So my accord is about to reach 50,000 miles and I just got a letter form the dealership saying I should take it in for the "50,000 check up." Thisincludes an oil change, tire rotation, and 19 point inspection. They said its about $60. Do you guys think I should take it or are they just trying to get more money out of me?

 

Does that include the transmission fluid? When was your last matenance and what was involved?

 

Look at the maintenance schedule in the owner's manual. For each service, figure out when it was last done so you can see what's needed.

Replace brake fluid every 2 years.

 

Dealer told me the car had an oil change(thats the only thing i know)in Decemeber and I bought the car with 47,000 miles on it.

 

I have to ask why you would replace brake fluid? I have never in my27 years of car ownership"replaced" brake fluid in a car. All of my current cars have over 150K miles andtwo of them(my Ram and my Stealth R/T) I have owned since they were brand new. I rarely get rid of a vehicle with lest than 175K on it. I've not had any issues with "old brake fluid". Not ******* you out, I'm just very curuois about why it should be changed.

 

Contrary to common wisdom, brake systems are not fully sealed from the atmosphere. Brake fluid is hygroscopic--it absorbs water through moisture in the air. This turns to sludge at the calipers when mixed with the fine brake dust that gets past the caliper seals and if you get your fluid nice and hot, as in repeat braking, it will turn to vapor. All bad.

So, it's good auto hygiene to refresh the fluid at least every couple years and at least dilute the contaminated portion. For older cars with simple brake systems it's pretty easy to bleed the brakes and replace most of the brake fluid that way. It's a bit more complicated with antilocks. See your service manual.

If you've had your brakes replaced you've had your fluid changed.

 

Interesting. I do all my own work so nobody but me replaces my brakes. Just out of curiousity I called several brake shops in town and asked if they change the fluid when they do a "complete" brake job. All of them said no and asked "why do you think you need your brake fluid changed?". This included 2 top rated Honda dealerships.

I won't do it. In my opinion it's a waste of time and money, but that's just me. YMMV

 

change the brake fluid, no question. If you leave the fluid in forever it will probably work O.K., but you'll likely get ABS or possible MC problems down the road

 

Fluid is hygroscopic like pwr said. That makes it morecorrosive over time.

Generally the higher-boiling-point fluids like DOT-4 degrade with moisture more quickly than the DOT-3 fluids.