Bangernomics. To service or not to service?

[wombat172a]

Afternoon all,

My trusty E34 525 that I've been running for the last few months has been doing fantastically, munching motorways and even enjoyed a couple of the laps of the ring. It's definitely in the region of bangernomics as I purchased it for less than £600 and aside from a set of tyres I've only spent £60 on it.

However, I have no service history for it, and the service indicator light is almost in the red.

If I'm going to service it, it will be a full service, and I've had a quote for £340+VAT to do so. A fairly reasonable price to be fair. I could do the service myself, but I really don't have time to spare.

So the question is, is it worth spending £400 to service a car worth less than £600?

[V88Dicky]

Of course it is. You're not thinking of the bigger picture.

New(ish) car = suffers depreciation and needs maintenance.

Old car = 0% depreciation, but needs maintenance.

One or the other, not both.





If it makes you feel better, I've just spent £350 on a 1997 Fiesta to get it through its MOT

Don't worry about it.

Edited by V88Dicky on Tuesday 8th March 16:14

[trickywoo]

Just change the oil and filter.

[balls-out]

I suggest you check the brake pads at least

[Truckosaurus]

Alternatively, spending the £400 might prevent the need to spend another £600 on a new car if it suffers a catastrophic failure of a service item such as a belt.

[tinman0]

wombat172a said:

So the question is, is it worth spending £400 to service a car worth less than £600?

No, bin it and buy a car that doesn't have the light on.

I would however change the oil and filters though, but just do it yourself. Won't take more than an hour and is quite satisfying.

Then find a friend who can turn the lights off.

[rb5230]

If it was me i would as another poster suggested change the oil, filter, air filter if it looks dirty and check the spark plugs and see how old they look, getting a full service done at a garage seems a waste on such a cheap car, wait untill its due an m.o.t and then fork out when you actually have to.

[Zeemax_Mini]

Service kit off eBay - oil & filter, air filter, fuel filter...few hours work and all done! Anything else can be done as and when it goes wrong!

Dom

[curlie467]

I would just go fro an oil and filter change too, it isnt worth it and £340 is a lot to fork out just for a service especially on a banger.
I barely even check the oil on my bangers, they just seem to be happier left untouched!

smartypants...£2800 on a banger, are you kidding me, that is considerably more than i have ever spent on a car, even our `main` car!!!

[oldcynic]

Get a basic service done at one of the Franchise chains - F1 seem to be quite good value round here. This should be considerably less than £400.

F1 replaced discs and pads on the rear of my Alhambra for £170. The local Indy was quoting £104 just for pads. Other franchises are available, some are best avoided.

[zcacogp]

Machinery is always worth servicing. No excuses.

Paying someone else to get their hands dirty on your banger isn't worth doing tho'. Buy the parts and a spanner and DIY.


Oli.

[BarnatosGhost]

Its a no for me. Just oil and filter.

'Managed Decline' is the philosophy.

You're not keeping it pristine and waiting for the call from the Guggenheim, you're getting max mileage for the £.

When it pops you weigh it in, and get another.

[jonno990]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Oil-Service-Light-Reset-Tool...

It wouldn't make a difference to me when purchasing a bmw whether service lights where on or not. I found one of these in the boot of an e30 I bought a few years ago, and surprise surprise it had no service lights on.

[Motorrad]

As other have said oil/filter at a quick fit place, 5 minute job to inspect and change the air filter yourself and forget spending a fortune on it.

I'm sure these fast fit places do free brake checks as well with the hope of conning you into premature replacement- use their ramps and time to get a good look at the condition of them yourself.

[wombat172a]

Well I think that's quite unanimous, I'll be getting it an oil service as a start, and will check the rest as I find time. Hopefully the lighter evenings will allow this.

[Astra Dan]

Loads have mentioned the oil change, fine. Don't forget the coolant. In my experience 90% of HG failures are due to corrosion from old anti-freeze. The anti-corrosion properties run out after about 2 years on old fashioned coolant.
These two, check the plugs and bang the air filter out will do it for another 5-6k (although my cars never go longer than 3k for oil changes, it's so cheap for 10/40 semi from Vaux dealers).

[dome]

Head on over to www.bmw5.co.uk for advice on doing it yourself. A well looked after e34 will last for years so its worth looking after. They are not too bad to work on either. Cambelt may need doing, know any tame mechanics who could do you a homer?

Also if its an early e34 the service light can be reset with a paperclip, the above link will give you the info...

[g3org3y]

Oil, filters, plugs.

I believe there is a pikey cunning way of resetting the service lights without buying the tool - using a wire but I can't remember which contacts to cross on the service plug.

[Welshbeef]

Well - on our old Volvo (had it 29 months) I changed the Air filter took out the spark plugs and just wire brushed them as the electrode was fine.

Apart from that I had to change the dizzy cap & rotar as the points were powder however I only changed it when it broke down and then a mere £30 (Grr) and she was back to fine working order.

She started first time every time you could really slam the doors and they would thunk solidly every time. A real tank park it anywhere.

Sure the engine when new had a mighty 85bhp.. but it still drove perfectly well.

Oil & oil filter were not changed nor topped up - it didnt use a drop.

Only changed it for the Leon Cupra as the heater was shot and really needed a change/nice gift for the wife. New car is touch wood great. However as that is a 1 owner main dealer serviced car I'm having a very different view on the servicing of it.

[Ean218]

g3org3y said:

Oil, filters, plugs.

I believe there is a pikey cunning way of resetting the service lights without buying the tool - using a wire but I can't remember which contacts to cross on the service plug.

7 & 9

http://www.bimmerboard.com/forums/posts/137151