easily without a lift I take them to specific shops just for that like tires and alignments.
Well they both deliver fuel to the engine, isn't that the same?🤔😁It would have been funnier if she told them it's an EV dumb ass.
My story of this type of thing happened several years ago. I brought my car to a dealer's attached shop for a normal oil change and tire rotation (the former since it was lower priced than anywhere else, the latter since it was still OEM tires and no free rotation/balance was purchased), and the dealer tech tried to tell me that I needed a power steering flush and fill. I told the tech to speak to their manager, that I wasn't getting it. The car had electronic power steering, no pump or fluid. That day... I ended up with the oil change and rotation for free.
If you aren't going to do your own work, then (a) at least know your own maintenance schedules and (b) know just enough about your car to know when someone is trying to rip you off.
@terr281 sadly, but comically, when the gf informed the guy he was full of $hit, a woman in the lobby stood up and said, "you're wrong! I need that service every time I get my oil changed"...no lie...
What needs to be done, government regulation? It's gotten out of hand.
It is unfortunate that the customer did not fight that bill immediately. Knowledge is power.
There's certainly nothing new about a shop that flat out rips people off, charging for services that were not done.
In 1977, our neighbor bought a Plymouth Volare brand new. She had never driven before, but her husband had passed away, and she had to learn.
In the meantime, I got married, went to nursing school, got a job, etc.
The neighbor quit driving, and we got her car. She bragged about the mechanic shop she had used. They came to her house every three months and took her car in for "service." According to the service records, that shop had replaced practically everything, but the engine block. She barely drove the little car. It had slightly over 3500 miles when we got it.
I looked the car over closely, and it was obvious that aside from oil changes and one battery, none of the other things they charged for had been touched. Everything was factory original. Shameful, they targeted the elderly people who are trusting by nature.
That shop went out of business. We live in a small town, and word gets around.
We got a very good little grocery getter, slant six, automatic transmission, and air conditioning. We drove it several years.
Shops always pull this stunt on women in particular.
@@joecap2919 agreed, and the elderly are their favorite people to target. They are more likely to trust the service advisor who tells them their car will explode unless they replace the blinker fluid.
Karma will get them
@@glenerickson358 If only.
Oh, brother. Talk about rationalizing things to make yourself feel better!
been a mechanic 25 years your great no bs and proper diagnostic and fixes not loading the pars cannon
A customer being changed for unrendered services, and yet the biggest scam in this video is better help...
People have been hating on them for years. What did they do and how are they still around?
@@ettcha They collected and sold private health information from people who used their services. A sleezy to thing to do in general, but also a violation of their very own "privacy/confidentiality" policy they advertise to attract people.
How are they still around? They use "influencers" like the Wizard and other major RUclipsrs to push their service as an affordable alternative to people in need who don't have or can't afford other options.
@@ettchaThey claim the therapists are licensed by a professional body, when in actuality they're not. Anybody can sign up and pretend to be a licensed therapist and Betterhelp just believes them without checking.
I see! I think I may have filled in a questionnaire right back when they launched but haven't paid attention to them since back then we literally couldn't pay them from my country even if we had the money. It's crazy that they don't vet their therapists/councillors and sell data. Sounds like they should have been taken down 5 different ways by now
@@ettcha They should be, but when you have money for good lawyers you can delay being shut down by many years, even over a decade in some cases.
Take a drink every time he mentions the cat's toothbrush
🐈🐈🐈🪥🪥🪥🪥
Thanks, now I’m drunk before noon
These kind of videos make me sad for ppl that never learned some simple car maintenance basics and have trusting natures, and for honest mechanics that get caught in the fray.
Scammers prey on ignorance or vulnerabilities; they are, unfortunately, parasites.
re: the other shop's oil change prices - it was almost certainly $30 for the labor and the other $60 labeled "shop supplies" was probably for the oil and filter. $90 for an oil change is not uncommon these days.
Yep, decent oil is not cheap
I am an ordinary citizen, but with some RUclips tutorials I have managed to clean the MAP and the TROTLE BODY of my car, also changed the battery as well.
It is not something out of this world, one can do it by oneself.
I also change the oil and all the fluids in my car because I'm tired of being fooled by these shameless mechanics.
I was able to change my Odessey's timing belt thanks to the videos on here!!!
Likewise. I've done all this myself too. My last new battery cost under 100 pounds (100Ah). My mind boggles at prices in the USA (I'm in the UK). I actually used a very reliable and fairly inexpensive independent mechanic's shop for more serious work. Once you find one, don't be tempted to 'look around' thinking you can save.
