Posted: 9/4/2026 10:18:20 AM EDT
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2021 Pilot. Probably 18 months back her alternator died taking out the battery with it. Dealerships repair at $1600 plus the tow. Ever since then things just seemed off a little bit. She has no situational awareness, but when I was driving it, it just felt “off”. Yesterday she drove my Mustang into work so I could have her car with the baby seat for our grand daughter. I was baby sitting her this week. When I was taking her to meet her dad, it really started acting up. Brake system warnings, lane keeping assist warnings, AC fan would slow down when I stopped and it never really got as cold as it used to. Hmmm…sounds like a power issue. Got back home said screw it. Let’s check this battery out. After pulling off radiator covers, air box inlets to find the battery, the damned positive terminal was never tightened down! We’ve been driving this car around for this long with the positive terminal loose enough to twist it by an arthritic old guy. Yea, not happy with the level of service the dealership is providing. And shit like this is why I try to do my own oil changes. Assholes can’t even install a battery. |
| It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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Originally Posted By ske714: It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. Service manager will offer a free oil change and not say anything to the tech. Sadly it’s the state the industry is in. Techs are near impossible to find right one quality ones are like unicorns. It’s why we are 3 days behind in work with 45 cars in the in the bin for our 8 line techs that are here today and 3 of us won’t be pulling anything else today. The more surprising part to me is the alternator failure. They are rare in that generation of v6. Sadly we see loose terminals causing similar issues all the time and it’s not just from dealerships by any means. The terminals are very sensitive to the height they are installed at. |
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Originally Posted By Quicky06: Service manager will offer a free oil change and not say anything to the tech. Sadly it’s the state the industry is in. Techs are near impossible to find right one quality ones are like unicorns. It’s why we are 3 days behind in work with 45 cars in the in the bin for our 8 line techs that are here today and 3 of us won’t be pulling anything else today. The more surprising part to me is the alternator failure. They are rare in that generation of v6. Sadly we see loose terminals causing similar issues all the time and it’s not just from dealerships by any means. The terminals are very sensitive to the height they are installed at. Originally Posted By Quicky06: Originally Posted By ske714: It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. Service manager will offer a free oil change and not say anything to the tech. Sadly it’s the state the industry is in. Techs are near impossible to find right one quality ones are like unicorns. It’s why we are 3 days behind in work with 45 cars in the in the bin for our 8 line techs that are here today and 3 of us won’t be pulling anything else today. The more surprising part to me is the alternator failure. They are rare in that generation of v6. Sadly we see loose terminals causing similar issues all the time and it’s not just from dealerships by any means. The terminals are very sensitive to the height they are installed at. I realize that hiring quality young employees is nearly impossible. I was really just pointing out that "dealerships" get the blame for things like this, when the problem is individual people. Granted, the dealership is responsible for the work, but you're no more likely to get poor work from a dealership than you are from anyone else that relies on employees to do the work. As for the alternator, when I read that, I wondered if maybe it was the other way around - the battery shorted and took out the alternator. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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Originally Posted By ske714: I realize that hiring quality young employees is nearly impossible. I was really just pointing out that "dealerships" get the blame for things like this, when the problem is individual people. Granted, the dealership is responsible for the work, but you're no more likely to get poor work from a dealership than you are from anyone else that relies on employees to do the work. As for the alternator, when I read that, I wondered if maybe it was the other way around - the battery shorted and took out the alternator. Captain goes down with the ship. Blame is always at the top. 
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Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Captain goes down with the ship. Blame is always at the top. Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Originally Posted By ske714: I realize that hiring quality young employees is nearly impossible. I was really just pointing out that "dealerships" get the blame for things like this, when the problem is individual people. Granted, the dealership is responsible for the work, but you're no more likely to get poor work from a dealership than you are from anyone else that relies on employees to do the work. As for the alternator, when I read that, I wondered if maybe it was the other way around - the battery shorted and took out the alternator. Captain goes down with the ship. Blame is always at the top. I agree that they're ultimately responsible, but if they don't know they have a problem, they can't fix it. I try to have a little empathy for someone trying to run a business. Generally speaking, they want you to be happy. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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Originally Posted By ScottsGT: Captain goes down with the ship. Blame is always at the top. I call my service manager a fire fighter. We do 180 cars a day through service on average. 14 service advisors, around 30 techs in roost, 25 porters, 4 detailed, ect. He is constantly dealing with little things like this on a good day. On a bad day the issues are much much worse. It’s why I tell him I’m not dumb enough to take his job. . In the big picture it’s nearly not worth mentioning then. But to a customer it’s the end of the world. Should the customer have to deal with it ? Absolutely not. But in our reality shit is going to happen. And a loose battery is 10x better than a loose drain plug or wheel, or control arm bolt. It happens to all of us eventually. |
Veteran of the Third Battle of Tannhauser Gate.
