liquidx

So I got an estimate for the 90k mile "major tuneup" and I think it came to 280ish. Then I asked about doing a few other things:

*Radiator Flush
*Tranny Flush
*Fuel filter
*belts

And it came to 550 in the end.

I've already done the Air Filter replacement. I assume I can probably do the Radiator Coolant Replacement myself too? Unless there is some weird thing I'm unaware of. How about the Tranny Fluid Replacement. Could I do that myself also? With just a jack or whatever...The Belts & Fuel Filter I assume I cannot do. And how about the Spark Plugs?

$280 Tune up includes the following:

*Air Cleaner Element - Replace (already done)
*Brake system - Inspect
*Crankcase - Change oil
*Cooling system - Change coolant
*Oil Filter - Replace (Not doing it now)
*Spark Plugs - Replace
*Tires - Rotate (uh, i can do it myself with jacks/blocks?)

So basically I'm just asking what things I can and cannot do myself(People who know it's a Do-It-Yourself job). 500ish seems pretty damn steep for that stuff.

Eh, after sorting through all of this, I feel like it comes down to this:

Things I can do:

Tranny flush
Coolant flush
Tire rotate

Things a certified shop can do:

Inspect brakes
Change crankcase oil ( whatever the hell that is )
Replace fuel filter(I got the 300zx[the last year that car was made[hope that's right]] one)
Replace belts
Replace Spark plugs

Alrighty, to anyone who can sort through all of that, I'd GREATLY appreciate your input! I'm pretty damn tired right now, so I hope that all makes good sense. If not, ask so I can clear it up.

nosispower

Change crankcase oil = oil change.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

This was not a dealer (I take it) - from the list of items.
At 90k I would recommend the following
To do:

1. Fuel Filter
2. Air Filter
3. Tranny drain/fill or flush
4. Radiator drain/full or flush
5. Rotate/Balance tires
6. Clean TB and IACV
7. PCV valve
8. Oil/filter change

To check and replace if needed:
1. Belts
2. Brakes
3. Wiper blades

Thats all that comes to mind right now.

Bobo

It would appear you are not the most mechanically inclined and there is a lot of stuff that should be done as well as several visual inspections.

You shouldn't be going to a stealership to do this. If you are not capable of doing it yourself, find a shop that can. I would get a transmission shop to do the tranny flush and a radiator shop to do the radiator flush and pressure test of the cooling system.

There must be places you can go to to get an oil change and tire rotation for peanuts, just bring your own Nissan filter.

If you could get a good buy on spark plugs, you could easily change yourself if you had the proper tools. You would save about 1/2 hour in labor. But the plugs might have been changed at 60K and if they are NGK platinum may still be good to go.

Do you have any mechanically inclined friends?

MJaeger

iTrader: (2)

Spark plugs are easy, I just did them tonight in my garage.
Everything except belts is easily done. Maybe belts too, but I havent had to look into it yet.
Check out the FAQ's at the top of the page.

Fr33way™

iTrader: (23)

With a little reading and searching you should be able to do everything (besides MAYBE the belts). I have never done major work on cars and I have successfully performed most of these tasks with this website and a girlfriend assistant. Once I shave the time off most of these and have them down I will more than likely try the belts. These routine maintenance items don't require too many tools and as you can see the tools will immeadiately pay for themselves. Best of luck.

liquidx

Thanks for all input guys!

It seems the more I read about these things, the more I am able to do(not as cumbersome as expected). So the only concern is getting a few tools. But, like you said fr33way, they'll def. pay for themselves.

Chickan

iTrader: (12)

buy the tools.


Spark plugs + belts are really easy. The only thing is you might want to have someone inspect your brakes, but most shops like mideas, firestone and what not will check them out for free.

Read the guides, do it yourself, have some satisfaction at job well done cheaply.

Intel

iTrader: (2)

Well belts I found to be the hardest on the list just becuase of the stupid mechanism and how it is laid out. So much easier on so many other cars. I would get the tranny and radiator flushed by someone just so you don't have to deal with the mess etc and do everything else. Fuel filter isn't hard just takes patience, belts is hard the first time just to figure out what needs to be loosened (took me a while to find the alt bolt to loosen it so I could move it slightly) But it is a great feeling when you are done and you know you didn't get completely ripped.

way2fast95

iTrader: (1)

Yeah I did the spark plugs this weekend and was actually amazed how easy it was. Then I tried to replace the belts... Ugh, it seems like there are no good write ups for this, I mean my chilton's manual has some diagrams, but they are just drawings and kinda hard to understand, same one you will find in the how to section of this site. Any how I was simply trying to loosen the bolt on the first pulley and realized I needed a hex wrench to do it, since my vise grips very just striping the bolt head, so I went to Sears and bought a nice set of hex wrenchs for 30 bucks, but when I got back the hour was late and the car was too hot to work on right away. So I have yet to do it. I recommend learning about how to do car maintainence yourself, it can be quite therapeudic.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

You don't need to use a hex wrench on the tensioner - just use a 12mm (or as it 14mm) socket over the tensioner bolt to loosen or tighten it.

way2fast95

iTrader: (1)

The tensioner bolt that is accessible from the top of the engine bay right? I did loosen that one all the down and the belt still wouldn't come off, it actually didn't seem to loosen the tension at all. My chilton's said the bolt through the pulley (accessible with the wheel off, but not by a sockey wrench) also needed to be loosened, so that was what I was using the hex wrench on.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

Yup thats the tensioner bolt. The bolt on the tensioner pulley is 14mm - you should be able to use a box-end wrench on it.. I just did it this past weekend... there were no hex-key type bolts that I needed to undo...

