Maintenance Costs

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aarond12

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 25, 2013
Messages
388
Location
Dallas, TX
After receiving a letter reminding me to come in soon for service, I sent an email to the service manager asking why I'm getting this reminder so soon. (I got my i-MiEV in January.) He responded with the service schedule (complete with typos): Seems kinda high...

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I've got a sneaking hunch this is something he dreamed up to get some $$$ from those he sold the cars to, and this is nothing recommended by Mitsubishi

Why? If it was something 'official' from Mitsu, they would have correctly labeled it as iMiEV and not IMeiv :lol:

It appears he's charging you $111 per hour for labor and the majority of that is a one hour check of the battery capacity every 15,000 miles - Just a CHECK, mind you. The battery capacity is what it is and I'm not $111 curious, myself

I think we can pretty much guarantee your brake shoes and pads are just fine after 7500 miles . . . . they'll probably still be fine after 10 years and 107,500 miles as well

Don
 
I was just rather shocked (no pun intended) about the prices. I wish I made $111 per hour. :lol:

You missed that "Maintenance" was misspelled in the header also. There are some basic Excel computation errors in the spreadsheet too. That leads me to believe this IS something he just made up.

Honestly, I do NOT intend to follow the dealership's maintenance schedule. Maybe have them check the battery once a year, but the rest of the maintenance I can do and intend on doing.

There should be no significant problems with the "transmission fluid" -- it's a reduction gear, not a shifting mechanism as standard transmissions are. Check the fluid levels and make sure the fluid isn't too old to protect the mechanisms.

You're absolutely right about the brakes. I have gotten better with driving the i-MiEV in "B" mode and can "feel" the brake pedal when it's in "high regeneration" versus "brakes are engaged" modes. If I keep this car after its 2-year lease, I would be surprised if the brakes are worn at all.
 
aarond12 said:
.....You're absolutely right about the brakes. I have gotten better with driving the i-MiEV in "B" mode and can "feel" the brake pedal when it's in "high regeneration" versus "brakes are engaged" modes. If I keep this car after its 2-year lease, I would be surprised if the brakes are worn at all.

I got over 60,000 miles on the front brake pads on my 2001 Subaru Forester and the same on my 2004 Toyota (more on the rear) with no regenerative braking, of course, to take part of the braking load. Unless you're driving really crazy I'd not be at all surprises if 100,000 miles on brake pads on an MiEV (or for that matter a Leaf) will be common.

In short, I'm with the consensus so far here that this guy either doesn't know what he's talking about, or blowing smoke, or both.

Alex
 
I traded in my Mazda 3 at 75,000 miles to get the i-MiEV. It still had its original front brake pads. Being an automatic, the Mazda didn't benefit from me downshifting like I would in a manual transmission car. The rear brake pads, however, had to be replaced around the 50,000 mile mark. It was a much softer composition pad that many Mazda 3 owners noticed leaving a lot of brake dust on the wheels and wearing out quickly.

I have noticed a small amount of brake dust on the wheel covers of my i-MiEV. It's pretty minimal, but something I will be monitoring in case Mitsubishi is using really soft brake pads like the rears of my Mazda.

Blowing smoke? Maybe. Making serious money for his dealership? Absolutely. :lol:
 
Maintenance schedule for my Euro-clone:

Each 20.000 km (12.500 mi) / 1 year:

Main:
Only checks (lights, horn, brakes, tires, down the vehicle... that kind of)
Computer diagnosis
Test.

------------

Complementary:
- Oil change (transmission): each 100.000 km (62.000 mi) or 5 years
- Cabin filter: 20.000 km / 1 year
- brake fluid: 40.000 km / 2 y.
- Check high voltage cables: 40.000 km / 2 y.
- Change liquid coolant: 20 years! (?)
- Check main battery capacity: first time at 12 months, after that each 2 years.
 
aarond, thanks for posting but in a way I'm somewhat sorry you did because it might be a turn-off to someone interested in EVs when casually glancing at that list. Gee, they left off checking the tires for treadwear and tire pressure and what about checking all the visible fluid levels. :?: :roll:

With the exception of the traction battery capacity test, the trivial routine maintenance items identified are ones each of us should routinely be performing ourselves, anyway. Hydraulic leaks usually manifest themselves as loss of fluid, and I fully expect my brakes to last at least ten years but I do anticipate flushing the brake fluid in a couple of years and I seem to recall reading somewhere that the coolant fluid should be changed after 20 years. Although I'm curious, I'm certainly not going to pay an hour's worth of labor to test the traction battery pack unless there are some warning symptoms.

That's about it and I will continue to refer to my iMiEV as truly maintenance-free.
 
It seems that no one has mentioned the Warranty and Maintenance Manual provided at delivery of the vehicle. Look at page 18 and it lays out what needs to be done at the one year/15,000 mile mark. Plus there is the insert provided on doing full charge from two bars or less at least once during the first year. That seems to be the prudent steps to follow.
 
BillThompsonMIEV said:
It seems that no one has mentioned the Warranty and Maintenance Manual provided at delivery of the vehicle. Look at page 18 and it lays out what needs to be done at the one year/15,000 mile mark. Plus there is the insert provided on doing full charge from two bars or less at least once during the first year. That seems to be the prudent steps to follow.
Dang, Bill, thanks for pointing this out as all I kept in the glove compartment was the Owner's Manual and had put this booklet away with all the purchase papers and completely forgot about it. I'm just approaching 15Kmiles and, since the weather is now in the 80's (~27degC) I'll jack up the car and do their trivial 4-step inspection + air filter change. I'll be surprised if it takes more than 15 minutes, although I do plan on pulling all four wheels and maybe removing that front-wheel hub enlarger to see if my Insight spare fits there. They list a battery capacity check, but dunno what that would tell me now and I would hate to unnecessarily cycle the battery pack.
 
JoeS said:
They list a battery capacity check, but dunno what that would tell me now and I would hate to unnecessarily cycle the battery pack.
The 15,000 mile battery check was eliminated by a software update according to another insert I received when I purchased my i-MiEV. So there's really nothing in the 15,000 mile service that any reasonably handy person couldn't perform.
 
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