No such luck.  On my first visit, they ripped me off and still didn’t fix the problem.  The kicker is, the problem turned out to be so simple, I ended up fixing it myself, and am stunned and disappointed they didn’t find it themselves.

I was driving across midtown and a coolant hose blew, a hose that takes coolant from the engine block into the bulkhead.  The hose didn’t break, it just burst off its fitting.  I didn’t realize this until I had already called the tow truck.  ( I was on 51st Street, right by St. Patrick’s, at 9 AM.  The best thing to do was get out of traffic fast).

I got a tow to Cybert, who had done my annual inspection.  The owner assigned a mechanic to the truck, and told me they would call me to tell me what they had found and give me an estimate of the repairs.

The mechanic called that afternoon, and in barely intelligible English (he was African) said he had replaced the hose and that with a coolant flush and radiator pressure test it was going to cost $275 or thereabouts.

“Well, what had been the problem?” I asked.

“Bad hose.  Replaced hose.”

“That sounds like the symptom.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m saying, what would cause pressure to build up to the point that a hose would pop off its fitting?”

“It’s a old hose.  You want coolant flush?”

“Can I talk to the owner?”

“Ok, one minute.”

The owner got on the phone, I started to ask him what he thought the root of the problem might be.

“Look, it’s gotten really busy.  I understand George has got it fixed.  He’ll tell you about it.”  Seriously.  I was smelling the snow job.

George was back on the line.

“You want the flush and pressure test? $275?”

“I’m trying to understand what the problem was.”

“Is an old hose.  That’s it.  Somethin always gonna break.  That was it.”

“That was it?”

“Yeah!”

“Ok.”

What else am I suppose to do over the phone?  Apparently $275 is not enough to allow for a discussion of causes and symptoms.

I got the flush and pressure test done, and picked up the truck that evening, for $284.85.

I was suspicious, so I drove it around midtown traffic for an hour, half hoping the hose would burst again, or the temperature gauge would shoot up, as it had right before the hose burst.  No such luck, everything was fine, and I took the truck back to its garage, with a lingering feeling of auto-angst.

The following weekend on a Saturday evening, I took the truck out for a road trip to Hofstra, in Long Island,  to go see a friend in a concert.  Had to be there by 8PM.  Never made it.

I was on 495 going past LeFrak city in Queens (one of the ugliest landscapes in NYC) and the temperature gauge  – which had been suspiciously high — shot up into the red.  I pulled over to the shoulder and had no choice but to let the engine cool down.   When it was cool I drove off again.  Within six miles, the gauge shot up again.  I pulled over.  It went on like this until I managed to pull into a gas station and, with nothing else to try, decided to buy some antifreeze and see if the level was low.  I really couldn’t think of any other explanation.

Turns out it was low.  I ended up adding a gallon of antifreeze to the system.  Now, why was it low?  Cybert had just filled it earlier in the week.  They had pressure tested it, and found no leaks.  I never saw any leaks beneath the truck where I parked.

Turns out, believe it or not, that the culprit was the seal on the radiator cap.  Yes.  A little rubber seal the size of a silver dollar.  It was not broken.  It was just bent over itself.  So it wasn’t sealing well.  I was at wits end, and didn’t think that unbending the seal would solve this problem, but I had to try something.  So I unbent the seal,  set it right in the cap, and haven’t had a problem since.

I guess the bad seal was letting some coolant evaporate off the top, thereby bringing the level down too low to cool well, etc….  That’s  the only explanation I can think of.

Now, why couldn’t the guys at Cybert have just taken a look at that radiator cap?  Isn’t that the first thing one does, the first thing a pro does, with radiator issues?   They didn’t do it because they just don’t give a damn.  They just want to charge for big ticket service (radiator flush, pressure test), get you out, and move on.

I have moved on.  I will never be back.

receipt from Cybert Tire for experience described above

These jerks took two days to look over the transmission, and came back with: “You need a new transmission, $7000.”  That was their only solution.  According to them it was shot.  It couldn’t be repaired, cleaned, nothing.  $7000??!! I didn’t even pay that much for whole truck.  

“Dream on,” I told them, and would not let them charge me the $129 they wanted for the wonderful diagnosis.  Some time later, I drove to State College, PA to visit family, and while there had a transmission specialist look at the truck.  They put in an after market transmission radiator for $325, and I haven’t had the problem since.

Lesson:  Avoid Toyota of Manhattan like the plague.  

If anyone can recommend a good Toyota or pickup mechanic near Manhattan, leave me a comment with the info.