Just Got a Picture From my Dad. Bill on the 100,000 Mile Service.

"Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis" (Dwhite95) 09/29/2014 at 19:29 • Filed to: None

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Hot damn, over a grand...

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 19:33

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I've still got the invoice from the 120,000 mile service on the W210 turbodiesel I had. Somewhere.

That was $1400 or so to flush every damn fluid, lubricate everything that moves, tighten all the bolts that need tightening, and road test the thing.

Oh, and the cabin air filter. Can't forget that.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 09/29/2014 at 19:34

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Yeah, this ignored the fluid flushes too. I wonder how much it would have been with them.

KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 19:39

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Knowing dealers, about $2000 all in.

ZiptieMcBumper > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 19:55

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Nearly $41.00 to clean the terminals on a battery...

I realize that cost is relative, and 15 minutes of your dad's time may be worth far more than $40... but damn.

Textured Soy Protein > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 19:56

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That looks more like a bunch of random things thrown together, than a 100k service.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > ZiptieMcBumper 09/29/2014 at 20:02

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There is a new battery on there too. I'm guessing thats where they found the excuse to charge us for something more, like cleaning the battery terminals. If I wasnt out at school I probably would have done it myself to be honest.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Textured Soy Protein 09/29/2014 at 20:03

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It was more like, shit needs to get fixed and we're at 100,000 miles. Better get it done, and maybe have other stuff looked at.

sellphones2493 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 21:49

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HAHA. That's half my 67,500 Mile Service Bill!

Textured Soy Protein > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/29/2014 at 22:54

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The phrase "100k mile service" usually implies "the stuff on the manufacturer's maintenance schedule for 100k miles," that's all.

uofime > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/30/2014 at 10:36

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the part costs are laughably ridiculous, 150$ for a battery!?! it looks like they took the real cost for the parts (for you, at a part store) and multiplied it by 2.

every time I go to a place and get quotes like that for parts I politely decline and go do it myself...

Orange_Crusader > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/30/2014 at 21:28

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What stuff needed fixing? I see a hub assembly on there (bearing noise?), but I might not quite agree that you needed new pads (upsold your dad to ceramics for some reason) AND rotors AND a battery at a mere 100k, it sounds like they threw a handful of magnetic 'commonplace stuff people won't think twice about having done' stickers at a fridge and went with it rather than a manufacturer-recommended list.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Orange_Crusader 09/30/2014 at 21:43

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Both ABS and Traction Control warning lights were on, and this car has had a few issues with the brakes before so I'm not surprised. Pads had not been changed in our ownership of the car, which means at least 20,000 miles, most likely more. While I didnt know there was something wrong with the battery, Grand Prix's apparently have a nasty habit of ruining them.

Orange_Crusader > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis 09/30/2014 at 23:00

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Those are typically the same module, so both warning lights will go on at once. I don't see anything done to fix the abs/tracs lights besides perhaps just resetting them, replacing the entire hub over what may have been a wheel speed sensor issue sounds odd, but I'm no pontiac expert here. 20k or so sounds about right to do the pads (up to 30k average ime), but unless the rotors were original, they wouldn't need replacing in most cases, that may have been thrown in with the old 'it's a good idea to do both at once' spiel that I've seen done purely to squeeze a few extra bucks out of the deal, but equally might've been worn enough to need replacing (much over a small lip = replace both, usually). Still, why ceramic pads on a GP? Less dust sure, but more noise, more pedal effort, less progressive stops and a decent extra chunk of change, the other benefit is if you drive on a track/autox and need the extra op temp range, but I somehow doubt your dad does either of those.

If it started and charged properly (doesn't die overnight), there may have been nothing wrong with the battery at all, it's another item people have replaced without questioning whether it's needed, and taking the dealer's recommendation at face value. Replacing a good battery with no issues preemptively also smells funky to me, it'd be the first time I've heard of such a necessity.

Similar oddity with changing the serpentine belt but not its tensioner, if the belt is worn enough (and at 100k, it likely is) to necessitate replacement, doing the tensioner at the same time is standard procedure.

tl;dr It's my opinion that you might've gotten slightly but not horribly hosed because there wasn't much to be done on the car, and they realized they wouldn't see you for another 30 or 50k or so and tacked on some overly preemptive fixes before they were actually needed. Big difference? Not necessarily, but if you can get 20 or 50% more life out of any of those parts before they needed changing, that's 20 to 50% of the cost of those parts saved.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > Orange_Crusader 10/01/2014 at 00:08

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Yeah, currently the car is in the possession of my little sister while my sister and I are out at school. And my parents are a little too trust worthy of mechanics. But I agree with you, when I saw the battery on the bill I was really confused by it. On top of that just the principle of the situation the place we bought the car from claimed that they replaced the battery when that got the car. So possibly 2 years, 20k miles ago.

ArmadaExpress drives a turbo outback > KusabiSensei - Captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs 10/01/2014 at 08:28

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That is a lot of money, but at the same time, it's not that bad for such a seemingly thorough service. Knowing everything was scrutinized and every fluid made new... that's not a bad deal.

Except that the new fluids probably started excessively wearing out some of the old parts. New wine in old wine skins sort of thing.