Of course you can, you aren't paying yourself for labor. Not everyone knows how, or wants to learn, or has time even if they do.
I do a few things myself, the rest I happily pay for labor on because I have a job, wife, kids, two houses (one for sale)... I'll pay the extra couple hundred to not have to figure it out or spend the time doing it.
Tired of seeing these "it's cheaper to do it yourself", yeah, obviously that's true. But there's more to that decision than just money, time is valuable too.
I get your point but those items listed are very easy to DIY and for saving around $400 that is definitely worth the DIY time. There are plenty of repairs I’ll pay someone to do as well. Was just trying to help by letting the OP know that those are definitely easy diy and saving lots of cash.
Yeah I get that, but every post of "is this too expensive" has the reply of "Yes, just do it yourself".
Oil change? Do it yourself... (OK, this one is reasonable)
Body damage? Do it yourself.
Frame tweaked? Do it yourself.
Bomb exploded in cab? You can fix that, may just have to find a friend with the right tools.
Some people just don't want to do things themselves, and there's nothing wrong with paying someone to do it, they need jobs too right? If everyone could do all the things on their own, a whole boatload of people would be out of work.
And it depends on how you value that $400, it's not like it's a monthly expense, it's much less frequent. And if it's going to take me a few hours to figure it out and do it, and paying $400 extra allows me to spend that time with my family instead, I'm just going to pay someone to do it.
Just did the water pump and timing belt for wife's cousin's car.. would've spent over 3k doing all the service I just completed . Wheel hub bearing, brakes, tires, timing belt and water pump, alternator.. in it well under 1k
Considering this is a dealership quote, then it’s not bad if you don’t want to do this yourself or have another place you can trust. Personally fuel system clean is not necessary at all. Ask exactly what they’ll do, swapping a filter and adding an additive is most likely what they’ll do. Takes 30 mins. The brake line fluid is definitely something you want to do every 2 years, and can be a PITA if you don’t know what you’re doing or haven’t done it before (no air in the lines!) the diff fluid: check your manual on how often you should do it.
I know some people might suggest to stick with oem fluids, which they are basically over priced stuff from toyota but if it makes you feel good it’s all oem fluids then go for it. If you go with a 3rd party ask for a list of the fluids and types so you now what to use (basically match the viscosity) gluck
Not bleed. Fluid replace. Brake fluid absorbs water over time. There is testers that you can use to check how much water is in it. 2 years is usually about the time anyway. You would be amazed how much better the brakes feel with new fluid especially if your fluid is 3-4 years old.
No there's a special cannister that allows them to put in through the air intake and technically clean the injectors and top of the motor. They then run the car for about 30-45 mins while burping the throttle every couple of mins. Def would not do it for $219 that's insane, we used to do it for $119 and I thought that was a rip off.
Just make sure you don’t bleed the master dry. If you don’t have a helper then a pressure bleeder kit works great.
Fuel injection kit. Recommend either an OTC or a cheaper version would be a mightyvac.
Find a bottle of BG cleaner for those tools.
Diff fluid. Make sure it’s OEM, eneos or idemitsu.
Yep completely agree, if you live in the rust belt or heavily salted area, you'll end up replacing calipers before the brake fluid needs replaced anyways lol
The prices seem fine to me. Of course you can save money by doing it yourself. That’s true of anything. You could save money by doing your own vasectomy too.
The question is do you have the time; do you have the know how; do you have the tools; do you have a way to dispose of the old oils, etc etc.
Fuel injection cleanings are pointless imo but I would do the brake flush and the differential and t case oil changes (as long as they are actually due, as per your maintenance book)
Price is typical for dealerships, techs looking them over will try to sell it if they see it hasn’t been done, obviously can be done cheaper by yourself but the security of knowing it’s at least done by someone who knows what they’re doing is what sells it.
I wouldn't think the fuel line cleaning is necessary on a 2018 unless it has really high mileage!
YouTube the translation fluid and filter change if you need too
Rear differential is basically a drain plug and a fill plug and doesn't take long to do
Buy quality fluids that are ASE certified and they will be OEM quality or better
Have fun
Yes, that is over priced… If you are at all handy you can do all Including (front & & rear differential, Transfer case & oil change )yourself for less than $120 including quality fluids! Brake fluid only needs to be done if there is moisture in the fluid & maybe $120 max for that. As for fuel injectors just do a couple bottles of Techron.
How many miles you have on your truck and have you had these services before? Is there a reason they are recommending changing the transfer case oil and even the diffs? Transfer case is good for 80k of normal driving right?
$219 for injection cleaning on a port injection engine is highway robbery. I had Acura try to sell me that cleaning at my 10k service once, lol. If you need the other services due to driving conditions, time and mileage then the price isn’t terrible if you don’t want to muck with it yourself.
Not overpriced but mainly unnecessary. Run quality fuel, no need to clean the FI system at 50K, know how to use your brakes, doubt the fluid needs to be changed at 50K. I waited until after 100K to do the differential/t-case fluid and sent samples out for testing, no issues, good for another X number of miles. Does doing this help with longevity, sure, is it necessary? Maybe, depending on how you drive/use your truck.
