I have an 08 Impala with 107,000 miles. It's been a good car and I plan on
keeping it several more years. I was thinking of having all hoses, coolant,
and thermostat replaced. All belts and filters, spark plugs. Flush brake fluid
with new. Check A/C.
I'm comfortable driving around town but I plan on several long distance trips
in the future. Peace of mind.
Any other items that might be a good idea to replace? O2 sensor maybe?

Grease, (if any fittings) engine oil and filter. Change transmission oil and filter. Tire condition and date of their manufacture.

I’d consider suspension components, maybe transmission fluid.

Id check the age of the tires/tread. Spare tire especially.

Id look at the recommended maintenance and take into account things that have been done.

Suspension components at 100,000 miles and 15 years would probably benefit from some refreshing thought.

Thank you. I'll add transmission fluid and filter.
When my Boss put his father into Hospice I bought it with 60,000 miles
on it. Everything is original.
Tires, brake pads and battery are all recently replaced.

Maybe a fuel filter if it hasn't been done.

Honestly, you've already gotten it's full life. Normal oil changes and a few drain an refill trans flushes and I'd leave it at that. The money spent to do PM on car that old is a crap shoot, it could be money well spent or wasted. I'd stick to normal stuff as stated earlier or whatever your trusted mechanic says. Then take the savings of not doing possibly needless PM and save for replacement vehicle.

If you absolutely love the vehicle,then do everything and more.

Check all the light bulbs.

Spark plug wires are up there in age.

Valve cover gaskets probably dry rotted and no longer gasketing like new.

New belts and hoses are good preventative maintenance at this age.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Skins2881:
Honestly, you've already gotten it's full life.

Not sure about that. I take good care of my cars and many cars these days can last 2-3 hundred k.
I plan to buy a two or three year old pickup
truck in a few years and keep the Impala as a daily driver so maybe the truck will last the rest of my life. Hopefully!
An infrequent repair bill is cheaper than replacing a car.

+1 on NOT having the transmission flushed. Did that once as preventive maintenance and had the transmission fail within months.

Most of my cars have had well over 150,000 miles and were running great before I got tired of them and bought something else.

If your car has no issues right now, I see no reason not to do everything you and others have mentioned to keep it going. Fix things as they come up, it's a lot cheaper than buying another vehicle.

My truck cost $54k and has 155,000 miles on it. If I had traded it at 100,000 miles, I'd be driving a $75k truck with 55,000 miles on it and have $40k less in my pocket. Really, since I spent $180 on a new hotside charge pipe at 122,000 miles, I only have an extra $39,820 in my pocket, but still feel pretty good about that.

Draining and refilling your transmission is not going to harm it one bit. Flushing it maybe a different story. If you replace your transmission's fluid at 150,000 miles and it blows up at 155,000 miles, it wasn't the new fluid that did it in. It was going to go anyway because you didn't change it more often.

My understanding of the issue with flushing is that many shops don't pull the pan, clean it, and replace the filter before doing the flush. Without doing those steps, what's in the pan pushed through the transmission. I don't know how true that is.

When you do a drain and refill, you are only replacing some of the fluid because the torque converter doesn't drain. For example, on my truck, half it's capacity can be drained. When I refill it, it'll be a 50/50 mix of new and old fluid. After driving it a bit, I'll do it again and wind up with a 75/25 mix of new and old fluid.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

Check Internet forums specific to the car. Usually common failure items will be easy to identify there. Inspect brake lines and jounce hoses for heavy rust and cracks in the rubber. Also any wearing fluid at the caliper.

As mentioned above about the transmission:

if it's been over 40,000 miles since you had the transmission serviced.... I'd leave it alone.... I went about 60 with my 08 ford van and two weeks after having it serviced it went out.. found out that this is normal.

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:

quote:

Originally posted by Gene Hillman:
Grease, (if any fittings) engine oil and filter. Change transmission oil and filter. Tire condition and date of their manufacture.

I have to disagree with Gene on this one. In my experience, I have learned it is a MISTAKE to service an automatic transmission. I could bore you with the stories I have about this subject. But, instead I'll just tell you this: I worked with a man who was a retired journeyman auto transmission rebuilder. One day I was telling him about my experiences, and I summed it up by saying, "Really, I'm tempted to believe it is a mistake to service an automatic transmission!" And, his reply was, "You are right. I tell people just drive it until the transmission starts giving you trouble, then have a rebuilt one installed."

He went into some detail about why it is a mistake, but it was over my head.

I’ve never heard that before! Don’t make sense to me. We all know what would happen if we didn’t change the engine oil and filter. Not saying you’re wrong. Just my feeble mind thinks getting rid of any moisture, contaminants, tired oil, and replacing plugged filter makes sense, to me. Some places will flush old fluid through the cooling lines. Best way to get old fluid out of the torque converter. But you still have to drop the pan to change the filter.
Don’t forget to flush out the radiator!

I wouldn't flush the transmission but I would R&R the fluid to get fresh fluid in there.

Definitely brake fluid and coolant as well.

I gave my mom my 2008 Camry I bought in 2012 and she still drives it. Barely has 110,000 miles on it.

I change all of my fluids and filters at the recommended intervals. This includes engine oil, transmission fluid, differential fluid, transfer case, coolant, brake system and power steering. Even my “sealed” Tundra transmission gets a drain and fill service at 80,000 intervals. I’ve never had a problem with that kind of transmission maintenance. My last Tundra had 500,000 miles on it when I sold it. Mechanically, it had another 500,000 miles in her. Roof rust and worn interior components motivated me to move on.

