Rip-off or not?

[dbsanders]

Here's the story. My mother has a 2000 Camry, with 35,000 miles. Yes, 35,000. It does sit for 3-4 months at a time, as she travels frequently. She has had oil changes (maybe not enough of them, but every 5k-8k) and new tires and brakes, but no other work done.

Anyway, it started slowly leaking a red fluid. Transmission, brake, I don't know as I didn't look at it. She took it to the Toyota dealer in Costa Mesa, CA.

They apparently told her that since the car was 11 years old, and it should have a BUNCH of work done. New timing belt, other belts/hoses, new water pump, ALL the seals replaced (they didn't know which was leaking apparently). It was all sold to her as "preventative maintenance" that should be done before something else fails. Maybe $2,000 worth of work.

Wish she would have called me first, but she authorized the work to be done. Is all this work really a good idea? Is just the age of the car enough to warrant replacing things, even though there are only 35k miles on the engine?

[Brian R.]

It's hard to judge the need to replace some of the items, but I would be surprised if the timing belt and water pump needed to be replaced. The accesory belts are exposed and may have been aged (cracked) but the timing belt is not sitting under the same conditions and is much stronger. As a caveat, the leak might in some way have contaminated the timing belt and forced its replacement. The water pump is questionable unless the red fluid was coolant leaking from the water pump.

All in all, she paid for maintenance which is expected over the 11 years life, not counting the low mileage. The mileage may or may not mitigate the need for some of these items. I wouldn't assume she got hosed as long as the leak was fixed.

[Mike Gerber]

Just wanted to add some advice based on what you said.

"She has had oil changes (maybe not enough of them, but every 5k-8k)"

At 35,000 miles she is averaging about 3300 miles a year. 5,000 to 8,000 miles between oil changes is too far and too long of an internal. I would suggest an oil change at least once a year, if not once every 6 months. Both engines in this car (I4 or V6) have had sludge problems when the oil isn't chnged frequently enough. She just spent $2000 on maintenance; she should be spending $25 - $30 once or twice a year to maintain the most expensive part of the car. Talk to her about more frequent oil changes.

Mike