IKR, the MAP is literally toolless to remove on some cars. In fact a surprising number of items on my BMW at least are toolless, Air filters, cabin filters, headlight bulbs. Plus there are tons of other items that require only basic knowledge.
Just pull the fuse for the ECU and replace. That worked for me
That's what internet for, I even top overhaul my 1980s car.
You are the mechanic people look for. Your honesty is your calling card that car owners want.
When you go to "the dealer" look at the new shop and free food you get. That is paid by the high prices.
Independents have a lower overhead that equals fairer prices.
Keep up the good work.
You are trusting his word and videos that he is an honest mechanic. Every mechanic says they are the honest ones and everyone else is a scammer.
I am not saying he is dishonest, I assume he is not, but scammers succeed by gaining trust.
Personally, whenever I clean a throttle body, I remove it. I clean it thoroughly and re-install with a new gasket/O-ring and relearn with scan tool. Even then, it's not even close to $400!!!
$350
@@snoopy5736 For a 20 minute job, tops. So that shop is making 1050 an hour. Outrageous.
I don't bother pulling. The entire internal intake manifold is dirty just like the backside of the TB.
@@mph5896 That's why I always remove the... (just kidding)
U r honest man, hard to find honest mechanic this days
$800 for a new battery and throttle body cleaning?! I own a Sienna and at the local Toyota dealer I service my Sienna at, that would amount to around $500 CDN, parts/labour, so even less USD based on exchange rate. That shop DID rip that person off! Criminal!!
Those simple maintenance items can be done by the average person that is savvy enough to look up the how to video and follow directions. I personally just did a MAF cleaning on my car the other day. And I have changed multiple batteries over the years. Plus it can be more of a hassle to take my car in to a shop and wait on them.
And on top of all that the dealership is still fleecing you as they always do.
@@rdhudon7469For real... Imagine bragging about $500 for a battery and mass air cleaning like that's a great deal 😂
Look at the $300+ dealer battery, 99.9% chance it's made by East Penn/Deka, JCI, or Exide. Now go to any of the major parts stores and get that exact same battery for $200, or go to Walmart and get it for $150... Literally the same battery, just a different label depending on what chain is selling it.
Don't forget to grab your $8 can of mass airflow sensor cleaner while you're there.
@@rdhudon7469 Actually in my area, dealers servicing is very competitive with independent shops. I know as I've priced out several service jobs and the prices are pretty close and sometimes lower. I'm sure it has to do with the fact I live in area that a population of 4 million people within a 2 hour driving area so competition is fierce.
$500 Canadian is still too much for that. Any man that can’t change his own battery should turn in his man card.
As a shop Technician if the check engine light isn’t on I’m not touching or cleaning any throttle body or maf sensor components. I won’t even recommend it. The only time it will be done is when diagnosing a maf code or rough running condition. They will be charged a 1hr diagnostic fee. Not including parts and labor. Guaranteed work is not cheap.
I had a 2012 Corolla with a bad idle on start and the shop wanted $450 for a MAF and throttle body cleaning. Took me 30 mins to clean it besides letting the throttle body soak a little with a rag.
That's why it's not even worth it to take your car to the shop for simple repairs and maintenance. Anyone that is smart enough can look up a how to video for their specific car on RUclips and follow the directions. Even if they have to buy tools and materials it's still going to cost a fraction of the cost to pay someone else.
@@evoman44 preach it, didn’t mind the diag fee to figure it out. Works well now and my wallet is happy happy happy!
In additional to that, it is a hit and miss when you bring it to the shop, it is very hard to find a honest auto repair shop especially if you are a woman. Sad but true.
@@callmebackfriday2 my wife refuses to take her car in haha. Lucky for me!
I like that you’re showing more hands-on mechanical work.
Watching this video is exactly why I am so glad I do my own maintenance and repairs whenever possible.
I took my car to a local dealer for some extended warranty work, I'm in Wichita, and they tried to sell me a list of Maintenance. One of the items was to change the spark plugs. I had just done it the week before which means they didn't actually check to see if it was needed and said they just go by miles. I confronted the service manager and he said he didn't see a problem with it, the owner should know if the maintenance was done and if they didn't oh well. When I was a tech at another dealer we had a couple guys that did that, we considered them crooks. Apparently it is now how business is done. I gave them an appropriate review on Google, they responded saying they would reach out, they did not. I'm glad to see how honest you are.
WoW that's called Fraud
Small clamed court pay 100 to file and if you win you have the company pay that also,bring the paper work of what was not done by the mechanic write all the stuff that was not done .
Thought I would tell a story on this video.
I am a lifelong DIY mechanic and work professionally in shops in my youth - when my back could take it.
My elderly single female friend has "Corolla 90's era". She had a 2 liter bottle fall over in her trunk and it was rolling around.
