Thursday, July 31, 2008

Stuff that has gone wrong with the car...

Went for the 10k routine service (oil change, inspection, etc.) last month on the 10th at the Toyota Service Centre at Jalan 217. I had always taken the Altis previously to the one in Sungai Buloh (which is not as daft as it sounds as I can get there quite easily through Kota Damansara...), but was less than convinced with their level of service. Most notably they took forever to order and replace my interior rear view mirror.

So looked around for closer ones, and shortlisted down to the Jalan 217, Section 19, or Section 15 Shah Alam. The SA one turned out to be a dealer (normally thought to be not as good) and the S19 one was notorious for its long queue and scratch-happy mechanics. So 217 it was.

Anyway the service turned out to be alright, though it took almost the whole day as I was claiming warranty for the broken driver's floor mat clip and the bubbling patch of paint in the engine compartment.

All in spent around 360 for the service including fully synthetic oil, and alignment and balancing. All I can say is that it felt like a new car! Turns out the previous owner had specified mineral oil for the previous 5k service (which was fine for running in). The fully syn really made a world of difference. Engine felt a lot lighter, and noise was more subdued. Well worth the premium. Let's see how it holds out...

On the minus side, turns out my floor mat clip needs replacing, and they haven't got stock as it's the side underneath the mat that broke, hence more complicated than replacing the upper hook-like part. Also they needed 2 days to fix the bubbling patch. The paint was quickly fixed the week after, but till now I am still waiting for the mat clip!

The alignment was also not good, and didn't fix the car veering to the left. I subsequently went back 3 times (!!!) and it was not fixed until the 3rd visit! This is positively embarassing, not being able to do a decent alignment job!

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