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Servicing


Bren

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Our passat has informed us it is due for a service - just short of 10k since the last.

 

Air filter and pollen filter were pretty clean so they were given a shake and put back.Fuel filter was done last summer because the old one sprang a leak.

 

I will change the oil in a week or so. To be honest I have never let a car go 10k between oil changes before - as it is a sub grand car I won't waste money unecessarily.

 

I remember my first cars got an oil and filter change every 3k but modern oils are so much better. But not that much better it can withstand 20k of driving.

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I change the oil every 6000 miles on my cars,and 3000 miles on my bikes (or at least once a year) unless its a track bike then its every 4 trackdays,  I have never had an engine failure in 30 years and it always costs less than £30, I really don't understand why some folk don't even do the most basic of preventative maintenance, I keep an eye on the consumables and change when required and sort the other stuff out as soon as it starts making banging or knocking noises, maintenance is cheap, repairs aren't.

 

Did the wife's 307 diesel today, it cost me £24.98 for the correct fully synthetic oil and a decent Fram filter, why wouldn't you for 30 minutes work and 25 quid?

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Don't engines sound just that bit sweeter on fresh oil?  (might be placebo affect :D)

 

My diesels get cheapo oil every 6k.  The petrol ones, equally cheap oil every 10k, max.  Never, ever had any engine internal failures, or evidence of major wear to be honest.  Everything else has broken, but, ya know.

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Supermarket oil is cheap, I was in a Tesco Megga Bucket the other day and fully synth 5w30 was £17 for 5l.. but standard 10w40 semi was £12.. I recon this is probably demand as most engines want Fully these days apposed to 5 years ago it would have been more expensive..

 I buy in bulk, 20l a time for around the £35 - £40 mark delivered.. I have found though oil filters have got more expensive, they seem to be cheap for ages then double in price overnight, cheap oil but filter expensive ???  Anyway air filters are pretty cheap, I don't buy any old pattern part, I have Citroens so ry to buy genuine or Purflux, who are the manufactures anyway.. Oil brand doesn't bother me as I only need fully for the Hyundai i30 CRDi which is a tricky old bus in itself, not much service info available for it, even the service intervals differ depending which Dealer you talk to, there is a very long discussion on the i30 owners club on the subject of intervals, I noticed that in the service book it gives the service intervals as months / mileage rather than every... miles.. The discussion on the owners club went a bit quiet when I pointed that out, I suppose some people don't look in the obvious places.. The problem with Korean is I have no idea who is the manufacturer is for the filters making pattern parts difficult to find and genuine are bonkers expensive, I tend to just stick to known brands and TRW.. shouldn't go wrong...

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I always service a car new to me within the first 1000 miles (usually well before then) as at the price I buy them at the service history is usually patchy or not present.

 

Today I collected a Mann oil and air filter for the 307 1.6 HDi I collected from Dave Dorson last week. They came to £12.50ish. I've already got the Shell fully synthetic oil for it, so was hoping to give it a mini service and basic look over today, but I don't have a garage and it was too windy to do it today. I'll probably do the pollen filter and fuel filter at some point, although I have no clue how often the fuel filter should be replaced.

 

Even the wifes K11 Micra that we got in October got new plugs, oil and filter and an air filter. I've some brake pads that need fitting too.

 

I tend to buy from Euro/CarParts4Less whenever what I want is on sale, or check their eBay stores as this often beats their own sale price. I've a timing belt kit and waterpump sat in my basket, which I need to order this weekend too.

 

I normally change the oil between 6000 and 10000 miles, depending on the car, and the air and pollen filters every couple of years. Many of the cars I have had have been near the end of their life, but I try and keep them maintained in the hope they don't let me down. Or if they do it's unlikely to be because I didn't want to spend £20 changing something when I knew deep down it needed changing.

 

I don't tend to view it as how much it costs me in relation to the value of the car so much as how much it would inconvinience me if the car didn't work. And this is why I am terrible at bangernomics.

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I generally keep an eye out for special deals (Halfords synth for a tenner, home bargains Unipart synth for the same, that sort of thing) and change every 6000 or so via Pela. A half decent filter like a Mahle or OEM if cheap enough and that should be fine.

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Filters are a strange one for me.  I'm quite happy using a decent brand but not expensive oil, something around £15-25 for 5 litres is acceptable to me for some unknown reason I've used cheaper oils in the past that meet the required spec but my cars have either been more rattly or consumed it faster. When I first started driving I was told to always use decent filters, and the difference between the cheapest filter and a Mann filter is usually less than £3, so 9 times out of 10 I pony up the extra. There may be no benefit to this, but it makes me feel better.

