2015 with 4300 Miles...Follow the Service Schedule?
 

I purchased a 2015 series.blue two years ago with 1500 miles and have done the following service so far:

2017 Nothing because I bought it from a dealership who did the initial check and new oil change. Drove it for 1200 miles and stored it for the winter.

2018 - New battery, oil change, cabin air filter, and tire rotation.

Now the vehicle has 4300 miles and has never been driven in the winter or when it rains. My question is should I get the entire recommended service done for the 60 month/60k mile service? This includes:

oil change
tire rotation
replace air cleaner element
replace brake fluid
replace clutch fluid
replace rear differential gear oil
replace spark plugs

The car was built 05/14 so it's at the 60 month service interval, but it looks, smells, and drives like it's brand new. Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

I suggest you just follow the recommendations in the maintenance guide, especially the mileage part.



humfrz

You can do everything on your own. Unless you are afraid of being a man.
Or I get it, you don't have the tools. Well the amount of money you'll spend on dealership prices you can easily buy a nice tool kit and then some.

As for the schedule, 60 months is more like a suggestion. I would stick to 60k miles interval. Given you only have 4K on the clock I would just do the fluids.

I'd follow Mr. ac's suggestions. An oil change wouldn't hurt and is a piece of cake. Change hydraulic fluids (clutch and brake), rotating the tires wouldn't hurt either, but not a big deal. Do check the tires for age cracking. They're pushing 5 years and probably starting to harden a bit (and the Primacies are pretty damn hard to start with). Diff and tranny fluids, maybe Personally, I would probably let them slide. Ignore the spark plugs and air filter and go drive the car - preferably a lot.

I get an oil change each year, regardless of the miles, but I don't have the tools/equipment to change the hydraulic fluids or rotate the tires. My dealership is pretty reasonable price-wise for the basics and since it's usually only an annual service, I don't mind the increased price compared to me doing it myself.

The dealership should notify me if the tires are cracking correct?

Thanks.

cracking and hardening are very different. i won't keep tires older than 7 years from the date on the tire on any of my cars.

most people, including dealers don't check the tire dates. they check tread depth.

i used to not, until my family took a vacation with a dual-axle trailer, and ended up blowing out 6 tires on the trailer(dual spares), and 5 on the tow vehicle, all separate instances. all were over 7 years old and had no visible signs of cracking.


also, only 4300 miles?!? what's even the point of keeping it around? if i don't drive my car at least once a week, i start getting withdrawal!

I'd think so. Mine would. I have my car's oil changed at the dealership. They do a pretty comprehensive check of the car so they can upsell me more stuff that I may, or may not, need. It costs me about $20 more to have them do it than I could do it for, but at my age and in my condition, it's worth the money. (I'm an aging, lazy fart) I have a Fumoto valve (and a OEM A2L oil cooler along with rear subframe and diff inserts) in my "to do" parts box. My goal is to install them before I depart.

Since your car is rarely driven the recommended intervals probably don’t pertain to you as much. But fluids do have a shelf life. So I would definitely do it long before the mileage recommendation.
Also I would recommend once a week or at least twice a month to drive her fairly hard to get your oil and coolant fully up to operating temp, and do some hard braking to get brake fluid heated. This helps boil out any condensation water build up.

Most fluids have a recommended 5 year shelf life.
Spark plugs do not appear to have a shelf life.
Change your oil yearly, and the other things you listed I would change every 5 years. Spark plugs should be fine for 8-10years you’ll probably be able to tell if one starts going bad.

I have 3 cars and I only drive it on nice days, I try to drive it as much as possible, but it becomes difficult in the Northeast when it seems to rain a lot. I also store in from Mid November to Mid April, so it doesn't get driven at all then.

I'm ok with the low miles, because I know I will be enjoying it for years to come.

I don't mind paying a little extra for a once a year service.

I really try to drive far and get the speed above 55 for an extended period of time when I do take it for a spin. Haven't done the hard braking, so maybe I'll start to do that. I'll change the fluids this year and follow fluid changes based on the months owned.

Called the dealer today and the service guy was very upfront and honest. He said that most of those items do not need to be done and, in fact, they would refuse to do them even if I wanted them done. He said the clutch, brake, and rear diff fluid would look brand new when they flushed it. He said an oil change once a year is recommended and he would inspect the wheels and engine air filter to see if they needed to be replaced, but would not do any work that wasn't warranted.

Its very reassuring that I have a local service station that will not do unneeded service and/or repairs.