I've just scheduled an appointment with Sunnyvale Acura (in North Cali) for the usual thtree thousand oil change. Instead, they want to arrange a 15K service for me. I don't know if I really need the 15K Service for my 2005 TL. I thought the 2005 TL only need service if the MID lights comes up. Any advice and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading my posting. Have a nice day.

 

Apparently they are still using mileage as a service indicatior. If you're using the MID, inform the service advisor it's not time yet or have him show you some documentation for a 3G TL 15K service. Your owner's manual specifically details A/B 1-5 maintenance minders and to my knowledge, no mileage indicators.

 

Hey Zen ,

Just tell them what service you want them to perform.Of course they will

try to suck you into spending more money than necessary.

Don't let them do that to you.You are the customer.

Boartman

 

Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate your comments.

 

I use the 2nd Gen maintenance schedule to give me ideas on when to do maintenance along with the 3rd Gen users manual.

It's okay to mind your MID, but that is not the absolute guidance for you to take care of your car.

You have to remember you have an Acura not a Hyundai.

Find the best dealer around you and talk to them. Some of them are straight up and some are not.

Mileage should not be the issue unless the dealer is more than 75 miles away. The dealer I go to is 35 miles one way and it is the perfect stretch for me to warm the car up before I get it to the dealership.

Ultimately it is your responsibility to take care of that car!

 

My 06TL just hit about 13,200 and my B1 service is due NOW. I called the dealership here in Fresno, CA and they wanted to charge $199 for the B1 service which is basically and oil change and tire rotation plus a bunch of misc checks!! I don't know but that sounds way too expensive and unnecessary. Did you guys do your B1 service at the dealership or elsewhere and how much did it cost? Is there a problem doing tire rotation and balancing at other places because of our TPMS? I figure a balance and rotation at America's Tire Co is about $30 and an oil change at Goodyear is $20 for a total of $50 should be good enough.

Should I take my car to the Acura Dealer? Any input is appreciated since I need to take it in soon.

 

Although I am only at 12,800 miles, I will be due for the 15,000-mile service in a few months. I have heard [on this forum] that the 15,000-mile service is expensive.

...
I personally only like using the dealership to have my car serviced; no matter what the issue because they log it into my Acura book, along with their own book that they have given me. My dealer is very particular with the cars that they re-sell and take as trades. They basically tell you upfront that if you have your car serviced for everything with them, you are guaranteed a better trade-in offer when you decide to do so (since they will know from the time you bought the car that it was well taken care of). Craziness to some, but I don't mind; plus my dealership is less than 20-miles from my house and all expressway.

 

The cost of any serivice is not regulated by Acura hence the dealers can charge whatever they want for whatever service is needed. Case in point, when my B1 service came due at approx 15K, I brought my own oil and filter and was charged less than $50 for the rest. The one that would cost the most if they did it, would be the A2/B2 which includes replacing the cabin filter, which of course you can DIY to reduce the cost. And yea, $200 is way too much for a B1. A third party shop can do the same thing for an inexpensive rate and all you would need is a detailed work order showing it was done. Oh, one more thing I noticed in several posts, whenever a dealership uses mileage as a service indicator, it seems to cost more.

 

Just do ALL of the maintainence by the MID (including oil changes). You're making your life overly complicated by trying to reference what service goes with what mileage, etc.... the MID will handle all of that for you automatically. Having any service performed more frequently than the MID indicates is unecessary and a waste of time and money.

 

My car is coming up on 16K miles and my MID displayed "Need Service Soon - A1". Makes life so much easier.

 

This one works every time:
"You are more than welcome to perform any maitenance, however I only have enough money for an oil change." They drop the conversation right away.

 

http://www.acuraofbellevue.com/en_US..._6.chtml#newtl

some other helpful forum member posted this list which is a really good general list to go by. 15k is oil change, tire rotation, other really minor stuff. u don't need to transmission fluid changed (yet), although that wouldn't really be a bad idea.

 

Well I don't mind following the MID for my oil change and tire rotation. I do those like clockwork. What I'm more concerned about is the list of things they will "inspect" as part of the B1 service. Is that necessary? I always ask the tire guys to give me a rough estimate of my brake pads when I get my tires rotated anyway. I figured and oil change and tire rotation ought to take care of my B1. But if anyone thinks the other inspections are worthwhile then perhaps I will do it. Do you guys balance your tires regularly too?

 

I have to disagree with the list provided by Bellvue. It is based on mileage/time and should not include MY 04-Present. The 3G TL utilizes the infro from the MID to determine the service interval and not all the dealerships have done that. The owners manual even specifies that. That said, it is the individual's preference to have any servicing done be it via mileage, time or MID.