How often for car service?

fret_wimp2

I have a 3 year old diesel car.
It was serviced last year and has done about 15k since then.
It sits in the driveway monday to friday as we use public transport for work and is only used at weekends.

It now tells me "service due" each time i start it up.
I think this alert is based on time since last service, not mileage, so someone who uses a car 7 days a week would get an alert at the same time as me, who only uses it 1-2 days per week.

Whats the general thoughts, just pay the few hundred quid and get it serviced or get another few months out of it?

grogi

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

Whats the general thoughts, just pay the few hundred quid and get it serviced or get another few months out of it?

I think you know the answer to your question, but you don't want to accept it. Now you're just looking for reinforcement of you belief.

Just sell it.

shietpilot

Every 10000 km or 1 year. Whichever comes first.

never_mind

fret_wimp2 wrote: »

I have a 3 year old diesel car.
It was serviced last year and has done about 15k since then.
It sits in the driveway monday to friday as we use public transport for work and is only used at weekends.

It now tells me "service due" each time i start it up.
I think this alert is based on time since last service, not mileage, so someone who uses a car 7 days a week would get an alert at the same time as me, who only uses it 1-2 days per week.

Whats the general thoughts, just pay the few hundred quid and get it serviced or get another few months out of it?

I think it's more of money racket getting services done. I just get it NCTd and put a bit of black tape over the service notification on my wheel LOL.

Kimbot

shietpilot wrote: »

Every 10000 km or 1 year. Whichever comes first.

Is it not 10,000 miles or 1 year?

Either way you are well due a service OP.

07Lapierre

What Make/model of car are we talking about?

shietpilot

jonnycivic wrote: »

Is it not 10,000 miles or 1 year?

Either way you are well due a service OP.

Manufacturers list out all kinds of different intervals from 10000 km to 30000 km. If you want the car to last, service it every 10000 km / 6000 miles and you'll have a sweet engine.

Long intervals are killers for an engine, especially if the owner doesn't check the oil levels often and the engine burns a bit of oil.

fret_wimp2

grogi wrote: »

I think you know the answer to your question, but you don't want to accept it. Now you're just looking for reinforcement of you belief.

Just sell it.

I dont, if i did i wouldnt have asked. I had an idea, but not being anywhere close to being an expert in cars, decided to ask a group who might be more knowledgable.

Thanks for no help.

Everyone else, you have helped, I'll get it serviced next week.

Sam Kade

Any diesel car I had I changed the oil and filter every 3.5k miles.

Toyotafanboi

Sam Kade wrote: »

Any diesel car I had I changed the oil and filter every 3.5k miles.

That's not really practical for most though.

In fairness, if you stick to the manufacturers intervals with the recommended oil you will have no issues, the intervals the manufacturer sets are conservative as they are.

I'd say a general rule of thumb for any modern car is 15k kms or 12 months.

honda boi

I think ford recommend 10,000miles for service for my cmax 1.6tdci.
But I do it every 6-7000miles.
Read horror stories with this engine leaving it to 10,000miles.

grogi

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

In fairness, if you stick to the manufacturers intervals with the recommended oil you will have no issues, the intervals the manufacturer sets are conservative as they are.

Or just do the service when the car tells you to...

07Lapierre

grogi wrote: »

Or just do the service when the car tells you to...

Not all cars tell you. (at least mine doesn't..i just get it done every 15,000k as per the service booklet that came with the car)

shietpilot

grogi wrote: »

Or just do the service when the car tells you to...

This doesn't work if you do little mileage.

Voodoomelon

Sam Kade wrote: »

Any diesel car I had I changed the oil and filter every 3.5k miles.

That's just silly. If you'd have waited until 10-12k miles on all your diesel cars, they'd still all be on the road running just fine. Waste of money and resources.

The yanks are obsessed with this, oil changes every 3-5k miles.

grogi

shietpilot wrote: »

This doesn't work if you do little mileage.

Weird... Works for me... And works for OP.

07Lapierre

shietpilot wrote: »

This doesn't work if you do little mileage.

It should. What car do you have?

The Backwards Man

I just leave the sump plug loose and throw a gallon of oil in her every evening.


Seriously though, good oil every 15k and you won't go far wrong.

Toyotafanboi

shietpilot wrote: »

This doesn't work if you do little mileage.

Most modern cars will count in days & operating hours as well as miles.

shietpilot

grogi wrote: »

Weird... Works for me... And works for OP.

07Lapierre wrote: »

It should. What car do you have?

Depending on how new the car is, the service interval light only comes on when the service mileage has been exceeded. Time isn't generally taken into account so if you do 5000 miles a year on a car that requires an oil change every 15000 miles, you end up only servicing every 3 years.

blade1

My service document says
Private Owner 10,000miles/Every Year
Business Owner 12,500miles/Every Year

Whichever comes first of course.

