[ObNOXious]

What level of service do you feel the Ecotec 2.4L requires UNDER NORMAL DRIVING conditions?

Please provide your opinion for the Mileage and/or Time and COST ($) that you use as a guideline to maintain these items for your Ecotec 2.4L:

Oil/Filter?
Transmission Oil change?
Brake Fluid replacement?
Coolant replacement?
Power Steering Fluid?
Air Filter?
Cabin Filter?

This was the schedule I would use on my Honda products and a rough estimate of what it would cost:
Oil/Filter? 5,000 miles / $25 USD
Transmission Oil change? 15,000 miles / $50 USD
Brake Fluid replacement? 3 years or 45,000 miles / $50 USD
Coolant replacement? 3 years or 45,000 miles / $50 USD
Power Steering Fluid? 3 years or 45,000 miles / $50 USD
Air Filter? 15,000 miles / $30 USD
Cabin Filter? 1 year / $30 USD

 

[RIT333]

Sounds like an Engineer doing a life-cycle analysis before making a purchase decision !

You can get an owners manual on-line by searching this forum for all of the time estimates, and i would estimate that the costs should be about the same versus your Honda estimates.

Just buy the GM - it is a better product !!!

BTW, the smile that you'll get driving the GM Product is Priceless.

 

[ObNOXious]

Sounds like an Engineer doing a life-cycle analysis before making a purchase decision !

You can get an owners manual on-line by searching this forum for all of the time estimates, and i would estimate that the costs should be about the same versus your Honda estimates.

Just buy the GM - it is a better product !!!

BTW, the smile that you'll get driving the GM Product is Priceless.

Already bought before checking into the maintenance. (See my sig.)

Just want to make sure I take care of it well. I don't trust the owners manual, they tend to go to long, don't trust the dealer, they want some money every month, so I was looking for normal Chevy standards for maintenance. If you were to buy a Honda I would stress to NEVER forget the transmission fluid, as Honda has some of the worst transmissions.

So far the NOX is very nice, except I can't find a good place to mount the portable navigation.

 

[GARYD]

The manual schedule sounds fine to me....maybe a little longer on the engine oil change.

What size and brand gps do you have? Does it have voice guidence?

I had an old Garmin Quest with a car mount bracket and a power cord that pluged into the cigarette lighter and had a voice box on it.

 

[KANWAR]

Follow the manual. Think about it, why would a company purposely put off regular services? This would incur numerous warranty related issues, and cost the company (that just got out of bankruptcy) a **** load of money they don't have. If you want to feel safer go ahead and decrease the intervals yourself, but a lot of testing goes into the times alloted for service. Trust me, a manufacturer would prefer you get scheduled maitanence more often than not.

 

[Dave25]

Follow the manual. Think about it, why would a company purposely put off regular services? This would incur numerous warranty related issues, and cost the company (that just got out of bankruptcy) a **** load of money they don't have. If you want to feel safer go ahead and decrease the intervals yourself, but a lot of testing goes into the times alloted for service. Trust me, a manufacturer would prefer you get scheduled maitanence more often than not.

you mean they want fluids to be changed ($30-$150) rather than parts changed ($200+)? They give intervals based on the maximum amount of miles you should go ( of course considering that people wont follow it exactly) before major issues. not changing oil or PS or PB fluids often enough probably wont cause an issue until AFTER the warranty is up.

Heres how I personally do my maintenance:
Oil/Filter? 3,000 miles (Dino oil), 4,500 miles (synthetic)
Transmission Oil change? 30,000 miles
Brake Fluid replacement? 30,000 miles
Coolant replacement? 60,000 miles (you can go 100k but youll see it run cooler if you change at 60)
Power Steering Fluid? 60,000 miles
Air Filter? 30,000 miles (I have a k&n which I recharge more often)
Cabin Filter? 30,000 miles

 

[KANWAR]

you mean they want fluids to be changed ($30-$150) rather than parts changed ($200+)? They give intervals based on the maximum amount of miles you should go ( of course considering that people wont follow it exactly) before major issues. not changing oil or PS or PB fluids often enough probably wont cause an issue until AFTER the warranty is up.

