How essential is it to change ALL fluids?
 

I bought my 03 at 83k miles, now approaching 95k and want to change fluids like AT, differential, and coolant. I was thinking about changing brake & power steering fluids but it seems like a lot for one weekend, so I was wondering: How essential is it to change those?

Any fluid that passes through the engine or drive mechanisms I can understand, but power steering fluid? How hard is that fluid actually worked? Are there ever contamination issues reported that have caused failures? I am wondering the same for brake lines...

Brake fluid is UNDERchanged in my opinion. It's hydroscopic and absorbs moisture from the surrounding environment. I change my every 2 years and notice a difference each and every time. Some of my friends actualy beleive brake fluid is supposed to be black simply because they've never changed their fluid and when they look under the hood...it's black. Moisture in the lines can also cause rust issues, which can damage the lines and calipers if left unchecked. So YES, you want to flush your brake fluid.


Your car can survive another weekend without a fluid change in certain spots, but yes, you should look into replacing the power steering fluid as well. I like to do a "pump out/fill" method where i pump the fluid out of the reseviour and refill with Mobil 1 ATF. I do this each oil change as it takes a few mins to do. It's less messy and works along the same way as a drain/fill for the ATF. There is a method that replaced 100% of the PS fluid, but it's messy.

I used Mobil 1 fluid in all locations except the Trans (Matic-S) and the engine (Castrol GTX)

How did this end up in the sedan section???

There hasn't been a thread relevant to sedans posted here in a long while. I know I'm late to the G scene, but is this really all thats left? A bunch of yuppies asking when to get their oil changed on their 400k mile G35?

:dunno:

It's either that, or Ebay headlights.

You're right, there should be more threads about how awesome it is having 4 doors.

Actually I'm just boxed into this sub-forum: this is the kind of car I have, so this is the forum I post in. Faulty logic?

I do the same as mustang5l5 for ps fluid. You can use a turkey baster or they have a similar item at autoparts stores with a skinnier body. This gets lower in the reservoir so it pulls out more fluid. I believe it was made for batteries.

:icon17: True. I guess it really has come to this.

First of all, yes, having four doors is awesome.

Secondly, still yes, seeing as there are about 20 sections and sub-forums dedicated to the technical aspects of our cars and their systems.

Its really frustrating when I come into the sedan forum and there are just a bunch of "HELP MAH CAR IS BROKAN!!!111" threads.

I understand your frustration, but I understand why people do it. This forum has died down and the coupe/sedan/off topic are the most frequented. You can post in other sub forums and wait weeks for an answer. If you are in need of immediate help you don't want to wait days or weeks.

Was to be expected really. 7-10 year old cars, most over 100K miles. Younger crowd wants the next hottest thing so most have moved onto 2007/2008 or newer sedans and coupes.

Now you have the guys who plan on driving these cars to 200K miles...so that's why you see so many threads on maintainence and less on LED's and HID's and wheels and such.

I keep wanting coupe 19's for my car...but don't feel like spending the money on an "old" car now.

:dunno:

Aren't there sub forums for lights & wheels too?

Your car will only feel old if you don't maintain it. These things are classics now man.

Idk about classics. But the sedans of these production years still look up to date. Daytime LED fad not with standing.

It feels dated to me. Primitive Bluetooth microphone setup and very primitive Nav setup.

Don't get me wrong, I love the styling still and love checking out a clean 05/06 when I see one, but when I see the bulging hood of a brand new g37x come up behind me, it just looks so sleek and modern.

I plan on keeping my car for a while....but a new g37x is so tempting....

after I squeeze 250k miles out of this car I'll go for an M56, those things are sick.

Totally agree!

This is why I love these cars - very sensible people own them. My previous owner took phenomenal care of his car, and when I changed diff, AT and coolant today, every fluid looked clean. Thank you, previous G owner.