"Recommended" maintenance

I have a 2018 TRD Off Road Premium with 50,000 miles. I do not tow a boat or camper and don't do much 4WD or drive on dusty roads. Toyota dealership "recommends" the following at 50,000 miles, none of which are in the Toyota maintenance schedule in the owner's manual for my driving style: Transmission flush; transfer case, front and rear diff service. Total $1,500 ballpark. Also brake fluid flush/exchange (?). Is this all necessary? I wonder if because they have no inventory to sell they are making up revenue with service. I plan to keep the 4Runner for another 100-150K miles. This is my "exit ride." Any advice appreciated.

 

Kinda answered your own question.

Not in the maintenance schedule.

 

The diffs and transfer case are easy to do yourself if it was something you wanted to do.

 

Follow what Toyota says, no Joey Spaghetti's Toyota Nissan Dealership.

 

Agree. Find a really good mechanic that you trust and forget the dealership.

 

Wherever you get the work done - do flush / exchange your brake fluid. You will feel the difference. Brake fluid absorbs moisture from the atmosphere. That moisture turns to steam when your brakes get hot - and steam compresses.

 

Do they exist?

 

I know of a couple, one of which is 2 buildings down from where I work, which is quite handy.

 

You are fortunate. I follow a couple of YouTube Toyota mechanics and wish I had one of them locally.

 

My thoughts on it...

https://www.4runners.com/threads/ps...enance-vs-toyota-scheduled-maintenance.27918/

 

Good shops are out there. We all do lots of reading, research and questioning when we consider mods or just stuff. Do the same to find your future shop.
Also, 2Toys is spot on about brake fluid. 2 years tops. More often if you’re like me and tend to use the brakes more heavily.

 

This is a great question.

So I have a distant relative who is service manager at a major city dealership of a non-Toyota brand (Honda). I heard him say a few months ago that the lack of car sales volume and revenues - due to supply chain issues and lack of new vehicles - has to be made up somewhere. He said that service departments are under a lot of pressure right now to sell, sell, sell and make up for as much of that lost new car sales revenue as possible. Not to do anything dishonest, but when a "suggested" service can be pitched and sold, don't miss those opportunities. He has all kinds of incentives to his service writers right now who hit target sales volumes on service tickets. So, I guess you could say that it's like anything else. Money is tight and the pressure is on. Service departments needs to generate as much cash flow as they can, whenever they can, on any customer they can.

Just something to keep in mind - especially when inbound new car flow is really tight and dealership floors are basically empty all over.

Back to your question - follow the recommendation in the manual. It was written by the people who built your 4R. They know what it needs. Anything beyond that is "suggested" service, maybe designed to solve a cash-flow problem at a dealership and not necessarily benefit you or your 4R.

 

Thanks to the awesome youtube mechanics, sites like this one where people share information and some Facebook groups, now I do most maintenance on my 2019 4runner myself. I went as far as changing the timing belt and water pump in an old GX as well, this helped my confidence.

 

(1) follow Toyota recommendations, like everyone else said. (2) $1,500!!! This should probably be closer to $300. You are draining and replacing fiuids and inspecting/observing the systems. (3) you can barely change the oil and still get your 4R to 150k miles, but if you do the appropriate maintenance it will take you or the next owner much further.

 

Thanks guys! A follow up question. Would having all of these services done--dealership, mechanic or DIY--prolong the life of the 4Runner? And, thanks 2Toys, I will have the brake fluid replaced.

 

This guy seems to know what’s going on.

https://youtu.be/TevK-u3vkx4

 

Excellent video.