My wife’s 2008 Hyundai has 60000 miles and the dealer,at the regular oil change, recommended an expensive treatment for the fuel injectors plus a change of the automatic transmission fluid. We wish to maintain the car well but need to avoid unneccesary expense. We discern no sluggishness or “missing” in the acceleration and the “owner’s manual” recommends transmission replacement at 105,000 miles unless there is “rugged” use. Are we being careless to “ignore” the dealer’s recommendation?
[i] My wife's 2008 Hyundai has 60000 miles and the dealer,at the regular oil change,[/i]
I suggest that was the first error. Dealers are no better (or worse) than independent mechanics for almost anything you might need done on your car. They will almost always charge more per hour and often more for parts and supplies. They also tend to look at repairs a little different than the independent.
A dealer may well recommend work that strictly may not be needed, but could be connected to the problem or maybe replace a part when a little repair would fix it ALMOST as good a new.
There is no need to bring your car to the dealer for any service other than service that is going to be paid for by a recall or original warrantee. During the warranty period be sure to have all required (as listed in the owner's manual) maintenance done and to document all maintenance work.
I suggest that most people would be better off finding a good independent (Not working for a chain) mechanic.
[b] Note: Never ever use a quick oil change place. They are fast cheap and very very bad.[/b]
If it is not listed in the owner's manual, chances are it is nothing more than a way of getting money out of your pocket into their's.If the car runs fine, I would forget the injector service, but the transmission fluid and filter should be changed evry 30,000 miles or so, regardless what the owner’s manual or the dealer say. The fluid is now due for its SECOND change, if you want to drive this car trouble-free to 200,000 miles.
For that service you don’t need the dealer; a good idependent transmission shop or mechanic can do that. Many Hyundai owners do it themselves. The cost should not exceed $100 or so.
The injector service won’t help anything but the dealer’s bottom line. It could hurt, because the cleaning chemicals may eat a little more than just the dirt that they are supposed to, especially if there isn’t any dirt to eat. Also, if they do it wrong, they could seriously damage your engine.
A transmission fluid change, however, is a good idea.
The only advice to heed is change automatic transmission fluid more often. Otherwise ignore most other “extra” recommendations.
Follow the owner’s manual. Perform the maintenance specified there. An exception is transmission fluid changes, including a filter change if the car has a replaceable filter. That should be done every 30,000 miles, even if the manual gives a longer interval or says it never needs to be done.
Refuse extra services unless there’s a problem that the service would address. Fuel injectors require no maintenance. Fuel system cleaning should be treated as a repair, meaning it should be done only when there’s a problem that the cleaning might fix. Your car may very well never have such a problem and never need a fuel system cleaning.
You don’t need it. It could destroy your engine. You need the car to run. Ignore those dealer recommendations this time and ignore the fuel injector stuff forever.
“the “owner’s manual” recommends transmission replacement at 105,000 miles”
Well, that is a very extreme recommendation, but if you don’t change your transmission fluid every 3 yrs/30k miles (whichever comes first), you just might have to replace your transmission at 105k.
But, to get to the point, you should decline the fuel injector cleaning, but definitely opt for a change of the transmission fluid. You are already grossly overdue for a trans fluid change.
If you think that maintenance is expensive, wait until you see the bill for repairs that result from lack of maintenance!