Never had a car serviced, not sure what to do?

youcancallmeal

I've never had to get a car serviced so a bit clueless here. I bought a 2006 Mazda 3 around 2 years and I haven't got it serviced since I got it. Its running fine mostly but the airbag light has been coming on intermittently for the last few months and the engine makes a rattling noise sometimes when it hasn't been driven in a while.

Anyway question is should I bringing it to the closest Mazda garage in Dublin or will any old garage be able to service it for me?

Irishcrx

Em...Not sure if serious???

If you are , then not having it serviced is silly at best but I'll save the speech.

You need to service your car regularly or it'll go bang bang bye bye. Mazda dealership are experts but will charge you more , find a good independant that works with Mazda which will cost you less. Get them to give the car a good look over for engine problems.

Check you oil levels every other week and other fluids , it only takes 5 minutes.

duchalla

Any garage will service it for you, oil and filter would want to be changed every 7 or 8k I think. You have the NCT this year so you'd want to be thinking about that too.

youcancallmeal

duchalla wrote: »

Any garage will service it for you, oil and filter would want to be changed every 7 or 8k I think. You have the NCT this year so you'd want to be thinking about that too.

Ha I'm such an idiot, just checked and NCT was up in March! Definitely time for a full service and NCT check.

With regards maintenance I've never put oil in it because the light has never come on to indicate to do so? I though thats how it works? I really am quite clueless about the whole thing! I don't drive it all that much to be fair, I'd say on average about 30km a week, some times it wouldn't be drive for 2 weeks!

Mycroft H

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Ha I'm such an idiot, just checked and NCT was up in March! Definitely time for a full service and NCT check.

With regards maintenance I've never put oil in it because the light has never come on to indicate to do so? I though thats how it works? I really am quite clueless about the whole thing! I don't drive it all that much to be fair, I'd say on average about 30km a week, some times it wouldn't be drive for 2 weeks!

That light is an oil pressure light. Not a level light. If it comes on the pressure is dangerously low and often long term damage has been done already.

What you need to be checking is your engine dipstick. Take out the owners manual and check the maintenance section, it will list what needs to be checked on a regular basis.

Mint Sauce

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Ha I'm such an idiot, just checked and NCT was up in March! Definitely time for a full service and NCT check.

With regards maintenance I've never put oil in it because the light has never come on to indicate to do so? I though thats how it works? I really am quite clueless about the whole thing! I don't drive it all that much to be fair, I'd say on average about 30km a week, some times it wouldn't be drive for 2 weeks!

Wouldn't let your NCT date dictate when you get a service. Brand new cars dont need to be tested for at least 4-5 years, less than 10 years old every two years, but they all need to be serviced every year or after x amount of miles.

Mycroft H

Or after a set period of time if the car isn't doing a lot of miles.

corktina

we all had to learn stuff, your turn :-)

Find a local guy to do the service as this will save a lot of dosh. I would do the NCT first and then they can fix anything wrong whilst servicing it. No point paying to have it checked just to have the NCT check it again. You don't do much mileage, so in your case getting it serviced once a year would be sufficient I feel

CiniO

If OP is really doing 30km a week (so about 1500km a year), then non servicing for 2 years, while surely bad, doesn't really sound yet that bad.

Riskymove

corktina wrote: »

we all had to learn stuff, your turn :-)

this is really another plus one for having basic maintenace as part of test/lessons

djimi

CiniO wrote: »

If OP is really doing 30km a week (so about 1500km a year), then non servicing for 2 years, while surely bad, doesn't really sound yet that bad.

Id prefer not to be driving around with two year old engine oil in the car, but thats just me...!

youcancallmeal

Spoke to a garage around the corner from me and they said book NCT and then bring it in a week before that and they will service it and make sure it's ready for NCT. Probably should of just rang them before starting the thread Thanks for all the advice, won't let it go as long next time!

djimi

A better ploy would be put the car through the NCT center and then go to the garage afterwards with the fail sheet and a list of things to be fixed. A pre-NCT is a waste of time and money.

youcancallmeal

djimi wrote: »

A better ploy would be put the car through the NCT center and then go to the garage afterwards with the fail sheet and a list of things to be fixed. A pre-NCT is a waste of time and money.

Hmmm interesting, is there not a chance though that I would get through the NCT first time if I got it serviced before hand?

CiniO

djimi wrote: »

Id prefer not to be driving around with two year old engine oil in the car, but thats just me...!

Me either.
But if I had a choice between driving with 2 year oil which was changed 3000km ago, and 1 year oil which was changed 30,000km ago, I'd prefer the former.

In other words, IMO time does much less damage to oil and it's properties, than mileage.

Mycroft H

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Hmmm interesting, is there not a chance though that I would get through the NCT first time if I got it serviced before hand?

You could end up "fixing" things that don't need to be fixed.

youcancallmeal

Mycroft H wrote: »

You could end up "fixing" things that don't need to be fixed.

Yeah suppose so, it'll just be strange bringing it in for an NCT knowing it will definitely fail!

Eric Cartman

get a fluids and filter service done (oil, air and fuel filters, spark plugs) (new engine oil and brake fluid bleeding) before nct, the car definitely needs that. After that put it through nct and theyll tell you if the car needs anything else.

CiniO

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Yeah suppose so, it'll just be strange bringing it in for an NCT knowing it will definitely fail!

