Every 15k miles my dealer wants to charge me $300 for 'maintance' what should I do?

[NissanLeafCamper]

https://www.alhambranissan.com/maintenance-menu.htm

I'm looking at the service maintenance for my 2013 Nissan Leaf S model and the scheduled maintenance is:

Every 7.5k miles means tire rotation & a few inspections. $20
Every 15k miles means tire rotation and a whole lot of inspections. $260

This goes steady until 125K miles which requires a: Replace Engine Coolant for $150
Then again at 200k miles.

Should I start dishing out the dough?

There is one bit I'm wondering about:

Inspect engine drive belts

Which engine drive belts are these in the Nissan Leaf??? I thought the leafy didn't have any belts? Other than seat belts of course.... :mrgreen:

For the big 260$ work
I drive 1200 a month so 15000÷1200=12.5 this is only a once a year-ish expense. Not bad.

For the small 20$ work
7500÷1200=6.25 so twice a year.

260+40= 300 usd yearly in maintenance for the leaf?

How does this compare to a gas car maintenance cost?

-edit-

For the fun of it I looked at the maintenance cost for an NV200 and compared it to a leaf. Counted all the maintenance times stuff up to 105k miles and I got:

105k miles worth of maintenance
nv200
13*50 650
4*200 800
2*80 160
1*230
1*350

$2190 Total or $300.34 Per year if you drive 1200 miles per month

105k miles worth of maintenance
leaf
7*20 140
7*230 1610

$1750 Total or $239.99 Per year if you drive 1200 miles per month


BTW: What is
Inspect EV Battery usage report
Is this the # that gets send to nissan to honor your battery replacement if it ever gets below 6 bars?

 

[smkettner]

Skip it until 150,000. Probably sell before then.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Maintenance not required on the leaf? What will this do to my warranty? Plus I am buying an extended warranty What will my skipping scheduled maintenance do? Will they still honor my warranty if I do that? Anything else bad about it? Won't the break pads need changing? What about the oils inside? Break oil and engine coolant oil? I don't know how to fix cars so I can't do it myself

 

[LeftieBiker]

I have had my Leaf for just about 3 years now. Every year I bring it in for the free (until now) battery inspection and NYS safety inspection. last year I spent $10 total. If my brake fluid passes the test strip test I'll maybe have the cabin filter replaced again. The key is to use the "light use" maintenance schedule, not the "severe use" one the dealer wants to use to soak you.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

So... if the "severe use" is $260 USD what is the price for the "light use' maintenance? Does the light use maintenance also check the battery percentage and send it to Nissan? If so... would that cover the yearly check up that is required to keep things valid?

 

[dhanson865]

it's a ripoff, and so is the extended warranty.

You can buy a used leaf for $6,000 right now if something goes wrong and start over. Even cheaper down the road when something may actually happen.

No reason to pay for anything other than windshield wipers, tires, cabin air filter.

No belts, no oil, no spark plugs.

Brake pads should be good for 300,000 miles or so. Maybe 200,000 if you ride the brakes all the time.

Pay a tire shop, not the dealer if you need tires.

Do the cabin air filter yourself or pay someone to do it for you if you just can't be bothered to do it. If you don't change it, the filter doesn't affect the car, it affects your nose and lungs.

Do the wipers yourself, buy any wipers you like from Amazon or a local shop, put them on yourself, not hard, no wrong choice that will stop the car from working.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Does this mean my leaf does not have engine belts?

"Inspect engine drive belts"

I honestly don't know... but it seemed odd to me. I recall my other vehicles having that awful screech from the belts and pulleys going off. IS this going to happen to the leaf ?

Wait a minute... is that the cause of the high pitch sound when the leaf accelerates?

Okay, sarcasm aside.. should I call my dealer and ask what the cost for light usage is? I just want to be sure I am using the right terms here...

 

[dhanson865]

Does this mean my leaf does not have engine belts?

"Inspect engine drive belts"

I honestly don't know... but it seemed odd to me. I recall my other vehicles having that awful screech from the belts and pulleys going off. IS this going to happen to the leaf ?

Wait a minute... is that the cause of the high pitch sound when the leaf accelerates?

Okay, sarcasm aside.. should I call my dealer and ask what the cost for light usage is? I just want to be sure I am using the right terms here...

you shouldn't give that dealer a penny. Don't go to them unless you need a warranty based repair that is free to you.

No you don't have engine drive belts. Only Gas cars have those, and even then only crappy old ones. All the new cars have electric pumps and electric AC and electric power steering so they don't need belts.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Okay, sarcasm aside.. should I call my dealer and ask what the cost for light usage is? I just want to be sure I am using the right terms here...

