Cost of 30K mile maintenace of Outback

I paid a little over $500 in St. Louis. I was not happy with the work. What did they do for $900?

Blair

What all did it include? It's not uncommon for dealers to tack on goodies that aren't in the factory service schedule... $900 does sound pretty stiff for a 30k service.

$510.55 is what a 30k service (service level C) goes for in suburban Chicago. Includes: Oil, filter, plugs, air/fuel filters, cooling system service top off fluids, lube susp and seering clean throttle body, service brakes, replace brake fluid adjust parking brake, automatic transaxle service, rotate tires, check tire pressure, inspect clutch lines, hoses, adjust clutch pedal free play, lube throttle linkage, inspect power steering hoses, adj drive belts, inspect cuirse control, front/rear bearings, manual tranny service, rear diff service.

For $860 you get service level D, called for at 60k miles, which adds replacement of timing belt and cam belt tensioner.

So for $900, if you got a new timing belt and timing belt tensioner, you got a decent reasonable price. But, those services were done unnecessarily early.

Bes tRegards,

-- Todd H.

Besides washing my car and giving me a rental:

wheel alignment service and clean throttle body auto trans flush and change fuel filter spark plugs cooling system flush rotate tires and rebalance change air filter

This was done in Orange County CA Adam

Where can I get the list for service level D? I'm almost due for the 60K, and don't want the dealer to do more than the mfr recommends.

I thought the timing belt wasn't changed until 105K.

Service level D is everything I listed caringly for service level C plus replace timing belt inspect cam belt tensioner adjust engine idle speed (which is a joke, the ECU does this) adjust ignition timing (another worthless service) inspect spark plug wires (whoopee)

Yeah, the timing belt is spec'd at 105k but in Chicago at least, they start looking pretty ratty around 60k anyway and are generally accepted to be changed at that interval. My prior vehicles all had

-- Todd H.

Was the air filter platinum?

I've had most of those done as separate jobs over the last year, I had no history of what had been done in the previous 100K miles on my '00 OB.

$70 Wheel alignment. $130 Auto trans flush/service $230 Fuel/air filters, cooling sys flush, plugs ____ $430

I can't see LA being much different from Seattle on prices.

When I left California 12 years ago shop rates were already approaching $65/hour!!!!

Seattle runs from ~$55 to ~$105/hr. Price doesn't necessarily imply performance.

Anyone with any experience? I asked my local dealer about the 105K time frame (for an Imprezza WRX) and they said they haven't had any problems waiting that long.

Most timing belts have a 60K replacement interval, even though on my older Toyotas there is NO recommended service interval.

Also, time can be a big factor in timing belt life. My mother in law had a low mileage Corolla, 17 years before it hit 60K. I inspected the belt at about 15 years, looked fine. When it hit 60K two years later, the belt was all checked and cracked on the back side.

As far as dealer charges, almost all dealers do far more than needed. And charge accordingly. Check your manual for what is recommended. Most folks will follow the 'severe' schedule. Check for things you can do yourself. No sense paying someone $100 an hour to open a few clips and replace the air filter. Besides, you might find that the replacement interval is longer than 30K on many of the parts.

Probably the same with spark plugs (haven't changed them yet on the WRX, but they can't be any worse than a Porsche).