Question for any CAGs that are automotively skilled

Ikohn4ever

Ikohn4ever

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Well I used to have a friend who was a mechanic to work on my car, but he moved so I have to rely on actual stores to do all the crap now. Anyway I was at firestone and I got a list of shit they recommend I do. So I was wondering if any are not important or if their prices were fair or what not


Transmission Fluid Flush
27 for Fluid
63 for labor
20 for Flush and treatment

Fuel System Tune Up
40 for Fuel System Cleaner
50 for labor

Flush Brake System w/ABS
18 for fluid
49 for labor
32 for additional labor to bleed ABS

Non-system services
40 for power steering kit
30 for labor

I am not a fan of spending over 400 bucks if I dont have to. My car is a 2003 Honda Civic with with around 48k miles on it. Any help would be appreciated.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']Well I used to have a friend who was a mechanic to work on my car, but he moved so I have to rely on actual stores to do all the crap now. Anyway I was at firestone and I got a list of shit they recommend I do. So I was wondering if any are not important or if their prices were fair or what not


Transmission Fluid Flush
27 for Fluid
63 for labor
20 for Flush and treatment

Fuel System Tune Up
40 for Fuel System Cleaner
50 for labor

Flush Brake System w/ABS
18 for fluid
49 for labor
32 for additional labor to bleed ABS

Non-system services
40 for power steering kit
30 for labor

I am not a fan of spending over 400 bucks if I dont have to. My car is a 2003 Honda Civic with with around 48k miles on it. Any help would be appreciated.[/QUOTE]

I'll have to make some assumptions here:
Automatic transmission?
- Go to Jiffy Lube or a Valvoline. $70 for a fluid flush service, tops. If you've not had it done before, you should get it done based on your manual. Hondas may be every 60k.

Fuel system - fuel injection?
-$50 at those same places. Usually not in the manual, but I like to do it every 30k-40k.

Brake system - can't comment, always did it myself (not that hard to do, but then again that was my ASE field)

Power steering kit - flush? Don't know.
 
None of that is going to make or break your car, but if you want to follow routine maintenance schedules, then you'll want to get all that done, but maybe somewhere cheaper.
 
[quote name='Ikohn4ever']thanx[/QUOTE]

BTW, there's a couple of different Auto Tranny services.

One is the traditional drop the pan, replace the filter, replace gasket, reinstall and fill. Those are usually the best, but are messy and can be expensive to replace the filter.

The other one is the flush, which looks like you were offered. They take a machine and disconnect your tranny lines and use the car itself to cycle fluid through the transmission and filter. This has really only been around for the last 10 years, AFAIK. Not all manufacturers were on board with this, but that may have changed since I worked in the field last. You shouldn't have any problems with a Civic, unless the line is hard to get to. Shouldn't be any harder to get to than the idiotic placement of the oil filter (right above the exhaust - brilliant!)
 
for fuel injection cleaning all u do is buy a can of fuel treatment from walmart for like $15 and pour it in your gas tank. As you use gas it goes through your engine and cleans it by itself. So you're pretty much so getting screwed on that.
 
[quote name='Cracka']for fuel injection cleaning all u do is buy a can of fuel treatment from walmart for like $15 and pour it in your gas tank. As you use gas it goes through your engine and cleans it by itself. So you're pretty much so getting screwed on that.[/QUOTE]

Seafoam works great
 
[quote name='Cracka']for fuel injection cleaning all u do is buy a can of fuel treatment from walmart for like $15 and pour it in your gas tank. As you use gas it goes through your engine and cleans it by itself. So you're pretty much so getting screwed on that.[/QUOTE]

You get what you pay for.

The ones I used actually work, as opposed to the 'treatments' that you buy from Autozone. Most good services are also going to have a vaccum tube component that premixes with your incoming air for a more thorough cleaning.
 
When was the last time you changed the transmission fluid (if ever)? The reason I ask is because I've heard of people neglecting to change it for a decade and when they finally do the transmission stops working. I've been meaning to look this up to see if it's true or not but thought I'll just throw it out there.

For the brake fluid change, pop the hood and look at the fluid yourself. If it is really dark then you'll probably want to change it. You could do it yourself but you'll need a helper to depress the brake pedal. You also can't get any air into the brake lines and you have to start from the farthest corner away from the master cylinder.

