30K Maintenance
 

Dropped by the dealer to get my 30K today and was promptly told it was 4 hours worth of work and going to run me something in the range of $450. Does this all sound right? Should I be taking my Z somewhere else for this kind of work?

Thanks

30k consist of:
Tire balancing
Transmission flush
Oil change
Air filter & In-cabin filter
Coolant flush (if you have the regular 30k coolant, green color from OEM)
Gasoline injector flush & Engine oil additive

Hope that can give you an idea of it.

Please!

Yeah, that's the rundown of what he said the order was going to look like. What should I be expecting to pay for that?

Really? At 30k miles that stuff is needed? I'm not 30k but my warranty expires soon. :eek:

i just had a multi-point inspection, trans flush and coolant flush for about $275. The rest im doing myself. they wanted about $500 and that didnt include the balancing or diff flush.

btw.. im at about 40k and the tranny flush made a HUGE difference!!!

As far as I know all 370Z have long life coolant (blue color) which doesn't need a flush for up to 60k miles or so. As far as the Gasoline injector flush & Engine oil additive, it really isn't needed as long as you use decent gas and decent oil. Everything else though is standard and it doesn't include differential flush.

BTW I work at a Nissan Dealership so I'm not making all this stuff up :rolleyes:

I have no idea what schedule you people are looking at but the manual for my 2011 370Z is nothing like what others here are recommending.

❑ Replace engine oil and filter
❑ Replace brake fluid
❑ Replace engine air filter
❑ Replace in-cabin microfilter2


This is the 30K mile or 24 Month Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 maintenance. The above items are what need to be replaced and not showing what needs to be inspected. NissanBoy, I have no idea where you are getting this information but my information comes directly from my Nissan Manual. Is this the stuff YOUR DELAERSHIP is recommending?

This is directly from the manual:

* Premium Maintenance is a Nissan-recommended option; You need not perform such maintenance in order to maintain the warranties which come with your Nissan.

You DO NOT need to do Premium maintenance to maintain your factory warranty! Why are people in this thread not pointing this out to others?

It may not be required to honor your warranty, but flushing your transmission and differential every 30k will go a long way towards helping your car last longer after the warranty has expired.

Baker Nissan North is a Houston Nissan dealer and a new car and used car Houston TX Nissan dealership.

Not sure it it's only my dealership that does it but I'm pretty sure you're just stating a 15k with a brake flush.

As I said this is the 30K maintenance per the owners manual, not 15K. I'm sure the dealership you work at has an interest in people paying for more maintenance than they need. I'm just stating the facts per the owners manual. I don't think we need any misinformation in these forums!

This is a decision that every owner will have to decide themselves. One thing that's for sure is I don't want a dealership that is 100% profit driven to make this decision for me. The facts are that some of these services may not be needed and may be different for everyone depending on many factors. Not everyone will be keeping the 370Z for many years past the 3 year warranty so this may be a total waste of money for some.

My 30k is coming up in a couple of months. I'm replacing all the fluids- power steering, brake, manual transmission and differential, coolant, oil, and everything else that needs lubrication including door joints. Don't forget your fuel injection services too along with cleaning your K&N filters with a recharge kit. Spark plugs are easy to replace. I drive my car with alot of spirit. It's been three years with the same fluids other than oil and gas. $400-500 is not unreasonable for a major service interval. I guarantee you if I spend $500 per year ($5000 for a decade) on maintenance, my car will be in better shape than the next Z owner. And worth more too. You'll get the money back if you sell it in clean condition. I paid alot of money for my car. I don't use the cheap stuff or cut corners on repairs. So if you're serious about your car, you'll need to change your how you view basic car maintenance. Cost is a big factor on purchasing services. Shop around, but consider a good mechanic based on reputation too. Also if you can't afford the regular service maintenance on your car, then you probably should have bought something more in line with your budget. You gotta pay to play!

BTW I manage an auto shop.

Nissanboy.... so what should be done at 30k and how much should it cost?

@Dirtrat, your completely right about people not following their maintenance manuals!! I just don't know why people fall when they go to dealers and get busted paying for unnecessary repairs. For example, Transmission flush, in the manual it CLEARLY STATES that the TRANSMISSION OIL is maintenance free. NO NEED TO CHANGE OIL!

Sounds about right. Do yourself a favor, pay the $450 maintenance fees and save yourself a lot of headache later. Preventive maintenance always pays off in the long run. Besides, I wouldn't invest tens of thousands $ on a leisure car to think twice about a few hundred $ for maintenance. ;)

All I did was a transmission flush, differential flush, oil change & a clutch fluid flush. The clutch fluid doesn't really need a flush @ 30k but I decided to do it anyways since I was down there doing everything else already.

I disagree with almost everything you said but it's your car and your decision. You won't get more money when selling your car just because you are doing this type of maintenance. If you just do the recommended service from Nissan, that will be adequate. Doing the recommend service is not cutting corners and IMHO someone changing out all of these fluids at only 30K miles is a complete waste of money. BTW, my dealer would charge far more than $400-$500 do do all of the work you are talking about.

I'm sure this is true if you drove it like a normal car; but I don't drive my wifes CR-V 157mph either...

I just got my transmission fluid change and the gear shifts are a lot smoother!! make sure to keep up with maintenance

Called my local dealer and questioned them about this, they said nothing more than a brake flush, and oil change. When I asked about flushing other systems, they said they would but it was not needed....... Strange for a profit driven business to discourage doing above and beyond service........... We will see how it goes..........

