Scheduled Maintenance Question

Yes, I have heard of auto service schedulers trying to screw customers before. Are you from Mars?

Good point. I was just wondering if anyone had ever heard this line before.

Drain the trans is good, not flushing, replace brake fluid is good but can wait for another year, Cooling system, drain and refill and use distilled water might wait, but flushing I dont think necessary yet. Power steering isnt even mentioned in my manual, but I use a turkey baister to remove fluid, Whats a fuel service, The filters last many more miles than that. I will bet the prices are also BS, they want your money what did you expect for the free coffee.

Yes. Every friggin day.

Thanks. The line I got from GREEN TOYOTA was that all that extra service was necessary because TOYOTO hadn't accounted for the severe weather we experience in central Illinois [I surprised he was able to keep a straight face while saying that]. I guess Toyota engineers just don't design them well any more.

Remember, MOST of the money made on a car is not from the sales profit. Rather, it is the follow-on service. Just for reference, I have

146000 miles on my '95 camry and have never had the plugs changed of any kind of a "tuneup". I have the coolant flushed about every 7 years, however.

Ask them why power steering fluid isnt mentioned on the manual.

I'm a "hands on" kind of guy, and I do believe in keeping up on maintenance as a less costly alternate to replacing the car sooner or having it run less well. If it were me, I'd be doing these services myself - which I do, but short of that you could take some new fluid and compare it to a sample

- a drop or two from the dipstick of your: power steering reservoir and automatic transmission and see if you notice discoloration. Discoloration doesn't mean the unit will fail now, but in my opinion it means it won't last as long as with clean fluid. For the coolant, there is an inexpensive tester you can buy at an auto parts store that tests a sample by drawing up fluid into a plastic tube and then reading the concentration remaining. If the coolant at the top of the radiator looks anything less than pristine I'd change it immediately. Other good preventative maintenance tips for the cooling system are changing the thermostat and radiator cap at regular service intervals but not necessarily 30k.

30k isn't really very many miles, but I'd be checking the fluid conditions myself.

I dont know what US Toyota dealers are like,.but in Australia they charge strictly by the book and of course use Toyota parts. This means most jobs are more expensive than an ordinary mechanic, in most cases. Personally, if you have some mechanical ability, or want to learn and save some money, just get a good manual. Haynes seem to put out good manuals which are comprehensive and give plenty of good tips.

Power steering fluid will get discoloured as the years go by and as such will benifit from changing. To find how to change it, just follow the "power steering dis assembly and re-assembly details". This is one way of findding out how to change the fluid. After 3 yrs in local driving where the steering is used a lot, the fluid will most likely be getting darker indicating particle contamination from the various seals etc. If the fluid is very clean then its probably OK, tho the resevoir maynot reflect the same discolouration as the fluid in the power-steering rack.

Same goes for coolant and trans fluid,..look for discolouration.. The engine oil should be monitored carefully for discoluration. Thsi is better than just going by how many miles its done.

Jason