Help! Dealer Service suggestions..... no trust

[Kennadian]

Well, today I took my baby in for an oil change and an overall check-up. They gave me a "world class" inspection for FREE! I have put 4000 kilometres on the vehicle in the past 2 years. I was advised that I needed to flush my rad, change out my brake fluid, and also change out my power steering fluid. All this for only $500! IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY? I have real trust issues with car dealers as there have been so many scam exposures over the years where work was performed that had nothing to do with the customer, but really helped the bottom line of the shop. What say you???

 

[mtrocket]

In my 30 years as a collision repair owner and in talking to friends who have been mechanics for YEARS as well, the only one of these three that I have EVER done is the radiator flush. That being said, that was on vehicles with the older green anti-freeze. The newer orange Del-cool doesn't need this service as often. You can tell when this needs to be done but the color of the anti-freeze in the system. It should be a bright orange; if it becomes a dull drab color, the flush would be a good idea. As far as the other two, I would take the covers off the reservoirs and smell the fluid. If it has a burned smell, a flush probably wouldn't be a bad idea; otherwise, I wouldn't bother. Hope this helps...

 

[Texas Shriner]

$500 - that left a mark for $100.00 in parts and a i/2 day of work (if tinkering is your thing). The only hard part is getting a few air bubbles freed up from any of the three mention systems.


Radiator fluid longevity is better than it used to be as MT said. I agree with his input 100%

I'm not sure which brake fluid the XLR uses; however, if it is Dot 3 or 4 it is hygroscopic (attracts and absorbs water) - pragmatically this means it will cause corrosion (creating contamination) and it will have an unstable boiling point (unpredictable brake performance). The bottom line is that DOT 3/4 DOES REQUIRE periodic service. How periodic depends on your application and tolerance - in my high performance track motorcycles I hanged it annually. Dot 5 is a different story and you can pretty much run it until it shows contamination.
The power steering fluid has a similar tale. Synthetic lasts a long time. Natural - not so much.

That's my $.02 I'm sure you will hear a whole $1.00 or so before its over.

Drive safe!

P.S. DO NOT MIX DOT 3/4 with DOT 5. You will have an instant disaster that will burn a hole in your checkbook to alleviate.

 

[b_pappy]

I have an '05 also, and last year flushed all the fluids. I don't know if it was absolutely necessary, but I think it was worthwhile, the fluids were pretty dirty. I actually told my mecahnic I wanted those things done, along with the trans flush.
Sad you have dealer trust issues though.
If you do the radiator flush take them distilled water to use, otherwise they may use tap water.
Bruce

 

[Stella]

Well, today I took my baby in for an oil change and an overall check-up. They gave me a "world class" inspection for FREE! I have put 4000 kilometres on the vehicle in the past 2 years. I was advised that I needed to flush my rad, change out my brake fluid, and also change out my power steering fluid. All this for only $500! IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY? I have real trust issues with car dealers as there have been so many scam exposures over the years where work was performed that had nothing to do with the customer, but really helped the bottom line of the shop. What say you???

When I purchased my 04 i went through everything and changed all the fluids for my own piece of mind. I flushed the radiator myself simple drain and fill. You just have to purged all the air by running the engine until the thermostat opens then top off. I used a additive called redline water wetter that lowers the operating temps of the fluid by 10-15 degrees.
As for the power steering I took a turkey baster sucked out the resv. Topped it off,turned lock to lock acouple times then sucked it out again and put to the fill mark. The brake fluid I just sucked out the resv. And topped it off. Just don't fill to the full mark if your pads are worn. When you do a brake job next their will be too much and will overflow.
Everything stated is pretty easy to do and will only cost ya 40-50 bucks. Fluids were dirty and only had 6,000 on the odometer at the time.

 

[ald42]

Well, today I took my baby in for an oil change and an overall check-up. They gave me a "world class" inspection for FREE! I have put 4000 kilometres on the vehicle in the past 2 years. I was advised that I needed to flush my rad, change out my brake fluid, and also change out my power steering fluid. All this for only $500! IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY? I have real trust issues with car dealers as there have been so many scam exposures over the years where work was performed that had nothing to do with the customer, but really helped the bottom line of the shop. What say you???

