30K Mile Service? $450!!

The owners manual doesnt say anything about this but the dealer is trying to sell it.

Seems expensive. Is it worthwhile (or necessary) to flush the tranny and all that?

Reply to
DG
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Its worthwhile to do all those things, but probably not required, and certainly not worth $450.

Get out your owners manual and check the maintenance schedule. Then get individual prices for each required service item that hasn't already been done. I would be really surprised if the required things add up to $450.

Reply to
E. Meyer

I would not exceed the recommendations of the owners manual. The dealer is in it for the $$.

Imagine that.

Reply to
Larry Davick

Yeah, I went to my dealer, Bankston Nissan in Dallas, and tried to have my coolant changed at 60,000 miles.

"Well sir, that's part of this package of preventative maintenance for $250" or the like. No, I just want the coolant changed. How much??

"It's part of this package..." No way dude. I'll do it myself. Obviously, they don't need my business. And I bought 2 ...count em...two new 2000 Maximas there.

I'm really tired of it all. Think I'll just get a Grand Marquis next time. I never have to argue with them.

Reply to
Such a Deal

Now that may be the best decision of all! Been thinking of doing that myself after reading all the problems that "shouldn't be" on this and other newsgroups.

Reply to
noyap

Most dealers scam customers with expensive maintenance package that are in my estimation too expensive, and that go beyond the owners manual recommendations

Reply to
Daniel

Actually, I do think flushing the tranny every 25-30k is a good idea, assuming you don't want to have to replace it before 200k. If you're going to do it, do it now and don't wait. If you want too long, you can actually knock junk loose while flushing it and destroy the transmission.

Reply to
Rich

The dealer never made a dime off me for service. Zero. Nada. And dealers expect to make at least half their profit off service, not on selling cars.

Figure out how to do it yourself, and spare yourself even more hassle that would come from fooling with dealers.

The tranny fluid should be changed, if not power flushed. YOu can change it yourself for about $10 by just removing the drain plug. A simple drain and fill will get more than half the fluid out, which is better than most cars at around 1/4 of the fluid. This tranny doesn't even have a real filter, it's just a screen and don't worry too much about that. It's almost impossible to get to, and the results are not worth it. But get some fresh fluid in there regularly if you are going to drive the car to a 6-figure mileage.

It's true you should decide now whether you're going to change the tranny fluid. At higher mileage, say 60 or 80K, you should probably just leave it alone. I've changed a higher mileage Plymouth tranny, and lost one gear for 2 days until the gunk that was dislodged stopped gumming up the valve body (thankfully!! Could not have afforded to deal with it.)

At 30 to 50K, add a good fuel system/injector cleaner to the gas. I've used synthetic Valvoline ($9 at Wal-Mart) with excellent results. The Maxima's fuel injectors etc. really do need periodic help, which I eventually had to admit after being on a soap box against it. (Low-end torque slowly disappears and 4 cylinder Altimas start outpacing you.)

Most of the rest of the dealer stuff at 30K is complete fluff. Go by the car manual's requirements, plus tranny and cleaner.

JM

Reply to
JM

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