Here is a pic -> which bolt are you talking about?

http://www.greghome.com/images/Maxim...DriveBelts.jpg

The first belt - look at the picture on the top right, you just loosen the pulley and then completely loosen (anti-clockwise) the tensioner - that should give you enough slack to pull the old belt.

way2fast95

iTrader: (1)

You are correct sir!

I said hex wrench, but meant box-end, sorry for the confusion. I guess all I need is to loosen the tensioner pulley and I will have the first belt off. Now about the second belt, the power steering one, how did you get it off? It looks like from the diagram that there is a bolt behind the pump itself that needs to be loosened? I can see the bolts mentioned in the second diagram, that look hard to get to also, what tool did you use on them?

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

Yes - for the PS belt, I did loosen that pivot bolt on the back of the pump. You can get in there with a socket - I think the bolt is 14mm. I used a 3/8 drive socket. you can get to that bolt if you get under the car from the passenger side. Just compare the diagram with what you see under the car and you'll find it. For the two bolts on the clamp I used box wrenches also. I got one bolt from top - its tight in there and the other one from inside the window well. For the PS belt, to loosen the belt you actually need to tighten the lower bolt.

kormax97

wow that 280 dollar tune up is BS! lol.. anyways.. like everyone else said, most should be an easy task, few somewhat time consumming.. although i've had bad experiences with the belts so i never touch those.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

Im currently working on the 90k service too. When you clean the throttle body, couldn't you just unscrew the bracket that connects the intake to the throttle body. Motorvate recommends that you totally remove the airbox and all the hoses and whatnot. I think I could get my hand in there without taking all that stuff off the car. Also, is cleaning the IACV necessary? I know there is a post in the FAQ's or How To's on how to do it but Im not sure why it has to be done. In fact, I really don't know what the hell it is to be honest. I normally do scheduled maintenance on all my cars and I have never heard of cleaning this part.

Bobo

If your car idles at say 650 - 700 rpms and is constant at that level, then don't mess with the IACV. If it ain't broken, don't fix it! If you have poor throttle response, then perhaps your TB should be cleaned. I haven't done either but I've only got 58,700 mostly highway miles on my 95SE and it runs perfectly, so I'm not messing with it. I'm reluctant to even dump a bottle of Chevron Techron in it, let alone SeaFoam.

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

My idle is right about 650rpm or so. As far as the throttle body, I guess I just need a can of carb cleaner. I have never seen a can labeled "throttle body" cleaner. Im gonna try and just unclamp the part that attaches to the throttle body and move it to the side. I think I could probably clean it that way instead of removing the whole air box and all the hoses attached to it. I've seen people complain that their idle was messed up after they cleaned their TB. Could that even be related and is it something to worry about at all?
So far Ive done:
NGK plats
PCV valve
oem air filter
fuel filter
Still need a coolant flush/refill and the car doesn't need an oil change yet so Im about done. The car is about mint now except for the little issue of my tranny slowly dying due to bearing failure

Bobo

There is TB cleaner. Keep on looking. I've seen it at Canadian Tire where I'm from. The motorvate.ca write-up says to use "combustion chamber" cleaner. Interestingly enough the Haynes manual says not to clean the TB because of coatings applied to it.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

This is what I use: http://www.shipstore.com/ss/html/CRC/CRC05078.html
Available at PepBoys - save for the teflon coating inside our TBs. Carb cleaner is supposedly a little harsher - I've always used the one I show above and never had any problems with it.

Bobo

At what mileage did you start to use it (ie. clean the TB initially) and how frequently?

KCMaxima98

iTrader: (4)

Thanks for the info. I'll look for a TB/intake cleaner. Im not sure where a Pepboys is around here but oreilly's or autozone or someplace will have something Im sure.
Yeah, Ive heard that your not supposed to clean our TB for some reason. I looked at mine and you can clearly see buildup in there. (It has never been cleaned as far as I know) I would think that there would be alot of screwed up maximas out there if throttle body cleaning was that bad for the car.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

I got the car with 40k on it. I started doing my own maintenance once it hit 60k. I clean the TB every 20k or thereabouts. It take 20 mins from start to finish - including removing the intake. Typically, I do it every time I have the intake off, i.e. if I'm replacing the fuel filter, or cleaning out the IACV/MAF, etc.

Frank Fontaine

In all these replies, no mention of bleeding the brakes? I would recommend it.

I talked to a mechanic and he said not that common to bleed the clutch slave, if it bottoms out there will be a major hassle in restoring it.

I look for bang-for-buck--paying someone to power flush the coolant is well worth the $39 to $49 imho. There is no legit way to dispose of used coolant--what were you going to do, let it run down the driveway? The machine to do it is 3 grand, I know of nobody who has one.

njmodi

iTrader: (4)

Bleeding the brakes - good point. I do this whenever I replace the pads - so its usually often enough. Not sure if there is a recommended interval for this.

As for disposing the coolant, I just drop it off at a local car shop - they are glad to take it off my hands - typically for free. You can call your local city hall/public works - they have a list of places that accept oil/paint other hazardous stuff.

Bobo

Another thing not to overlook for those **** about changing fluids, is the power steering flush/turkey baster drain and fill periodically.