I was looking at the owner's manual for my '06 Monte the other day, and I noticed that it doesn't give any recommended interval for changing the power steering fluid, brake fluid or the timing belt. Chevy says that the coolant doesn't need to be changed for 5 yrs or 150,000 miles, but that seems like a bit of a stretch to me.
Anybody have any suggestions about when to change/replace these items?

 

I can look up what Mitchell has to say about the other stuff.As for the anti freeze, i have never gone for that lifetime stuff. There are so many variables to any fluid. AF, I would look at around 80km/50mil. How do you drive the car? The intervals are going to be " normal " and " severe".

 

Mostly highway driving (at least 3/4), commuting back and forth to work. The coolant was changed recently at the dealer due to a leak; I'm just wondering how often to change it in the future.

 

I am about half way through copying them over. I am using a screen capture program so you can see the whole mitchell window. Gimme another day or 2.

 

Hey, wrenchead... what happened to you?
I've tried getting info from Chevrolet about suggested maintenance intervals on these things, but they weren't very helpful. They basically told me that it's something the dealer has to determine based on looking at the car.

 

I know this is a older thread, but it looks unanswered, so hope this helps:

-Power Steering Fluid: I change mine once every 100,000 miles...
-Coolant: Don't trust Dex-Crap, change every 30,000-50,000 miles max...
-Brake Fluid: I flush the brake fluid evertime I have to change the pads or rotors, which is usually between 40,000 and 70,000 miles depending on how you drive.
-Transmission Fluid: I changed once at 20,000, again at 50,000 miles, and then will do 50,000 mile intervals from now on...(this is using Dexron VI)...

Our cars do not have timing belts to worry about...they are cam in block (push rod) V6's, so they are chain driven...Most GM car are chain driven, even the over head cam engines...So just change you oil regularly (I recommend Synthetics all the way) and you should be good to go in the timing chain department!

Hope this helps a little...keep in mind, this is my opinion, and what I do for my car, and others in the family...So far it proved to be very good maintenance.

 

Just a bump so Mark can see it!

 

Thanks for the info, Michael.

With the coolant, did you leave the Dexcool in your system (changing it more frequently than recommended), or did you flush the whole system out and replace it with Prestone or other traditional coolant?

 

I have a warranty till 100K, so i'm still using Dex-cool, but i've been changing it every 25-30K....I plan on putting the Prestone All Make ALL Model coolant in it after my warranty expires at 100K....

 

Now with the Transmission fluid, would you rather do a full replacement, where you open up the casing and replace the seals and everything, or would you rather have a reverse flush done to it, where they take the fluids and push it backwards through the system so that you don't have to mess with the casing or anything?

My MC has 53,000 on it, and I'm thinking of having it done, but not sure which way is really the right way.. To have the reverse flush and the fluid replaced is $90.00, but to have it opened up and everything replaced (gasket, filter and fluids) will run about $200.00

I just want to know if one is better than the other, or if since mine isn't leaking, and things seem to be running well, if I should just go with the flush, or if this is one of those "you get what you paid for" deals.