My 02 Runner just hit 60,000. About how much should the 60,000 maintance service cost. I have a trustworth mechanic, so should I go to him, or defintely do the dealeship. I also have a friend that is a mechanic at the Toyota dealership.

 

Depends on the dealer and what they try to scam you into. Most of the stuff is very basic; stuff that you could easily do with hand tools and a buddy who's knowledgable.

Figure to drop around $300 +/- $100. For that much $$ you could buy the tools, supplies, and some food for your Toyota tech buddy to come over and help. Then you would have the tools, knowledge, and a sense of accomplishment. How does that sound?

 

THREE HUNDRED! no way.... i bet you couldnt get out of a stealership after a 60k "tuneup" for less than $600-$800 if your lucky!

(never done it though, i just wrench on the stuff myself)

 

That was the price a local dealer was offering via a coupon in the mail a while back. Of course, there was a bunch of fine print, not to mention the other crap they try to convince you that you need once you are there.

Once all that other "stuff" is taken into consideration, you are right, it could very well get into the $600+ range.

 

fluff... key word when talking about services if fluff... a 60K on a 5VZ 4WD would cost you roughly 600 through a dealership. If ya have hook-ups, use them. About the only important things to do are change out your boxes (ft diff and t-case), rear diff, transmission, oil w/filter, coolant, spark plugs, clean and adjust your rear brake shoes, do a visual inspection of brakes, leaks (ie: w/pump), etc. I think that covers most everything.... So if ya have a buddy who is willing to do a side job then ya shouldn't be looking at anymore than 100-150 in parts tops... non-synthetic gear oil and even standard spark plugs aren't that expensive.

 

At my stealership it costs $389.95 for the 60K service. I need to have that done asap, I'm past due. That'll hurt!

 

I just did my 75k service myself Sunday night for about $75 including tools. I know I saved myself about $200-300 this way, and know that it's done right. That and I didn't have to waste time during the day to have someone else do the work.

 

I use Va Import on Horsepen for anything I don't want to do. They are great. Only use OEM parts, honest and cheaper than the dealer.
IF oyu have a friend/ mechanic that can do the work , then go for it.

A lot of the 60k service is easy (if you have the time, space and desire)--fluids, plugs, etc....

If my son wasn't coming in 6 days I would offer my help.

 

Thanks for the thought. Between my 8-year olds basketball, hockey and baseball practices taking up most of my weekends, plus me not being too mechanically inclined, I'm going to give Va. Import a call. I have had them do a couple of things for me and have always been very professional. --thanks and if you ever see a green 02 with a full yakima rack and the plates MTNS2HK, that's me -

 

I've found a local Good Year that has excellent service and actually has knowledgable wrenches in the shop. I use them exclusively for anything that I don't do myself and they've not let me down in 6 years.

My 2002 4x4 is at 59,670 so I dropped it off to them today to do most of the 60K service. They rotated and balanced my tires (free as I have life time with them), did an auto trans fluid flush which I helped them with which included dropping the transmission pan and cleaning the screen and magnets, front and rear diff fluid change, transfer case fluid change, and a coolant flush. I told them specifically to use all Mobil 1 synthetic fluids in everything which they did. They used the "orange" long life antifreeze that DOES NOT have silicates. The total for all the work was $466.20. I had to stop off at the local auto parts store on the way home to get two more quarts of Mobil 1 synthetic AT fluid as the shop only counted on it requiring 12 quarts for the flush which tacked on another $15 bringing the total to right at $482.

I've done these services all myself on previous Toyota trucks I've owned. What I learned is that it's worth it to pay to have it done. My garage doesn't smell like GL-5 for 2 weeks, the floor is not stained with red AT fluid, my back, forearms, and hands aren't sore, and I got a nice workout in at the gym while the work was being done. It took the shop right at 4 hours to do all the work which would have taken me all day. I also didn't have to make multiple trips to the local auto store to dump fluids all day like I've had to do in the past.

I'd much rather have spent that $482 on something more "fun" but $482 every 5-6 years to have all the fluids changed isn't really too bad. Now that everything is synthetic I'll likely go 90K before doing them again.

One thing you might do is ask if you can bring in your own fluids. After they did mine I asked about this and the shop manager told me that'd be fine. They were about $2 more a quart on the fluids than if I'd bought them myself.

For those that care:

The transmission fluid was dirty but could probably have gone another 30K or so judging by it's "dirtiness", however that doesn't take into account how much it was broken down chemically.

The tranny filter looked good and the magnets were also not too covered with shavings. The mechanic said it was MUCH better than the avg car he sees and that he saw no signs of impending tranny issues.

The rear diff and xfer case both looked good and probably could have gone without changing, but I wanted them all done at the same time.

The front diff was nasty and definitely needed changing.

The coolant was still "ok" temp wise but after being in the car 5 years I figured it was time to change it.

 

To each his own I guess. I think nearly $500 for all that work is a rip.

For the amount you could have saved doing it yourself you could have coated your garage floor (no more messy oil wipe-ups), paid a local kid via Craigslist to take the oil down for you, purchased a box of latex gloves, purchased a great pair of Mechanix gloves, a floor jack, stands, a creeper, an iPOD and sound system for the garage, and still got all that work done.

 

Labor was $176.50.

Based on what I've seen locally the fluids cost me about $80 more at the shop. Had I known I could bring my own in I could have even saved that, but alas I'll know for next time.

Considering it would have taken me my entire Saturday, plus numerous trips to the local auto store to dump fluids, it was worth it for me.

But like you say, to each their onw. There was a time when I enjoyed doing this sort of thing, but now my time is more valuable to me and I have other hobbies that I enjoy more.

I will say that if I had a buddy around that enjoyed tinkering I might have done it myself as then it wouldn't have been so monotonous, but most of the people I know don't even change their own oil anymore.

 

I hear ya. I feel the same way sometimes too - especially when it's like 110 degrees here in the garage. No thanks!

 

I thought my 60K service in December was expensive, but now I don't feel too bad. I have a local mechanic (Toyota dealership is 2 hours away) who does all my maintenance and it was around $300 for my service.

I don't know if they give us a break because we currently have five 4Runners and they've worked on ours since we got our first one. But now I'm glad I don't go to the dealership for my '01 Limited.