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Well, no surprise the dealership told you that. God forbid a customer do anything on their own and take potential dollars out of the dealership's pockets. These places are unbelievable. Recently I went to the local Acura dealership to look at the new TL, and I asked the salesman if he knew how hard it was to get the myriad of modesty covers off the engine so that I could work on the car. He looked at me with near terror on his face and asked why would I ever want to do anything like that. I said, you know, change the oil, flush the cooling system, plugs, etc.. He was like, oh no, you should really just bring the car here for service, it's very advanced and complicated, we'll take care of everything. Yeah, right.....
Anyway, I haven't actually dropped the pan on my car yet, but I have done the flush. The filter that's in there isn't much of a filter, it's just a screen meant to catch the larger pieces of crud. You would be surprised at what can accumulate in the bottom of the pan though, so I guess the pan drop is a good idea from time to time, just to clean it out. They do sell a kit that includes a new screen and a pan gasket, and it's a pretty easy, although messy, job to do. I would say it can't hurt, but I think getting the bulk of the fluid out is the more important issue, and that can't be done by dropping the pan alone. I guess the best all around way would be to do the pan drop and screen change first, then top off the fluid and do the flush as normal. Then you've got all the bases covered.
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