Necessary Service?

I own a 2007 Jeep Laredo, 2 wheel drive, 4.7L V8. I took it to the dealer this morning for an oil change at 21k miles and the service manager told me I should have had the injector and throttle body components cleaned at 15K miles. He said I should have this done every 15K miles. Is this necessary? If so, how often? In the Owner’s Manual, there is no requirement to have this service even out to 150K miles. My usual drivng is not under strenuous conditions - for example, no towing.

NONSENSE! This is a wallet flush, pure and simple. Find another place for your routine maintenance.

Agree 110% with texases. If you search this forum, you’ll see numerous discussions about how these services are revenue generators for garages.

It’s not in the manual because it’s not necessary. This is a profit generator, nothing more. Say, “No thanks,” and save your money.

As I suspected… I told them no thanks, and there was no argument… an indication this service wasn’t necessary…

thanks,

et

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Roger… I did say no thanks, and there was no pressure to have it done… gut feeling said walk away…

thanks,

et

Say no thanks…and then find another place to have your Jeep serviced. If they are trying to sell you this when there isn’t a problem…what will they be trying to sell you when you REALLY have a problem. When the economy is in the toilet (like it is now)…businesses try to make up for their lost revenue…even ripping off their customers. As long as they don’t know any better they’ll keep returning for more.

Reason #597 Why not to take your car to a dealer for service.

Roger… and even in a booming economy,they’re like sharks in a feeding frenzy… fortunately, my instincts said no thanks… the total bill would have been $325+ so now I’ll know to tell them to flush their own throttol bodies…

et

“Reason #597 Why not to take your car to a dealer for service.”

It could just as easily be a reason not to take your car anywhere. Any shop could recommend unneeded work. That’s why it’s hard to find a good, honest mechanic. Certainly dealers are the most expensive place to get work done, but I’ve dealt with at least one dealer who’s shop is honest.

Correct… there’s very few auto shops that won’t try to take advantage… like the guy who wanted to change the air in the tires because the air was outdated… I’m new to this area and am looking for that homest mechanic… thank…

et

Not necessary. You were right to refuse.

That said, most people never drive hard enough to keep the engine clean. Is there some place you routinely go where it would be safe and legal to accelerate at full throttle for several seconds? One example would be the entrance ramp to an interstate. Whenever you go up the ramp, put your foot to the floor until you reach the speed limit.

(This procedure has many names. The one I prefer is “Italian tuneup.” Lest anyone regard this as an insult to Italians, I consider it to be a compliment to people who aren’t afraid of their accelerator pedals.)

Being fuel mileage aware… I don’t think i’ve ever floored it… i’m one of those drivers who drives well within the speed limits and conserves gas whenever i can… but your suggeston sounds logical… i’ll try that.

Thanks for your suggestion.

et

I am also “fuel mileage aware”, but doing some very brisk acceleration once every week or two is not going to have very much of an effect on your gas mileage, and I do believe that it is good for the engine to do this occasionally.

Each “Italian Tune-up” might use…perhaps…1 cup more gas than you would have used otherwise. This is not really very significant.

Great suggestion… i’ll try this as you suggested, once every week or two… this also might have secondary benefits - i seldom stress the engine or drive train…

thanks again,

et