After 30K ml, do I need brake fluid,fuel inj/throttle body clean?

[rookie_car]

My car is new, Toyota Corolla 2011 LE, which I purchased in March last year

I went to my dealer that always did free maintance/checkup & oil change, fluids, etc until my warranty expired after 30,000 miles. I considered going to independent, but decided to go to my usual dealer first to see how much he charges and what he comes up with. I requested 30k mile service. insp. They changed my oil, filters (oil and air), cabin for >$80. They charged for whole inspection + oil change $115 labor fee after 10% discount. While I was waiting the dealer came back to to me to push for these:

- change coolant - $60
- clean and adjust rear brakes - $63
- brake fluid flush $110
- fuel injector cleaning and throttle body clean - $220

When he asked me to agree to those, I stood there 1 minute waiting and thinking do I need this all? It looked to me suspicious especially since just this last summer (I went to visit every 5K miles) while it was under warranty they did not recommend anything. I told him I wouldn't want to do this all now and would come back next week but he insisted I do at least coolant now since its winter and need to have antifreezer fluid in good working condition. So I agreed to just one. The total labor cost me $270. I feel it was little excessive. Now my question is do I need to do any remaining? Should I do all or any of them at dealer or should I take to independent? I don't know what good independent shops are. I heard bad things about jiffy lube. And last time when I had old car and went to firestone to replace tires, they ripped me off. I never did car work, I do not know much about cars. Thats the problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

[SuperchargedMR2]

What does your manual say? The coolant is Toyota long life so I think you are okay for a while longer. I have 40k miles on my 2009 & when tested my coolant was fine. My brakes are fine but if you do a lot of city driving you could need new pads.

[Dave's]

JMHO, but no. I'm thinking the coolant's supposed to be good for 100K. Brake fluid flush at 30K? Unless something happened that's crazy too. Fuel injector and TB? Wouldn't think so. If you don't regularly use your parking brake then the rear brakes might need adjusting but I don't know much about the newer cars and I'm just an old shadetree guy so for what it's worth.

[rookie_car]

Originally Posted by Dave's

JMHO, but no. I'm thinking the coolant's supposed to be good for 100K. Brake fluid flush at 30K? Unless something happened that's crazy too. Fuel injector and TB? Wouldn't think so. If you don't regularly use your parking brake then the rear brakes might need adjusting but I don't know much about the newer cars and I'm just an old shadetree guy so for what it's worth.

my exact thought about modern coolant in modern car, do we still need to replace them every 2 years?
brake fluid flush - well I used my car for one year almost every weekend to drive from Northeast Iowa to Chicago suburbs, the northwest part of Illinois is very hilly and you have to make adjust speed/stop as you go through little towns, so that might put little strain in my brakes. As for parking break, I dont use it at all, I live in a flat terrain.

he recommended fluid flush to keep performance/milage like it was new, I did not use premium fuel until recently, most of the time I used regular but sometimes also 89, since in IA 89 was cheaper than 87 before I permanently moved to Chicago suburbs this summer.

[hardtopte72]

Coolant - No (maybe next year if you want). Hard liners recommend this every 50K. I say 60-80K is a better number. You can also do this yourself. With nothing more than some new coolant and a drain pan/bucket for the old coolant. If you do, use OEM Toyota pink or Zerex Asian coolant. Others like Peak global as well.

Brake fluid - same as above

Throttle body cleaning - yes, but you can do that yourself in less than 20 minutes, using store bought throttle cleaner, 4 tools, an old tooth brush using the DIY in the 9th gen forum.

Injector cleaning - yes, I recommended them very 30K and the actual Toyota cleaner works very well. You however can use a store bought cleaner like Chevron Techron concentrate, Gumout Regane (not other Gumouts), BG44K, or Amsoil in your tank every 10-15K or so.

Rear clean and adjust - yes, I recommend these every 10-15K. It will bring your pedal up and keep your brakes working as designed so you don't overwear your front brakes. You can do this yourself as well using the DIY in the 9th gen forum as its nearly identical. Intermediate skill is recommended for this as its easy to do wrong.

Hope this helps.

List of DIYs you can use.
DIY 2003-2008 Corolla, Matrix, Vibe Rear Brakes Clean and adjust with PICS!!!!
DIY 2005-2008 Corolla, Matrix, Pontiac Vibe DBW Throttle Body Cleaning with Pics

[Digital_Jedi]

Very well stated! Thanks for the links too

[joyridin']

Brake fluid flush = waste of money. It is a totally sealed system. If you never added any fluid, then the fluid in there should be absolutely fine unless you race the car and bring the fluid close to boiling. If you added fluid, you probably contaminated the system.

