47,000 miles - should I do all or none of these???

Also keep in mind there is a maintenance schedule recommended by the manufacturer, which is in your owners manual, that one you should follow. But then there’s a “dealer recommended” which includes extra nice to haves, those are usually money wasters. When speaking with service departments they usually try to muddy the waters and mix the two together, so you need to specifically ask if something is “dealer recommended” vs “manufacturer recommended “ (in owners manual).


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Rdr854 said:

What is the severe service schedule? Is a GM maintenance plan worthwhile?

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In your owner's manual - remember that thing? This is for a 2015. Highlighted in blue where it says 'severe'. There's also a 'normal' schedule.
City driving is considered severe. Towing is considered severe. I'm willing to bet that 80% of vehicle on the road today fall under what is considered severe.

swathdiver said:

You ought to run a severe service schedule, fluids are cheap insurance. Your transmission has a thermostat that causes it to run at or near the same as your water temp, 195 degrees ALL the time. I had my trans fluid analyzed and it had 10K miles of life left in it at 36K miles.

Your front and rear differentials can go longer, the transfer case if you have a 4x4 takes the same fluid as your transmission, cheap insurance to drain and fill it too. We have the same transmission but mine does not have the thermostat so it runs cooler.

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Ok, well I decided to just get it all done and over with, the extra warranty is provided by the fluid manufacturer, so it's good anywhere .

After mulling it over, decided that $650-ish was better than wondering if I am going to have any problems, and since I have no desire to do it myself, I let my credit card do the work.

Previously it was a Hertz vehicle, so I don't know if it ever got beat on before 31k miles, so it's peace of mind(my 81 year old mother still rents cars to drive from California to Florida, so impossible to say if it's hard or easy miles on a former rental)

Seems to shift better, and the AC blows harder after that old filter got replaced, other than that, can't tell any difference.


Next step is some new tires, possibly wheels and tires, if I can find someone who immediately swapped out their wheels and tires for aftermarket, after buying new. Or I'll just buy new tires and be done .......

I replace all these fluids myself every 50k miles on my back in the driveway without any trouble at all and I am not a professional just a regular shade tree tinkerer. My Tahoe does not get severe use and I only tow a small camper once or twice a year and recently only put less than 15k miles on it annually. For complete 4L60E M30 trans fluid flush I use 16 quarts Valvoline Max Life Full Synthetic Dexron VI. For front and rear diff I used Lucas Oil full synthetic gear lube, 2 quarts 80W/90 for GL-5 front diff and 2.2 quarts 75W/90 for G80 GT4 3.73 10 bolt rear diff. For my NP8 Transfer Case I used 2 quarts GM recommended Auto Trac II. For Power Steering I use 2 quarts Lube Guard Complete Synthetic. I spend less than $250 on fluids and tools(harbor freight manual fluid pump and a length of 5/16" ID hose). I have over 226,000k miles on her and she purrs like a kitten, I would recommend you give it a try, I found it pretty easy to do by myself.

stallion_412 said:

In your owner's manual - remember that thing? This is for a 2015. Highlighted in blue where it says 'severe'. There's also a 'normal' schedule.
City driving is considered severe. Towing is considered severe. I'm willing to bet that 80% of vehicle on the road today fall under what is considered severe.

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Ok, so I could have gone out to my truck and pulled the manual, but it was pouring rain and thought I would ask since the answer may benefit others.

I follow manufacturer recommendations and bought the severe service GM plan to pre pay my service in order to avoid the wallet flush services. From my dealer, the cost to pre pay was less than the current costs to do all the covered services at today’s prices. Also, service advisor is pretty good about just doing what GM recommends.

JuicedLS said:

I replace all these fluids myself every 50k miles on my back in the driveway without any trouble at all and I am not a professional just a regular shade tree tinkerer.

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Love the avatar Sean! Don't forget, you're in Michigan and Rock is in Florida, where it's HOT with skeeters so big they have "N" numbers on them! LOL

I would definitely change those fluids. Sure, the differentials could go longer but why? The front differential holds so little fluid that they often get low so I would do it now. I would also get the brake fluid changed.

Glad you got all the fluids changed, it gives you peace of mind.

That said, I never change the transmission fluid or differential fluid in my vehicles. All it does is cause problems with seals. Have I ever had transmission problems? Sure. But I've NEVER had a transmission problem that was fluid related. All were mechanical breakage. I usually keep my vehicles 250K - 350K or more.

So, glad you feel better. You really didn't accomplish much, but that's OK.

steve45 said:

Glad you got all the fluids changed, it gives you peace of mind.

That said, I never change the transmission fluid or differential fluid in my vehicles. All it does is cause problems with seals. Have I ever had transmission problems? Sure. But I've NEVER had a transmission problem that was fluid related. All were mechanical breakage. I usually keep my vehicles 250K - 350K or more.

So, glad you feel better. You really didn't accomplish much, but that's OK.

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So, if I understand you correctly, you never change your drive train fluids? And you say you have never had a fluid related issue, just mechanical? Do you at least check the levels once in a while and keep them topped off?

To say that changing fluids in your differentials or transmission messes up the seals is a stretch and something I have never experienced.

There is a reason that GM puts recommended fluid change intervals in their manual and that’s because fluids breakdown and get dirty which leads to the mechanical failures as that truly is the only type of failure people have. I’m willing to bet when you had your “mechanical” failures, the fluids were replaced as I don’t know how you fix a transmission or differential without replacing the fluids.

But, as you say, you do what gives you piece of mind.

steve45 said:

Glad you got all the fluids changed, it gives you peace of mind.

That said, I never change the transmission fluid or differential fluid in my vehicles. All it does is cause problems with seals. Have I ever had transmission problems? Sure. But I've NEVER had a transmission problem that was fluid related. All were mechanical breakage. I usually keep my vehicles 250K - 350K or more.

So, glad you feel better. You really didn't accomplish much, but that's OK.

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Trying to avoid the "non-fluid related " breakdowns you mentioned by following the recommended GM guidance

Probably will help with resale if I follow recommended maintenance schedule, heard it from a friend.......