Our GX now has 20K miles on it. I get the oil changed at the dealership every 3K miles. When I took it in for the 15K and the 18K oil changes, they kept telling me I needed to do my 15K service. When I said no, the receipt always has, "Customer declines 15K service". It's coming up on another oil change and I thought maybe I'd have the 15K service done. I look in the owners manual and for 15K it says they change the oil, rotate the tires and check fluids and some bolts. WTF???......this is what they charge $200-$500 for??

For those of you that have done the service, what did they do and how much did they charge?? I'm thinking of telling them to individually change the oil and rotate the tires.

 

It's called a rip off, as are most of the dealer scheduled services as they are really just revenue generators. The only real important stuff is the fluid changes and timing belt - most of the rest of the stuff is BS that anyone could do, like change your air filter and cabin filter, rotate the tires check some stuff to make sure it doesn't fall off!

 

AMEN! That is why I call them the Stealer.

You would be better off taking that 200-500 and spending it on a nice floor jack and doing this stuff yourself. It takes litterally seconds to replace your cabin and air filters. Takes me about 30 minutes to do the oil. I check all the fluids myself whenever I change my synthetic oil every 5K.

Timing belts aren't what they used to be either. They are much stronger these days. I would make sure to have it changed by at least 65K...the rest of the stuff is a joke.

CV

 

Well it helps to be informed

At 15k, the actual work needed is the oil change and rotate the tires.
You can tell your dealer just do the oil change only (and rotate your tires if you want them to).

Everything else is "visual inspections" or topping off the fluids that you can see yourself if they're low. Might as well check the air filters yourself too.

 

I just paid $599 for 15k service. They did give me a loaner and it did appear to be more than just a oil change. Tire rotation/balance, fuel injector cleaner, etc.. Oh.. and a car wash was thrown in. I am scared to ask what 30k service would cost.

 

I paid-
15k $410
30k $561
@ Magnussen Lexus

 

The primary reason I just got the 15K service on the ES330 is to not have any warranty issues. The dealership has been very good in all aspects but I would not want the factory refusing them parts under warranty if the maintenance schedule was not adhered to. Just my opinion.

 

I just go to Toyota and they change the oil and leave me alone, my 4Runner has 45k on it and has only had oil changes and the driveshaft greased, my Toyota dealer said they don't do the major service til 60k, my ES300 was the same except Toyota said the power steering fluid needed to be replaced at 20k but it was leased so it went to 39k and then we handed it back.

Nothings wrong with the 15k or 30k service but be informed and know what your paying for, many times dealers pad the service with non essential service items that most vehicles don't need until the higher mileage

Also some dealers require the services writers to bring in 100k of non-warranty work even if it's at the customers expense and the car does not need it

 

At 15K, just change the engine oil/oil filter, air filter, cabin air filters, rotate tires, grease front/rear driveshafts. Fuel injector cleaning at 15K mi is a rip-off! My '86 4runner has never had a fuel injector cleaning, and that's after 198K mi and 20 years!!! I don't run junk gasoline, though, only chevron 89 or 91. I did have the fuel filter changed at 145K mi (didn't notice any difference after) and tried the Redline fuel conditioner/additive (didn't noticed any difference, either).

My local dealer also tries to rip me off...says the 15K mi is "major" service for my LX. The do what I listed about, plus change the diff/t-case fluid and drain & fill the transmission fluid pan (about 3 qts of the total 11 qts since most of the ATF is in the torque converter). Their price? $750! What have they been smokin'? I so it myself in one afternoon using all OEM parts and Mobil 1 fluids for about $140. BTW, the owner's manual says to change the diff/t-case and ATF every 30K mi only if you primarily tow. Toyota manual says to inspect, even at 60K.

If your Gx is '04+, it uses the WS type fluid, which is good to like 90K mi (so no ATF change at 30K). Also, it should be using the super long life coolant ('04+, so no coolant change until the t-belt is done at 90K). That just leaves the front wheel bearing repack as the only additional service at 30K. Dealer charge alone is about $350 (most is labor). I just bought the toyota parts for it ($39+grease).

For the warranty, you just need proof the work was done. The owner's manual specifically says you can do the work yourself, but you need to save the receipts to show you bought the parts, etc. I mailorder my toyota parts on discount.