In reading thru my 2011 Prius IV service/maintenance manual I keep seeing this recommendation: "Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis and body." IS THIS FOR REAL? WHY? Thanks, John N.
Believe it or not, sometimes bolts and nuts work their way loose overtime. Vibrations can back out nuts and bolts.
Peter, I have a hard time believing it....SORRY. I drove a Chevy for 45 years and never had a chassis/body bolt come loose. Another pet peeve is the 'brake fluid change'; I know it's hydroscopic, but, trust me, I only changed my Chevy's brake fluid when it was about 34 years old because I had to rebuild a wheel cylinder so, what the heck, I changed the fluid at that point (and that was way before stainless steel brake lines were used). Hopefully someone will respond with an explanation that really adds up for this old cynic because I'm really thinking that the car companies are counting on a lot of simple-minded customers (me included) to believe what they're handing out to us....J
Does anyone REALLY believe that your dealership tightens your nuts and bolts on your chassis and body....????? I personally would guess that this particular service item has EVER been done but then I'm just an old guy and have no idea.
You won't find nuts and bolts loose by them falling off or even being 1/2 way backed out. Most of the time you won't even find a loose bolt. Loose bolts do happen and I've found them myself on a number of cars that I've worked on. A loose bolt could mean a bolt or but has worked its way out of specified torque range. What that translates to the average driver is... "My car is making an unusual rattle" , "My alignment is off" , "My car wanders" , "I hear annoying creaking" all could be a result of loose suspension or chassis components. Its all preventative maintenance just like the brake fluid flush. Do you really need it? Maybe not? Could you prevent something from happening by checking and validating? Absolutely. Can it help identify and resolve potential safety issues down the road? Absolutely. Its peace of mind. Just like you would take a multi vitamin. Or go see a doctor for a physical. Or see a dentist for a routine cleaning.
They don't build them like they used to. Sometimes this is a good thing......sometimes not. It usta be remarkable for a car to get 100K miles of service before a major repair. Now? It's mostly filters and fluids for the first buck and a half, and it's extremely rare for a car NOT to go for 100K miles before maintenance items start to become repair items. The "Tighten nuts and bolts on chassis and body." is probably a recommendation from Toyota's legal department and should really be read as: "Hey...we built the car as well as we could, but if one of the chassis bolts comes loose and turns you into an organ donor: Don't come crying to US! We told you to check them!!" Brakes maintenance requirements vary by vehicle, driver, and geography. I took my 06 Envoy into a local wrench to have the brakes worked on because after 125,000 miles I was hearing "the squeak" when I applied my brakes. I presumed that they were the wear chirpers that people generally ignore until they start rifling their rotors. I can and do work on brakes, but i was feeling too lazy to break out the jack stands, and I TRUST my local wrench. My bill??? $10.00 The sound was from FOD on the road that worked its way into the front caliper. He cleaned the brakes and said that I have over half of my OEM pads left, and the rotors were still true, and that the brake fluid was probably OK until I come back in in a couple of years. 128,000 miles. 7 years. Original brakes and Fluid. My MOTORCYCLE on the other hand (06 VRSCD) is on it's second brake fluid swap (about to be third) and I'm thinking that it's almost time for pads. Brembo Brakes. Less than 20,000 miles. 6 years. On the V-rod, when the brake fluid is the same color as my morning coffee? It's time to replace it and flush the system. It's YOUR vehicle, and so it's YOUR call. It's important to check things like pads and fluid, and now fasteners too, I guess... however (comma!) sometimes it's just as important to know when NOT to go wrenching around on your car! I've seen waaaaaaaaaaaay too many people breaking their cars through unnessasary maintenance. I've also seen people bring healthy cars to a mechanic only to be told that they "need" to have such and such done right away! This is why the owner's manual should be like a budget. No. Not a Washington budget. The other kind. It will give you a guideline based on average use. This can (not always will) help you seperate "want" from "need". A mechanic needing to make a boat payment does not meet my requirement for needing to do somethingto my car! YMMV!
Thanks guys, you brought a chuckle to this old face and a lot of good thoughts to go with it. Fortunately, I'm too old to drive like I used to so burning the brake fluid is a thing of the past. I do still enjoy the light maintenance and an occasional brake job. Been changing the oil in the Prius and will probably try the trans fluid this year (30,000+ already). But there's no way in hell I'll bring that baby into a dealership...one tried to charge my unsuspecting friend $90 to change his cabin air filter (and you wonder why we don't trust them). Well, thanks again for the fun and keep the shiny side up as they say. John N.
I really doubt it. I am at 58k and I have yet to have the nuts and bolts tightened, but I will probably round up the various torque specs from the shop manual and take care of this in the coming weeks. Considering that this is an item on the maintenance schedule, you would think that the service manual would give you a quick cheat-sheat of torque specs on all of the fasteners that need to be checked/tightened.
I think that the only reason for SERVICE / maintenance 'recommendations' is to get owners to fall prey to their service departments because that's where the real PROFIT is made (much more so than on sales). Outrageous prices on labor and parts for mostly unnecessary service and replacements. I do my own maintenance and I guarantee you that I'll NEVER tighten a nut or bolt on my chassis/body... If you don't hear from me again, I may have wrecked my car due to a catastrophic failure
I took both my Prii in for the steering wheel recall. The Stealership called back on BOTH of them to say the brake pads were <3 mm and needed to be replaced...along with the Rotors as well! $395 for my Prius and $411 for the wife's...although one estimate may have been without tax and the other with. I took my Prius to my mechanic later the same day for an oil change and had him examine the pads: nothing wrong with them at all. With my usage pattern, they probably have another 40-50,000 miles on them. I'll be getting the wife's oil changed next weekend and I'll have the pads checked as well.
If you were able to eavesdrop on the typical service I doubt very much they would do the mandated nut and bolt torque check. Even the Repair Manual has no comprehensive list of what to check, and the torque values. The frequency of compliance is likely neck-and-neck with the (US) maintenance requirement to check the driver's floor mat... That said, it's not a bad idea, at least once. Kind of like rechecking wheel lug nut torque a week or two after a wheel install. But, with no comprehensive list or instruction available, even if your heart was in it would be a monumental task just determining which bolts to check, and all their torque values. For comparison: Honda has a similar bolt check instruction in their maintenance schedule. They also call for brake fluid change every 3 years, regardless of mileage.
Possibly a legal cover. In the event that something goes wrong they may be able to say "well it says in the maintenance notes........"