Just got the 'Premium' 30K mile service done and it took 4+ hrs and cost $1200. The service was done at the Fort Lauderdale Nissan dealer and included synthetic fluids, along with an inspection. I paid for this service, so I could have some peace of mind as the second owner I don't know a lot about how the car was maintained. Hopefully what I paid will make some others feel better about the amounts they were quoted. From here I may use an independent shop for ongoing maintenance & repair. :-)

Did you then contact the local police department to report being raped?

Holee fuk! $1200?!?!? :eek:

I'm with Chuck. This dealer has moved on from theft to rape :eekdance:

Seriously?? :owned::shakes head:

That's what the dealer charges and I don't have access to a mechanic in this area that I trust yet. I typically never purchase service or parts from a dealer, unless it is necessary. ;-)

There's only one dealer nearby? Hell, even if you have to drive an hour or two, it's worth it. You just paid about 3x the price i usually see mentioned. I'm guessing you can't DIY, so why not reach out to the local Z guys and see who would do it for beer money?

I had the premium service done, not sure everyone chose that one (hence their lower cost), but getting it all done and correctly gives me a good starting point with this car. I'm not tripping, because I don't get raped often, but when I do, it's what I wanted to begin with. :-)

Well, at least they used lube :ugh:





I'm pretty sure the premium service includes lubing door locks and hinges

Where I am at we have the normal 30k service; read $400. HOWEVER they do also offer a premium 30k maintenance for $1K. I forget what all they do for that, I think a hooker was involved for your wait time lol, but the list was about 3 times longer VS standard 30k.

I just did standard but the OP was getting a valid quote. Give a call to your local Nissan shop and ask them what it covers for premium and your jaw will drop.

I just did my 30k scheduled maintenance... It costs in the neighborhood of $450.. If this is not done according to the manual and something fails due to neglect of not doing the scheduled MX, (within a few hundred miles over) they have the right not to cover that part/s .

I've seen the list. Most of the extra items listed in the premium service that are not included in the standard 30K service are simply inspect such-and-such and don't necessarily even require additional work to be done. It seriously includes line items like, "Inspect Headlights (adjust if necessary)" and "Inspect Exhaust System". That premium service is one helluva scam.

what is worse is that some listed service probably not even performed. some stealers are good at not performing the services they charged the customers.

I personally recommend finding an honest, independent mechanic. It requires a bit of research but they are out there and it's well worth it. This forum can be a valuable resource, that is how I found my mechanic. Dealerships are businesses in a highly competitive market and, hence, are driven to maximize profits. Their focus is on selling vehicles as much if not moreso than servicing them. You will undoubtedly pay a premium for dealer service and it is questionable if you are truly getting your money's worth relative to that premium. I have talked with several former dealer techs and was shocked to learn how low their pay scale was in light of the exorbitant labor rate that dealers charge. Some that I know have left the field entirely due to this issue. This leads me to suspect that many dealers have some difficulty retaining talented mechanics. In addition, my experience has been that dealers will often try to sell expensive and often unnecessary work. A small, independent business owner has much more incentive to establish a lasting working relationship. They rely on repeat business and word of mouth referrals. A dealership, on the other hand, has a seemingly endless stream of potential customers. A good independent shop will deal with you honestly and provide the same level of service, if not better, than any dealership. I personally only use the dealership for complementary or warranty service.

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I too have talked to people in the industry. The tech's are paid based on the specific job so the more jobs they do, the more money they make. so they would do 16 hours of jobs within 8... the only way to do that is to cut corner and unfortunately, that usually mean skipping some of the tasks that can be easily hidden. I've seen people get charged for valve adjustment and later found out that the valve covers had never opened or new air filters that still have dead bugs.

I personally had the experience with a reputable Lexus dealer. They special ordered a center console for replacement under warranty. I put a hidden mark on the old console. When I got the car back, it was still the old console, but they adjusted it to fit properly. They charged Lexus for a new console and labor based on the receipt. I suspected that expensive new console probably was sold on eBay later on.

I also had similar bad experience with an BMW dealer for a $2k+ major service where they didn't even notice the drive belt had cracks all over. I would have taken a long trip thinking all was well and overheat that expensive M3 motor when the belt break.

so whose fault was it? I would say 80% tech and 20% dealer, for not managing the people properly.

As a testament to how horribly shitty dealers can be, this just happened in the last month:

My mom's Mercury Milan was making some very weird noises - loud metallic squealing. Ford dealer diagnosed the issue and found one of the rear rotors was scored and replaced it. Noise came back immediately on the drive home. Dad took it to the local gas station mechanic and they found the rear axle literally broken in half. The broken stub was resting against the fuckin rotor and damaging it. Dealer didn't say a damn thing (didn't even replace the brake pads :icon14:), and there's no possible way they didn't see the problem during the rotor replacement. In fact, the local mechanic suspects the dealer had to force the axle back in order to install new rotors and that likely caused more damage when they drove off the lot after the so-called repairs were done.

I was talking to an independent Mercedes tech a couple of year ago at a restuarant. I mentioned about the dishonest dealer techs ripping off customers. He wasn't surprised a bit during the conversation, then I asked him whether it was common for the dealer techs to ripoff customers.

I almost fell off my chair when he responded with 'it'd be uncommon not to', followed by 'someone had to pay for their bills etc...'

Totally insane....

I can tell you with out a doubt you don't need to do a full fluid change every 30k to keep your car running right. I did a full change every 60k and it was fine. Plugs were every 100k. I used Redline for my changes. Oh and clutch fluid I started flushing every 3rd oil change after I went threw the 3rd CSC.