PLEASE HELP - what's the maintenance costs on a 2003-04 M?

[stieger]

Hi folks,

Just want to know how much a tune up costs on these cars, and at what point (mileage) do they need the tune up?

I'm considering buying one, but want to be prudent with my purchase and don't want another car that costs $2500 every time it goes into the shop (big audi).

I appreciate your help in determining the short/long term maintenance of this vehicle.

Best,

Quad

[szh]

You asked this - sorta - a few months ago too! zerothread?id=222203

I will find my thread that has the dealer prices listed and link it in ...

Z

[ClutchKick]

Usually labor is the expensive thing these days... Shops charging between $90-$120 per hour labor...

It really depends on the parts and what you are going to be needing done...

Timing Chain would be the most labor intensive and pricey... To do it proper, you should also change the water pump at the same time...

If you are looking at pricing on things... drop me an email...

[szh]

I will find my thread that has the dealer prices listed and link it in ...

Here it is: zerothread?id=148207.

Z

[auditech10]

My advice, keep the S4! Seriously if you cant afford to maintain a vehicle you should not be driving it.

[ClutchKick]

wow! That dealer is UP THERE in pricing...

Every dealer has its own "Service Maintenance Menu"

They are all usually based on the factory "recommended" service, but every dealer add's their own things to it...

Some dealers will charge an extra $5 for Washer Tank Solvent, etc etc...

For example... Where I am at...

MINOR 3750 Servce: Oil Change, Oil Filter Change, Basic Visual Inspection / Fluid Top Off (Washer Tank, Coolant, not brake fluid etc... but will advise): $44.95 + Tax

INTERMEDIATE 7500 Service: Oil Change, Oil Filter Change, Basic Visual Inspection / Fluid Top Off (Washer Tank, Coolant, not brake fluid etc... but will advice), Rotate Tires, Brake Inspection (Measure Rotors / Pads), Multi Point Inspection, Inspect Battery: $99.95 (you can see this service just adds labor for the added inspection and tire rotation. Inspecting the brakes is normally $50 (half hour labor)...

15K Service: Oil Change, Oil Filter Change, Basic Visual Inspection / Fluid Top Off (Washer Tank, Coolant, not brake fluid etc... but will advice), Rotate Tires, Brake Inspection (Measure Rotors / Pads), Multi Point Inspection, Inspect Battery, Change Air Filter: $259.95.You can save some money on this service and change the air filter your self...

MAJOR 30K Service: Oil Change, Oil Filter Change, Basic Visual Inspection / Fluid Top Off (Washer Tank, Coolant, not brake fluid etc... but will advice), Rotate Tires, Brake Inspection (Measure Rotors / Pads), Multi Point Inspection, Inspect Battery, Change Air Filter, Drain & Refill Trans, Replace In cabin Micro-Filter: $439.95 +Additional for Matic J Fluid

MAJOR 60K Service: Oil Change, Oil Filter Change, Basic Visual Inspection / Fluid Top Off (Washer Tank, Coolant, not brake fluid etc... but will advice), Rotate Tires, Brake Inspection (Measure Rotors / Pads), Multi Point Inspection, Inspect Battery, Change Air Filter, Drain & Refill Trans, Replace In cabin Micro-Filter, Drain & Fill Coolant System: $499.95 +Additional for Matic J Fluid.

Additional services and the above are usually available Ala-carte...

Every INFINITI dealer will be able to pull up any maintenance that was done at an INFINITI Dealer. One will NOT be able to pull up services done at a NISSAN dealer or Jiffy Lube for example...

In my opinion, bring your car to the dealer for a standard oil change... They will advise what is a required service or what they recommend...

The technician will point out a lot of things during your oil change most likely, but, if you know your maintenance record, you will know what you NEED and what THEY would LIKE you to do...



Rule of thumb...

COOLANT SERVICE:

Coolant drain & Fill every 30K IMHO... Flush the system if you can... the DRAIN & FILL only drains and fills the radiator, the flush will pressurise the system and flush out inside the motor as well as radiator and fully replace with new coolant. Drain and fill, will basically just mix with your old stuff...