[Raymond_Tengen]

Great DIY. I didn't think it would be so simple to clean the throttle body!

[leakyseals]

Originally Posted by rookie_car

My car is new, Toyota Corolla 2011 LE, which I purchased in March last year

I went to my dealer that always did free maintance/checkup & oil change, fluids, etc until my warranty expired after 30,000 miles. I considered going to independent, but decided to go to my usual dealer first to see how much he charges and what he comes up with. I requested 30k mile service. insp. They changed my oil, filters (oil and air), cabin for >$80. They charged for whole inspection + oil change $115 labor fee after 10% discount. While I was waiting the dealer came back to to me to push for these:

- change coolant - $60
- clean and adjust rear brakes - $63
- brake fluid flush $110
- fuel injector cleaning and throttle body clean - $220

When he asked me to agree to those, I stood there 1 minute waiting and thinking do I need this all? It looked to me suspicious especially since just this last summer (I went to visit every 5K miles) while it was under warranty they did not recommend anything. I told him I wouldn't want to do this all now and would come back next week but he insisted I do at least coolant now since its winter and need to have antifreezer fluid in good working condition. So I agreed to just one. The total labor cost me $270. I feel it was little excessive. Now my question is do I need to do any remaining? Should I do all or any of them at dealer or should I take to independent? I don't know what good independent shops are. I heard bad things about jiffy lube. And last time when I had old car and went to firestone to replace tires, they ripped me off. I never did car work, I do not know much about cars. Thats the problem. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks.

• Coolant doesn't need to be replaced until 60-70k. I think the transmission should be changed by then too, no matter what they say about lifetime fluids.
• Brake adjustment? Nothing to adjust, just replace the pads when needed. Fronts should last 60-70k, rear close to 100k (depending on conditions like highway vs city, etc)
• Brake fluid flush can be done when the rear pads eventually go.
• Fuel injector cleaning can be done with a bottle of techron concentrate plus sold at Walmart and everywhere else. has the additive PEA to combat ethanol issues. One 10oz bottle in 1/2 tank of gas, run to almost empty. Do that just before every oil change and thats all you need forever.
• Throttle body could be cleaned every 30k. But its so easy you should learn to do it. Its robbery to charge for that.

[LeanBurn]

Just a thought, why does the throttle body need cleaning? I have over 160,000 km (100,000 miles) and mine is as clean as the day it was made..same with every vehicle I have ever owned, white glove test reveal not even dust.

...but then I use the stock filtering setup.

[leakyseals]

Originally Posted by LeanBurn

Just a thought, why does the throttle body need cleaning? I have over 160,000 km (100,000 miles) and mine is as clean as the day it was made..same with every vehicle I have ever owned, white glove test reveal not even dust.

...but then I use the stock filtering setup.

A breif explanation..At a glance from above a closed throttle body may look clean. Because for the most part the side you see is only exposed to clean filtered air. Whats behind the closed throttle plates is a different story. Mostly carbon buildup from the PCV system. When you first shut the car down PCV gasses back up into the intake manifold all the way to the closed throttle plates. Over time the edges of the throttle plate and the walls of the TB get covered in layers of this oily substance which can cause the plates to not make a good seal, not function correctly. Symptoms are rough idle, hesitation, etc. Because its happening almost every time you shut the car down, 30k is a reasonable cleaning interval. Next time your in there have a look behind the closed plates. No doubt something is there with that many miles.

[hardtopte72]

I disagree with brakes not needing to be adjusted.

Lack of adjustment leads to premature wear of front brakes (they end up doing more work) as well as a low pedal.

My OEM brakes have 110K on them and still have a good 40% left. Proper maintenance prolongs life.

Same thing with brake fluid. Race car conditions are the same as a few hard stops. Around every 2 years is a good time to do it.

[Dave's]

I think one needs to know if the rear brakes are drum or disk.

[joyridin']

Originally Posted by hardtopte72

I disagree with brakes not needing to be adjusted.

Lack of adjustment leads to premature wear of front brakes (they end up doing more work) as well as a low pedal.

My OEM brakes have 110K on them and still have a good 40% left. Proper maintenance prolongs life.

Same thing with brake fluid. Race car conditions are the same as a few hard stops. Around every 2 years is a good time to do it.

So, what exactly goes bad with brake fluid after a few hard stops?

[bigdadi]

Brake fluid tends to absorb moisture over time, so the efficiency deteriates. I use a turkey blaster to suck the old fluid out from the resevoir then refill with new one. Fluid color should be apple juice color, change it if the color is black.