My Sierra has an Allison transmission. When I bought the truck it had 200,000 miles on it. The transmission service was way overdue. I drained and filled it three times until the fluid was cherry red. Changed the filters too. I’ve added another 25,000 problem free miles since as I drag our cargo trailer across the country moving to Tennessee. In my experience, drain and fill processes are the better method. People tell me they’ve had trouble with power flushes.

My current ride is a 2018 BMW 530i and I was told by an independent shop I trust that they won't service auto transmissions after 80k miles if they have not been serviced previously. By 80k miles it's better to leave it as is. I had mine totally flushed at 68k miles last summer. I'm 91k now and it runs like a new car.

If you offered me a free transmission flush from one of the third party companies that market those chemicals and equipment to dealers and independent shops I’d decline.

Too many times after were done we’d see that car come into the dealership with a shifting, a slipping or a no movement complaint. Sure those chemicals “work” but two things to keep in mind, solvents loosen up varnish that can cause valve bodies to stick and restrict or plug up passageways. And those chemical flushes normally do not address the filter inside of the trans pan. So the varnish, particles of clutch plates, plastic and metal particles from bushings and thrust washers can and do get dislodged and run back through the transmission.

Personally I drop the pan, clean it out, replace the filter and fill it with fresh fluid as per most manufacturers recommendations. If those flush services were so great the auto manufacturers would be all over it offering those to the dealers. In fact, GM has from time to time issued a TSB addressing the dealers selling these non factory approved services.

The TSB would state that these flushes and preventative services were not factory approved, would increase the vehicle’s cost of ownership and could possibly damage components due to the chemicals used,the procedure used to perform the service and the fluids packaged as part of the kit may or may not meet the specifications of the manufacturer. Hence, any potential damage to the vehicle would not be covered by the manufacturers warranty or any special policy that may be enacted.

In other words, your service writer sells you a trans flush at 40k, your trans fails at 42k, you thing your warranty goes to 50k, think again. The magic fix all you were sold now voids your warranty so it’s either out of your pocket or just maybe the flush company,”may” pay you some money towards a repair or replacement and it’s usually not enough to pay the whole tab, some money is going to come out of your pocket. I think the company the last dealership used for those flushes they paid $2500 towards a replacement, just about half the total price of the job.


The above experiences I cite come from years of dealership parts department experience and the advice of many people in the business that knew much more than I did. I never allowed one of those flushes to be done to my vehicles and advised family and friends to decline them too.

quote:

Originally posted by chongosuerte:
Id look at the recommended maintenance and take into account things that have been done.

This.

I wouldn't just go through and replace all the hoses, belts, filters, thermostats, fluids, sensors, etc. on a whim.

Every car has a maintenance schedule. It's usually available both in the manual as well as on the manufacturer's website. It consists of a chart showing the recommended replacement interval for all of the various maintenance items. (E.g. every 20k miles do X, every 50k miles do Y, every 100k miles do Z.)

Follow that.

If you've passed an interval for an item without doing having that maintenance done, or are approaching an interval for an item, then do it.

If you haven't hit the interval for that, don't.

I’m not anal about preventative maintenance, but I can’t just ignore things.

My Silverado truck has just over 129,000 miles.

Since about 80k I’ve done the spark plugs, dropped the tranny pan, fluid & filter. Both differentials have been done. I just got done changing the serpentine & 2 other belts. One of the small belts had a piece missing.

Some of these are almost a 1 time deal, meaning, during my ownership, likely never again. If one can DIY, costs are a fraction of the dealership.

Of course air filters are changed periodically. I also did the coolant earlier.

I just don’t see the sense in waiting until failure, Murphy may have that happen on a rainy November night.

Even things like spark plugs should come out once in a while. If doing it yourself after 80k miles, may as well put new ones in.

Give it a very thorough inspection from above and below the engine bay and at each corner of the car.

Look for anything that's wet, determine what kind of fluid it is and try to figure out where it's coming from. You may need to clean the engine bay and put a some miles on the car and inspect again. Check all rubber parts for cracks, cuts, deterioration, look at the wiring for signs of wear or rodent activity. Check the shocks for oil on the body indicating a bad seal inside the shock. Inspect all ball joints and lubricate if they have zerk fittings. Inspect the suspension bushings, I like to use a pry bar to put pressure on the bushing and look for excessive movement. Check the wheel bearings, lift the wheels off the ground and grab each one at 12 and 6 and give it a good push and pull, there should be no movement. Check the tires for even wear. If you have a sunroof, check the drains to make sure they are not clogged. Lubricate door hinges, locks, and the sunroof track. Inspect all the door and truck seals, I like to apply 303 to the seals.

How is the interior? How's the seat cushion, While it does not affect reliablility, how the car feels when you're sitting in it can make a huge difference in your satisfaction with the car. My 05 ram seat cover was ripped, the cushion was worn through and unsupportive, and the arm rest cover was torn up creating an unpleasant driving experience for an otherwise reliable vehicle. A new foam cushion, a new seat cover and and new armrest cover didn't cost much and the driving experience is much improved.

Last, I'd check the web for common issues. One of my vehicles has a known issue with the transmission electrical connector. It's a ten dollar part that can allow transmission fluid to wick up the wiring harness and get to the computer which then kills the computer. Not something I ever would have thought to change, but saw it the issue come up enough on the web that i thought it prudent to go ahead and replace it. There may be issues like this for your car as well.