Brought my truck in for service yesterday 30,000 miles. Oil change, NYS inspection, update transmission programming. Guy calls me and says that there is no new updates to transmission, ok no problem. The thing that gets me is they are pushing services that are not required. He asked me if I wanted tires rotated, I said no I do it my self. So I can clean inside of wheels. Then Asked for a coolant flush, brake line flush, tranny flush. I said no. What gets me is the brake line flush. Do they think everybody is an idiot, some people will fall for this. Money making services that are not required. I was waiting for a AC flush, but never mentioned. You really have to keep an eye on these people.

2010 f150 4.6l3v

My brother brought his car in for service. Not ford but infinity. They tried to sell him a battery maintenance service. That would put battery on charger. Another BS service not needed.

 

What I've always found is if my wife takes our vehicle in for service they always try to push that kind of stuff on her. I always count on the phone call from her asking if this is needed or that is needed... Rarely, if ever, does that happen when I take a vehicle in for service.

That said, a new Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealership just opened near us. The rear driver side window on my wife's Wrangler had stopped working... So on my way to work I stopped in there to see about getting it fixed. Got there at 7:10am... Covered under warranty, left about 7:45am in a loaner car... Picked it up at 5pm, repair done and vehicle washed. The guy apologized to me for the delay! I was like, are you kidding me!?! I didn't expect it to get repaired that quickly! Also, he didn't try to sell anything I didn't ask for and he made sure I was aware of a recall repair for the soft top that I had not had done yet. So there are some reputable dealer services around...

 

Agreed, there are some good dealers around. For me, its the opposite-the local Ford dealer is very good and the local Dodge/Jeep/Ram dealer is absolutely horrible. Its the reason why I am driving an F150 right now instead of a new Ram....

 

A brake flush is a good thing to do at 30,000 miles.

 

Why? Should be more than sufficient when you do a brake job.

 

I would say that out of all of the up-sale stuff that is the one that makes most sense. Brake fluid should be changed every few years. I change my own pads but let the dealer change the fluid because of the antilock brakes.

My wife has a Honda. I have seen people at the dealership pay labor fees to have floormats and cargo liners installed.

 

I did a google search and it is recommended to change brake fluid every 2-3 years. Because it asorbs water. I lost brakes on my 97 snowmobile over the winter. I completly flushed the lines with fresh fluid and works fine. I never heard of brake line flushing from the dealer before, That's why I questioned it. I'll have it done when new pads are put on in near future.

 

See the above answers. In addition, old brake fluid will damage caliper pistons and master cylinder plungers.

 

cant blame a guy who try's to up sale for his job

 

We are partly to blame for the upsell tactics. How many of us brag about driving the new vehicle sales price down to rock bottom? The less money the dealership makes on vehicle sales, the more that needs to be made up on the back end with service.

Upselling is one of the smartest and easiest ways to increase sales. It also might give the dealership enough cash to hire better technicians, which actually will increase quality of service.

We seem to be unwilling to give any money to a dealership, then we turn around and criticize them for trying to be a business and generate cashflow.

 

a brake line flush is a waste of money. The brake fluid will last for years.

The only time it might be needed is if
- you are racing your truck (brakes get hotter than usual)
- you tow very heavy in the mountains (brakes get hotter than usual)

otherwise the brake fluid is fine.

Yes, brake fluid will absorb water. But how is the water going to get in????

If you somehow lose your brake reservoir cap and drive around without it for awhile in the middle of summer.... ok, then maybe you will get some water in the brake fluid.

Otherwise, the diaphragm on the cap will keep out 99.9% of moisture in the air.

And to back this up - I am a senior engineer that designs and tests brake master cylinders. I have access to all the best tools and pressure bleeders. I never bothered to "flush" my brake fluid on my old F150 which I bought new in 2004 and just traded in this past November. The brakes worked just fine.

Unless you are having problems or over-working the brakes, leave the fluid alone.

 

Then why is a brake fluid change a standard maintenance item (every 2 years) for European cars like VW?

 

I don't have a great answer to that... I think the EU OEMs tend to recommend more maintenance in general. So maybe they are a little over-the-top in telling you to flush the brakes. Or it could be that they specify it to keep the money flowing into their dealers shops. It could also be cause they tend to spec out smaller brakes with more aggressive pads so they might see more heat at the wheel.

Perhaps I came off a little harsh on my last post... a brake fluid flush isn't a bad thing. But doing it as preventative maintenance at 30K miles is probably a waste of money - especially if you are paying a dealer to do it.

If you have problems (like soft pedal) then yes, do a flush/bleed.

If it were me, I'd wait till 10 years or 100K miles and then just change the flex lines and bleed it out at the same time.

 

Like I said earlier - do it in conjunction with each brake job.

 

Actually, Europe is extending intervals for maintenance items. Most are calling for 15,000 oil changes and 100,000 trans and final drive changes, something the US is finally doing.