She took it into a shop down the way and told them about this odd noise. They gave her estimate for $ 1300 which included changing out the motor mounts and a CV joint axle.
She took that printed estimate and brought it to me. I looked at the car.
The motor mounts were as good as new and not even cracked or dry etc . .
The CV Axles were intact - not leaking and were as good as brand new.
SO I looked in her trunk - found the 2 liter deal and told her about it - and that was that.
The service managers who work the COUNTERS at these places AND work on COMMISSION absolutely LOVE a single elderly female who walks in the door.
Now - I seriously have this question - I think that some shops actually don't do any work at all on cars that are brought in - in this situation - an elderly female etc . . and just take her keys for a day - then call her the next day and have her come in and pay the bill - and they simply hand her the keys and wave.
And the reason I suspect this is because the motor mounts and the CV Axles on her car were so clean and new looking - a person wouldn't be able to tell a newly installed part from the original part already on the car. And - considering that the CV Axles would have to be openly torn open and leaking etc . . ( and making noises ) to then say you need a new one - this proves their purposeful fraud.
And this is just the unnecessary and possibly not even performed work. It is NOT addressing the other shop and dealer scams of not accepting any customer obtained new parts - and ONLY obtaining parts from their vendor account ( at a discount to even the general public ) and then marking that part up 400-800% on the final bill. AND "book time' labor hours at goofy absurd amounts like $ 149-299 per labor hour - depending on the shop.
Any shop/garage that has a guy who stands out front at a desk that does nothing but schedule the work will usually try and rip you off.
He makes more money on commission if you take his advice.Then a "tech" puts your car on the lift and takes a look around for the low hanging fruit.That's called
UPSELL,and it can be a good thing or a bad thing- how often do you look under your car?
Unless he's salaried (RARE) he only make a paycheck from WORK HOURS he's accumulated on the Work Order.You've got kids,mortgage,shop rent, insurance,food bills all kinds of leaks in your Money bucket
Why, even the diagnostic software The Wizard uses costs PLENTY OF DOLLAR$ every year,Alldata, Mitchell,Autel, Identafix.......Not Cheap
What if its a TS person ?
@@dnegel9546 what’s that?
This is why I do all my own work.
I have done control arms, wheel bearings, sway bar bushings, oil changes, ball joints, alternators, water pumps, full brake jobs
I order parts off Amazon and watch a RUclips videos, most stuff you can do in a weekend. In your driveway.
I never take my cars to shops any more.
Beware of a chain called "Christian Brothers". They are a **well organized* scam. They know when you're stuck and have no choice but to pay. And they play "Christian music" in the lobby and all employees incessantly say "Praise the Lord" and "Have a Blessed Day". I'm not kidding. Then they charge more than the total value of the car. "Well, that steering needs to be replaced or you'll be in danger." "New plugs are $220 but it's guaranteed."
Yes sir. Alex the car guy has customers got screwed by them and he had to fix what they screwed. This shop chain is exactly what you said they are, but unfortunately some have high reivews
Religion scam
I don’t know man, my one and only dealing with Christian Bros. here in Arizona was amazing.
It sounds like they know full well who it's easy to fleece.
@grahamstevenson1740 the old, poor and the impressionable
The local shop quoted me $612 to change my starter. I immediately said thank you and exited. I bought the starter for $80 and changed the starter in 1 hour and 15 minutes. Just because I had to keep sizing up nuts and screws and finding my click ratchet. I was actually watching and listening to a game while I was doing it. The next day, I wanted to mark the gear mesh, so I ramped up the car, went back in, took the starter out, painted the gear mesh, and put it back in all within 20 minutes ( since I had the tools laid out). Shops are getting crazy with the prices. It literally takes 10 minutes to take out a starter on my car. I would have let the shop do it if they ask for $200-$250. But nope; they tried to get me as a simp. Starters (on older cars) are easy quick money. I could understand $612 if the starter needed reprogramming or a new flywheel, but not the older cars. You just switch the part.
13:40 It is advantageous to remove the TB and replace the gasket, allowing better handling of the TB to clean it. Also not allow stuff to go down into the engine. Not that it will hurt anything, most will evaporate and the carbon build up will be burnt away. Its piece of mind thing. Also allows you to clean behind that blade much better.
After watching this video, i went and bought some TB cleaner, I clean my MAF ever 2 years when I change my air filter. Cleaned them both on my 13 Camry with 100,000 miles on it. Car runs and ideal better than ever, thank you for the video!
On an electronic throttle body you should disconnect power (battery) to avoid fingers getting hurt because electronic ones can close flaps on you and cause injury versus a old school run by wire system where you dont have that issue. For those trying to do that at home.