Heres how I personally do my maintenance:
Oil/Filter? 3,000 miles (Dino oil), 4,500 miles (synthetic)
Transmission Oil change? 30,000 miles
Brake Fluid replacement? 30,000 miles
Coolant replacement? 60,000 miles (you can go 100k but youll see it run cooler if you change at 60)
Power Steering Fluid? 60,000 miles
Air Filter? 30,000 miles (I have a k&n which I recharge more often)
Cabin Filter? 30,000 miles

Trust me, if their intervals for fluid changes were 'too' long, there would be issues before the warranty is up. Basically what I am saying is that you can trust what they've given you for intervals. I have always changed mine ahead of any interval that Manufacturer has given me anyways. The fresher the fluid the better I say. I agree with another comment that was made on this thread, I've noticed all my vehicles run better after a fresh oil change. I used to work at a GM dealership when I was 16, and I was doing oil changes every 3000 kms, because oil was cheap and I had the use of the shop.

 

[RNOX]

No power steering fluid with the 4 cyl. It's electric not hydrolic.

 

[Dave25]

Trust me, if their intervals for fluid changes were 'too' long, there would be issues before the warranty is up. Basically what I am saying is that you can trust what they've given you for intervals. I have always changed mine ahead of any interval that Manufacturer has given me anyways. The fresher the fluid the better I say. I agree with another comment that was made on this thread, I've noticed all my vehicles run better after a fresh oil change. I used to work at a GM dealership when I was 16, and I was doing oil changes every 3000 kms, because oil was cheap and I had the use of the shop.

I agree with everything you say. I guess Im just old school and I believe in oil changes every 3k miles. I was shocked when my wifes 08 mini didnt call for an oil change until it had 12k miles. We kept calling the dealership and they said thats normal and to wait for the car to make the oil change appointment.

No power steering fluid with the 4 cyl. It's electric not hydrolic.

oops. forgot. I need to get used to all of this "new" technology.

 

[ObNOXious]

Follow the manual. Think about it, why would a company purposely put off regular services? This would incur numerous warranty related issues, and cost the company (that just got out of bankruptcy) a **** load of money they don't have. If you want to feel safer go ahead and decrease the intervals yourself, but a lot of testing goes into the times allotted for service. Trust me, a manufacturer would prefer you get scheduled maintenance more often than not.

Actually I believe the manufacture has a vested interest in keep the intervals long. The longer the intervals the more environmentally friendly the car is. And the EPA buys and sells credits on how much waste the company produces. I am not sure how this works but I know it happens a lot with large companies. So they have a HUGE interest to make products that use less fuel, oils, etc.

That is why the dealer service and the manufacture don't agree. It's all politics and it has little to do with field testing. And like a few others said, just changing the oil and filters will get most cars past the warranty period. It's what happens from 100K onward that matters to me.

If you want an real life example here is one I remember well. I had a car that has 100K spark plugs. But after 100K they are fused to the cylinders and had to be drilled out at a hefty expense. So yep they worked until 100k, but the cost to removed the fused spark plugs was expensive. I wish I had just spend the $50 to replace them at 50K miles.

 

[GARYD]

Or you could've just put anti-sieze on the plugs threads and all would have been fine. ;D

Did that with my Harleys plugs and never had a problem.

 

[Dave25]

Or you could've just put anti-sieze on the plugs threads and all would have been fine. ;D

Did that with my Harleys plugs and never had a problem.

im pretty sure hes talking about the original factory plugs. I wouldnt remove factory plugs and use anti-seize.

 

[RIT333]

I wouldnt remove factory plugs and use anti-seize.

Why not ? Beats having to remove a head to helicoil the plug holes at 100K miles...

 

[Dave25]

The cost is minimal that if Im going to remove the factory plugs I am going to replace them. Its more worth it to do it at 50k miles.

It might not be that big a deal on this car, but removing the spark plugs on FWD v6 or my 01 Camaro (where 1/2 the motor is under the cowl) is a pain if you are just putting anti-seize. Theres nothing wrong with doing maintenance earlier than required.

 

[ObNOXious]

Dave25 you are correct I was talking about the factory plugs. It's about knowing what makes practical sense for maintenance items. I think we are close on our maintenance items. I happen to change the air filter and cabin filter more often because I live in SoCal and it gets dirty very quickly due to the poor air quality. When we have the brush fires and the air is full of ash I need to change it after the fires are over as they are full of soot.

And I would hope the factory uses some type of anti-seize on the plugs. But you never know; 25 cents per engine adds up.

 

[Guest]

So far the NOX is very nice, except I can't find a good place to mount the portable navigation.

ObNOXious

See this link on where to put that portable nav, mine has been holding up just fine.
http://www.equinoxforum.net/index.php?topic=1681.0