HI,your car is 9yrs old,you didn't say the total miles but you still need to change the fluids. jmho. Al

 

[Texas Shriner]

When I purchased my 04 i went through everything and changed all the fluids for my own piece of mind. I flushed the radiator myself simple drain and fill. You just have to purged all the air by running the engine until the thermostat opens then top off. I used a additive called redline water wetter that lowers the operating temps of the fluid by 10-15 degrees.
As for the power steering I took a turkey baster sucked out the resv. Topped it off,turned lock to lock acouple times then sucked it out again and put to the fill mark. The brake fluid I just sucked out the resv. And topped it off. Just don't fill to the full mark if your pads are worn. When you do a brake job next their will be too much and will overflow.
Everything stated is pretty easy to do and will only cost ya 40-50 bucks. Fluids were dirty and only had 6,000 on the odometer at the time.

Water wetter is a great product and commonly used on track situations that won't allow ethylene glycol. It very effectively increases your thermal coefficient of your fluid and takes more heat away from the engine hotspots. It levels out the temperature gradient. Pragmatically (it depends upon the engine) your fluid temperature could increase (while your engine would be better off for it). Good stuff that water wetter; however, it is not a replacement for anti-freeze - it's just a more effective coolant media.

 

[Kennadian]

One More Thing....

One of my tire pressure sensors has quit working. It's likely a dead battery in the sensor. For only $108 they will provide the replacement part, not including the labour to install it. Is there another alternative to this. can I just change the battery in the sensor? Thoughts?

 

[Kennadian]

HI,your car is 9yrs old,you didn't say the total miles but you still need to change the fluids. jmho. Al

You're probably right about the fluid replacement, however, when the warranty ended, I took it in and had them do all of this work. They replaced every seal and gasket, changed the oil and fluids too. That was about 12,000 miles ago..... I have a hard time trusting these "service" professionals.

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

One of my tire pressure sensors has quit working. It's likely a dead battery in the sensor. For only $108 they will provide the replacement part, not including the labour to install it. Is there another alternative to this. can I just change the battery in the sensor? Thoughts?

The battery, and everything else, is epoxy-ed in. You can go online and get a cheaper price; have your local mechanic install it... and learn it to the car.

The others can't be far behind if one of them has gone. You may want to replace the remaining ones on your next tire replacement.

 

[ald42]

The battery, and everything else, is epoxy-ed in. You can go online and get a cheaper price; have your local mechanic install it... and learn it to the car.

The others can't be far behind if one of them has gone. You may want to replace the remaining ones on your next tire replacement.

I agree with this completely Al

 

[cubby558]

Try checking Amazon or eBay for the sensors. I purchased four last year for under $100. A good tire shop can replace these without taking the tire off the rim!

One of my tire pressure sensors has quit working. It's likely a dead battery in the sensor. For only $108 they will provide the replacement part, not including the labour to install it. Is there another alternative to this. can I just change the battery in the sensor? Thoughts?

 

[xlrlist01]

I'm not sure which brake fluid the XLR uses; however, if it is Dot 3 or 4 it is hygroscopic (attracts and absorbs water) - pragmatically this means it will cause corrosion (creating contamination) and it will have an unstable boiling point (unpredictable brake performance). The bottom line is that DOT 3/4 DOES REQUIRE periodic service. How periodic depends on your application and tolerance - in my high performance track motorcycles I hanged it annually. Dot 5 is a different story and you can pretty much run it until it shows contamination.

P.S. DO NOT MIX DOT 3/4 with DOT 5. You will have an instant disaster that will burn a hole in your checkbook to alleviate.

Isn't DOT 5 a silicone based brake fluid? Doesn't that mean that it has a higher viscosity than DOT 3, 4 and 5.1? Cars with ABS & Stability (the XLR has both) require low viscosity brake fluid, which excludes DOT 5 (and 5.1)?

