Service schedule for limited mileage

[Alpha97]

For around the last 3 years I have only been doing around 1500 miles a year in my S2000. Up until this year I have had it serviced every year however I'm wondering whether this is a bit excessive?

I think Honda recommend that it's serviced every 9k or 12 months however the 12 months seems to only be recommended to keep the Honda warranty intact; something I'm not concerned about because the car is 12 years old.

Under the above circumstances, would I be taking any kind of risk by only having it serviced it every 18 months?

[dm46]

Should be fine.

[kambites]

Realistically it's very hard to tell. Once exposed to moisture, oils do degrade slowly over time and coolant additives do start to lose some of their anti-corrosive properties but it's hard to say in either case whether it's significant.

For what it's worth, as an experiment I once left the OH's Punto about five years and about 25k miles without servicing... fuel economy dropped off maybe 5-10% (which was probably related to the lack of servicing) and eventually the water pump started to fail (which probably wasn't) but it did no obvious long-term harm. I gave the thing a full service just before we got rid of it and it's now still running absolutely fine another two years down the line.

Personally, I would be quite happy with an 18 month interval in your situation, but potential future buyers if you ever come to sell it might not be.

[Ozzie Osmond]

Alpha97 said:

Under the above circumstances, would I be taking any kind of risk by only having it serviced it every 18 months?

Personally I'd leave it for 2 years minimum.

[Cemesis]

I agree. 2 years should be fine. You should probably do the brake fluid every two years as well.