Turlock Auto Plaza Subaru Service....
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Turlock Auto Plaza Subaru Service....
Before posting my experience yesterday at this service location, I would be curious other's experiences which this dealership...
I am still in the process of dealing with them, so I am wanting to leave final judgment till after I meet with a second opinion today and then a second meeting with the dealership (hopefully to talk to the mechanic this time).... but in short, I haven't had a great first impression of their Subaru service....
Philip
I am still in the process of dealing with them, so I am wanting to leave final judgment till after I meet with a second opinion today and then a second meeting with the dealership (hopefully to talk to the mechanic this time).... but in short, I haven't had a great first impression of their Subaru service....
Philip
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Car Info: R.I.P 03 aspen white wrx
well, i dont have anything bad to say but i try to avoid them as much as i can, due to the fact that there service writers seem to be ****** and its a dodge dealer for the most part.
edgar,
although i have talked to the subaru tech (older short guy) and he seems to be real cool.
edgar,
although i have talked to the subaru tech (older short guy) and he seems to be real cool.
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Hopefully this will help my frustration, but I am going to type this out and it will most likely be very long…..
For those that don’t know me, or don’t remember me, I have had Silver 2002 WRX, since mid 2001. I use to live in Fremont, and bought and use to service my car at Santa Cruz Subaru every service interval… (sometimes even more regularly). I have very few mods on my car, big one being a M2 turbo-back that I got when they were first producing and showing off parts for the WRX (actually installed it when they came to show it off at one of the bay area events). Also have both strut bars, a rear sway bar (set to stock tension thou), changed the tires to AVS-Sports, but beyond that nothing else…..
As of almost 10 months ago now, I was laid off, and to cut expenses had to move back to Modesto, working part time and back in school. I still went to Santa Cruz once or twice while living here for service, but my car only has 34,600 miles on it. About a week or two ago, I started having a weird vibration feeling above 40mph, the faster the more noticeable, and to a point I thought I heard it even in the cabin. If I rolled down my window, between the wind, the engine, and the tire noise I couldn’t hear anything. From past stories I have read, I felt it was the wheel bearing, and from the feel, I thought it was the front left one. I was worried that since it has seemed to be getting worse over the past week, that I shouldn’t drive on the freeway over to Santa Cruz, and try somewhere local. Turlock is the closest, next is Angels Camp, then Livermore…. Chose Turlock since I never recalled any stories about bad service, but went in cautious.
When I called, I mentioned that it was a vibration, and that I thought I could hear a grinding noise. I now know I should of never included hearing a noise….
When I got there after work (12:30pm), I saw their setup, was kind of nice, you pull up under a large over hang that is about three car widths in width, and there are three service rep “bays” for the customers to filter into to meet a rep. I went in the only one I saw a guy in, he took my information, repeated what they took down when I called, I stressed that it was more of a vibration than a noise… they then took me for a test drive. The Subaru mechanic (from what I gathered they only have one person that is actually trained for Subaru’s) drove my car, said he felt in the steering wheel that he thought it was the wheel bearing, and that he could hear it, but couldn’t figure out if it was the front or the rear. Then added at the end that it was possible that the tires were making all the noise. I mentioned the vibration that I was feeling, and I don’t recall any mention about it from him. On my $45 estimate page, they wrote “Q/C Drove w/ cust. Pos. Frnt Wheel Bearing”… as in possible front wheel bearing. I was told at that time that if it was the wheel bearing that the $45 would be covered under warranty, since the test drive confirmed already what I suspected, I didn’t see any worry.
I was told that it would be 2 hours before my car would get up on the stand for them to look at it, so I was going to wait (I can keep pretty busy looking at cars). 2 hours went by and my car didn’t move, I wasn’t worried, I just asked if they thought it was going to be a few more hours, and they said it possibly could be, do I want a lift somewhere. I said yeah, to the movie theater, and also mentioned that I had a check engine light that came on while I was driving to the dealership, and that it most likely was the gas cap, but if they could just read it for me that would be great. He said sure to both…. Movie ended at 4:10, I had a call from them at 4:02, I called back and they said it was ready, I asked for a ride, they told me that they stop shuttling at 3:30, but let me transfer you to that desk. (they never mentioned when they stopped, but when I got back I did notice the “small” signs). The driver remembered that he dropped me off, and was already out picking up someone else, so he was going to swing by. As the time got to 4:45, I was getting a bit worried about having someone to talk to about the issue when I got back, so I called them. A lady picked up, I asked her, she replied that they all stay till 6, and there will be someone for me to talk to. I get back, I notice that I am getting charged the $45, and an additional $17.80 for checking the light and finding out it was the O2 sensor in the modified exhaust. With the $45 is some info stating that the noise is from the tires, the wheel bearings are fine at this time. Also states “cust states grinding noise, test drove vehicle, did not hear wheel bearing noise raised vehicle and inspected wheel bearings found bearings to be ok , found tires to be noisy, tire noise was only noise heard checked with QC, did verify noise is tire noise.”…….