Putting all this together means that DOT 3 (or DOT 4 in a low viscosity formulation) are better choices, DOT 3 is Cadillac's recommended brake fluid. It is written on the filler and is specified in the workshop manual (5-51).

DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 absorb water and must be changed regularly, two years is commonly used. Mileage does not come into it. There are those who prefer to change brake fluid using the brake pedal for at least some of the change (towards the start) as this keeps the master cylinder cleaner.

 

[ald42]

One of my tire pressure sensors has quit working. It's likely a dead battery in the sensor. For only $108 they will provide the replacement part, not including the labour to install it. Is there another alternative to this. can I just change the battery in the sensor? Thoughts?

I think the tpm for o4-05 are diff from later yrs,they are gray and peanut shaped, the ac delco part # is p25758220. I recently bought them on ebay under $50. ea. Al

 

[hawkeye372]

I have an '05 also, and last year flushed all the fluids. I don't know if it was absolutely necessary, but I think it was worthwhile, the fluids were pretty dirty. I actually told my mecahnic I wanted those things done, along with the trans flush.
Sad you have dealer trust issues though.
If you do the radiator flush take them distilled water to use, otherwise they may use tap water.
Bruce

But they might take it in back to the garage. Then use the tap water instead of the distilled water. You never know once the car leaves your sight.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[xlrlist01]

Isn't DOT 5 a silicone based brake fluid? Doesn't that mean that it has a higher viscosity than DOT 3, 4 and 5.1? Cars with ABS & Stability (the XLR has both) require low viscosity brake fluid, which excludes DOT 5 (and 5.1)?

Putting all this together means that DOT 3 (or DOT 4 in a low viscosity formulation) are better choices, DOT 3 is Cadillac's recommended brake fluid. It is written on the filler and is specified in the workshop manual (5-51).

DOT 3, 4 and 5.1 absorb water and must be changed regularly, two years is commonly used. Mileage does not come into it. There are those who prefer to change brake fluid using the brake pedal for at least some of the change (towards the start) as this keeps the master cylinder cleaner.

I've slipped up here. Silicone (DOT 5) has a lower viscosity, but has other problems that render it very unsuitable in modern braking systems.

1/ It traps air very easily (this is why I incorrectly remembered that it as having a higher viscosity). Basically on pouring it, it traps micro bubbles that are effectively impossible to remove. Never shake the bottle!
2/ It is too compressible. Then see 1/ which makes it worse.
3/ It suffers severe problems in ABS/ESP valves, meaning it must never be used in modern cars such as the XLR.

Bottom line, do not use DOT 5.

A search with Google shows that TRW have come up with a DOT 5.1 ESP. I have never used it and can't comment, but TRW are a very reputable outfit. See https://www.trwaftermarket.com/en/Products/Drum-Brake-and-Actuation-Systems/Brake-Fluid/

DOT 4 has a higher viscosity than DOT 3, hence the demand for DOT 4 ESP type products.

Hope this clarifies a little.

 

[ald42]

fluid changes

You're probably right about the fluid replacement, however, when the warranty ended, I took it in and had them do all of this work. They replaced every seal and gasket, changed the oil and fluids too. That was about 12,000 miles ago..... I have a hard time trusting these "service" professionals.

so you are saying the fluids WERE changed 12k miles ago? if so I would only do the ones that reached their yrs or miles intervals. jmho. Al

 

[Steve Lee]

When I purchased my 04 i went through everything and changed all the fluids for my own piece of mind. I flushed the radiator myself simple drain and fill. You just have to purged all the air by running the engine until the thermostat opens then top off. I used a additive called redline water wetter that lowers the operating temps of the fluid by 10-15 degrees.
As for the power steering I took a turkey baster sucked out the resv. Topped it off,turned lock to lock acouple times then sucked it out again and put to the fill mark. The brake fluid I just sucked out the resv. And topped it off. Just don't fill to the full mark if your pads are worn. When you do a brake job next their will be too much and will overflow.
Everything stated is pretty easy to do and will only cost ya 40-50 bucks. Fluids were dirty and only had 6,000 on the odometer at the time.

How did that "Redline Water Wetter" work out? Did your coolant temp. drop after adding it??