I have a 2004 Cavalier with 45xxx KMs on it.
I have dont oil changes as well as tire rotations.
I bought a new air filter about 2 years ago.
I have actually had the car for 4 years this may. Was new when I got it

My question is, I know what the manual says, but what should do/change at this point in the cars life?
Plugs, o2 sensor, fuel filter, tranny flush???

any suggestions would be great.

I logged onto my Shopkey account and it brought up a very short list...

45,000 Miles (72,000 Kilometers) : All Applicable Models

INSPECT -- Air Cleaner/Element (Replace if necessary)
REPLACE -- Engine Oil
REPLACE -- Engine Oil Filter

So at 45,XXX miles, its pretty straight forward. 48,XXX on the other hand is a longer list, but it's just alot of inspecting.

Hope that helps!

People often do things based on their experience and/or comfort level, whether or not they're "required' items. And, they have varying ways of validating what they do or recommend. That being said, if the car was mine, I'd do a couple of things between now and 50K miles:

1. Drain, flush and otherwise replace the coolant. Dex-Cool has claimed 5 year/50K mile lifespan and you're close enough.
2. Change the fuel filter, even though GM doesn't have a recommended interval.
3. Change the transmission fluid and filter. (I wouldn't do a "flush", though.)
4. Bleed the brakes to change the fluid or have it done by a shop. ABS is sensitive to dirty fluid and repairs are expensive.

This is, of course, based on the thought that I'd be keeping the car indefinitely. Your method may vary. - Mark

To the first poster I didnt mean at 45KMs what do I do I meant what should I have done by now or really soon. Like in total, not just for the next visit.

And to everyone that posts, I'm at 45000 Kilometers not miles. I put KMs in my post but I probably should have wrote the word in full.

Thanks so far.

Randy Lahey wrote:To the first poster I didnt mean at 45KMs what do I do I meant what should I have done by now or really soon. Like in total, not just for the next visit.

And to everyone that posts, I'm at 45000 Kilometers not miles. I put KMs in my post but I probably should have wrote the word in full.

Thanks so far.

Ah, gotcha. Sorry, I guess I just skipped right over the KM when reading the original post.

Anyways...
Nothing to drastic needs to be done yet. Obviously your oil and oil filter changes every 5,000 KMs or so, and just alot of inspecting...

INSPECT -- Brake System
INSPECT -- Drive Axle Boots
INSPECT -- Engine Cooling System Hoses & Clamps
INSPECT -- Exhaust System
INSPECT -- Fuel System
INSPECT -- Steering System
INSPECT -- Suspension System
INSPECT -- Throttle System
LUBRICATE -- Chassis
REPLACE -- Air Cleaner/Element (@ 48,000km)

Thats everything that should be done up to this point and in the near future. Hope thats more of what you were looking for!

According to GM, you really aren't overdue for anything just yet. Clearly with your mileage, you'll need to pay more attention to time intervals rather than mileage for some items. One item often overlooked is lubrication of the front brake sliders, depending on where you live. In the areas that GM considers to be "highly corrosive environments", this should be done annually, so this may or may not be overdue depending on where you live.

I agree with Mark that the coolant change should be done soon - even my car didn't hit GM's "maximum" recommended mileage interval for the Dexcool at 5 years - 230,000km. I was only at 175,000km at that time. Fuel filters seem to start to cause problems around the 50-80,000km area, so I would recommend getting it changed at the same time. Brake fluid flush wouldn't hurt either - especially if your car did come with ABS. I've been bad with that one myself so far though - almost 7 years/2376XXkm now with original fluid. I used to have a 1987 Buick Century though, which I sold to my neighbour a couple of years ago, and to my knowledge it's never had the brake fluid touched (certainly not in the past 10 years, and no earlier record either), so as long as the system is well sealed, it MAY not be necessary. Still probably a good habit to get into though. Some manufacturers actually recommend it every 2 years - but GM has no specified interval.

If your car isn't used every day, you could probably get away with 6 month intervals for your oil changes (spring/fall), unless it has a lot of short trips. If that's the case, then stick to the 3 month intervals - regardless of mileage. Tire rotations aren't required any more often than 10,000km. Odds are that you'll need to replace the tires due to age before they wear out anyway, so the necessity of tire rotations is even questionable. If you're paying someone to do them, after a few you've essentially already paid for at least one new tire already. The only way I would consider them worthwhile for you is if a licensed mechanic is also doing a brake inspection for you at the same time, and maybe the caliper service. If it's just a "lube jockey", any "inspection" may not be very accurate anyway, and I don't think they'd be allowed to touch any part of the brakes for service. I've put well over 20,000km on my car between rotations before, with little to no measurable difference in wear between front and back anyway. If driven carefully, these cars seem to be very easy on tires.

I wouldn't be too concerned about any transmission service just yet with your mileage. The only exception would be if it was used for towing, or on long hills in very hot weather. Otherwise it should be fine for a while. GM doesn't even specify service under those conditions until notably higher mileage than you're currently at.

Maybe some may consider me to be a little too frugal with the maintenance, but from what I've seen, with the newer manufacturing processes used, and the superior fluids and fuel delivery, most maintenance isn't required NEARLY as often as is used to be to still get good service life from the car. As long as you follow the recommendations in the manual, I would expect the car to do just fine. I'm sure the engineers that wrote that knew more about what's in there than most of us ever will. It's just hard for some of us to "break away" from the thinking of what was required what seems to be only a few years ago. Of course, most shops still push heavily on the older requirements - because it's what puts the food on their tables.

John

Thanks John S for that reply.