Working for a dealer I do see alot of mistakes that happen but if someone just takes one second to double check work stuff like that will not happen. We have to pay for mistakes like that out of our own pocket here. If any of my techs do something that stupid I dont want them to be working on any of my costumer cars.

 

It's funny reading about all these required services because if you use the "normal" driving schedule, things like the differential fluid, tranny fluid, and coolant don't need changing at 30K per Nissan. Really the only things you need to replace are oil, oil filter, air filter, and HVAC filter. You'd be a fool to replace brake fluid at 30K or even 60k. If it's still mostly clear, there's no need for replacement. Same goes for coolant. A simple coolant test gauge will tell you the condition of the coolant. The coolant in my cars can typically go 70-80K before it starts loosing some cooling/freeze capacity. All these "inspection" procedures tickle me too.

My suggestion is:

1) Read the owners manual and follow the driving style recommendations and don't listen to the service advisor. His job is to make money.

2) Learn about basic automotive operation

3) Learn to do there procedures yourself. They're very easy and for the amount you spend, you could buy all the necessary tools and still have money left over. I've probably saved myself $5K doing regular maintenance on my cars over the past 10 years. The only thing I leave to the dealership is automatic tranny flushes. Those machines are benefical and are too expensive to buy for home use.

 

at Harte in CT their published sheet say $449 for the 30k. I am surprised that the prices for the same service (or pretty close) vary so widely. to me 449 for LOF, rotate/balance, some new filters, flush cooling, ( plus "inspections") seems HIGH. any issues with having a non dealer do the work, so long as clearly documented and all the required items are done? I do need to go back soon to get the brakes done under warranty.

 

See in red

 

well actually brake fluid is hydroscopic so it doesn't matter how many miles you have on the vehicle, it's more about the amount of time that passes while you're using the fluid. Ofcourse increased disc brake usage will accelerate the need to replace the fluid too... IMHO, it's a good idea to replace the brake fluid at least every year or every two years at the latest. It's so easy.

 

Hydroscopic means that it attracts moisture, correct? You really shouldn't have any problem unless your brake reservoir cap isn't air tight. You can usually tell if the fluid is bad when it's color starts going from very clear/yellowish to a darker yellow/black. Replacing the fluid every 1 year or two is a waste unless you do road racing. Changing is easy assuming the bleeders don't break, which they all ways do. Also, the replacement procedure is a bit time consuming.

 

Just remember one thing. If you do it yourself, you have to prove everything was checked if you ever have a serious warranty problem (like a engine/transmission gone bad). If you have the dealer do all the maintenance, they keep records and a lot of times they will actually cover things that shouldn't be just because you had them take care of the car.

I just paid for my TL to have its 6-7k maintenance, for $80 bucks. Oil change, tire rotation/balance (and they did balance them), and they checked many other things which looked like they were checked when I went back after them. So its worth it for a piece of mind.

 

Thats such an ignorant comment to make lol. I get a kick out of reading forums alot of times. Not all service advisors are the same. If you need something we recommend it if you do it or not its totally up to you. For the most part just like advisors and techs maybe 30% of enthusiasts actually know what they are doing. The rest shouldbe be allowed to walk out of the house unsupervised. But again that goes for most people in general who assume they know what they are doing but really dont. The dealer will take care of regular customers in any way shape or form in order to keep you happy. If you just come in and basically dont spend any money on maintance or anything then the chances of their being any help are minimal. If you do your services outside of the dealership then just like I tell all my customers keep reciepts for everything that is done. Your word means nothing to infiniti unless you have reciepts for maintanence. Its just like hangin out at a bar and getting to know the bartender, after a while he hooks you up but if you just walk in once in a blue you wont get much out of him for free. Thats the best way i can put it .

 

Why would a service advisor know better than Nissan/Infiniti engineers about maintenance schedules?

It's been my experience over the past 15 years that service advisers don't know squat about cars in general. I haven't come across a single advisor that hasn't tried to recommend some BS "maintenance" work or tried to tell me my ignition coil-pack equipped VQ needs the spark plug wires replaced, etc. The truth is cars are far more reliable now than they were years ago. Major repairs aren't much of an issue so now the practice has become recommending extreme maintenance schedules like 30K coolant changes, 30K tranny flushes, 30K spark plug replacement, brake fluid replacement, $60 "brake inspections", etc.

Even more shocking is the $400-600 Infiniti/Nissan shops are charging for front brake replacement. The OEM parts (pads, rotors) only cost about $200-210 and if you buy superior Brembo blank rotors, you can knock another $70 off that total. I fail to see why it takes $200-350 in shop labor to accomplish this work when a breaker bar, a 14mm socket, 18mm socket, a ratchet, a u-clamp, a floor jack, a jack stand, and 1 hour of my time allows me to swap both rotors and pads?

My recommendation to everyone is to gain some basic automotive understanding and download the G35 FSM. Working on cars, especially doing maintenance, is not a rocket science. For the most part, it's quite easy and takes very few tools.

This is a scare tactic used by service departments. They cannot void your warranty if you can't present maintenance records. Service departments like to say this, but the truth is they can't. If this was really the case, then most every "certified" used car that comes off their lots would be automatically voided of warranty work because 9/10 of these cars don't have previous maintenance records. I bought my G from an Infiniti dealership and not one of the seven used G's on their lot had maintenance records. Same goes for the G I saw at a Benz dealership and two at a Nissan dealership.

Now if you have catastrophic failure and the oil is in the low range or looks like sludge, the tranny fluid is burnt, the clutch (6MT) or clutch packs are fried, half shafts snapped, the engine was overrevved on a misshift, etc, then Infiniti has a case to deny work because that does constitute abuse.

 

Scare Tatic? Umm sorry but they can EASILY void your warranty if you have no proof maintenance was done on the car. No manufacture will warranty a car without proof like that if a problem occured and it was possibly a problem caused by neglect.

 

So used cars without documentation that are still under warranty are automatically void then, huh.

 

You know I was wondering about this the other day. Let's say I don't have records for my oil changes. And the engine has oil consumption or whatever that needs work. Dealer "no records, no warranty". But they also have to prove that lack of maintanance was the cause of the problem and not a defect with the engine itself.

Now one look under the oil cap, clearly shows a shiny, clean valvetrain.

Now does the dealer have a case or not?

 

Yes you are right. Brake fluid does attract moisture. And that reduces the boiling point of the fluid. Replacing it every year certainly won't hurt. But the fluid that's put into oem brake systems are designed not to absorb moisture as fast and isn't too prone to loss of performance as it gets older. At least as compared to the high performance brake fluids that we all read about.

Every year is exessive IMHO. Every 2 is a good idea. Every 3 is not too bad.

Reminds me, I have to break out my vacuum pump bleeder and do mine. Thanks for the reminder. Thinking about the Valvoline synthetic dot 3/4. Seems to test good and is not so moisture senstive.

 

Pretty much. Let's say you have no records (reason #1 why not to buy a used car), and you bend a valve or something a long those lines. You take it to the dealer which you have never been too. They look up your service history, and you don't have any. They ask you for documents, you don't have any. Then they automatically respond well, we can't cover it because you don't have any service records on the car. And they have 100% right to deny service because of no records.

So then you are out of luck. You have no way to prove the car was taken care of properly, but the dealer can prove it wasn't because you have no records.

 

No records does not = not maintained. Technically the dealer has to prove that the lack of work caused the problem.

But all dealers are diff as they are privately owned. One dealer might honor the warranty no problem. Another might be a jerk and refuse it. Then you have to deal with Infiniti cust service to get something done about it.