Now that some of you must have gone past 30,000 miles- I was hoping for some feedback for my upcoming tune up. I was wondering how much you payed, if you elected to skip any "non-essential" items, and if you did any of it yourself's?


Thanks,

g4ian

 

Let's see, 28.00 for a microfilter, 22.00 for oil and filter, clean my K&N filter (free cause I already have the cleaner/oil, about 7.00 if not), 14.00 for 2 pints of 80w-90 Mobil 1 Syn Gear oil for the rear diff, 32.00 for 4 quarts of Redline tranny fluid (blend 50/50 MTL and MT90 to protect the synchros).

An hour of my labor (did all at once), throw in 5.00 for a NAPA gear oil pump (I have an electric). Consider it about $100.00 if you count the beer.

Three hours if you don't know what you are doing, add an hour and probably about 50.00 for an auto tranny for a tranny filter and gasket. Tack on another 15.00 for a new filter or I will send you my stock one for shipping costs only.

I have no idea what a dealership would charge as mine only goes there for tire balancing (local ford dealership) and warranty issues.

They say you need to balance and rotate the tires too. Balancing, run your car up to 100 mph and back down. If you notice any vibration get it balanced. If not, don't. I rotate my tires every 5,000 miles for free, takes me longer to clean the wheels than it does to rotate em.

Better Life thru Chemistry
Black on Black 03.5 Sedan 6MT - Goodyear F1 GS-D3's 225/55/17, Custom Intake Tube, HyperGround Kit, Magnaflow resonator.

 

Tack on another 15.00 for a new filter or I will send you my stock one for shipping costs only.

Sorry, wont let me edit: The above sentence is talking about the AIR filter.

Better Life thru Chemistry
Black on Black 03.5 Sedan 6MT - Goodyear F1 GS-D3's 225/55/17, Custom Intake Tube, HyperGround Kit, Magnaflow resonator.

 

Interesting. What about the spark plugs? When should those be changed.

 

book says 105,000 miles but I cannot bear to let spark plugs sit in any vehicle that long. I will probably do mine within the next 10-20k miles just for the hell of it and again (to colder plugs) when I go FI after the warranty runs out.

Better Life thru Chemistry
Black on Black 03.5 Sedan 6MT - Goodyear F1 GS-D3's 225/55/17, Custom Intake Tube, HyperGround Kit, Magnaflow resonator.

 

Kewl...You know what would be really kewl for this site is a manual of what should be done at every "recommended service milage" by you (generically). "The dealer recommend this...", "You should do this...". I've never been a big car person in the past, but now that this car is the love of my life (other than my wife and child), anything and everything that is done to the car, I want to do it myself. Having really no car experience, a detailed "mapping" if you will would go a long ways. What you explained thus far is really helpful, but its going to take me a while before I get to 30k, so like I said...a manual would be great for me and new users alike.

Just a thought.

 

The owner's manual that came with your car lists exactly what you're looking for at each service interval, in the maintanence section. Follow that, and you're fine.

Dealerships tend to fluff that out with extra services beyond what's required. You can limit them to just what the owner's manual calls for.