Postscript:

Warranty fix for shifter plate appears to have been successful. I believe they replaced the shifter assembly. On an invoice that was flashed at me, I did not get the part #, but cos was aproximately $340. This may have been the total they'll bill back to Toyota as to me it was "free" warranty service.

Radio: Also appears to be fixed by the swap, out of the radio. Since it was intermittent before, I'll keep my fingers crossed for awhile.

On another note, the jury is out on MPG results from the switch to 5/20W Oil. Slight decrease in the middle of the tank average and just filled up again. Weather in FL is also warming.

Finally, the dealer service front end did the best he could to overcome my annoyance over the way the service was delivered. We'd scheduled one appointment to do both radio and shifter and I was given a loaner.....sounds good. Well 6 hours later I got the call that they'd ordered the wrong radio so I'd have to come get the car and return when the correct radio arrived. Fortunately, they hadn't pulled the old one.

Returned as scheduled two days later for the radio. I was promised one hour swap but in the end was there for about 3 hours. Between visits I'd noticed that they'd left grease stains on the passenger seat and door from the earlier service. They did a "courtesy" wash and cleaned up the leather/door.

They said at check-in that correcting the grease issue and wash would take an extra 45 minutes or so. Yet, they parked my car for nearly an hour before service.

Bottom line: Screwy customer service from the selling dealer. I understand mistakes happen, but after ordering the wrong part and returning the car with grease stains, they should have been prepared to shine on the radio install visit.. and offer some real value back to me (without request), for my time and annoyance, without request. They did not.

Silver Shadow

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."