Ok, so i just got back from honda, i was replacing my tranny fluid.

After they finished they came up with a paper and told me that i needed a brake flush, coolant flush, new AC Filter and a power steering flush.

They are charging me for this:
Brake Flush-98$
P.S. Flush-89$
Coolant Flush-109$
A/C Filter-99.97$

This items are listed on the "Need Immediate Attention". Do you guys think it really needs immediate attention or i can wait a couple of weeks?

Another thing, prices seem kinda high, i just got charged 81 dollars for the tranny fluid change and now about 400 dollars more... do you think if i do this things on a regular mechanic it will be much cheaper or do you think all of this things i can do it myself??

Thanks in advance.

 

Without knowning the year/make of your car I'd say that the A/C filter and Coolant flush you could do yourself fairly easily, the power steering and brakes might require a few extra tools (depending on what kind of car it is) but I'd say try the filter and coolant yourself first

 

Year? Model? Miles? I can't see your car from here...

Most of that stuff makes sense from general good maintenance of your car. How are you at doing that stuff yourself?

Brake flush: Brake fluid absorbs moisture from the air, & that makes it corrosive. Good idea to have fresh brake fluid every 2 years or so. Regardless of mileage. If you know how to bleed your brakes, you can do this.

PS flush: Fresh fluid is not specified 'officially' by Honda at any schedule. I like to change mine at maybe 80k or 100k miles.

Coolant flush: You can use a hydrometer to measure specific gravity of your anti-freeze, but that doesn't measure the anti-corrosion properties. That stuff gets used up in 2 or 3 years, and normal mortals don't have the chemistry labs to measure that. It's more than just pH.

A/C filter: Do you live in a dusty area? Does the ventilation system smell like your old sneakers? That filter is sorta easy to change. If your Accord is older than '98 it doesn't even have one. '98 - '02 you have to remove the glovebox to change it. '03+ it's a lot easier.

 

most of that stuff should be changed every 2 years expecially the brake fluid since it is hydroscopic. If you are mechanically inclined you can change your A/C filter yourself

is your car a 6th gen or 7th gen? Those prices sound about right but maybe you can talk them into a discount if they do it all at once?

 

my car is a 99 accord V6 with 140XXX miles on it...

I was searching and saw a post were they described how to change the AC filter, that seems pretty easy but then the other things.. well i dont know

 

Oh about the AC, i smelled it this morning when i turned on the AC and smelled a little bit weird... could be that i had no shoes on :P..

 

so THAT's where that horrible smell came from.....lol.......

 

LOL! Could be but if i noticed some weird smell and the honda dealer said i should change it i will... Those filters cost about 40 dollars dont they?

Another thing, can someone post a link how to drain the coolant, ill read it and if its easy ill try it, and no one replied if this things had to be done inmediatly or they could wait some time.

 

That's because we didn't know how old your car is or when that stuff was last done.

If the brake fluid or antifreeze is original, then it's 7 years old. Long overdue, but 7 years isn't much different than 7 years & 3 weeks. Does either the brake fluid or the antifreeze look like mud?

While the car's turned on, set the heater temperature control to full-hot. That's motorized, so turning the control after shutoff doesn't really work the valve. You don't want old antifreeze to hang out in the heater core.

There's a drain petcock at the bottom of the radiator, with a plastic wing-nut. I don't have a V-6 so I don't know whether there's also a drain in the engine block. Since it's been so long, you probably want to get a new thermostat too. Probably should do several fill/drains with distilled water so all the old stuff is gone. (It never all drains out.) When you fill it back up, make sure you get all the air pockets out. Again, I don't know whether the V-6 has an air-bleed-valve like my 4-cylinder.

 

Get some power steering fluid. Genuine, or at least it should say 'FOR HONDA'. Yes, it's different than normal cars...

Buy a turkey baster, & after using it, never put in in the kitchen drawer. Use it to suck steering fluid out from your reservoir. Fill it back up with new. Do this every week or so, eventually it'll get cleaner. If you want to search, I'm pretty sure I wrote up how you can drain & fill that system properly.