My wife went to the dealership just for an oil change and she said they recommended to her that we change the rear differential fluid, for an additional charge of $150. The car is two wheel drive and only has around 22,000 miles on it. The tech said they recommend it around 15,000 miles, but when I took it in for the last oil change nothing was said to me about it. Anybody heard of this or did they see my wife sitting there alone with our 3 year old and want to get his lunch paid for today?
Check the owner’s manual. The price seems excessive and unless contamination is indicated I have never changed the lube in a rear end and never suffered any damage from my doing so.
You just found out that dealers and usually a poor place to get your car worked on. While there are good ones and bad ones, overall they are not better or worse than independent mechanics.
The one thing a dealer usually has over the independent is the labor rate. They will almost always cost you more for the same work and they will usually advise replacement of anything questionable.
The service writer that talked to your wife is a commission salesman. He gets a percentage of that $150.
Normal change interval is 100,000 miles or “life of car”, whichever comes first…
The service interval (per the owners manual) is 30,000 miles for sched. A and 15,000 miles for sched. B. If you don’t follow these intervals, you will probably have difficulty getting warranty work on the axle if you ever need it in the future.