For those that don’t know me, or don’t remember me, I have had Silver 2002 WRX, since mid 2001. I use to live in Fremont, and bought and use to service my car at Santa Cruz Subaru every service interval… (sometimes even more regularly). I have very few mods on my car, big one being a M2 turbo-back that I got when they were first producing and showing off parts for the WRX (actually installed it when they came to show it off at one of the bay area events). Also have both strut bars, a rear sway bar (set to stock tension thou), changed the tires to AVS-Sports, but beyond that nothing else…..
As of almost 10 months ago now, I was laid off, and to cut expenses had to move back to Modesto, working part time and back in school. I still went to Santa Cruz once or twice while living here for service, but my car only has 34,600 miles on it. About a week or two ago, I started having a weird vibration feeling above 40mph, the faster the more noticeable, and to a point I thought I heard it even in the cabin. If I rolled down my window, between the wind, the engine, and the tire noise I couldn’t hear anything. From past stories I have read, I felt it was the wheel bearing, and from the feel, I thought it was the front left one. I was worried that since it has seemed to be getting worse over the past week, that I shouldn’t drive on the freeway over to Santa Cruz, and try somewhere local. Turlock is the closest, next is Angels Camp, then Livermore…. Chose Turlock since I never recalled any stories about bad service, but went in cautious.
When I called, I mentioned that it was a vibration, and that I thought I could hear a grinding noise. I now know I should of never included hearing a noise….
When I got there after work (12:30pm), I saw their setup, was kind of nice, you pull up under a large over hang that is about three car widths in width, and there are three service rep “bays” for the customers to filter into to meet a rep. I went in the only one I saw a guy in, he took my information, repeated what they took down when I called, I stressed that it was more of a vibration than a noise… they then took me for a test drive. The Subaru mechanic (from what I gathered they only have one person that is actually trained for Subaru’s) drove my car, said he felt in the steering wheel that he thought it was the wheel bearing, and that he could hear it, but couldn’t figure out if it was the front or the rear. Then added at the end that it was possible that the tires were making all the noise. I mentioned the vibration that I was feeling, and I don’t recall any mention about it from him. On my $45 estimate page, they wrote “Q/C Drove w/ cust. Pos. Frnt Wheel Bearing”… as in possible front wheel bearing. I was told at that time that if it was the wheel bearing that the $45 would be covered under warranty, since the test drive confirmed already what I suspected, I didn’t see any worry.
I was told that it would be 2 hours before my car would get up on the stand for them to look at it, so I was going to wait (I can keep pretty busy looking at cars). 2 hours went by and my car didn’t move, I wasn’t worried, I just asked if they thought it was going to be a few more hours, and they said it possibly could be, do I want a lift somewhere. I said yeah, to the movie theater, and also mentioned that I had a check engine light that came on while I was driving to the dealership, and that it most likely was the gas cap, but if they could just read it for me that would be great. He said sure to both…. Movie ended at 4:10, I had a call from them at 4:02, I called back and they said it was ready, I asked for a ride, they told me that they stop shuttling at 3:30, but let me transfer you to that desk. (they never mentioned when they stopped, but when I got back I did notice the “small” signs). The driver remembered that he dropped me off, and was already out picking up someone else, so he was going to swing by. As the time got to 4:45, I was getting a bit worried about having someone to talk to about the issue when I got back, so I called them. A lady picked up, I asked her, she replied that they all stay till 6, and there will be someone for me to talk to. I get back, I notice that I am getting charged the $45, and an additional $17.80 for checking the light and finding out it was the O2 sensor in the modified exhaust. With the $45 is some info stating that the noise is from the tires, the wheel bearings are fine at this time. Also states “cust states grinding noise, test drove vehicle, did not hear wheel bearing noise raised vehicle and inspected wheel bearings found bearings to be ok , found tires to be noisy, tire noise was only noise heard checked with QC, did verify noise is tire noise.”…….