I am so glad that you’re an honest mechanic I love scan tools. And by watching RUclips, I was able to fix my car myself because all the honest mechanics in my area disappeared because of greed.
Wow, now I don’t feel quite so bad about the last time I took my daily in to a local shop. I usually do all my own work, but that is limited to what I can do in my garage with the tools I currently have available.
I recently did my timing belt, water pump, cam seals and front main seal, valve cover gaskets, harmonic balancer, plugs wires…all in my garage on an ‘03 Lexus IS300 with original OEM parts and I was able to do everything for far less than a grand. (Just to give an idea that I am decent with cars). I’ve also done upper and lower control arms, ball joints and caster arms myself on this platform.
This particular car has almost 250k on the odometer but the body and interior are super clean so I consider it worth it.
I recently had front wheel bearings whining BAD, and I mean bad. Was afraid they were going to seize. This is a fairly straight forward job and if I had a press at my disposal I would be able to do it, but alas, I don’t, so I took it in.
To do both front wheel bearings and hub/spindles with a front end alignment cost me just shy of 2 grand all things considered with parts and labor. I was so pissed, but after hearing this shit show it softens the blow a bit I guess.
Will be investing in a cheapish press VERY soon.
My car had a delayed starting problem and brought it to the shop. I got a $700 quote to replace my intake system because mine was aftermarket which they blamed for the problem (I had it on for 5yrs already). I got a story about how it messes with the sensors because it draws too much air 🙄. I took it home and started to clean all of the sensors with mass airflow sensor cleaner. I found the throttle body to have a lot of build so I cleaned that with the same $5 cleaner. Starts like new again.
Looks like they may have just sprayed the blade in the throttle body never actually opened it and scrubbed where the build up is. The blade looked shiny to me. But yah it wasn’t a thorough cleaning.
I once had an oil change at a well known shop and they forgot to refill the oil. Thankfully, I caught the problem right away. Please remind your viewers to ALWAYS check the oil level after an oil change.
Agreed, trust but verify everything
Where I go they actually pull the dipstick in front of me and show me the level.
Never get any work done at Wally World, ever..
I always check the oil level and make sure the dipstick is in and the filter was changed.
The first thing I do after my oil is changed is pull the dipstick and check that they put oil back in! Some people just drive away without checking the oil!
I had a problem with my Celica. Hesitant acceleration at the worst possible time. After some research I deduced it might be a mass airflow sensor. I replaced it in 10 minutes with a $20 part. Worked like a charm. I know absolutely nothing about cars and hadn’t even heard of the sensor before.
Toothbrush "joke" was beat to hell!
Absolutely cringe 😂. These two have zero charisma as far as acting
Super corny
But human
I can do without the poor attempts at comedy and the sponsored infomercial. Just car content please.
@@GOBEARS1985 Especially when there are still ads running AND as stated in the video, the customer is still paying for the job. Triple dipping!
The cat’s toothbrush broke the bank 😂. Hey , I just bought a 2007 Corolla, color the same , it’s Mica Sandy color,.. weird name I know. It drives down the road as straight as an arrow, easy to park (good visibility) , 125K miles. A pitty that it’s from a small city London Ontario, too much salt over there, but not as bad as further up North Canada 🇨🇦
It’s a pretty sad world when you get to the point where you feel you have to go to mechanic school to help insure you won’t get ripped off.
Thsts america for you. A capitalist society. Pure greed. Keep voting Republicans. There all for big businesses. There is no laws to protect customers.
Yikes! The MAF on this car also contains the IAT sensor (red dot). You can compare how clean upstream vs. downstream side of hot wire is. I also spray connector as well. I clean mine every 30k with CRC MAF cleaner and shake off excess. 2006 Toytota Matrix 4WD with 236,000 miles.
Unskilled labour is cheap
Skilled labour is not cheap
Unskilled labour will cost you more, in the long run. The two problems with mechanics are that a) they are crooks and will rip you off, or b) they're not crooks per se, but they don't know what they're doing. Either situation is not good.
Yes, a lot of the problems I’m seeing is misdiagnosis and unnecessary work as a result, not that they’re out to intentionally scam customers. Sometimes it’s poor and/or sloppy workmanship. Occasionally it’s substandard off-brand replacement parts where OEM parts, while more costly, are the only good choice (like most sensors and other electronic parts). Unfortunately, the real scam begins when they defend their misdiagnoses and poor work, and refuse to admit a mistake or make it right.
Unskilled scam labor is not cheap.
