Anyone here do their own 15K & 30K scheduled maintenance?

I am fairly mechanically inclined and do minor repair work on my car,
referencing my service manual. I am getting tired shelling out $275+
for 15K and 30K scheduled maintenance intervals at the dealer, yet I
think they are important to keep my car in good shape (especially at
140K miles). In my area, there aren't too many reputable shops that do
the same for less. I would like to consider doing some of this on my
own. How many of you do these checks on your own? It seems like you
need to have the car on a lift to inspect the suspension etc. While the
service manual is helpfull, it would be nice to find a website of tips
and tricks to doing many of these tasks (what to look for when doing
inspections, etc). Thanks

 

You can, for all intents and purposes, skip the 15K service or do a few
things yourself. The 30K services are major--30K, 60K, 90K, 120K, etc.
Let someone else do those.

Everything's spelled out in the owner's manual.

 

might wanna do the plugs and air filter every 30k, depending. id do the
brake/clutch fluid, coolant every 30k/3 yrs as well.

 

The 15k service is not very hard, and certainly something I could do
myself. I still pay to have it done. I know that when I work on my car,
I am very motivated to not find anything wrong. Someone who stands to
gain from it is likely to point out to me anything they believe needs
work on the car. At that point I can say "Thank you" and do that work
myself.

 

Your owner's manual does not list 30k service packages or 15 k service
packages. It lists things to be done at those mileage intervals and that is
what should be done. Your Honda dealer does not go by the book when doing
mileage maintenance items. They do their own thing and charge you lots of
money for shit you don't need.

Just go down the list in your owner's manual and write down the things you
want. Then call them and get a price for just those things.

 

My car was dealer maintained for the first 3/4 of it's life and I've since
put a stop to it. So, it's been about 50,000km since the car has received
any preventative maintenance from the dealership. However, I've since
replace my air filter ($17.00) and got the guys, at the local performance
shop, to install new NGK platinum sparkplugs ($85.00). Also, I've extended
my oil change intervals to about every 20,000km. So, I've spent about $180
in the last 50,000km on maintenance and I'm still looking into ways of
reducing on the cost of driving. The car now has 230,000km and I can still
hit the 195km/hr speed limit with a passion.

BTW, Honda cars are very popular in Toronto and mechanic shops that
specialize in Honda's are a common occurrence.

For example:
For machining the rotor on the front brakes and replacing the pad, the
dealership wanted about $450. I got them to cancel the work and took it to
local mechanic who did it for $200 (using OEM pads).

Honda Dealership quoted me over $600 for a timing belt and water pump change
when I can get it done for $400 at one shop and know of another that'll do
it for $300.

Pars

 

Yes, and rest assured that the multitude of inspections listed in the
dealership package will be done as well to look for things that need fixing.
They just won't tell you they did the inspections unless they find something
they can make money off.

I've never had a car into the dealer for one of their ripoff packages. I
just look in the owner's manual maintenance schedule like halo2 guy says and
do what needs to be done, usually myself.

WW