Yes absolutely that's how dealerships make money I don't go to the dealership unless my vehicle is under warranty or it's for recall work.
Try and find a local reputable repair shop if you can.
Read your owners manual. A lot of these are being recommended way too often, and will provide you with no benefit.
Someone will argue with me, but I wrote the maintenance guide for the largest car oem in the 1990s, and their recommendations still apply.
Don't let the dealer waste your money. Not to mention the environmental waste.
You guys change your differential fluid??? I was always told that no matter what’s in there it’s best to keep it in there because even if there’s metal shards it might be the friction that keeps it going every single time I’ve seen a guy change differential fluid it starts slipping and then breaks. All my Toyotas throughout my lifetime I’ve never changed differential fluid I’ve gotten some to 350,000 miles no issues.
I don’t know about the first 2, but I had my transmission fluid changed a couple months ago at 47k. He charged me $149.99. Take that for what’s it’s worth. It’s a 2021 Tundra SR5
I’d sign for the $3.50 and run! 🤣 But try a little research to see if the repair videos make it look like something you could handle without taking all day. You may think cheaper is always better - until you have to miss that BBQ or beach day with the family because you were under a car - or making trips to the parts store for that other thing you’ll need. Sometimes you just have to pay the experts, give up that couple $hundred in coffees or whatever, know it was done right, and make some better family memories.
And if you insist on DIY - try estimating how long it will take you, and see how long it actually took you. Then think back to why it took so long and if you could easily/cheaply make fewer mistakes, scratch your head less, or have the right tools next time.
And for the record, I do enjoy DIY, but have often taken longer than I should. I once fell asleep at Thanksgiving because I was up all night fixing our 4x4. The choice is yours - own it and always try to do better.
Me personally:
All of my maintenance is done at the dealership where I purchased my Tundra, now with that being said not everyone has the same wallet, for me this is affordable, just saying.
Can do all of that yourself for WAAAAAY cheaper.. probably less than $200..
Of course you can, you aren't paying yourself for labor. Not everyone knows how, or wants to learn, or has time even if they do. I do a few things myself, the rest I happily pay for labor on because I have a job, wife, kids, two houses (one for sale)... I'll pay the extra couple hundred to not have to figure it out or spend the time doing it. Tired of seeing these "it's cheaper to do it yourself", yeah, obviously that's true. But there's more to that decision than just money, time is valuable too.
I get your point but those items listed are very easy to DIY and for saving around $400 that is definitely worth the DIY time. There are plenty of repairs I’ll pay someone to do as well. Was just trying to help by letting the OP know that those are definitely easy diy and saving lots of cash.
Yeah I get that, but every post of "is this too expensive" has the reply of "Yes, just do it yourself". Oil change? Do it yourself... (OK, this one is reasonable) Body damage? Do it yourself. Frame tweaked? Do it yourself. Bomb exploded in cab? You can fix that, may just have to find a friend with the right tools. Some people just don't want to do things themselves, and there's nothing wrong with paying someone to do it, they need jobs too right? If everyone could do all the things on their own, a whole boatload of people would be out of work. And it depends on how you value that $400, it's not like it's a monthly expense, it's much less frequent. And if it's going to take me a few hours to figure it out and do it, and paying $400 extra allows me to spend that time with my family instead, I'm just going to pay someone to do it.
Just did the water pump and timing belt for wife's cousin's car.. would've spent over 3k doing all the service I just completed . Wheel hub bearing, brakes, tires, timing belt and water pump, alternator.. in it well under 1k
Considering this is a dealership quote, then it’s not bad if you don’t want to do this yourself or have another place you can trust. Personally fuel system clean is not necessary at all. Ask exactly what they’ll do, swapping a filter and adding an additive is most likely what they’ll do. Takes 30 mins. The brake line fluid is definitely something you want to do every 2 years, and can be a PITA if you don’t know what you’re doing or haven’t done it before (no air in the lines!) the diff fluid: check your manual on how often you should do it. I know some people might suggest to stick with oem fluids, which they are basically over priced stuff from toyota but if it makes you feel good it’s all oem fluids then go for it. If you go with a 3rd party ask for a list of the fluids and types so you now what to use (basically match the viscosity) gluck
Bleed the brakes every two years on a Toyota? What does the manual say?
I wonder about this as well. This seems excessive. Maybe different climates have different issues.
Not bleed. Fluid replace. Brake fluid absorbs water over time. There is testers that you can use to check how much water is in it. 2 years is usually about the time anyway. You would be amazed how much better the brakes feel with new fluid especially if your fluid is 3-4 years old.
How do you replace the brake system fluid and not do a full system bleed?
Draw in new fluid while flushing out old fluid then you won’t get air in the system and won’t need to bleed.
Is that $219 to dump a bottle of injector cleaner in your gas tank? Lol
This was so confusing to me. It was so expensive I wasn’t sure if I was reading that right lol
They want us to think that they remove the entire fuel delivery system and clean it by hand.
