Quote:
Originally Posted by kosmokratur
So I went to the dealer today. I was surprised when they said they would be willing to change any fluids I requested. Then they priced them out: ATF: $1196. Transfer case fluid: $457. Diff fluid (both): $896. Belt & tensioner: $782. 8 spark plugs: $729.
They found that the flex disk was bad and quoted $934. Cabin air filters are $275, engine air filters are $262. I decided to wait on all this stuff (except for the flex disk) until I actually hit 60K miles.
Does anyone have a sense of whether these are reasonable prices? He explained that the ATF costs about $100/liter (Pelican seems to have it in the factory bottle for $53 so I guess it might be $100 with dealer mark-up).
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I agree with your approach to maintenance, as I am of the same mindset. For example, I have a 2008 QX56 bought new, and have done complete fluid replacements at 40k and 60k miles (now have about 71k miles on it). At Nissan dealerships I have paid roughly $1k for flushes of two differentials, one transmission, one transfer case, PS, brakes, oil, and coolant.
When it comes to our BMWs, I maintain them in a similar fashion, just not at the dealership. I have a great independent shop in South FL that while not cheap, is still way cheaper than a dealer. When I do a similar fluid flush on any of my RWD BMWs, I usually spend in the neighborhood of $1k. So, close to the cost of the Infiniti but with fewer components that need fluids. Still, that is way cheaper than what you were quoted. At my last visit to BMW in Delray Beach, the shop rate was $285 per hour! My independent is about $100 per hour cheaper.
(BTW, I think the Delray shop manager was actually disappointed when he could find no leaks in my high mileage e91).
Regarding spark plugs, FCP Euro sells a plug & coil kit for most six cylinder BMW motors at around $250. In other words, $250 for six plugs and six coils, with a lifetime warranty. Last time I bought a single coil at BMW it was about $150. So, I do my own plug and coil swaps at around 60k miles for turbo motors, 100k miles for non-turbo. Takes about an hour, including putting tools away and washing my hands.
FCP has cabin and engine air filters for less than $50, so I do those myself for every car in December.