Not to get too complicated the car will reset its self after a few startups. The two parts of the air flow sensor are temperature thermostat and an air flow sensor that uses the cooling effect of the passing air these work together to help tune the engine for better fuel usage in varying conditions and do not work well with a layer of dirt insulating them.
This is why I refuse to drop of my cars and insist on watching the service. I was a tech before I blew out my back, so I can diagnose things myself. I just need to make sure that whoever is working on it is actually doing the job, and doing it right.
In that case, if you come to the shop where I work someday, I'll just let you tell me exactly what to do, how to do it and what tools to use...
Thats why shops wont let you in the work area. And most mechanics will refuse to work on your stuff. Just need to find the good shops and give them the business. Unfortunately in the auto repair business, a mechanic and or shop is only as good as their last job
Most shops will not allow customers in the service area. They say it is for insurance and liability reasons. Really, I believe it is to keep arm-chair mechanics out of their hair.
My brother has a sign in his shop:
Labour Rates:
$50 per hour
$75 per hour if you watch
$100 per hour if you help.
That was many years ago. The rates are likely a lot more now.
@@surferdude4487 I've never found a genuinely good mechanic reluctant to let you watch some of what's being done. When we have the annual inspection (called an MOT test here) my usual garage has a seat where you can wait and watch the work as it's done.
@@rustystubbs242 That’s fine. If they don’t let me “supervise”, I just go elsewhere. That tells me that they’re doing something that I wouldn’t approve of and don’t want them working on my cars anyway.
My coworker had the battery go last week on holidays. Battery tested 8.0 volts. 2018 Jeep grand Cherokee. Go's to dealer & they charged him $759 + tax for a new battery & install. Unbelievable!! Great video mr & mrs wizard!!
(1) Friend took his *Ford Focus* in with A/C problems. The mechanic told him he needed complete A/C replacement for like _$2,000_ . Friend declines, and took his car to another shop down the street. Turns out it needed a $10 can of R134.
(2) Took my *Corolla* in for a "service special" (bunch of check up stuff as I was leaving on a trip). When I got the car back it was barely drivable. After 1/4-mile I returned to the shop to get some help. I could clearly see that some of the vacuum hoses at the engine were not attached (as you could see the bright brass barbs with no hoses. These were the vacuum advance for the distributor, etc.. Owner of the shop said I'd have to "get with the mechanic" about this; even though it was *his* shop. Mechanic had removed hoses to do a test, but forgot to reattach. Apparently never test drove vehicle afterwards. I reattached the hoses myself, and drove off. $200 buck useless "check up" down the drain.
(3) I had a tire blowout on the way to work. Pulled into a small tire shop and the (honest) kid showed me the damage and I needed both front tires replaced (due to wear). Owner (dishonest) grabbed the two replacement tires from the back. A few months later it was obvious that these were really old and sun/weather damaged (display?) tires. When I went back, the owner was all over the place with explanations. I pointed out the date code on the tires indicated they were *TWO YEARS* old when he sold them to me a few months ago. One of the date codes was on the chunk of rubber separated from the sidewalls. He claimed not to know anything about "date codes". But he knew enough to tear the rubber off and tried to palm the date code hidden in his hand. Then he referred me to a Michelin shop for warranty service (except they no longer with Michelin shop.) I must say that Big-O tires was decent as they called Michelin corporate hotline and explained the damage was NOT road damage. Big-O got me about a 50% discount from Michelin on my replacements.
(4) Had one shop tell me that I needed a right rear wheel bearing. While the manager was writing this up, the mechanic came over and showed me that I did *NOT* need any work. This was my Toyota Corolla which I recently retired after 37-years (2022) and 220,000 miles. Still all _ORIGINAL_ wheel bearings.
(5) During covid I was forced to buy a used car (and you know those prices!). Anyway I got a used Prius from a Toyota _dealer_ , but was comforted by Toyota's 130-point inspection (advertised on this vehicle on the dealer web site). So, turns out the 130-point inspection doesn't apply to vehicle over a certain mileage or age ("sorry, our mistake"). After a few days I detailed my car. The cabin air filter was full of leaves, twigs, hair, and debris. So obviously *NOT* cleaned by Toyota dealer. And the engine coolant reservoir was dry. Took 1.5qt to get it to the Full line. When I went back to dealer, they pointed out that mechanic had changed *Coolant Control Valve* before the vehicle was offered for sale, and likely "forgot" to "burp" they system. So even if appeared full, it was way low until after being driven a while and the bubble worked itself out. This deal has pulled similar crap before.
Don't get me wrong, I love my two Toyotas. It's just a shame the most the Toyota *_DEALERS_* are complete assholes.
(1) has a leak somewhere. But small enough to were its fine.
