I don't know about you but I appreciate Ray's in depth advice, even if he as you claim, points things out that may seem irrelevant. Perhaps you could do the rest of us a favor and keep your comments to yourself. I appreciate Ray O's advice and if he wants to offer FREE/ VALUABLE advice about Toyota's or anything else he seems to be knowledgeable in, then by all means let him do so. This newsgroup is a very valuable resource and while many people contribute to that success, Ray O is a big factor in it. I personally appreciate the time he takes to answer everyones questions.
Never mind that someone is dissing one of the few always-nice guys on this NG, but in the 2 decades of taking our Toyotas to dealers for changes, (occasionally taking them elsewhere for convenience), nobody has ever said, "This car has to wrong oil" nor have we had any problems.
Add to that, I've never seen anyone on a Toyota forum complain of this until now.
I think it is interesting that the cars ship with the outside mirrors detached, but I don't think it is particularly important as to whether they were taken off, or never installed in the first place.
2 decades is a long time, but for about the last 10 years Toyota has specified 5W-30 for most of its engines. Over the last 10 years, most dealers use 10W-30 to avoid having to stock a lot of different oils (in cars that call for 5W-30).
The fact that no one told you your car has the wrong oil, or that you have not explicitly encountered an oil related problem that you know of, does not obviate the fact that dealers after do not use the Toyota recommended oil viscosity.
That is not the issue. The issue is whether you got 5W-30 oil (as recommended by Toyota for cars built in the last 10 years) or whether the dealer used 10W-30 (or something else) because they don't want to stock a lot of different oils in bulk..
Everyone (including Ray) complains about the cheapo Fram $3 oil filters with the cardboard end cap (and rightly so because they are crap) but I have yet to see anyone who can prove that using it ever caused a problem.
Lots of real Toyota techs (not corporate people) and other knowledgeable people post on this forum and don't ask anything in return.
But in fact Ray does ask something in return. He asks that you buy into the myth that Toyota dealers never make mistakes and always provide good service. Now certainly, many dealers do provide good service most of the time, but they do sometimes make serious mistakes. And the people the Dealers hire to do oil changes (typically not Toyota Certified Techs) or prep cars, are no better than you find at Jiffy Lube.
Ray's job is to promote Toyota dealer service. he gets paid to do that (or did at one time). He is not now a Toyota Mechanic. Often times he does have valuable advice for people, but much of his advice is not any better than the average knowledgeable person. This is especially so when he talks about tires, which is what started this sub-thread (when one idiot swooned at Ray's comments about tire pressure, while ignoring everyone else who had just as much good information). I would take Ray's comments with a grain of salt, sort of like talking to a Toyota Dealer Service Advisor--sometimes it is the truth, and sometimes you had better hold on to your wallet.
I am not lashing out at Ray. I just asked him whether it is really necessary to make a distinction between a mirror that was never installed, or a mirror that was removed, when cars are shipped without mirrors. Maybe Ray is the one who is a bit anal. The point was that the cars are shipped without the side view mirrors.
I am lashing out at people who take everything Ray says as gospel and ignore everyone else. For example, when about 5 people offer good advice about tire pressure it is ignored until Ray posts something about it. Toyota does not make tires (and does not even provide a warranty for the ones on their cars).
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