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Last week at the Toyota dealership, I had my engine oil changed at 30,000 miles. I own a 2016 Prius C (baby Prius) and it's still fairly new!
The dealership told me that I need the throttle body cleaned, and it costs $176. I was surprised. Is this a real thing or just a money maker for the dealership. After all, the car only has 30,000 miles.
It is a tiny engine (73 horsepower) but it runs like a top and I consistently get almost 60 mpg.
Last week at the Toyota dealership, I had my engine oil changed at 30,000 miles. I own a 2016 Prius C (baby Prius) and it's still fairly new!
The dealership told me that I need the throttle body cleaned, and it costs $176. I was surprised. Is this a real thing or just a money maker for the dealership. After all, the car only has 30,000 miles.
It is a tiny engine (73 horsepower) but it runs like a top and I consistently get almost 60 mpg.
Thanks for any insights.
It's a scam. At best, they'll spray some cleaner through it at a total cost to them of about 1$, if that. Frankly, I wouldn't trust them to do any work on my car after this incident.
It’s usually bs. Unless it’s some issue I wouldn’t waste the money. Even if you wanted to clean it, it’s such a simple procedure there is no way I would pay $200 to have it done. It’s about 15/20 minutes worth of work and $4 bottle of spray cleaner.
It’s a complete ripoff. But since they can’t charge for old school tune ups like they did back in the day this is just another way for mechanics to pump up that ticket. Just like air filters.
You could end up with a $400 bill by throttle body cleaning a air and cabin filter change. Hell I like to make $400 a hour.
Yeah, that's a joke for a 30K mile old Prius. I'm assuming 8K miles of those miles were on electric only too, so let's say the ICE was active for 22K miles. It's not hard to take a look at the TB nor is it difficult to take it off an inspect the backside. The only time I would consider cleaning the throttle body or intake manifold would be on a high-miled car (like >180K miles), or every 150K miles on a diesel engine with a exhaust-gas-recirculator system. 4-cylinder gasoline engines built after 1998 are calibrated to run much cleaner and I would surprised if there was any obstructive carbon deposits on a throttle body...it's not like a rich-running old lawnmower.
All dealerships do this. It is a way for them to make money. It is very easy to just say no. I do it all the time. They are always suggesting one thing or another. Just ignore them and follow your manual.
I'll bet car repair shops love you. You're actually defending a widely known scam. Might want to give that ol' internet search thingy a try.
I am no defending anything, and my car hasn't seen the inside of a repair shop since its been under warranty.
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