1200 dollar oil change.....

[Montreal300]

Originally Posted by johnaauld

You missed one of the key reasons to do it yourself. No grease streaked seats, no missing bolts, no misplaced tools lying in the engine bay, no mysterious dents and a good chance of finding any problems you might have induced yourself. I have a picky neighbor who takes all his vehicles to the dealership and I can't tell you the number of times he has fought the dealership over scratches, dents and grease streaks. The amount of time he puts in fighting them could have repaired all his cars several times over.

Amen.
Wifes' car need a warranty tune up.
I buy the parts and put them on the passenger seat.
Wife takes her car to the dealer for the warranty tuneup.
She brings the car home and the parts are still on the seat.
She also has a bill for $390.
Hmmm. I guess they messed up and used dealer parts.
Pop the hood to see what was installed.
Nothing was changed as in all the original parts were still there.
Informed the wife and took cover.
She went back and totaly blew a fuse in the middle of the showroom on a Friday night.
$390 returned and got a credit for another $200.
Never went back there.
The dealer went bankrupt and folded.

[phillyguy]

Originally Posted by Montreal300

Amen.
Wifes' car need a warranty tune up.
I buy the parts and put them on the passenger seat.
Wife takes her car to the dealer for the warranty tuneup.
She brings the car home and the parts are still on the seat.
She also has a bill for $390.
Hmmm. I guess they messed up and used dealer parts.
Pop the hood to see what was installed.
Nothing was changed as in all the original parts were still there.
Informed the wife and took cover.
She went back and totaly blew a fuse in the middle of the showroom on a Friday night.
$390 returned and got a credit for another $200.
Never went back there.
The dealer went bankrupt and folded.

Wow. That story is amazing. I would have been ballistic after something like that.

[canderson]

No kidding. Ref post #17.

[nemohm]

What's the name of the novel the following is the summary of:

Amen.
Wifes' car need a warranty tune up.
I buy the parts and put them on the passenger seat.
Wife takes her car to the dealer for the warranty tuneup.
She brings the car home and the parts are still on the seat.
She also has a bill for $390.
Hmmm. I guess they messed up and used dealer parts.
Pop the hood to see what was installed.
Nothing was changed as in all the original parts were still there.
Informed the wife and took cover.
She went back and totaly blew a fuse in the middle of the showroom on a Friday night.
$390 returned and got a credit for another $200.
Never went back there.
The dealer went bankrupt and folded.

It would be interesting to read the wife's story as well....

[Mktg64]

First - and I've learned this the hard way - don't EVER let anyone flush anything in your car unless you bought it new and have changed the fluids religiously. Any decent mechanic will tell you that cars with significant miles (re, 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe GLS I bought with 110K) should not be flushed, because you just end up pushing all of that sludge and crap through your entire engine instead of the one place it's been sitting. Just DRAIN & REFILL the fluids (talking things like Coolant, Transmission, Power Steering, etc.).

Second - CALL every dealer you're willing to drive to. On the plugs and wires, which are a real pain on these 01-06 Santa Fes due to having to remove the manifold to get to the rear ones, I was consistenly quoted $420-$450 until one dealer just a little further quoted me $220. Same thing happend with my Highlander Timing Belt, got it and all belts replaced for less than half of everyone else and it was a dealer. So they're not all crooks, but you have to do your homework.

Third - I've got a leaking rear Valve Cover Gasket with 116K on the car. So I'm going to have them do the plugs and wires, and with that labor already sunk, have them install a new Valve Cover Gasket. Bought all OEM Hyundai Genuine parts online at Hyundaipartszone.com, and NO I don't work for them...probably save me an easy $100 in parts charges. Also ordered a full OEM timing kit from Kapa Mall straight from Korea, $349 with no tax OR shipping and includes Timing Belt, V-Belt, Pulley Tensioner, Water Pump, Seals, etc...then taking it to the GOOD dealer for labor. Wish I did it this way years ago, but you live and learn.

[gllund]

Went to my dealership for a oil change. 1/2 hour later service guy comes over and tells me my cabin air filter needs replacing for approx. $115.00. I told him I'd do it myself and will buy the filter it if I get 20% off. Ok, that's all good. Went to pay and lo and beyond they installed the filter no charge. How can they tell the filter needs changing if they haven't already taken the old one out. Paid $24.00 for the filter and free installation. Good deal.

[TomcatVet]

I always wonder if they have an old dirty cabin filter laying around to show people. I've changed mine, and wrote the date of the change on the edge. So, if they show me a dirty one, and that isn't there, then I know...

[canderson]

Dunno .. was surprised to see that these things really can trap a load of crud. I changed mine out at 30K. When I pulled it, it was loaded. I suppose I could have hit it with compressed air, but I'm not sure that it would have done enough good.

[wallyjay]

I usually shake mine clean and then vacuum it out. The next time around I change it.

[Mktg64]

$24 is a good price...you can buy OEM cabin air filters online for really cheap, and if you don't want to do it yourself, just cover the labor at your next oil change. According to a mechanic, they do prevent crud from getting in the blower motor, etc. BTW, for some reason Hyundai's shipped to the US in certain years never included one from the factory - just the slot for it. So if you bought a used one like me, it's possible it never actually had one in it.