2012 Ford Fusion with 41,000 miles. I have the oil changed at a Ford dealer and they have been telling me I need the fuel injectors cleaned, throttle body cleaned and trans service. They have been telling me I need this service since 30,000 miles. No where in my service manual does it recommend these services at 30,000 or 40,000 miles. When I questioned them they told me its recommended. All this to just sell unnecessary services.
Most gasoline has enough detergents and cleaners to keep your system clean. No need for a wallet flush with these services. If you do want to do something, go to your Walmart/Kmart or Mcparts store and get a bottle of cleaner for $10 to add to your gas tank. You may want to consider having your transmission fluid changed. All that needs to be done is drain what can be drained and refill. Changing the filter is a bonus if it can be changed. No need for a transmission flush.
I am going to disagree with Steve on the issue of servicing the transmission. Over the past few years, more and more manufacturers have been trying to make their cars seem to be almost maintenance-free by dropping important services from their maintenance schedules. Two examples of these deletions are transmission servicing and valve-lash adjustments. However, deleting them from the maintenance schedules didn’t alter the necessity for them.
My own policy is to have my trans fluid and filter changed every 30k miles, and I have never had transmission failure on any of my cars, even with odometer mileage as high as 160k. By contrast, I know people who have needed to have their transmissions overhauled somewhere in the 90k-120k mile range, and none of those folks bothered to service their transmissions. This is by no means a scientific study, but…when you consider the cost of overhauling/replacing a transmission, I think that it is prudent to spend $100-$150 every few years in the interest of preventing problems.
(Note: I don’t think that your engine is one that needs periodic valve lash adjustments.)
There is debate as to the necessity of changing your transmission oil at regular intervals (30k or so). Most manufacturers state that you never have to change it all. But don’t forget the manufacturer doesn’t care what happens to your car after the warrantee runs out.
Transmission experts, on the other hand, state that if you want your car to last beyond 100k miles, you need to change it on a regular basis.
Me, I traded my last car at 120k and never touched the transmission. But my new one, I think I will be more diligent and replace it as recommended.
"the manufacturer doesn't care what happens to your car after the warrantee runs out."
Exactly!
The manufacturers know that the likelihood of transmission failure is remote, prior to 90k miles, so they have no liability when someone’s transmission fails–usually as a result of lax maintenance–somewhere in the 90k-120k mile range.
If I was the type of person who traded-in his car every 3 or 4 years, I would probably skip transmission maintenance. However, because I usually keep my cars for 8-10 years, I maintain them better than the mfr specifies, and that has always paid-off in terms of reliability, durability, and trade-in value.
I think that the decision as to whether to do trans maintenance or not should probably depend on how long the OP intends to keep his/her car.
VDC, Steve said to change the fluid and possibly the filter, what’s to disagree with that?
I change my transmission fluid on my cars every 30,000 period. Just stopped at Acura yesterday for transmission fluid. The throttle body cleaning maybe if there are deposits but can’t see any reason for injector cleaning. Just because its not in the manual though doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.
I usually end up buying CPO/used cars with 20-30K Miles and as part of my TLC, change the brake and transmission fluids on them. I have noticed that most transmission fluids are pretty dark at 30+K miles, so end up doing 3 drain and refills. It might be because of the braking in of the new transmission or the previous owners were hard on the car. Because after the 30K miles the ATF starts to look red again at 20K intervals.
I have not had an auto trans fail on me so far.
"Steve said to change the fluid and possibly the filter, what's to disagree with that?"
He stated that the OP “may want to consider it”, not that it should be done.
That is the nature of my disagreement.
I had my wife change the ATF in her 2012 Fusion about a month ago with 120,000 miles on it. I believe the manual called for it to be changed at 150,000 but I also had her change out the coolant. All other maintenance has been by the book (plugs at 100K, air filters every 30,000). We have only replaced wear and maintenance items since she bought it brand new. It is a great car but extremely bland.
Changing the trans fluid between 30,000 to 40,000 miles make sense, but the rest of it doesn’t.
You could look at it both ways. Either the dealership is trying to give you their recommendation for what’s the optimum servicing package to keep the car running as well a possible for a valued customer; or they are trying to run up the bill. The answer is probably somewhere in between.
I think its worthwhile to do a proper service on an automatic tranny in the 30-50K range, presuming the owner’s manual has no recommendations otherwise. As long as the other jobs are done correctly, they’d do no harm and since throttle bodies and fuel injectors can gunk up over time, they might help prevent future problems. If I were presented with those options though, unless I was noticing that the engine wasn’t running well, fearing for both my wallet and that they’d somehow mess up doing the job and makes things worse, I would defer on the throttle body and fuel injector cleaning.
Regardless of the quality of those new coolants, I would still change it out at 50,000 miles. It’s a modest expense and will ensure no corrosion and no clogging of the system.
The Ford 100,00 mile recommendation often exceeded the life of those flimsy radiators.