Documented service history - how important?

[vertew]

Hi, I'm about to do a second viewing on a 2003 Roadsport SV in very nice condition with 10,000 miles on the clock.

I had a quick look at the service history and it was a little on the sparse side. The current owner has done around 1,000 miles a year and think some of the gaps between services went up to 2 years. Also, I didn't see any sign of a stamped up service log, though saw some bills.

My previous car was a Mitsubishi Evo FQ-360 and if these don't have a perfect service history it can shave 000's off the resale value or make the car unsaleable. I'm thinking that the Caterham world is probably very different / much simpler - with many owners doing all servicing themselves.

So, can anyone help me out with these questions...
- How important is a good / complete service history on a Caterham?
- Anyone know what official service schedule is for a k-series? Six month / Annual ?
- Are Caterhams supposed to have a 'service log' that gets stamped up?

cheers!

[Seven Smiles]

Yes, much simpler than a Mitsubishi! So it's been serviced every 2000 miles, that sounds pretty frequent to me. 7 owners seem very anal about keeping receipts but doing your own servicing is easy and quite common, a lack of dealer stamps wouldn't put me off.

[JeffC]

as above, would rather see receipts than stamps, most caterham owners will be hands on so will carry out their own servicing.my car will never see a stamp in the book but I know it will be better maintained than most tintops that will have a fully stamped up book.

buy on condition, if it looks right and drives right it should be fine.

[vertew]

Thanks for that - that's generally what I suspected - unless there's a lot of track use or you've got one of the really high-stress setups, the Caterham community would be more relaxed about the need for a religiously documented service history.

Any views on service schedule for k-series? Also do Caterhams actually come with a service log that is supposed to be stamped up?

cheers.

[Token Jock]

There is an Owners handbook with the service schedule laid out and sections at the back which can be stamped for servicing or factory upgrades.

A typical service schedule can be found here

http://www.jameswhiting.com/page13.html

http://www.jameswhiting.com/page2.html

My own 7 hasn't got a stamped book but does have a thick wad of original invoices for the build, old MOT's, receipts for services from Motorsport outfits, receipts for oil & filters, tyres etc. This is what I personally wanted to see/have for my files and have continued with this.

John

[Incorrigible]

Surprised to see they don't do a sump baffle as a matter of course.

I would suggest replacement every 2 years (Caterham stipulate every year) or do as DVA suggests and remove it completely.

If the sump foam breaks up (and they degrade with time as well as use) it can block the oil pick up pipe with all the expected consequences

If it has been home serviced I would check this

[mickrick]

[vertew]

Cheers for the links and the info on the sump baffle.
When I went to buy the car I had a much closer look and found the car did have a service handbook with some stamps in it. Don't know why the owner was so vague about this previously.
Anyway, I bought the car and am on the long road to learning to live with a Caterham ................ cheers.