What's wrong with it, that you are sure it will fail?

djimi

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Yeah suppose so, it'll just be strange bringing it in for an NCT knowing it will definitely fail!

It might not fail in fairness. If you were going to a mechanic that you trust then Id say put it in for a service and let them see if anything obvious jumps out at you. But just be careful of these guys offering a pre-NCT test; it means nothing, is no guarantee of passing the test and the wrong sort of mechanic will just it as a way to fix things that dont need fixing.

martinr5232

CiniO wrote: »

If OP is really doing 30km a week (so about 1500km a year), then non servicing for 2 years, while surely bad, doesn't really sound yet that bad.

Its actually worse on a car doing small runs because its not getting up to proper operating temperature. Plus if its a lot of town driving its hard on brakes aswell.

Op get your car serviced and a look over for the nct simple things like headlamp focus and little jobs like that send it for test and sort out anything it fails on after that.

Might be no harm to do a car maintenance course if there is one near you places usually run them as part of theyre night classes.

youcancallmeal

CiniO wrote: »

What's wrong with it, that you are sure it will fail?

The airbag light is the main thing really? Apparently when it is on it means the airbags are disabled. Google results makes it seem like it is a common problem with Mazda 3's?

martinr5232

youcancallmeal wrote: »

The airbag light is the main thing really? Apparently when it is on it means the airbags are disabled. Google results makes it seem like it is a common problem with Mazda 3's?

Probobly just connections under the seats shouldnt be a big problem.

YouTube is bloody brilliant for learning how to work on cars as well.

Eric Cartman

Dónal wrote: »

YouTube is bloody brilliant for learning how to work on cars as well.

The OP didnt know a car had to be serviced, i think we're a bit far off that yet.

corktina

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Yeah suppose so, it'll just be strange bringing it in for an NCT knowing it will definitely fail!

Some garages have been known to find all sort of stuff to fix that doesn't need doing.
The best feature of our NCT over ,say, the UKs MoT is that it is independent of the guy doing the repairs.

Ash.J.Williams

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Spoke to a garage around the corner from me and they said book NCT and then bring it in a week before that and they will service it and make sure it's ready for NCT. Probably should of just rang them before starting the thread Thanks for all the advice, won't let it go as long next time!

The NCT is seperate and has nothing to do with servicing....you need to get the car serviced now and then worry about the NCT.

Bigus

djimi wrote: »

A better ploy would be put the car through the NCT center and then go to the garage afterwards with the fail sheet and a list of things to be fixed. A pre-NCT is a waste of time and money.

Yes but get it serviced, airbag light fixed and dip headlights checked, chance everything else until you get a list from NCT , don't give the garage carte blanch to have it ready for NCT , the list could be endless and expensive.

mickdw

Ya, it needs the service, pass or fail so get that done. Better have the nice fresh oil and clean air filter for the emissions test anyway.
You are as well to get the airbag sorted anyway so no harm in having that done. The point is though, dont heed any garage re additional works needed to pass. Some dealers will list everything even marginally worn as needing replacing. Some of the lists Ive seen from pre NCT tests would make 10k euro cars financial write offs when realistically, they will pass with minimal spending.
If your engine is ok, I dont think your car will need a whole lot.

RandomAccess

Install Wunderlist or similar on your phone or computer,
Create a new to do item called Check Oil, set it to repeat Monthly (I think every other week might be a bit too much of a leap!)
Create another one for service car. Make it repeat yearly, that should be fine if you are doing low mileage.

Its cheaper to maintain a car than to fix it! So you will save money by doing this.

Cantona's Collars

Be grand:pac:

kirving

youcancallmeal wrote: »

The airbag light is the main thing really? Apparently when it is on it means the airbags are disabled.....

You've got to get the airbag light fixed at least. The garage should be able to plug a PC into your car and find out very quickly what has caused the warning light. It doesn't necessarily mean that the airbag is inactive, as the airbag system is designed to be failsafe. I.e: it should always go off when required to do so. What is.more likely is that a sensor has given an unexpected reading, and the car gives a warning. Shouldn't be too difficult to fix.

Sobanek

OSI wrote: »

The oil light only comes on to say the oil pressure is so low you need to stop and turn off the engine immediately.

Not always. On BMW E46 it certainly doesn't.

mickdw

Sobanek wrote: »

Not always. On BMW E46 it certainly doesn't.

True some cars, alot nowadays have a top up warning which is completely seperate from the old style oil pressure light.
The top up warning is usually yellow or orange whereas the oil pressure light will be red.

glued

Sobanek wrote: »

Not always. On BMW E46 it certainly doesn't.

That's true. But for 95% of cars it's an oil pressure light.

No Pants

You're lucky it's a Mazda. Not all cars would be as forgiving.

At the very least, you'll need to change the oil, oil filter and air filter. Once that's done, take a look at the service intervals in the manual and check it against the service history. That'll tell you what should also be replaced.

Brake pads and discs will need the wheels off to check, so leave that for the garage service.

Wiper blades should be checked. If they're still okay, give them a wipe with a cloth or strong tissue. They collect a fair amount of dirt. If they're splitting or otherwise not okay, replace. You should be able to do this yourself.

Check tyre pressures. Also check the tyres. Not just for wear, but also for aging. Is the rubber cracking at all?

NCT will check all lights.