Dealership recommended service

Greetings all! First, I am 73 years old and not likely to do much maintenance personally on my 2015 SR5 Tundra. My truck has 17,600 miles and I recently took it in for an oil/filter service. The service manager at my dealership recommended that I haven the transmission, rear diff, and front diff serviced based on time than miles (obviously). The price quoted was $1280.00 including my next oil change. Does this seem reasonable and do you recommend that I go ahead and do it? I told the service manager that I would consider it for my next oil/filter service but I would need to drop my cat shields before bringing it in.

 

No. If the transmission service is drain and fill a reasonable price if you're with a chain or reasonable dealer and not a dirt cheap mechanic would be maybe half that.

An independent mechanic who doesn't have to worry about trying to make up profit margin for an attached new car shop might do it for under 500 around here. When I had my 09 Crewmax if I'd have gone to my dealer and asked for a full transmission flush, coolant, front and rear diff, transfer case and oil change I still might not have touched what they quoted you.

I am in Southeast Pa.

 

just at a quick glance the trans is every 30 to 60 K

and 30K for front and rear diff. This was a quick innerweb search

 

I am a person who does very early fluid changes starting a few years in and staggered through the first 10/100 to avoid a big expensive to do list at 90 or 100k.


Even with the mileage at 8 years I'd be looking to freshen all that stuff up due to time related decay.

But in your scenario I wouldn't be feeling like it's urgent to do everything by the next oil change. Shop around, get someone to drain and fill the transmission at the next oil change.

Coolant the oil change after that. Maybe diffs the one after that, transfer case the one after that if you want. It would be good to do it all in the next couple years but nothing is going to grenade just because it is all not done within the next 6 months.

 

^^^^^^^ my bad!! Yup what is said above,, I overlooked the year of vehicle. I am sorry.

^^^ what he said

 

In my opinion, that estimate seems way overpriced. Given the age, though, I would recommend drain and refills, but I would get estimates from an independent shop first, preferably one with experience working on Toyotas.

I’d also have them grease the driveshafts, drain and fill the transfer case and replace the drivebelt if it’s cracking or getting brittle with age. Oh, and check the brake pads, power steering and brake fluids. I guess if you don’t want to get hit with one huge maintenance bill at once, you might consider staggering each maintenance item per month. One month have them do one or two items, next month do another one or two items, and so on and so forth.

Maybe others might want to chime in on other maintenance items to check given the age?

 

My 09 5.7 4x4 was overdue for spark plugs when I traded at 113k but not showing symptoms yet. By that point she'd had a transfer case change, maybe 3 transmission Drain and fills, 1 or 2 front and rear diff fluid changes and a transfer case fluid Change. Had brake caliber seize resulting in an extensive brake job around 10/100. Not really sure of that was a brake fluid issue but that's the first time I got new brake fluid.

Truck was traded with the factory power steering fluid in it.

Aside from nursing a coolant leak for a couple years the powertrain felt like new so I'm generally happy if the only factory fluid left in a truck by 8-10 yrs or 70-80k is the coolant and maybe brakes and power steering.

 

That's rather insane pricing. What's their hourly rate? As states, I bet you can find a better value and one that will allow you to purchase the Toyota fluids for tcase and trans.

For reference, local dealerships out here are typically between $120-160/hour.

 

Find a good, reputable transmission shop. They will likely do that for you for much less than half of what the dealership told you, and do a better job. This is from personal experience.

 

I too have a 2015 Tundra but supercharged and I recently had a similar experience. Mine just turned 53,000 miles and I consider that low mileage, but you got me beat on that. I was always told that these fluids are designed by Toyota for long life (i.e. 100,000 miles) at least the coolant, tranny, and supercharger fluids. Then I would take into account the type of driving done. I have never towed anything so I would expect that plays into the equation on the tranny because there is less load on the gear train. Plus these older model Tundra's also have a transmission cooler, which I would think also helps. Whereas the later models dropped the cooler. So when I went in for an oil change, the service advisor came back and said I needed to change the tranny fluid, the coolant, and also my battery tested "bad" and failed their CCA load test. The pricing from the dealership was $329.95, $189.95. and $249.95 respectively. I told him thanks and would consider it at the next service interval. I then took the truck to Walmart to get the battery changed under warranty for free. But I'm still suspicious if these service advisors are just trying to up-sell you every time you come in for an oil change! My experience for what it is worth, hope this helps. I'd still be interested in any feedback as to whether this long life fluid from Toyota (which is expensive as shit) really degrades significantly over time under a low mileage (i.e. my case ~6600 miles per year), for a garage kept and no tow vehicle.

 

Wow, only 17k and 53k on a 2015, that's nuts.

My intervals, based a lot on the toyota car care nut dude. Personally I try to be diligent on this, because why not. Also installed a cooler last week

Oil & Filter: 5k miles or 6mo.
Transmission Fluid (drain/fill): 60k or 6yrs. (OE)
Coolant: (1st time) 100k or 5yrs. (2nd time, on) 50k or 5yrs. (OE)
Differential & Transfer Case: 30k (OE or aftermarket)
Power Steering Fluid (OE or aftermarket Fluid)
Brake Fluid, inspect at 3 years (aftermarket)
Sparks Plugs: 120k (OE)

 

Definitely shop that service around. It really is just drain and refill. Do not flush.

Check out AAMCO as well or look for a coupon or one of the ads you throw away after getting it in the mail box. Many will give a discount to start service work with you.
You can call around for quotes without having to go in.

 

Thanks for your input/ recommendations everyone!

 

I think it is reasonable from the Toyota dealership. Mine is 2015 4WD CM with 126k miles. I usually pick two or three items recommended at a time and let them take care of it. So that truck can last until 250k miles.

 

Gracias Amigo mio'.

 

No.

 

Have them check the degradation value in Techstream to see if the transmission needs a service. I'm in the same position you are. I took possession of my father in-law's 2016 that also has very low mileage at only 20,000. My transmission degradation value was 65,000 which is the max number so I changed it out. I just did the coolant which is just a drain and fill. Coolant should be change out every 5 years. I plan to do the front and rear diffs just because they have the original oil in them. Check your tires. I had to change mine because they aged out.

Look at the maintenence intervals in the ownership manual.

 

Was the trans fluid dirty? Did it look like it needed changing?

 

It actually didn't look too bad. Not dark at all.

 

Thanks, Dave.

 

I just paid $116 for a transmission drain and fill. I have also paid around $200 for front diff when I couldn’t get the drain plug loose to do it myself. I think the transfer and rear run about the same. This is in NE PA at a Toyota dealer.