Really great indie Toyota service

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Driving with wife and a friend and 04 Highlander started skipping badly and 3 dash lights came on. 165000 miles on it. zero repairs since new except one brake light switch. . Have done maintenance like brakes and timing belt.. Was in town, turned around went back near my neighborhood, at about 4:10 on a hot summer afternoon, went in the indie Toyota (only) shop , "can I come in tomorrow morning? We are booked up all day tomorrow Friday they said , but lets see what it is- they close at 5:00. Mechanic with laptop or a scanner came out to car , passengers still in my car, upped hood, said front middle coil was bad, went inside, said we do not have one tho it is supposed to be a stock item for us, will order one, maybe be here in morning, I said what do I do?, they said , Oh we have a used loaner one, they installed that , check engine lights were gone, back on road at about 4:45! will get new (Toyota oem) one when it comes in.

They said aftermarket coils were in price close to Toyota/denso ( Toy denso at $100 each etc) but poor quality (is that true? They ordered OEM.
Years ago on a Nissan the Napa chinese replacement coil would stop the skip but would turn on the check engine light a day later, they replaced the napa one with a nissan oem to stop that.

great service
 
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It depends on who makes the aftermarket coil they're talking about. A quick check of RockAuto does show that NGK and Denso coils go for nearly the same price as Standard Motor Products (within a dollar or so). In that case yes I would definitely go NGK or Denso, that's a no brainer.

Even if it did cost a lot more, there's no way I would cheap out on ignition components that could leave me stranded. Anything that touches the engine that isn't oil or a filter I'm going OEM. They made the right call as far as I'm concerned, other shops would probably just go low cost as possible to compete with the other shops.
 
yes I agree about the aftermarket junk out there. They are actually telling you the truth! Crazy, I know, a mechanic who isn't a liar, nice to find! The OEM Toyota coil packs are about the same price (and sometimes cheaper) than the aftermarket! I think SMP (standard motor products) makes some decent (not the value line, the normal one) stuff. But if my Scion ever needs coil packs (probably some day), OEM Toyota is what I will buy. Ignition is something I learned not to go cheap on.

Amazing place you found! Nice to know there are still honest workers/businesses out there!
 
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