Sad is they day...
... when I have to take my car to a friend at a Toyota dealership to correctly diagnose an issue. I had brake dust all over my driver side rear wheel that built up pretty quickly. I told them to inspect the bearing first as I thought it was my prime suspect, and rearend for a noise I was hearing. The Ford dealer charged me $35 to tell me my pads were low. No shiz! I can tell that by looking at it in the driveway. They said the bearings were fine, along with the ball joints. I asked them if they would install my traction loc diff but they wanted me to buy a rebuild kit for the rearend and charge me up the a$$ for the installation. I also asked them to inspect the charging system (mainly the alternator that they replaced a year ago) for the cause of the interference I was hearing on the radio and the random check charging system lights that would come on (but never at the dealership). They said they did not hear the noise despite it being non stop for over 6 months (it was still making the noise when I left the dealership). I left all pissed off after wasting a day off and some money and made a few calls..
I ended up talking to a friend that works in the service department of a Toyota dealership. We went for a quick test drive to confirm the noise. We threw it up on a lift and I threw it in gear and got it to read about 50mph (where the noise occurs) and he went around with a stethoscope. Within 60 seconds, he identified the noise as the wheel bearing (I did not tell him that was what I suspected, just that there was noise in the back). Pads were low so I replaced them and the rotors while it was up in the air.
As far as fixing the bearings, my axles are rusted pretty bad on the nut end so I'll probably have to buy new ones. I was a little hesitant to buy autozone re-manufactured axles given that I'm at the 400 ft-lbs torque range. Anyone have any issues with these reman axles and do you think they are up to the challenge?
Thinking of calling the dealership manager and telling him about my experience. Its sad that I have to go to a Toyota dealership to get a reasonable level of service. I have driven nothing but Fords for the 15 years that I've been driving. I was loyal to my dealership that I bought the car from until they disappeared a couple years ago. I was looking for a new dealership that was local to me (since I moved recently) that I could rely on when needed, and possibly buy a Fusion from in the next 2 years. I'm going to ask if they want to make it right and replace the defective out-of-warranty alternator free of charge to make up for the complete lack of service, insult on my intelligence as an engineer, car enthusiast, and loyal customer. Not sure I want them to do the traction-loc install anymore though. I think I'll go back to the Toyota dealership to replace the axles and install the t-loc. Sad!