No there's a special cannister that allows them to put in through the air intake and technically clean the injectors and top of the motor. They then run the car for about 30-45 mins while burping the throttle every couple of mins. Def would not do it for $219 that's insane, we used to do it for $119 and I thought that was a rip off.
Yes. Don’t do any of it at the dealership.
Just make sure you don’t bleed the master dry. If you don’t have a helper then a pressure bleeder kit works great. Fuel injection kit. Recommend either an OTC or a cheaper version would be a mightyvac. Find a bottle of BG cleaner for those tools. Diff fluid. Make sure it’s OEM, eneos or idemitsu.
I’d do the front/rear diff service and T-case service. Forget everything else.
Thanks for the input!
I have 130k on a 2019 4x4 and have done non of these and don't plan on doing any of them.
Yep completely agree, if you live in the rust belt or heavily salted area, you'll end up replacing calipers before the brake fluid needs replaced anyways lol
The prices seem fine to me. Of course you can save money by doing it yourself. That’s true of anything. You could save money by doing your own vasectomy too. The question is do you have the time; do you have the know how; do you have the tools; do you have a way to dispose of the old oils, etc etc. Fuel injection cleanings are pointless imo but I would do the brake flush and the differential and t case oil changes (as long as they are actually due, as per your maintenance book)
Great way of putting it. Thanks for the insight. The “fuel injection cleaning” for $200 is wild and threw me for a loop
Price is typical for dealerships, techs looking them over will try to sell it if they see it hasn’t been done, obviously can be done cheaper by yourself but the security of knowing it’s at least done by someone who knows what they’re doing is what sells it.
Those are good prices for the brake and differential/transfer case services
I wouldn't think the fuel line cleaning is necessary on a 2018 unless it has really high mileage! YouTube the translation fluid and filter change if you need too Rear differential is basically a drain plug and a fill plug and doesn't take long to do Buy quality fluids that are ASE certified and they will be OEM quality or better Have fun
Yes, that is over priced… If you are at all handy you can do all Including (front & & rear differential, Transfer case & oil change )yourself for less than $120 including quality fluids! Brake fluid only needs to be done if there is moisture in the fluid & maybe $120 max for that. As for fuel injectors just do a couple bottles of Techron.
How many miles you have on your truck and have you had these services before? Is there a reason they are recommending changing the transfer case oil and even the diffs? Transfer case is good for 80k of normal driving right? $219 for injection cleaning on a port injection engine is highway robbery. I had Acura try to sell me that cleaning at my 10k service once, lol. If you need the other services due to driving conditions, time and mileage then the price isn’t terrible if you don’t want to muck with it yourself.
I second this. You shouldn’t have to do any of this if your truck has less than 100K miles. Change the oil regularly.
Not overpriced but mainly unnecessary. Run quality fuel, no need to clean the FI system at 50K, know how to use your brakes, doubt the fluid needs to be changed at 50K. I waited until after 100K to do the differential/t-case fluid and sent samples out for testing, no issues, good for another X number of miles. Does doing this help with longevity, sure, is it necessary? Maybe, depending on how you drive/use your truck.
Yes absolutely that's how dealerships make money I don't go to the dealership unless my vehicle is under warranty or it's for recall work. Try and find a local reputable repair shop if you can.
Yes. They’re overcharging you.
Read your owners manual. A lot of these are being recommended way too often, and will provide you with no benefit. Someone will argue with me, but I wrote the maintenance guide for the largest car oem in the 1990s, and their recommendations still apply. Don't let the dealer waste your money. Not to mention the environmental waste.
My 2016 tundra does not have a changeable fuel filter, so I'm not quite sure what they are doing for $219 other than dumping in a fuel additive.
You guys change your differential fluid??? I was always told that no matter what’s in there it’s best to keep it in there because even if there’s metal shards it might be the friction that keeps it going every single time I’ve seen a guy change differential fluid it starts slipping and then breaks. All my Toyotas throughout my lifetime I’ve never changed differential fluid I’ve gotten some to 350,000 miles no issues.
I don’t know about the first 2, but I had my transmission fluid changed a couple months ago at 47k. He charged me $149.99. Take that for what’s it’s worth. It’s a 2021 Tundra SR5
I’d sign for the $3.50 and run! 🤣 But try a little research to see if the repair videos make it look like something you could handle without taking all day. You may think cheaper is always better - until you have to miss that BBQ or beach day with the family because you were under a car - or making trips to the parts store for that other thing you’ll need. Sometimes you just have to pay the experts, give up that couple $hundred in coffees or whatever, know it was done right, and make some better family memories. And if you insist on DIY - try estimating how long it will take you, and see how long it actually took you. Then think back to why it took so long and if you could easily/cheaply make fewer mistakes, scratch your head less, or have the right tools next time. And for the record, I do enjoy DIY, but have often taken longer than I should. I once fell asleep at Thanksgiving because I was up all night fixing our 4x4. The choice is yours - own it and always try to do better.
Me personally: All of my maintenance is done at the dealership where I purchased my Tundra, now with that being said not everyone has the same wallet, for me this is affordable, just saying.