Dealer wants to do Rear Differential / Power steering?

Have 65k on my truck and the dealer wants to do a $250 service to my rear differential and a $99 service to my power steering.

This is the first vehicle I purchased new and I have never needed to have any of these services done to a vehicle before.

Basically just wondering if these are things that I need to have done at a certain mileage or if I even need them done unless I experience problems or what.

 

The rear end is so easy to do yourself. There are a few write ups around here. You can get it done for the cost of oil and crush washer. The power steering pump is up to you. I usually take a turkey baster and suck what I can out of the reservoir and add new fluid. Do this at every oil change or so and you should never really have to flush it out in my opinion.

 

Ditto on the Differential, really easy The power steering suggestion seems like a good idea as well.

Thinking DIY both $75ish, maybe - definitely under $100

 

you can do the rear diff yourself. I haven't done it on my Tundra yet because it is still pretty new but I used to do it on my Jeep. I could do the front and rear diff in about 30 minutes and it would cost me around $50 for the oil off of Amazon. All you need is the oil and a drain pain. Not sure where you add oil to the diff on the Tundra but on the Jeep it was on top of the pumpkin so I also had hand pump ($5 on Amazon) to put the new diff fluid in.

 

Seems steep for the diff. My dealer charged less than a $100 for both differentials.

 

like others said, changing differential oil is easy, you can do it yourself, changing the power steering fluid it's a bit more complicated I would recommend you to get it done at the dealer.

 

and yes, preventive maintenance is the key here, if you wait until things break you will be looking at much higher bill for sure.

 

what exactly is going to break in the power steering system if you don't change the fluid?

rear diff is cake. like turn in your man card if you pay someone else to do it cake.

 

I look at the power steering kind of like they look at changing the transmission fluid. If you wait till it’s disgusting to change it you might create some issues. If you do a partial fluid exchange on the regular I think you should have few issues.

 

I don’t think anything would break in the power steering just maybe wear out prematurely. Which is why I suggest just exchanging the reservoir fluid every so often. Literally takes less than five minutes.

 

not just steep but that is hwy robbery. I never replaced crush washers on my Tacomas over 6 changes and never had a leak

 

Power steering pumps ain't cheap, and yeah replacing the fluid on the reservoir will help some, but the dealer usually does a full flush of the system.

 

Yeah you are correct you probably don’t have to change the crush washers but it sucks when you do finally get a drip. I never replaced the washer on my drain plug on my wife’s car. This last time it now has a drip. Cheap insurance they don’t cost much buy a bag of them.

 

You talking oil or diff?

 

This^^^^^

 

Both. I’m just talking about oil leaks in general from not changing a crush washer. I change the crush washer on my diff because I’ve seen crush washers leak from not being replaced.

 

OP... your about 30k miles over due for the rear differential fluid change.

I dont even know how that is possible to have both done for $100. I did it myself and used Redline oil. 4 quarts at $20 each. Toyota oil is way more money.

 

Rural area and may not get as much business with higher prices? Also, synthetic oil changes with filter, wash, tire rotation and the rest of the service for $70. They keep getting my business even though I have to double check their work.