07Lapierre

shietpilot wrote: »

Depending on how new the car is, the service interval light only comes on when the service mileage has been exceeded. Time isn't generally taken into account so if you do 5000 miles a year on a car that requires an oil change every 15000 miles, you end up only servicing every 3 years.

Agree, which is why knowing the Make/model and year of the car would help.

166man

Full service every 15k km.

Oil every 8k km. Even paying someone to do it you'll see change from €100 for parts and labour. It's such small cost for something with such value. No oil, no engine.

jca

shietpilot wrote: »

Depending on how new the car is, the service interval light only comes on when the service mileage has been exceeded. Time isn't generally taken into account so if you do 5000 miles a year on a car that requires an oil change every 15000 miles, you end up only servicing every 3 years.

Complete rubbish I wouldn't do 5000 miles a year, every car I've owned since 2004 will tell me a service is due after a year, which is when I get it done.

jca

Sam Kade wrote: »

Any diesel car I had I changed the oil and filter every 3.5k miles.

With modern oils you're wasting your money.

Service every 15k kms, service depends on what's needed. Sometimes just oil and filters other times additional things like brake fluid if due.

I do about 15k kms per year so its basically a yearly service for me but if I was doing less I would get it done about one a year also.

mikeecho

My diesel car has a 30k km service intervals.
I have it serviced every 15k ish

The other car is a low mileage petrol, that gets a yearly service, although it should probably get 3 every 2yrs, and the extremely low milage bike, gets a diy service every year.

BrokenArrows

Service intervals are set for the average driver.
Each car has different intervals.

someone who constantly drives the car to its limits and revs the **** out of it constantly will likely require a service sooner than the manual states.
At the opposite end of the spectrum someone who drives very carefully, slowly etc could get away with extending the length of their service.

The reason they have a X miles or 1 year is because engine oil gradually becomes acidic and can corrode your engine from the inside. So you dont want to be leaving old engine oil sitting in your car for years even if your car hasnt been driven.

mikeecho

BrokenArrows wrote: »

Service intervals are set for the average driver.
Each car has different intervals.

someone who constantly drives the car to its limits and revs the **** out of it constantly will likely require a service sooner than the manual states.
At the opposite end of the spectrum someone who drives very carefully, slowly etc could get away with extending the length of their service.

The reason they have a X miles or 1 year is because engine oil gradually becomes acidic and can corrode your engine from the inside. So you dont want to be leaving old engine oil sitting in your car for years even if your car hasnt been driven.

The oil in my bike is still clean,
The dipstick shows clean new oil, but in considering changing it, as it's been there for over 1yr, and about 500 miles.

In the overall scheme, a gallon of oil is cheap.

Prevention is better than cure.

Sebastian Dangerfield

I got my 141 Hyundai serviced in a main dealer yesterday at 82k. They have marked the next service for 112k. Does that seem odd?

Toyotafanboi

No, the standard intervals on all modern diesel Hyundais is 30k kms. They take just fine to it.

CJhaughey

Sitting around will still need servicing on or before the service message comes up.
When you drive the car it still combusts whatever fuel is in it. and the byproducts of the process are acidic and are held in suspension in the oil, not to mention having water present from a humid atmosphere all combine to turn the oil acidic which if left can start to attack metals in the engine.
A low mile car that hasn't been driven regularly can deteriorate faster than a car which is used regularly and gets hot enough to evaporate all the moisture in the oil.

DaveyDave

On the topic of oil, I'm certain I saw somewhere that automatics have a separate oil change interval? Think I saw it on the dash of a car somewhere that had 15k to service, 8k for transmission or something., I'm open to correction of course!

DaveyDave

DaveyDave wrote: »

On the topic of oil, I'm certain I saw somewhere that automatics have a separate oil change interval? Think I saw it on the dash of a car somewhere that had 15k to service, 8k for transmission or something., I'm open to correction of course!

Its every 60k for a DSG box

jca

BrownFinger wrote: »

Its every 60k for a DSG box

That's the 6 speed wet clutch box. The 7 speed are dry clutches the small bit of oil they have is for the control solenoids. The 6 speed is used for higher torque/bhp engines.

sunnysoutheast

jca wrote: »

That's the 6 speed wet clutch box. The 7 speed are dry clutches the small bit of oil they have is for the control solenoids. The 6 speed is used for higher torque/bhp engines.

7 speed wet clutch longitudinal DSG/S-Tronics on Audis too

60k service interval which you miss at your peril!

our cars get oil & filter every 20k kms which works out about every 10 months

fuel, air and cabin filters every three oil and filter changes

brakes, S-Tronic, fluid etc. at next service when required

mikeecho

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

No, the standard intervals on all modern diesel Hyundais is 30k kms. They take just fine to it.

I'm not a fan of Hyundai, but personally I think 30k is far too long between oil change.

If you or anyone cares for their motor , and plans on keeping it beyond its warranty , change the oil and filter every 15k

That's just my option, feel free to ignore/disregard/dispute.

