Longlife servicing - the best way to Sh@g an engine ?
Discussion
What do you guys reckon to this 'Longlife' service stuff ?? - to me it seems an open invitation for owners to negelct their cars by making it an almost acceptable practice to not even bother lifting the bonnet for 15k miles or 24 months - or when the dashboard starts showing warning lights! By this time the coolant's halved in volume, the oils running low and theres a good chance that important bearings are beginning to suffer. This is fine for the fleet people, who couldn't give a damn about the state of the thing in three to five years time, but a bit of a potential nightmare for the private buyer looking to pick up a cheap motor with a good bit of life left in it !
What do you guys think?
Pete.
What do you guys think?
Pete.
I would say that you still need to lift the bonnet, I have had my new Passat for 5 weeks and covered 4500miles and the oil light came on yesterday.
I knew it had a 20,000mile service interval so called VW only to be told that it is standard for the new diesels to use lots of oil..............now whats that all about
I knew it had a 20,000mile service interval so called VW only to be told that it is standard for the new diesels to use lots of oil..............now whats that all about
Edited by spdpug98 on Thursday 15th March 21:36
Yep - I totally agree.
I swapped my R32 from long life schedule to yearly... saying that, the dealer didn't object too much
Problem is, cars are designed to prevent 'mucking about' by competent amateurs...
most engine bays are a sea of black plastic and almost look purposely designed to make life difficult for all but the qualified mechanic. So like you say, most owners will happily let the warning lights tell them when a problem has happened, rather than checking oil / coolant levels manually to prevent it happening in the first place. Variable servicing has become a marketing tool.
I changed the side light bulbs on my golf and needed to remove the front bumper assembly to gain access
Now surely, there must be a better way to design this for easier access!
I swapped my R32 from long life schedule to yearly... saying that, the dealer didn't object too much
Problem is, cars are designed to prevent 'mucking about' by competent amateurs...
most engine bays are a sea of black plastic and almost look purposely designed to make life difficult for all but the qualified mechanic. So like you say, most owners will happily let the warning lights tell them when a problem has happened, rather than checking oil / coolant levels manually to prevent it happening in the first place. Variable servicing has become a marketing tool. I changed the side light bulbs on my golf and needed to remove the front bumper assembly to gain access
Now surely, there must be a better way to design this for easier access!I like it so far - have now done 93K in my TDI with oil changes every 20K, means less time spent in garages and less bills to pay (have "saved" 4 services so far so that's got to be pushing £1K in real money). OK I pay attention to my fluid levels so I know the coolant is fine and what intervals to leave between oil top-up but if you are a careful owner who doesn't like wasting money on unnecessary work then go for it.
This is based on usual trip being 60 mile commute, so no short stop/start stuff.
I'm not bothered about perceived resale value by buyers as I plan to run the car up to 250K by which time it will be worth squiddle anyway.
AdrianR
This is based on usual trip being 60 mile commute, so no short stop/start stuff.
I'm not bothered about perceived resale value by buyers as I plan to run the car up to 250K by which time it will be worth squiddle anyway.
AdrianR
v8pete said:
...or when the dashboard starts showing warning lights! By this time the coolant's halved in volume, the oils running low .
Mine tells me when it needs feeding oil, coolant, washer water - just like when it needs fuel 
I presumed they were all designed with this sort of failsafe for the numpty owner??? Having said that, I am well aware that plenty couldn't tell the difference between where to put air, oil, water or fuel
spdpug98 said:
I would say that you still need to lift the bonnet, I have had my new Passat for 5 weeks and covered 4500miles and the oil light came on yesterday.
I knew it had a 20,000mile service interval so called VW only to be told that it is standard for the new diesels to use lots of oil..............now whats that all about
I knew it had a 20,000mile service interval so called VW only to be told that it is standard for the new diesels to use lots of oil..............now whats that all about
Edited by spdpug98 on Thursday 15th March 21:36
It can use upto 1 litre of oil to every 640 miles. So 4500 is definetly okay!
Yes - I see your concern.
However we do tell customers on long life servicing that due to the thinner consistency of the oil used, you must watch the level carefully. i.e. check it every 600 miles. Top up to top of dipstick notch as often as required.
High performance cars or those driven hard are optionally to be on 10000 mile intervals with performance oil instead of long life, at the bequest of the driver.
Your dealers should have mentioned this to you.
Long life oil is fine even in high performance engines driven hard so long as you realise it will se a lot of oil.
Chris Harris rckins his RS4 has quite an appetite for the stuff - more than any other car he's driven, and my S4 is proving to be the same!
However we do tell customers on long life servicing that due to the thinner consistency of the oil used, you must watch the level carefully. i.e. check it every 600 miles. Top up to top of dipstick notch as often as required.
High performance cars or those driven hard are optionally to be on 10000 mile intervals with performance oil instead of long life, at the bequest of the driver.
Your dealers should have mentioned this to you.
Long life oil is fine even in high performance engines driven hard so long as you realise it will se a lot of oil.
Chris Harris rckins his RS4 has quite an appetite for the stuff - more than any other car he's driven, and my S4 is proving to be the same!
drybeer said:
Yes - I see your concern.
However we do tell customers on long life servicing that due to the thinner consistency of the oil used, you must watch the level carefully. i.e. check it every 600 miles. Top up to top of dipstick notch as often as required.
However we do tell customers on long life servicing that due to the thinner consistency of the oil used, you must watch the level carefully. i.e. check it every 600 miles. Top up to top of dipstick notch as often as required.
It seems crazy to advise customers to check their oil every 600 miles, I can do 300 miles a day some weeks and the last thing I want to be doing is checking the levels every 2 days!! I don't mind checking levels on a regular basis but not every 2 days
I think I will have to swap my car over to 10,000 mile servicing, it seems the only way.
ps Not blaming you just a dig at VW really
Edited by spdpug98 on Tuesday 20th March 19:12
burman said:
Just had my oil and filter changed at 10,000 mls on my Mk5 GTI as do not trust longlife stuff... false economy as cost under £100
Wherever you go you'll find someone to claim oil lasts less than you thought it did....some yanks get twitchy if you run anything for more than 3,000. Your oil change cost you an extra 1p/mile, which is about 10% of the fuel cost.
Why is it false economy? You've spent money, I haven't, both our cars still work.
AdrianR
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