Good mornin’. This is Saul Reisman here at Saul’s Automotive, and today we’re standing in front of a 2008 Toyota Sienna.
Now the reason we’re here with this vehicle that’s typically not in for often service is because this guy’s been a little bit neglected, and in this case is going to get some pretty intensive repairs.
For most Toyota owners, in the first decade of ownership, you really shouldn’t need to be at your mechanic often. However, you should be getting regular oil changes and inspections of all your basic filters. And any local auto repair shop, let alone ourselves here at Saul’s Automotive, is more than happy to keep up on that regular maintenance to prevent you from being in here for a cause like today.
Now this Toyota 2008 Sienna has 150,000 miles on it and is eight years old. At this point in its life, believe it or not, it’s still worth almost $20,000, so when we look at the cost of the repairs that are gonna go into it, which are gonna be a two to three thousand dollar repair, versus the cost of trading, selling, buying, replacing, it seems to make sense to do the repairs. However, today’s repair could have been avoided completely with regular maintenance and service.
Now, at a typical oil change interval, we will inspect the belt drive, the filters, the fluid levels all across the vehicle, along with the brakes and suspension components. This vehicle did not have those basic checks done up each and every time. As a result, the serpentine belt, which is a basic $35 piece of rubber, wore loose and was still in service. Wore the serpentine tensioner loose by allowing the belt to walk a greater distance. Being stretched made the tensioner work harder to keep it tight. That wore out the tensioner. The tensioner was then maxed, as far as its capacity for how tight it could keep the belt, and the belt was still able to be loose. As a result, many of the pulleys in the system itself failed and the bearings in them failed. In this case, the water pump, the alternator, along with several others, got taken out with it. So instead of just getting a basic belt repair, this guy’s gonna get almost every belt-drive accessory replaced today.
If you want to avoid those kinds of repairs, please feel free to stop by and see us at any point. We enjoy gettin’ to do the small, basic services so that we can keep you on the road and make a good game plan to keep ya there and not in our service bays. However, in the event that you do end up here in our service bays, we’ve got a driver on staff to get you to and from if need be and we do run seven days a week, 365 days a year, so that this Uber- and Lyft-servicing vehicle will only be out of service for one business day.
If you have concerns about yours or you want to keep it from being a concern, please give us a call here at 303 919 7769.
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