 

I keep meaning to buy a Pela or similar, I think I'd change the oil closer to 6000 miles if I had one.

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If it’s the 1.6 similar to what’s in the Focus, Ford specifically advise you not to use a Pela on an oil change, they specify it must be drained by the sump plug.

I did not know that, and I suspect it's the same engine. The one I have is the 90BHP effort. You've saved me some money, thank you.

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If yours is a B5.5 PD130 (AWX) Passat they're a joy to put a simple service on, with a Pela you can achieve it all without ever having to get underneath.

 

RE maintenance schedules for me oil changes are every 5k or 1 year on the diesel cars in the fleet and 10k or 1 year for any petrol cars, whichever comes first. I don't remember ever spending more that £15 on 5l of oil and never more than £5 for a filter, often a lot less, cheap insurance so why not?

 

RE air filters I tend to do them once a year irrespective of mileage, same goes for fuel filters on diesels, petrols once every 5 years. Brake fluid every other year and coolant once every 2 years for the blue stuff or when the belt/pump is swapped (Every 5 years) with the cars that use OAT. Bushes/boots/tyres/brakes/tyres/underbody are checked annually on all of them, brakes are stripped/greased/cleaned on barely used/Sunday vehicles and for the rest this happens when pads/discs are changed.

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I did not know that, and I suspect it's the same engine. The one I have is the 90BHP effort. You've saved me some money, thank you.

It might be best to use the oil specifically designed for the 1.6hdi.It's Total Ineo ECS 5W30.I always used it on my C5 1.6,and that's over 200k miles on the original turbo.It's a very good oil for lowering oil consumption,too.My local factor recommends it to anyone needing a 5/30 fully synthetic who has oil consumption problems.
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Costs me £60 to service my discovery 3. I do it once a year. That oil and filter, fuel filter air and pollen, and even a new sump plug. Costs other people hundreds and hundreds sending there’s in for service. The gearbox however, has just relieved me of 260 for a flush and oil change. But I guess it’s better than thousands for a new box and torque converter

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If it’s the 1.6 similar to what’s in the Focus, Ford specifically advise you not to use a Pela on an oil change, they specify it must be drained by the sump plug.

 

Meanwhile Audi now use suction methods during servicing in dealerships and there's even talk of their newer cars potentially not even coming with a sump plug, funny what you find....

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Modern diesels you have to be careful that you choose a low SAPS oil if you don't want to shorten the life of the DPF. Especially as many on here tend to be buying them when they're pretty full of ash already due to being older, running the wrong oil can mean a new DPF very quickly after buying.

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Meanwhile Audi now use suction methods during servicing in dealerships and there's even talk of their newer cars potentially not even coming with a sump plug, funny what you find....

Merc have been doing suction for years. I know the SMART cars never came with a sump plug in the sump at all.

 

Pees me off no end that our A4 doesn't have a dipstick though. Supposed to solely rely on the electronic oil sensor to know when you need to top it up.

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Check also the hold down bolts for the injectors are correctly torqued and there’s no chuffing from the injector seals. The big issue with these is the turbo feed gauze blocking up with carbon deposits and killing the turbo.

I need to find the torque specs ad check these, but Dave gave me a set of seals with the car so I may change them anyway. The car had a new turbo and oil feed pipes in mid 2017.

 

It might be best to use the oil specifically designed for the 1.6hdi.It's Total Ineo ECS 5W30.I always used it on my C5 1.6,and that's over 200k miles on the original turbo.It's a very good oil for lowering oil consumption,too.My local factor recommends it to anyone needing a 5/30 fully synthetic who has oil consumption problems.

Cheers, I'll look into getting some of that. The oil I have was the same as I used in my Celica, Euro Car Parts recommended it for the 307 and I already had some so assumed it'd do. The owners manual states anything from 5-30 to 10-40 I think.

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Paid £49.99 to National Tyres today to do an oil and filter change on my fianceés derv A3. It's done around 13k in the 18 months since it was last done.

I thought that was a pretty damn good price for a garage to supply and fit. Looking at the timescale and mileage, I feel a bit guilty now that I left it so long...

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Merc have been doing suction for years. I know the SMART cars never came with a sump plug in the sump at all.

