On Thu, 26 Feb 2009 08:58:21 -0600, "Robert Swinney"
wrote:

Thanx to all repliers. The car is now in the hands of local, (capable ?) Pontiac, Buick, GMC
dealer's service department. Business must be way off there. Right off the bat the service advisor
tried to sell me some after-warranty "chemical" insurance when I explained the suspected injector
problem. I opted out of course.

Business IS way off, the New Car Sales side of the house at some
dealers has dropped 90% or more.

So the Service side of the house has been co-opted by the Gods Of
Profit to push many (usually of dubious utility) flushing services as
a form of prerventative maintenance. Radiator flushes, intake
cleaning, transmission flushes, final drive gears, oil system flushes,
power steering, brakes, air ducts in the Heater and Air
Conditioning...

You name a system, and they have a way to apply a vacuum cleaner to
your wallet to flush all the excess cash out of it.

Brake Bleeding $40 - Brake Flushing Service $129 for the same thing,
just done by an impressive looking machine that they wheel up to the
car and wave their hands while chanting "Ohwatta Foolheis."

Same thing for Power Streering, the most understressed system on a
car. Mine I have to actually worry about - but only because the truck
has a Hydrovac brake booster, and failure is not an appealing option.
A good way to judge the honesty level of a shop IMNSHO is to have a
frank talk with the mechanic and/or Service Writer, and tell them you
know these "Profit Center" services are all mostly worthless -
radiator backflushing is the only reasonable one because radiators
don't come apart for cleaning anymore.

If they "drank the Flushing Kool-Aid" and keep insisting they are
all totally needed and highly valuable services "And we're having a
Special on them this week!" you need to turn around and RUN.

They are putting earning an extra commission above integrity. What
else are they going to lie to you about?

-- Bruce --