Wednesday, September 14, 2011

How do I know it's time to have the fluids flushed in my car?

I have a 2002 Honda Accord V6 with approximately 149,000 miles. I had my car in the shop today for an oil change. Mechanic just called and said he had some %26quot;recommendations.%26quot; He said it needed brake and transmission fluids flushed for $225 and the fanbelts replaced for $125. I already had the timing belt replaced at 100,000 miles so I already know that doesn't need to be done (that cost me over $400 from a different mechanic). Anyway, I have a friend that says he can do all of this for me. I worry that he might not do it right, but I don't want to offend him. Don't you need special equipment to flush the fluids? I'm no mechanic and neither is my friend, so I'm just wondering if it's possible. I mean you don't have to be a mechanic or have special equipment to change your oil... so I guess it's possible to do these other things too. Can someone let me know?How do I know it%26039;s time to have the fluids flushed in my car?
There are a couple of considerations - maybe the mechanic your seeing now is trying to make a $ out of you or maybe the mechanic you saw last didnt actually do the work - we have a mechanics business and I cant tell you how many times people have told us that something was done recently and it just wasnt done at all.



Brake fluid does need a specific tool to drain out and you need to know how to bleed the brakes after the refill or your brakes wont work properly



Transmission fluid - to be honest Im not sure (Im not a mechanic I work in the office) we top up transmission fluids but we dont replace it - we send transmission jobs to transmission specialists for a transmission service so Im sorry I cant really help you there.



As for your friend - if he knows what he is doing there shouldnt be a problem for him just make sure especially with the brake fluid that he knows how to bleed the brakes or dont let him do it.



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You dont need special equipment to change the fan belt but it must be put on correctly - does your users manual have a map of how the fan belt goes on? Each car is different we have spent a few hundred dollars just buying software that shows us how each one goes on each car (along with timing belts etc)



OH I had another thought also - if he is changing all these fluids he is on his way to doing a service so you should probably get him to change the air filter, the oil filter and the fuel filter while he is at it - also the radiator is really easy to flush and replace the water and coolant - if you have a friend who is willing to do all this for you it might be worth investing in a workshop manual for your car you can get these through most auto parts shops.