I have a Toyota that I also bought during COVID. I do all repairs myself. I can't afford to be hundreds out of pocket much less have my car waiting for weeks in a shop.
I did a full service and fluid exchange on my elderly neighbor's car.
A month later she took it to the dealer for a recall item and came home with a $900 work order.
EVERY item on that work order had been previously done 30 days earlier...
It's not just auto service
It's ALL SERVICE
If you don't know you're being ripped a new one
You will get a new one
Why?
Business Pressure,the cost of paying all your shop's bills versus actual income of the shop- turns many honest guys into scammers-but was it a dishonest employee packing on time or an unscrupulous owner/manager?
Business Pressure
Which includes the salaries of the owner that might think very highly of himself and the cost of labor,which is what it takes to keep a talented efficient employee or two
I my shop I might have taken in a 1 hour job to keep a good customer happy.No matter the backup already in the shop-this customer is out $800 for a cheap battery
and he cannot be a happy camper any more
I had a MAF sensor fail on my while driving. Had to finish the drive home while the car was coughing up a store. Decided to check the MAF sensor and I could see a small hair like object across two of the sensors. Spayed some cleaner and put it back in and problem was gone.
So another shop destroyed their own business for a few hundred dollars. They know this owner uses Omega, so the car will go back there at some point, and their “cleaning job” will be found out. They actually made sure of it by not properly addressing the throttle relearn. Now the owner will never go back to that shop and will tell everyone in the area how they ripped them off.
My bet, the shop will see this video (or hear of it), the owner will blame a rogue tech and offer a refund, all in an attempt to salvage their reputation.
Seems likely and possibly throw the tech under the bus and fire them when it is probably shop policy.
😂 the shop won't care for a second. You wrote all that for nothing
One can hope so at least.
@@rafmatt1607 "the shop won't care for a second" Agreed, too many people in a hurry. As in any professional job, if the "pro" can do it the next day, his order books are empty, and that'll be for a reason.
If you're already that far down in it, Why not just remove the 4 bolts and coolant lines to fully remove the throttle body and clean it back and front? Because all the black gunk is on the rear side, not the front side.
Also, I was under the impression that you should absolutely NEVER, EVER force the throttle body butterfly valve open with your finger because it can skip teeth on the plastic gears inside.
13:16 then leaves toothbrush pieces in the intake.!!!!!!!!!!!! 💥
"Shop Supplies" used to be a cost of doing business. Now....
Feel free to open up your own shop and not charge for supplies. Whether or not the fee was high or reasonable was another matter.
@@rafmatt1607 W didn't. Now what.
Something that bothers me about that oil change is that there was no mention of changing the filter. 30 dollars won't buy good oil AND a filter. The 'shop supplies' is nothing but a way to inflate the price. Seriously 95 for an oil change of which only 30 is the oil ??? What brand oil was it anyway ? Obviously not Mobil 1. Cheap 'dino' oil is a dreadful way to save money with today's highly stressed engines.
@@grahamstevenson1740 People need to start asking for the "shop supplies" they pay for.
Same with tire repairs and road hazard warranties.
i spray the throttle body cleaner on a microfiber towel and then wipe out the body. I never spray it directly into the body. CCN says there is no programming throttle re learn on Toyota's. my 2007 corolla did not need any re learn. It self adjusts
Another wizard scam. The car will relearn the parameters without this memory erasing thing. The computer is continually adjusting the parameters so if the battery is replaced then the computer memory will reset anyways. I've replaced my Corolla's battery several times now and it takes about 10 miles of driving to get the idle back to normal.
Yes. I agree. My Toyota Matrix
Relearns everything on its own (321,000 miles).
I've replaced the battery and the throttle body in an '09 Mitsubishi Lancer several times and it never required the MAF sensor recalibration because the ECM relearned on its own. I scanned it recently and has no codes related to idle or any issue with the throttle.
But... But... RUclips!
I'm surprised he has got to where he has got
Some electronic throttle bodies need it due to having a simpler ECU.
@@Danny__D Look at scam clickbaiter Scotty the Kilmers. Biggest con man to ever scam his way onto the Internet.
First I'll say I love your videos. There is a lot to learn so thank you for the teachings. There is no question the customer was majorly ripped off. Even if the work had been properly completed the pricing is way over. The $84 to assess the good alternator, et. al, could have probably been waived when it was determined a new battery was necessary and purchased. The $25 labor discount? Stroke to make the customer feel better about being ripped off. The battery was $164. They didn't charge $242 for the battery + labor... $19 of that was state tax which goes to the state. The throttle body... again if they had properly performed the removal, cleaning and re-installing the pricing of $302 is over priced based on time and materials (usually a flat 10% or so for shop materials), but you would never charge $327 and nether did that shop. $26 again was tax. Finally, The Mass Air Flow sensor $111.89... tax on it $9.50. While the whole thing was a ripoff and a lower bill would mean less tax... $54.14 was total tax! so they really didn't charge the quoted amounts. Subtract tax for the total parts and labor. KEEP UP THE GREAT VIDEOS!!! I'm learning a lot!