The schedules tell you when to do services, not the cost. Just look at the manual, and see what your car is actually due for now, at your mileage. In the case of brake fluid flushes you can test the fluid with a test strip (look for them on Ebay - two is enough) and decide if you need it. It's hard to void the warranty with a Leaf; not having the annual battery test done might void the pack warranty only...or it might not. You can also have work done by a third party shop - just keep the receipts and inform the dealer that it was done. Here is what, realistically, I can think of that you should have done annually:

* tire rotation (there is some argument over whether they should swap them front to rear or just side to side)

* Battery check (worthless, but Nissan requires this.)

The cabin filter might need to be changed annually, especially if you drive a lot of dusty miles, or it may not. Mine was half dirty after one year of light use. You can pay to have it done (I recommend Fram's "Fresh Breeze" filter, IIRC, because it has a thick layer of charcoal and doesn't smell like new plastic out of the box for very long) or do it yourself, or not have it done.

 

[EVforRobert]

I drive past multiple construction sites a day and in the first week of my lease I picked up a nail. America's Tire sold me certificates and under that contract they fixed the tire and will do all rotations no charge and fix all the other nails I pick up. They have a web site where you can reserve a time and I find that convenient. All I see is paying the 20,000 mile brake fluid change coming up.

The manual is your friend. Dealers can't help themselves and are so used to calling you in for spark plugs, oil and the like, you have to do the research yourself. It is not just the Nissan dealers trying to gouge us. When I had my Volt and it had to go in for a recall, my dealer insisted they needed to rebuild the fuel injection because I hadn't used the gas generator enough. The Volt maintains its own engine and fuel system automatically!

 

[aarond12]

The root problem is that dealerships make a majority of their money on maintenance. You think you get f---ed buying a car? Maintenance is 3 times worse. And the ignorance of dealerships (and, honestly, some owners) of electric vehicles makes it worse.

When I purchased my LEAF, I was offered an extended warranty plan that the finance person excitedly told me includes oil changes. When I told him the car doesn't use oil, he was rather surprised. Actually the right word was "disbelief".

My Mitsubishi i-MiEV was a better and worse situation, but also highlights the same problem. The salesperson was specially trained and designated to sell i-MiEVs. (Hooray!) The service person, however, had a home-made spreadsheet (complete with "Mitsubishi" misspelled!) outlining the necessary servicing -- to the tune of $400 a year. Yeah... no.

Dealerships are going to have to go through a drastic transformation over the coming years. EVs have little maintenance, so they will make less money. Self-driving/autonomous vehicles crash less, so they will make less money. Maybe they will think twice about repealing the outmoded dealership laws and go to direct sales like Tesla.

 

[KillaWhat]

Find another Dealer.
This one is not trustworthy.
Seriously
This is the kind of attitude that will get you screwed sooner or later.
Engine Belts.... Jeezze.
Oil filter next?

I have not paid a single $.

 

[LeftieBiker]

Find another Dealer.
This one is not trustworthy.
Seriously
This is the kind of attitude that will get you screwed sooner or later.
Engine Belts.... Jeezze.
Oil filter next?

I have not paid a single $.

The problem is that most dealerships are just like this. Even if the salespeople (or at least one or two of them) are EV-competent, the service staff will be, at best, a very mixed bag.

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

Hi guys,


Thanks for the replies. There is another maintenance listed that caught my attention

"Inspect reduction gear oil"

Which gear is this exactly? Is this part of the transmission? I just want to know... does the leaf use any oil at all?

I think the engine/battery does have some coolant right?

 

[LeftieBiker]

The front (and only) differential is where the single set of "transmission" gears is located. They are bathed in gear oil. The inverter, charger, and I think motor are cooled by liquid.

 

[XeonPony]

The front (and only) differential is where the single set of "transmission" gears is located. They are bathed in gear oil. The inverter, charger, and I think motor are cooled by liquid.

Correct, how ever it is transmission fluid, not gear oil (Yes, there is a difference!)

 

[NissanLeafCamper]

So then the nissan leaf does have transmission oil? And this oil needs to be changed?

 

[smkettner]

So then the nissan leaf does have transmission oil? And this oil needs to be changed?

This is the 150,000 service needed as implied in my first post. Just gears and lube. No clutches, no heat from torque converter, no combustion byproducts, or anything else. More like a differential where if you change oil at 100k you are overdoing it.

 

[LeftieBiker]

The front (and only) differential is where the single set of "transmission" gears is located. They are bathed in gear oil. The inverter, charger, and I think motor are cooled by liquid.

Correct, how ever it is transmission fluid, not gear oil (Yes, there is a difference!)

I'm aware of that. I'm a little surprised that they use ATF instead of gear oil in what is essentially a differential unit.

 

[gshoq]

The closest dealer to me said its minimum charge for service is some $50 "package" when I asked to do a battery check/reading at 15k miles. I pointed uot most of the services on said package do not apply to a BEV and they merely offered a discount.

At 30k miles, I again asked for battery check/reading and it was no charge with a different service adviser. I asked how much battery checks/readings cost after warranty expires and I recall it isn't over $100.

Other service items not related to the electric motor, batteries, and other charging-related components can probably be done by yourself or a trusted mechanic.