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I asked to speak to someone about it. She directed me to the service rep, who after asking what ended up being wrong, he read off the paper what the mechanic wrote… like I couldn’t read it… I told him I have had those tires for several years now, and that I know it wasn’t them causing any noise I hear, and that it wasn’t even the noise I was worried about, it was the vibration…constantly during this conversation he kept looking back to the shop, which had its door closed and I saw no light coming from it. He then proceeded to tell me that I should have my tires checked, that maybe they are wearing wrong, or they are worn too much and so that is causing the noise or even the vibration. I was very frustrated and on the edge of getting very angry, so I grabbed my paperwork went back to the lady at the counter and handed her my charge card. I also asked her if the mechanic was here to talk to him…. “no, I think they are all gone by now, they leave at 5”….. I told her I was going to come back the next day to be able to talk with him.
Today, after work, I took my wheel off to take a look at it all myself. I noticed nothing bad about the tire, the treads were getting worn, but beyond that I saw no major damage that would cause a vibration. I took a look at the hub, tried to move it, it wasn’t moving, so I figured the bearing wasn’t loose there. At this point I don’t know what is wrong, but I know by driving it, something is wrong…..
I went to American Tire (the company I bought the tires from), asked one of them to see if they noticed anything wrong with the tires, why they would be making a bad vibration noise. He looked at it, said it was feathering a bit on the inside on both front tires, which would make more noise, but not a vibration. The tires were above their worn mark, but not by much. So he started talking me into some new tires… not like that was hard at this point, but I wasn’t going to buy any till I figured out this other problem and the cost (if any)…
I went back to Turlock, asked the lady at the counter if I could speak to the Service Manager. She replied that she thinks he is back, but might be with someone, and called, but no answer. I said I would wait. I waited for about 20mins and she not once tried to call again or mention to anyone to go find the manager…. I went up and asked if I could speak to the mechanic, she directed me to the same service rep I dealt with the day before to have him call. This service rep was busy with another customer so I waited. When he was done I asked if I could speak to the mechanic, he called for him. I waited…. He after awhile asked what I wanted to speak to the mechanic for, I replied because I know my tires are not the cause of the problem I am having. I even had them checked by the company I bought them from, and ended up telling him about the vibration again…. He seemed frustrated at me being frustrated and stating they didn’t fix what I came in for them to fix…. So he called the mechanic again, but then got side tracked by another customer, and then went into the shop… so I waited some more… he finally came back with the mechanic. I walked the mechanic out, and explained the situation (found out the test drive person wasn’t my mechanic, wasn’t even THE “Subaru mechanic” of the shop…), he said lets go for a test drive… I drove for a bit, trying to get to 80 and then neutral to try to allow him to feel it from the passenger seat and without the Engine, but it wasn’t working, so we swapped… drove around with him speeding up to 80 and then pushing the clutch in (since that’s the best time I thought he could feel it, but it does happen during acceleration or even during cruise…)… after almost 10-20mins of driving around he says he thinks he feels what I am talking about. I am thinking to myself, that he either thinks I am mad and just wants to get out of my car, or finally this might be getting fixed… I question him the entire way back asking what he thought it could be. He answered many times “this wasn’t what we were looking into yesterday….”, at the end he finally said that he thought it might be the drive shaft bearings, or even the drive shaft, and then asked if I had any modifications up in the left front axle…. I explained the strut bars, and everything, he stated he didn’t feel any of my modifications would of caused what he thinks it is. We go in, and talk about when to get it repaired, he wanted to keep it till tomorrow… I need it tomorrow so I question on how dangerous it would be to keep it till next week (since they aren’t open on weekends to do anything major)… so we ended up deciding on Tuesday. And we went in, to the same service rep, and the mechanic told him, “It wasn’t something we were looking into yesterday”…. And we setup an appointment for Tuesday….
Today, after work, I took my wheel off to take a look at it all myself. I noticed nothing bad about the tire, the treads were getting worn, but beyond that I saw no major damage that would cause a vibration. I took a look at the hub, tried to move it, it wasn’t moving, so I figured the bearing wasn’t loose there. At this point I don’t know what is wrong, but I know by driving it, something is wrong…..