There should be a website to report these kind of garages.
There's Yelp and Yellow Pages. Also, there's the old Better Business Bureau. Problem is, everyone goes there to complain, but no one ever checks there before they patronize a new business. You have to judge whether the reviews left are reasonable or not, but it's a start.
I replaced the PCV on my 2003 Corolla myself for about $8.00.
Did new front brake rotors and pads myself for about $250.00.
Replaced the starter, too.
Got a new one instead of a rebuilt, so paid $220.00 for it after getting the core.
Did the spark plugs, factory recommended type for about $40.00, cleaned up the throttle body and MAS for $10.00.
All for less than the ripoff garage charged for next to nothing.
The dealer did the brakes on my Accord, 250 bucks.
According to scotty kilmer this thing doesnt need a thing to run atleast 2 or 3 million miles
NO OIL CHANGES?!?!?! WTF????????????
@@billiebobbienorton2556 does t need nothing, its a toyota dude
@@billiebobbienorton2556 Oil and FILTER.
Only needs the MAF/etc. around 175-200k miles. This must be a very high mileage vehicle.
1994 Celica. Greatest car ever according to Scotty.
After cleaning a K and N air filter make sure the oil is dry. If not oil can get on mass air sensor affecting the airflow reacts You may have to clean it
BetterHelp sponsoring a scam video while being scammers themselves is hilarious irony.
there is knee deep BS about that throttle body never being cleaned before rollling in Car Wizards shop
They are?
There is some bs.ing going on. Throttle body looks clean to me as well as maf sensor. As to battery when you install new battery, ECU is already going to reset itself meaning it is going to set itself to relearning mode. He ain't different from other crooked mechanics.
@@valeriewilliams6294 they may have whipped down inside the throttle body but you can see the dirt still on throttle plate and bore it rests on. These components are very sensitive and that dirt on throttle blade WILL cause rough or inconsistent idle.
Had issues with better help? Just curious. Never used them myself.
You’re the best, Car Wizard. Too bad you’re not in Ontario, Canada. We could certainly use your expertise in automotive repair. Cheers.🇨🇦
lol
I couldn’t see any difference in the parts before and after. This car likely only needed an idle relearn. However the charges from the other shop are totally ridiculous. All of these jobs could be completed by a home mechanic!!!
Toyotas have an idle relearn procedure you can do without a scan tool!
@@jeremyshideler4187 Most modern cars will figure it out quickly either after X number of starts or with a battery disconnect.
I was appalled when you said that price. This is exactly why you should know at least the basics about a car. You can EASILY clean the throttle body and mass sensor yourself. Also idk what kinda PCV valve he quoted but they’re wayyyy cheaper than that. This video literally makes me sick to know people are out here scamming like that. Thank you Car wizard for be the Honest man you are!!
If you go to Interstate for a new battery - they will test your ENTIRE system and install the new battery for FREE - NOT $90... what a Scam....
Plus Interstate makes the best batteries
big fan and enjoy watching your videos 10:55 i recommend using a clean rough chemical resistant rag, spray the rag and DONT spray the throttle body itself unless its removed from the engine, scotch bright works good but is a bit aggressive, your washing the oil and dirt into your engine and sensitive electronics, EGR, PCV, O2 sensors Catalytic convertors, as minor as causing bad smell lingering in the mufflers/garage and worse case could even damage or hold up intake and exhaust valves and seat, you should definitely not use a tooth brush you are spraying junk all over the place making a mess and little bits of the brush will fall in the engine as its not ment for those chemicals the glue holding the brush pieces in
I've never cleaned the throttle body on my 1993 Toyota pickup with 310,000 miles. Might be a good idea?
I would define that as preventive maintenance, but for sure if it doesn't idle smooth.
Only if you have a cat whose teeth you brush.
I just replaced 3/5 of my broken wheel lug studs because the prior tech had probably use an impact to tighten them. Probably thought wasn’t his problem over tightening them, let the next guy deal with sheared off lug nut studs! Only work on your own cars!
Isn’t better help a scam?
Yes but no where near as scammy as Scotty the Kilmers.
Was it known to be a scam back when this video was made? Idk when that whole thing went down
Not at all. I used them and they referred me to a local thera piston who turned out to be fine.
