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toyota dealers in the bay area who can handle a toyotahome


neubie

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Anyone know if any of the dealers can service ye olde motorhomes? Just been told no-can-do-lift-not-big a couple times.

edit -- just to emphasize, in the area of the bay de san francisco.

Edited by neubie
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Your entire motorhome weighs less than a Ford F250. Just ask if they can work on one of those. Why would you pay the big bucks for a dealer. There's a repair shop on Winchester called" Made in Japan" Seem to be rated pretty high and have tall shop doors. Make it clear your motorhome doesn't weigh more than a Tundra.

Linda S

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Derek, the appointment ladies have had no general clue despite being told its just a van sized vehicle. They put me on hold and went and asked someone and came back with a negative "take it to rv mechanic" answer.

Its probably the wrong answer without a basis, but how do you get your foot in the door with that attitude at the other end.

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37 minutes ago, linda s said:

Your entire motorhome weighs less than a Ford F250. Just ask if they can work on one of those. Why would you pay the big bucks for a dealer. There's a repair shop on Winchester called" Made in Japan" Seem to be rated pretty high and have tall shop doors. Make it clear your motorhome doesn't weigh more than a Tundra.

Linda S

Made In Japan is quite near. Will ask them next time I drive by.

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I've come across this issue before.  It isn't because of the weight of the vehicle, so much as the height.  Most shops have fancy lifts that put a car or truck over head height for easy access to parts.  They just don't want to crawl underneath.
 

You have better luck with smaller shops that absolutely need the work.

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Well if you are willing to pay dealer prices Toyota of San Francisco on Geary St did all of the rear brake, flush everything, all hoses, mount tires replace valve stems for me. They replaced the thermostat cover and thermostat said it was leaking. I called the man on that cause I never saw any leaks and he showed me the crack in the thermostat cover, which I did keep as a spare. Glad he got that.

It isn't because of the weight of the vehicle, so much as the height, yes the Les Schawb around here won't take the RV, I went to the one in Fairfield.

Edited by Vanman
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Derek, Vanman,

Vanman -- what did they charge you total, do you remember?

There is no known work needed except an oil change. But, and this js a big .... butt...., it does need a thorough mechanical going over to give me some confidence in engine+transmission. Has never had anyone who knew what they were doing look it over yet. Just draining the oil and refilling will keep me uncomfortable about getting stranded.

Since I dont know any mechanics here, I figured the dealer is the next best thing. It will take me years to get sufficient knowledge to maintain the truck part starting from absolute zero, current illiterate status. 

The fluid levels are fine, no hoses are loose, no lights that should be off are on and those that should be on are off, it starts and runs. Thats the extent of my abilities. I have degreased it some and would like the sort of thing vanman got done. As needed of course.

May be a local mechanic would be just fine, buy a LCE hose kit for good measure, take it to someone like Made in Japan that Linda mentioned and have them do a fluid change and hoses.

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Several thousand dollars, would have to dig up paperwork, they checked everything including a compression check and look at plugs, very important, if you cannot read spark plugs find someone who can...   BUT first you should read all the top posts in this board, takes a long time I know, but you will learn much about your new toy before spending any money.

 Plan ahead always!!

This stupid new imac black on black keyboard is driving me nuts :( more typos than text!!!

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Several thousand will motivate me to learn myself!

I cant believe it would cost that much for diagnostics and the few things you mentioned. But this is california. I guess I should start with an oil change locally and then go from there.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Drove around for a while until I located shops with higher bays. Fortunately one of the no wait jiffy lubes had tall bays. Car has new fluids. They fidgeted with the oil filter for a bit before managing to get it off. Hopefully nothing stripped.  Cant say I could tell if there was anything in the oil but it sure didnt look too bad from a distance.

There is a fair bit of condensation from the tail pipe, so I have been worried about the engine leaving me stranded. None of the telltale signs appeared in the fluids so I am hoping to drive a few hundred miles and test out drivability.

Cant say the same about shocks and brakes. They will need a looking into. Dont inspire a lot of confidence in limited driving.

Lesson learned: Learn the height of the truck well. Everything including tree branches, low bridges, and low bays are real and often unexpected enemies. On the positive side, havent scraped my bottom in a while.

Edited by neubie
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