I went to American Tire (the company I bought the tires from), asked one of them to see if they noticed anything wrong with the tires, why they would be making a bad vibration noise. He looked at it, said it was feathering a bit on the inside on both front tires, which would make more noise, but not a vibration. The tires were above their worn mark, but not by much. So he started talking me into some new tires… not like that was hard at this point, but I wasn’t going to buy any till I figured out this other problem and the cost (if any)…
I went back to Turlock, asked the lady at the counter if I could speak to the Service Manager. She replied that she thinks he is back, but might be with someone, and called, but no answer. I said I would wait. I waited for about 20mins and she not once tried to call again or mention to anyone to go find the manager…. I went up and asked if I could speak to the mechanic, she directed me to the same service rep I dealt with the day before to have him call. This service rep was busy with another customer so I waited. When he was done I asked if I could speak to the mechanic, he called for him. I waited…. He after awhile asked what I wanted to speak to the mechanic for, I replied because I know my tires are not the cause of the problem I am having. I even had them checked by the company I bought them from, and ended up telling him about the vibration again…. He seemed frustrated at me being frustrated and stating they didn’t fix what I came in for them to fix…. So he called the mechanic again, but then got side tracked by another customer, and then went into the shop… so I waited some more… he finally came back with the mechanic. I walked the mechanic out, and explained the situation (found out the test drive person wasn’t my mechanic, wasn’t even THE “Subaru mechanic” of the shop…), he said lets go for a test drive… I drove for a bit, trying to get to 80 and then neutral to try to allow him to feel it from the passenger seat and without the Engine, but it wasn’t working, so we swapped… drove around with him speeding up to 80 and then pushing the clutch in (since that’s the best time I thought he could feel it, but it does happen during acceleration or even during cruise…)… after almost 10-20mins of driving around he says he thinks he feels what I am talking about. I am thinking to myself, that he either thinks I am mad and just wants to get out of my car, or finally this might be getting fixed… I question him the entire way back asking what he thought it could be. He answered many times “this wasn’t what we were looking into yesterday….”, at the end he finally said that he thought it might be the drive shaft bearings, or even the drive shaft, and then asked if I had any modifications up in the left front axle…. I explained the strut bars, and everything, he stated he didn’t feel any of my modifications would of caused what he thinks it is. We go in, and talk about when to get it repaired, he wanted to keep it till tomorrow… I need it tomorrow so I question on how dangerous it would be to keep it till next week (since they aren’t open on weekends to do anything major)… so we ended up deciding on Tuesday. And we went in, to the same service rep, and the mechanic told him, “It wasn’t something we were looking into yesterday”…. And we setup an appointment for Tuesday….
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Short version (now that you read the long one), they might do good service work, I actually have yet to find out, but their customer service is far from anything that Santa Cruz offers. I never left Santa Cruz without all my questions answered, and without a good explanation of why I was feeling or hearing whatever… I can’t believe that a shop would actually leave it up to the paper and a service rep that obviously never tried to get enough info from the mechanic to answer the actual problem. To me, if I heard a customer was having a vibration in one wheel, whether it was making a noise or not… that would be the priority… not where the noise was coming from…. If I didn’t find it with what I thought, I would go back to the customer, not say we are done, its your tires….
I will be trying to finish this out with Turlock, but if I do hit another problem with them (hopefully not costing me more), I will be going to Angels Camp. At least with Angels Camp they actually sell Subaru’s, Turlock keeps all the Subaru’s in the back and has only about twenty of them even for sale (and even has an issue about ordering)… for their size lot, that’s minor.
Guess I am done for now, but I wouldn’t recommend them right now….
I will be trying to finish this out with Turlock, but if I do hit another problem with them (hopefully not costing me more), I will be going to Angels Camp. At least with Angels Camp they actually sell Subaru’s, Turlock keeps all the Subaru’s in the back and has only about twenty of them even for sale (and even has an issue about ordering)… for their size lot, that’s minor.
Guess I am done for now, but I wouldn’t recommend them right now….
Chewwwwy
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From: Fremont
Car Info: Random, yet well planed selection of jdm cult cars
that sux... sorry to hear that. i am sure my wheel bearing is gone now also. it vibrates a little bit, but mostly it clicks when you load it up hard. is yours clicking also?
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From: Alaska
Car Info: R.I.P 03 aspen white wrx
hey, sorry to hear your having trouble with turlock. it doesnt shock me to hear there all stupied (well exept the mechanic he seems cool) but i dont think angles camp is any beter .... someone corect me if im wrong, and lame *** livermore told me my TT voids my warranty so that says alot about them ..... 
edgar,
BTW: i live in MOD and go to school at MJC see you around
edgar,
BTW: i live in MOD and go to school at MJC see you around
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Originally posted by international B
that sux... sorry to hear that. i am sure my wheel bearing is gone now also. it vibrates a little bit, but mostly it clicks when you load it up hard. is yours clicking also?
that sux... sorry to hear that. i am sure my wheel bearing is gone now also. it vibrates a little bit, but mostly it clicks when you load it up hard. is yours clicking also?