A lot of the filters.. ie air, pollen are super super easy diy jobs

Toyotafanboi

mikeecho wrote: »

I'm not a fan of Hyundai, but personally I think 30k is far too long between oil change.

If you or anyone cares for their motor , and plans on keeping it beyond its warranty , change the oil and filter every 15k

That's just my option, feel free to ignore/disregard/dispute.

A lot of the filters.. ie air, pollen are super super easy diy jobs

I don't know. I reckon modern oils combined with modern oil technology is well capable of doing 30k kms between changes. That's only 18k miles after all.

Hyundai offer probably the longest, most comprehensive warranty on the market at the moment at 5 years with unlimited mileage, they'd hardly offer that if they thought that the cars couldn't sustain the service intervals.

mikeecho

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I don't know. I reckon modern oils combined with modern oil technology is well capable of doing 30k kms between changes. That's only 18k miles after all.

Hyundai offer probably the longest, most comprehensive warranty on the market at the moment at 5 years with unlimited mileage, they'd hardly offer that if they thought that the cars couldn't sustain the service intervals.

Remember, you're dealing with an industry that has lied about mpg , emissions figures etc.

I agree that a brand new car will operate fine on 30k oil intervals, .... initially... But long term, after the warranty is gone, would you have been better off having a more regular service.

Toyotafanboi

mikeecho wrote: »

Remember, you're dealing with an industry that has lied about mpg , emissions figures etc.

I agree that a brand new car will operate fine on 30k oil intervals, .... initially... But long term, after the warranty is gone, would you have been better off having a more regular service.

Traditionally, I would have thought the same but I think times have genuinely changed in that regard.

Like the Hyundais for example, plenty of examples go on to 2-300k kms comfortably with no issues relating to excessive engine wear from lack or degradation of engine oil, or no more wear than would be consistent with that mileage regardless of oil change frequency.

I havn't done a scientific stud or anything but most cars in Ireland outside of manufacturers warranty are probably lucky to get a service once every 30k anyway and most seem to plod along fine. That said, I wouldn't condone negligence either.

I'm taking one for the team in that regard. I'm using a fully synt oil in my Civic, im now on my third oil change at double the manufacturers recommendations and it seems to have had no adverse effects so far. The engine doesn't even require a top up from service to service.

CIP4

I get mine serviced every 15k Km as per recommended manufacture service interval think the time is 1 year although the computer counts down from 2 years for some reason. For me every 15k is every 6 months or so. I think 15k km is a good rule of thumb but there are exceptions and for low mileage drivers I'd go by time. With my own the oil is still fairly brown (petrol) after 15k km so I suppose that's a good sign the oil has life left in it by the time it's being changed.

mikeecho

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

Traditionally, I would have thought the same but I think times have genuinely changed in that regard.

Like the Hyundais for example, plenty of examples go on to 2-300k kms comfortably with no issues relating to excessive engine wear from lack or degradation of engine oil, or no more wear than would be consistent with that mileage regardless of oil change frequency.

I havn't done a scientific stud or anything but most cars in Ireland outside of manufacturers warranty are probably lucky to get a service once every 30k anyway and most seem to plod along fine. That said, I wouldn't condone negligence either.

I'm taking one for the team in that regard. I'm using a fully synt oil in my Civic, im now on my third oil change at double the manufacturers recommendations and it seems to have had no adverse effects so far. The engine doesn't even require a top up from service to service.

That's fine, I'm not going to argue, but, I've paid a lot for my car, and I want it to last.

I don't mind paying small money at a local indie for correct oil and filter.

Long term yeah the car might run fine with 30k intervals, but 15k intervals can only be better.

Each to their own.

mickdw

30k km is too long.
manufacturers are using these intervals to suit fleet buyers. This interval means less servicing costs and less down time. No doubt the car will be perfectly fine for many years but there can be no doubt that the same car serviced twice as often would be the better car at 5 years old.

EPAndlee

Where I'm working it's every 20,000 kms but some of the other dealers are every 30,000kms. Have some customers that service it every 30k with no problems. The vans are around 38,000 kms tho

uck51js9zml2yt

Got a full service on mine in February. Getting oil and filters changed next week with an early NCT around the corner.
Mine sits outside the house most of the week
Costing me about 140 including parts

jca

Heidi Ripe Beak wrote: »

Got a full service on mine in February. Getting oil and filters changed next week with an early NCT around the corner.
Mine sits outside the house most of the week

And does 1000kms on the weekend.

uck51js9zml2yt

jca wrote: »

And does 1000kms on the weekend.

Almost:)
But seriously, I usually change the oil and filters every 6 months anyway. Supply my own parts and he fits them.

jca

Heidi Ripe Beak wrote: »

Almost:)
But seriously, I usually change the oil and filters every 6 months anyway. Supply my own parts and he fits them.

Can only be good you know what's going into it.