Joined:
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Posts:
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ID, USA
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Call and report it. You may or may not get that free oil change but having worked in the industry, I can assure you he WILL get a stern finger-shaking. You may also help some other customer who would otherwise been stranded at the side of the road with a loose battery cable. Or a loose oil pan drain plug or something. Finally, if this tech has a history of such negligence, the shop wants to add this situation to his "kick him to the curb" file. |
87% of the time, any question starting with "Why..." is answered with "Money."
I am so tempted to lay down the melancholy burden of sanity...
"...and if you can't wait for dawn you can always light a fire."
I am so tempted to lay down the melancholy burden of sanity...
"...and if you can't wait for dawn you can always light a fire."
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Originally Posted By ske714: It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. And it is the "dealership" young kids don't know shit. |
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Originally Posted By guyina4x4: Ya that tech is king gone after 18 months. And it is the "dealership" young kids don't know shit. Originally Posted By guyina4x4: Originally Posted By ske714: It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. And it is the "dealership" young kids don't know shit. You don't need to know shit to tighten a battery terminal. You just need to be conscientious. That can sometimes be fixed with a conversation. |
9 lives - 9 pellets... Coincidence?
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About three years ago we bought a very lightly used Lexus NX300 for my wife. When we got home (after a two hour drive) i noticed that it was missing two lug nuts.  And they had claimed to have done a 187 point inspection.  And on top of that, when I called to express my displeasure about it the person I spoke with thought I didn’t know the difference between a missing lug nut and a locking lug nut. After that I went over it and thoroughly checked everything that I could think of. |
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Many years ago I had the front brake pads replaced on my Toyota, day later I stepped on the brakes only to hear a horrendous grinding. The "tech" had not tightened down the caliper bolts and one fell out, luckily it was the front one and it just pulled the caliper onto the disk, if it had been the rear one it probably would have torqued around and spit out the pads and maybe rip out the brake line. |
Think of how stupid the average person is and realize half of them are stupider than that.
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Originally Posted By TN-MadDog: About three years ago we bought a very lightly used Lexus NX300 for my wife. When we got home (after a two hour drive) i noticed that it was missing two lug nuts. And they had claimed to have done a 187 point inspection. Was test driving a used Toyota and barely made it back to the dealership. Dropped the keys and three lug nuts on the salesman's desk and told him we'd pass on the car. |
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Originally Posted By ske714: It's not "the dealership". It's some young "tech" at the dealership. Call the service manager and complain. Maybe the young tech will get a talking to, and learn something about integrity and pride in workmanship. About a loose terminal from a repair that happened 18 months ago? |
You should move to the right lane, where the rule of vehicle and traffic law still exists. You will not survive here. You are not a wolf, and the left lane is the land of wolves now.
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Originally Posted By fttam: About a loose terminal from a repair that happened 18 months ago? This is my thought as well. Pissing in the wind. I’ll probably take time to swing by and speak with one of the service managers and show them the video of what I found. I’ll make it clear I’m not looking for anything free out of this, I just don’t want issues like this the next time I bring it in for anything. |
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Originally Posted By Quicky06: I call my service manager a fire fighter. We do 180 cars a day through service on average. 14 service advisors, around 30 techs in roost, 25 porters, 4 detailed, ect. He is constantly dealing with little things like this on a good day. On a bad day the issues are much much worse. It’s why I tell him I’m not dumb enough to take his job. . In the big picture it’s nearly not worth mentioning then. But to a customer it’s the end of the world. Should the customer have to deal with it ? Absolutely not. But in our reality shit is going to happen. And a loose battery is 10x better than a loose drain plug or wheel, or control arm bolt. It happens to all of us eventually. Damnit! There’s another thread on Arfcom I can rage about and some SME has to come in and suck all the air out of the room.
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In America, the village idiots have organized.
