does it make a difference if i go to a cheaper place for the following things:

power radiator flush
transimission service
fuel injector cleaning
tune up

thanks for any help

 

Any qualified technician can handle these routine services. Independents usually charge less than the dealer. Perhaps you can find a former Nissan dealer technician who opened his own repair shop. That's a good man to know!

 

somebody just told me that except for the tuneup i would be fine getting the rest of teh stuff done at a cheaper place. he says they change spark plugs while doing teh tune up so i should go to nissan for that, is this true?

 

...pretty easily if you have a little aptitude. Maybe 20-30 minutes for the sparkplugs. Seems the ECU controls the timing constantly so that can't really be adjusted from what I can tell. You can easily change the filters yourself, even the oil. Maybe take it in to a shop (not dealer), and have the tranny and coolant flushed (I had my mechanic cut me a deal and did both for $75 including an oil change and tire rotation).

I don't know about the injector cleaning...they should be pretty well off using everyday high-octane detergent gasoline, or dump a bottle of injector cleaner in it every once and a while...unless you're having performance probs.

In fact, I haven't taken my car to the dealer for sevice since I've had it...except to nit-pick at the 36k mark...took it in and ran down everything that I thought I needed "fixed" under warranty.

just my 2 cents.

 

New spark plugs is part of the 60K maintenance procedure. That can be done by any qualified technician, or by the home mechanic. IMHO replacing spark plugs is an easy job. Go to the Sticky titled 4th Gen Maxima Maintenance Items and scroll down to the second post in that thread, Spark Plugs. You will find detailed instructions and pointers to Web sites with more information and instructive photographs.