TRANSMISSION SERVICE:

Transmission Drain & Fill just drains and fills what comes out of the pan, it is NOT a complete Fluid Exchange. The Drian & Fill will do 4-5 quarts out of the pan... you will be left with 6 or so used quarts from your Torque Converter / valve body etc... A complete Fluid Exchange would defiantly be a good thing to do at 60K intervals if you have never done a drain and fill before... Some like to pay extra to do a complete fluid exchange at time of their 30K service... though, matic J fluid is expensive depending on where you get it (YOU ARE ALWAYS ALLOWED TO BRING YOUR OWN PARTS! and just pay labor>..)

BRAKE SYSTEM SERVICE:

Brake Fluid absorbs moisture even through plastic... You want to make sure the seal on your brake fluid master cylinder cap is good so you are not absorbing any more moisture than normal. When your fluid is new, it will be a light amber color... Once the fluid begins to break down, cook off its protective properties and wet boiling point lowers, it will be come darker and grittier feeling... Since our M's aren't really too aggressively driven... I'd say 2-3 years or 50K miles to do a brake system flush... If you run your pads down to the metal, this will transfer more heat to the piston and heat up your brake fluid more and shorten the length of the fluid.

POWER STEERING FLUID:

Usually a blood red color... If you take a finger tip into the reservoir, rub in one downward motion onto the palm of your hand and you see a lot of metallic tiny little flakes glimmering, its time to flush this system. The power steering is a high pressure system. Good fluid will prolong the life of your pump / rack etc...

REAR DIFFERENTIAL:

A drain and fill of this is easy... you can do it in your driveway if you really wanted to with a $6 pump from auto zone or if you get bottles that have a tip you can put into the side of your diff... 1.5quarts of oil is all thats needed... 60K or higher is where I would do this on the M...

AIR FILTER:

As you see it being very dirty! They are not very expensive (Depending on where you buy them from of course ) A better breathing car will get you some better gas mileage they say...

FUEL INJECTOR & THROTTLE BODY SERVICE:

Speaking of better gas mileage, this is the one the service writers like to sell the most... One of the things they push the most is the more efficient performance of the injectors and better gas mileage... Yeah, its a good service to do, how often... Ive seen service writers do this one every 15K! You can go 30-45K with this or when you see a lot of carbon build up in the throttle chamber... Depending on how you drive your car, you may not have as much crank blow by to dirty up your throttle chamber anyway...



I think that pretty much covers everything...

Questions?

[szh]

wow! That dealer is UP THERE in pricing...

They are in San Jose, California. The local costs are indeed higher ...

Z

[szh]

Speaking of better gas mileage, this is the one the service writers like to sell the most... One of the things they push the most is the more efficient performance of the injectors and better gas mileage... Yeah, its a good service to do, how often... Ive seen service writers do this one every 15K! You can go 30-45K with this or when you see a lot of carbon build up in the throttle chamber... Depending on how you drive your car, you may not have as much crank blow by to dirty up your throttle chamber anyway...

You can do this yourself too. Either get BG-44K or the Nissan product. Although I have yet to figure out whether they are similar ... the Nissan one looks more like the Chevron Techron concentrate bottle, which is not as good as BG-44K.

Z

[ClutchKick]

We have the factory NISSAN kits, but we also have these aftermarket ones... I don't remember who makes them I'll look on Monday when I am back in the office...

The "NISSAN / INFINITI" tech's usually use a pressurizer on the system...

[Q45tech]

Remember dealers breakeven on labor [too many employees and too much overhead in chain]. All the profit comes from parts sales and therefore they are less likely to promote more than minimums to get thru warranty without failures.

They are hopeing you don't do much so they can make it up on on parts failures.

Change every fluid frequently if you plan on keeping the vehicle a long time.

Tires [+ rotation, balancing, alignment] and brakes will be significant if you are agressive.

Do everything you can to prolong the time when you need to spend $5,000 on a new transmission..........ATF changes don't wait until its too late.

[stieger]

Sweet folks, thanks so much. That doesn't sound bad at all - I just didn't want to spend $1800K every time I take the car in, that's excessive, even for a German car!

Best,

Stieger