Thank you for being an honest mechanic
What could possibly be wrong with the Corolla that cost more than $300
Ac compressor
Motor mounts
New set of tires
Deferred maintenance
Suspension
I think everyone respects an honest mechanic and is a major reason you have done so well along with your expertise. Its true, many shops make too many appointments for each day. Beware when new managers take over. They are there to make $ not necessarily do good repairs. I noticed a great difference in the shop i always went to after new people took over. They just depended on the reputation they inherited; but a reputation can change quickly. Businesses seem to do everything arse backwards in todays world. I think if one treats people right and are honest, they will always prosper. It's so important to have safe autos on the road; lives depend on it. 😺
Apart from ripping people off, I worked for a shop that DELIBERATELY broke stuff on people's cars in order to get more work in. Like burning car's clutches to the point where it'll start slipping in a week or two. Tightening v belts so tight that alternator and water pump bearings would soon go out. Turning up the fuel on company's diesel trucks so that a piston would melt. Removing brake pads and grinding them right down so the customer would be back very soon. Even pouring oil in their brake fluid! One thing I learnt there is to NEVER EVER take my car to anybody but myself. I'm a qualified tech, so my Camry is running, purring like a kitten at 400k miles 😊
That is just appalling. I’m a dealer tech and we never do any shenanigans like that. We are expensive but we always try to do right by the customer.
@SergiuM42 It's scary to think that the place you entrust with your car will actually damage it. These were terrible people. Even to work for. After I got injured at work, they chased me away. When I told them it was wrong to damage people's cars, they screamed at me, asking if I wanted to get paid at the end of the month. I'm glad I'm gone from there. 😠
@@BubblesTheCat1sounds like the stupid horseshit they constantly pull in China!
@@BubblesTheCat1 yea that’s truly awful
Name and shame
It’s so good to have an honest mechanic. I’m lucky I have a good one, as with a Kia I know I’ll need him.
It's bad enough to overcharge, but to not even bother to do the work is inexcusable!
They should be arrested and thrown in jail for that.
@@KrishnaSingh-ow1ie It is called fraud. It is illegal. If the customer decides to press charges, the crooked garage owners may go to jail, but it is much more likely that they will b required to pay fines, legal costs and damages to the car owner. There may be additional damages paid to the car owner but that would be a civil law suit.
2014 Toyota Sienna, right CV axel, thermostat was open, and a new fan belt: $1600 out the door. ! Thanks Greulich!
No names named. Litigation. Slander. What are we coming to when we can't call out thieves?
well America voted in a convicted felon as president so you know🤣🤣
@raven4k998 on the nose, mate
This reminds me of every time I go to the doctor and they cause more problems without ever addressing the original problem but still charge a lot!
wtf, the pcv valve from Toyota was only $18 for my Matrix (Corolla) and only took like 10 minutes to change and I’m not a mechanic. Wow these people got ripped.
What year was your Matrix? On my 2010 Corolla you need to remove the intake manifold and swing it carefully to the side to access the PCV valve. Some hoses need to be removed and two harnesses loosened as well. Not a 10 minute job.
@@michaelt1349 my Matrix is an 04 and the pcv valve it right at the back of the valve cover. Super easy job, same engine as every Corolla around the same year with the 1.8l engine.
I know it sounds crazy, but I like to remove the throttlebody when I clean it. That way you can get the other side cleaned perfectly.
I think Wizard is having a "Get off my lawn" day. LOL !!!
His arm must be hurting from all the patting of his own back.
Jealous much?
I have been VERY lucky to have found a mechanic shop that goes out of their way to help and keep prices down. They are even a chain shop with about 12-15 locations in my city.
My Mom went to dealer with her car for an oil change and they tried to push strut replacements on her. I said take it to my mechanic shop and they told her there was no strut problems, but needed a slight front end alignment and after that all was well.
Even within past year they did free full inspection of my car, said the brakes would be due around my next oil change but when I went in they said the brakes were still fine. So I used the money I had saved for the job on other things that were needed in that mileage range.
Good mechanics/shops are both hard to find and a godsend when you get a good one.
Some shops are crooks. I paid $150 for a battery for my 09 CRV at Walmart.
Did they reset the battery ID? Oh oh.....
@@dddevildoggit figures it out after awhile just take longer this is almost pointless.
@@dddevildogg Oh, yet another pointless addition to the increasingly bizarre features in car computers.
Thank you, Mrs. & Mr. Wizard. You guys are the best kind of teachers. Know that your efforts are appreciated. What you do is not easy. This world is a better place because of you.
That's the type of car you can maintainance yourself easily over the board
i try to do all work on my cars myself. people like the wizard and the car care nut are a rare breed of honest mechanics