Few friends that I have been explaining this mess to, have commented with "well if there is something wrong, you would be the one that knows it"... just wish I got the same type of response from the service department. I drive my car every day, have had these tires for over a year, close to two... I know how it feels and now it is doing something different and doesn't feel right... hope it gets fixed soon, but also hope it doesn't cost me anything or at least a lot......
Philip
My experience with turlock is about the same, i actually know the head sales manager there very well and the mechanic that edgar mentioned. Well i took my car in when i bought it just to make sure that everything was ok because i was purchasing it used. So the head mechanics son that also works there is the one who helped me and i trusted him. Make a long story short it took a long time and cost alot of money for absolutly nothing.
Long story: he looked at it after a long wait and told me there was an oil leak near the timing belt cover on the front side of the engine. He said it could be coming from the cam seals or crank seals. either way they have to get that cover off to look at it. (in other words $$) so i call the guy i buy it from and he tells me he knows the guys at the livermore dealership and can get them to fix it for free since they had to already fix that problem prior to me buying it. I drive to livermore and wait about 3 hours till the tech comes and gets me to have a look at it. come to find out the oil that was leaking ("from the belt cover down the oil pan") was actually just a bad drain plug on the oil pan that was not stock and caused alittle bit of a leak. The turlock guys are idiots. Then at the livermore dealership they charged me 80 just for a new drain plug and to change the oil. ******...
Long story: he looked at it after a long wait and told me there was an oil leak near the timing belt cover on the front side of the engine. He said it could be coming from the cam seals or crank seals. either way they have to get that cover off to look at it. (in other words $$) so i call the guy i buy it from and he tells me he knows the guys at the livermore dealership and can get them to fix it for free since they had to already fix that problem prior to me buying it. I drive to livermore and wait about 3 hours till the tech comes and gets me to have a look at it. come to find out the oil that was leaking ("from the belt cover down the oil pan") was actually just a bad drain plug on the oil pan that was not stock and caused alittle bit of a leak. The turlock guys are idiots. Then at the livermore dealership they charged me 80 just for a new drain plug and to change the oil. ******...
o, just wandering, i used to know a guy with a black eclipse and now he has a silver wrx in turlock. lol not a small world after all. but anyways you around turlock still?? We should all try to meet up sometime
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Actually in Modesto, but yeah, will be around for awhile.... 
Will be back in Turlock area next Tuesday thou, since I will still be trying to get this car fixed, and would like to try to get my $65 worth out of this shop, since they didn't fix anything yet.... Probally will be doing the same thing I did last time, and head over to the movie theater, and catch a movie while I wait for them to report back to me...
Philip
Will be back in Turlock area next Tuesday thou, since I will still be trying to get this car fixed, and would like to try to get my $65 worth out of this shop, since they didn't fix anything yet.... Probally will be doing the same thing I did last time, and head over to the movie theater, and catch a movie while I wait for them to report back to me...
Philip
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Got a class tonight, and I am not one that likes to comment on "public" forums without thinking it over and dwelling on it a bit, but this is the outcome of the trip to turlock today....
(this is quoted, beyond that it is listed in all caps, everything is how it is shown in tech notes)
"cust states vibration at 60 , test drove with qc, verified cust concern of pulsation feeling in clutch and brake pedal while decelerating, test drove new wrx to compare found new wrx is doing the same, not as noticealbe due to not as much wear, found feeling to be coming from viscus coupler, coupler engages and disengages 4wd until load is applied feeling is coming from coupler going in and out , feeling is normal no repair attempted"
but will add my own comments later on it....
Philip
(this is quoted, beyond that it is listed in all caps, everything is how it is shown in tech notes)
"cust states vibration at 60 , test drove with qc, verified cust concern of pulsation feeling in clutch and brake pedal while decelerating, test drove new wrx to compare found new wrx is doing the same, not as noticealbe due to not as much wear, found feeling to be coming from viscus coupler, coupler engages and disengages 4wd until load is applied feeling is coming from coupler going in and out , feeling is normal no repair attempted"
but will add my own comments later on it....
Philip