New Yaris

The owner's manual is best place to start - it has complete recommended maintenance schedule. Do more that the book and you are generally throwing $ away. I'm not big advocate of synthetic oil - Dino based is still cheapest and very effective. Use a quality filter (OEM is good and reasonably priced) and change oil every 3-5k miles.

The best advice you can get is read the Toyota owners manual and do exactly what maintenance is required, when it is required, and your will get the best service from you car, WBMA

mike

What is "WBNA?"

Thanks.

Jeff

Thanks for the advise guys...World Beard and Moustache Association Jeff.

thanks. Must be the mega dealership that Mike worked for.

Jeff

"Jeff" wrote in news:RE1Ih.11648$ig.332@trndny01:

It's actually an acronym for: "Would Be My Advice".

I like "World Beard and Moustache Association" better though.

I have seen it before, but I didn't know what it meant.

Thanks.

I do too.

Jeff

If she has her maintenance done by a garage, she should tell them to perform only the services required by Toyota and listed in the owner's manual (maybe for severe duty use, as opposed to normal use) because some garages try to sell lots of extras that can double or even triple the cost. Dealerships are notorious for this.

According to Mobil, cars can be switched to Mobil 1 immediately, and they recommend that it be left in the crankcase for the longest interval allowed by the manufacturer.

If she gets the transmission fluid changed, she should allow only the factory recommended fluid be used, not something like LubeGuard additive mixed in with ordinary Dexron/Mercon fluid, which a lot of quickie lube places use.

It probably wouldn't hurt to change the brake fluid every two years, to prevent rust.

WBMA also means "Well, bless my ass."

snip

That's advice I don't think I've beard before. I'm surprised that rusting would be a problem inside a sealed system like modern brake mechanisms.

Pete Moss wrote in news:spraghnum- snipped-for-privacy@news.iglou.com:

Brake systems are NEVER sealed. Not ever.

And by changing the fluid, you're not preventing "rust", you're preventing gum, sludge, and aluminum corrosion.

Change brake fluid every two years, regardless of mileage, and have the ABS system fluid changed at the same time.

Here's a brake fluid FAQ:

I don't know about cars with ABS, but I remember the fluid turning dark in my father's car, which had a sealed master cylinder reservior, and I've read that about half of the moisture is absorbed right through the rubber brake lines.

What on earth do you guys do to your cars that requires such frequent oil changes? It's the exact same car we get here in Europe that Toyota specify needs servicing every 10K miles not 3 to 5k!

Your garages must be laughing all the way to the bank every oil change! Most other manufacturers specify longer service intervals (12-18K miles on some makes) with oil changes at those time NOT before, mind you that is with long life semi-synth oil at the higher end of that range.

All my life I have never owned or seen a manufacturer reccomend a car (my first was a 1985 Mini with a 1 litre Austin A series pushrod lump) that needed such frequent servicing.

Chris