Don't know how I've got through 50+ years of motoring and doing services my self as and when I felt in the mood but very rarely within the prescribed limits, but each to there own. Which reminds me Vauxhall Agila needs doing it was last done 2 years/6000 miles ago and its nice weather to be crawling under the car.
How do you know what needs doing each year at a service?
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That, to my mind, is the best option - owner, driver servicing.
Help us out, what car and what engine? Age? Currently mileage?
Some cars don't actually need servicing, eg old Nissan Micras. Some need servicing at half the recommended interval (modern diesels, small turbo petrols).
Sometimes the manufacturer will just "change their mind" about intervals! We've just got rid of my mum's 9 year old, 27k Fiesta ecoboom as the supposed lifetime wet cam belt now needs replacing before 10 years at enormous cost.
Some cars don't actually need servicing, eg old Nissan Micras. Some need servicing at half the recommended interval (modern diesels, small turbo petrols).
Sometimes the manufacturer will just "change their mind" about intervals! We've just got rid of my mum's 9 year old, 27k Fiesta ecoboom as the supposed lifetime wet cam belt now needs replacing before 10 years at enormous cost.
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I don't have a problem with extended service intervals, or those who do it when they think it necessary, as long as its a conscious decision. There is a big difference between those who recognise what needs doing and when, and those who don't have a clue and rely on what the “experts” tell them.
As a time served marine engineer I generally do all my own servicing, unless its particularly heavy, now that I’m getting on a bit. My kids seek my advice and my trusted local garage do any work I dont fancy doing.
Service schedules are generally printed in the service history and for more modern vehicles they are available online.
As a time served marine engineer I generally do all my own servicing, unless its particularly heavy, now that I’m getting on a bit. My kids seek my advice and my trusted local garage do any work I dont fancy doing.
Service schedules are generally printed in the service history and for more modern vehicles they are available online.
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It’s a 2015 Ka. 4k miles since the last service.
The service portfolio just lists every 12500 miles or 1 year, and I’ve always stuck to the yearly recommendation. Oil and filter change as a minimum.
But again, unless you’re old school I believe most people would just take their car to a trusted garage and hand it over to them.
I’ve asked a few work colleagues and they all said they just hand it over and never specify what they want doing.
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You’ve no need to tell them they will go off the age, mileage and service record. There are loads of documents online that identify what work is carried and when but it boils down to a major or interim service.
Fords looks particularly in the “harder to follow category” but if you sieve through the various google results you can work out what needs doing.
Here is an example https://www.fordservicecontent.com/Ford_Content/catalog/owner_guides/98estmg2e.pdf
I think I missed an oil change one year on my mums Fiesta. She only used it to go to her doctors. 400 yards away in the same street. One year when I took it for a test, it had only covered 40 miles in total since the last test and 24 of those miles were me taking it to my place and back for the test!
That's an American schedule, and the layout looks odd.
With a range of service actions, I don't believe the OP will ever know what has been done unless the garage provides a list or checksheet.
I don't recall having a vehicle that didn't have a service schedule in the documentation.
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My bro who was an Inchcape service manager handling RR and Jaguar/Landrover for many years says much of what the manufacturers and dealers recommend is pure money making and often unnecessary except for raking in the shekels. One of the classics is the five year timing belt replacement "recommended" by Skoda on the basis that you just might be doing 20k miles per annum. Exactly the same belts are used on some Fords where 100,000 miles is the change interval.
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I dont know of any belt fitted to a Ford that would fit a skoda, however, that is not to say there are lots of examples where the same engine is fitted into different vehicles with different change regimes, but not quite the 50,000 mile difference suggested
The usual failure of a timing belt is actually the tensioner or idler or other pulley failing, or even the auxilliary belt failing and causing failure of the timing belt by wrapping around the crank pulley. Part of servicing requires check of condition of visible belts and pulleys and advise replacement accordingly.
All manufacturers issue maintenance and service schedule for every vehicle.
Follow that and you should be fine.
Or you can do more frequently if that's your thing.
I change oil and oil filter on my passat every 6 months because those turbo engines from the late 90s need very clean oil and they'll run forever.
The Audi gets what Audi says, every 12 months.
Follow that and you should be fine.
Or you can do more frequently if that's your thing.
I change oil and oil filter on my passat every 6 months because those turbo engines from the late 90s need very clean oil and they'll run forever.
The Audi gets what Audi says, every 12 months.
I changed the timing belt and tensioners on our A3 at just over 5 years and 52K miles as it was the recommended period irrespective of mileage and obviously, it cost me just for the parts at trade prices. However the same engines that come off of the same production line that are put into LHD cars and sold in Europe have a recommended life of 10 years. If I was not in the trade and was paying main dealer retail prices for parts and labour, I’d leave it a bit longer than the 'recommended' time.
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Re: Manufacturers recommended intervals. I think these really need treatng with caution, because - contrary to what some are saying - the intervals can be stretched so that the "cost of ownership" can be shown to be artificially low to those so-important fleet-buyers. Since those are usually only owning for three to four years, they don't get to see the results of these stretched intervals.
The early Vectra ( don't remember if A or B ) started off with a recommendation of 80K for the cam-belt, subsequently reduced to 60K as a result of failures, and then finally down to 40K as they were still chewing them up.
The early Vectra ( don't remember if A or B ) started off with a recommendation of 80K for the cam-belt, subsequently reduced to 60K as a result of failures, and then finally down to 40K as they were still chewing them up.
I had the original service book with my Cortina Lotus. The recommended oil change interval was….2,500 miles!
Yes I can remember those days and did it myself usually but modern synthetic oils are vastly superior which is why they are usually good for 10-15k miles and I recently read that a couple of manufacturers in the states are now warranting their synthetics for 25k! Similar story is now going for cam belts, also vastly improved on those of 30 odd years ago with the inclusion of kevlar and other hi-tech materials. Of course if you insult your vehicle by driving it on a wet beach or miles of loose gravel then .........
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