About the fuel line cleaner, I've looked around before but I can't find any products that cost $50 in stores. I don't know what special stuff the mechanics use but maybe they don't sell it to us non-mechanics. You don't really have to get the fuel lines cleaned if you don't want to. You will get better gas mileage though if you've never done this before.

Do you mean they also want to change the power steering fluid? If so you can just buy a pump and tube and replace it yourself. Generally the reservoir is right there by the front of your car under the hood. I believe most reservoirs don't have drain plugs. I've never had a Civic so I don't know for sure.

tl:dr Everything they've recommended is preventive maintance only. You don't necessarily need any of them. Of course, it's better to prevent rather then fix.
 
[quote name='cletus']When was the last time you changed the transmission fluid (if ever)? The reason I ask is because I've heard of people neglecting to change it for a decade and when they finally do the transmission stops working. I've been meaning to look this up to see if it's true or not but thought I'll just throw it out there.

For the brake fluid change, pop the hood and look at the fluid yourself. If it is really dark then you'll probably want to change it. You could do it yourself but you'll need a helper to depress the brake pedal. You also can't get any air into the brake lines and you have to start from the farthest corner away from the master cylinder.

About the fuel line cleaner, I've looked around before but I can't find any products that cost $50 in stores. I don't know what special stuff the mechanics use but maybe they don't sell it to us non-mechanics. You don't really have to get the fuel lines cleaned if you don't want to. You will get better gas mileage though if you've never done this before.

Do you mean they also want to change the power steering fluid? If so you can just buy a pump and tube and replace it yourself. Generally the reservoir is right there by the front of your car under the hood. I believe most reservoirs don't have drain plugs. I've never had a Civic so I don't know for sure.

tl:dr Everything they've recommended is preventive maintance only. You don't necessarily need any of them. Of course, it's better to prevent rather then fix.[/quote]


yea I mean i still have a warranty with Honda, so I think i need to practice decent maintenance to keep it valid
 
[quote name='cletus']When was the last time you changed the transmission fluid (if ever)? The reason I ask is because I've heard of people neglecting to change it for a decade and when they finally do the transmission stops working. I've been meaning to look this up to see if it's true or not but thought I'll just throw it out there.[/quote]
I've heard that too. Search the web and for every person that says to leave well enough alone, someone else says it's nonsense, change it anyway.

fwiw, I bought a Mystique last summer that had been neglected (the tranny, anyway). Took it to a local shop to have the fluid changed. They refused to do it because the fluid was burnt and the tranny was slipping; said that changing it would likely make things worse. I decided to do it myself when I discovered that the transmission used on these cars has a drain plug (much, much easier than dropping the pan). Doesn't remove all the fluid, but was able to change out five of the nine quarts it holds. That was nine months ago and I haven't had a single problem.
 
I'd run by an AutoZone or Advance Auto Parts and pick up a Repair Guide for your car. None of what your doing sounds particularly complicated nor require heavy lift gear (such as lifting the engine).

Something I got into the habit of doing since starting college (and recommend to everyone else) is to learn how to do most vehicle repairs/maintenance on your own. That alone saved me about 66% on my bills for a 1989 Nissan Stanza (which I've driven for over 6 years now, still on my first car), since I only need to pay for parts and just put in a few hours on the weekends.

I'd say spend a weekend doing your research, getting the parts/etc together, and then take a weekend and get it all done. The worst I've ever had to do on my car was to replace the water pump (damn Japanese mounting the engine sideways), which normally requires the engine to be lifted out of the car, but since I can't do that, I removed the front passenger wheel well and went in from underneath. Sure it was a bit harder and took a weekend, but at the end of the day I wasn't hit with a $600+ bill and only spent about $50 in parts.

It'll take some time to adjust and learn your stuff, but there isn't anything with a car that a normal joe can't do that a mechanic can that doesn't require heavy lifting gear. Bear in mind, a lot of the tools in a repair shop are for convenience and speed, not necessity.

~HotShotX
 
Transmission fluid contains detergents. If your transmission is falling apart, replacing the fluid will scrub the parts and cause bigger gaps in the gears. If the gears stop touching effectively, you have a paperweight.

If your transmission is OK, always remember to replace the transmission filter, too. That's where all the crud is built up. Replacing the fluid only does next to nothing.

Brake lines do not need to be bled unless there is a braking issue. If you replace half of it after each brake job, you're fine. If there is any crud in the brake lines, some if not most of it will filter up to the master cylinder.

Fuel treatments are nice and all, but a can of Berryman's B-12 every few oil changes do just as well.
 
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