 

Pees me off no end that our A4 doesn't have a dipstick though. Supposed to solely rely on the electronic oil sensor to know when you need to top it up.

 

I'm not sure I'd buy a car without a dipstick TBH, sensors are great and all but my experience of cars tells me that sensors often fail.

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I'm not sure I'd buy a car without a dipstick TBH, sensors are great and all but my experience of cars tells me that sensors often fail.

Especially Renault sensors.

 

You can read the oil level on the computer in the car, but it only takes a reading if it's warmed up sufficiently. No good if you've topped it up and want to see you've put enough in.

 

However it seems to be designed that you basically ignore it until it pings up on the screen that it's at the low marker. This point works out as needing to put a whole litre bottle of oil in. I've found that this usually is around 1k miles off the next service, so naturally I only put 250ml or so to shut it up. No point wasting the oil if it's going to be drained shortly after!

 

You can't even buy a dipstick from Audi. When servicing, they use a special service tool one for checking. There is an entrepreneurial Audi dealer on eBay though that has found they can take an older Audi model, chop the dipstick down and it'll then fit in the modern Audi diesels that have no dipstick.

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Check also the hold down bolts for the injectors are correctly torqued and there’s no chuffing from the injector seals. The big issue with these is the turbo feed gauze blocking up with carbon deposits and killing the turbo.

The filter is in the feed pipe at the engine end. Some mechanics remove it and throw it to fuck.

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Does no one go by the service reminder thing? I always use those when fitted, never had an issue.

 

It's a real thing here for 3000 mile oil changes to be recommended on all cars. Doesn't matter what you take in for an oil change, any non-dealer garage seems to put a reminder sticker to change the oil in 3000 miles. The country must waste billions of gallons a year on unnecessary changes.

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I look at the use of the vehicles I have. On a few of my bikes they very rarely do a journey of less than 60 miles, therefore the oil has been at high temperature for the majority of that, so will rid the oil of any condensation, therefore oil changes are less critical in my eyes. The GSX-R750 I ran as my daily commuter a few years ago was still running well at 180,000 miles, the vast majority of that on the cheapest oil I could get-no semi or fully synth stuff.

My other bikes that are used less frequently and for shorter journeys get more frequent change-the Saab doesn't even do 3000 miles a year, but gets an annual change regardless. And I always use good filters-I don't fancy one of unknown quality failing on me.

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I need to find the torque specs ad check these, but Dave gave me a set of seals with the car so I may change them anyway. The car had a new turbo and oil feed pipes in mid 2017.

If they're properly tight,don't bother, unless there is chuffing from the seal/fresh black deposits.If they feel loose,just torque them with a 7mm Allen key bit.It's usually the second one from the timing belt end that loosens off first.

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If they're properly tight,don't bother, unless there is chuffing from the seal/fresh black deposits.If they feel loose,just torque them with a 7mm Allen key bit.It's usually the second one from the timing belt end that loosens off first.

Ah, ok. I'll try and take a look at them today whilst I'm changing the air filter.

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Does no one go by the service reminder thing? I always use those when fitted, never had an issue.

 

It's a real thing here for 3000 mile oil changes to be recommended on all cars. Doesn't matter what you take in for an oil change, any non-dealer garage seems to put a reminder sticker to change the oil in 3000 miles. The country must waste billions of gallons a year on unnecessary changes.

 

 

I've noticed that too on some of the things I saw in the States on holiday.

 

Are garages using synthetic oil, or is it all usually mineral oil?

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Oil and Filter at 10k, sometimes a bit less, is what I do.

 

Oil tends to loose its 'lubricity' due to the shit suspended in it.

 

I did try an experiment in a k Series, ran it for 40k on same oil and Filter. It was using a litre a thousand miles, so I figured in 40k it had the equiv of 8 oil changes worth of fresh in it. Mind you, all the shit wasn't being pulled out with old oil.

 

The engine had had a hard life before we got it and had suffered a bit of bore wash due to a partially failed HG. As the 40k gradually piled on, oil consumption did improve, presumably as things got a bit carbonned up.

 

After 40k, I pulled the sump plug and dropped a new Filter on, thought 'nuff was enuf'' really.

 

old boss of mine had the first service on his Acclaim at 60k, had never even opened the bonnet to check anything, not sure he would have known what he was checking to be honest. I checked the oil for him as we were on a long journey and I don't want to get stuck. He told me the light had never come on !!!!! Oil was fine when I checked it.

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