Does my car need a service?

brazilianwax

my car needs servicing every 4,500 miles/6 months, has to go to a specialist dealer and costs in excess of £200 a time :eek: :eek:

at the moment it is sitting at a garage having done just over 1,000 miles since the last service. i'll get it back from the garage just as the 6 months ticks and so it will have to be serviced.

but it is worth it to know that all is well with the car, and will increase the value having a full service history (not that i'd ever sell it!!)

kittiwoz

Car manufacturers recommend yearly servicing because engineers are professionaly cautious and because they always assume worst case scenarios, i.e. you are a complete and utter numpty when it comes to anything remotely practical who if you owned a Haynes manual would probably put it under the wonky leg of the coffee table to stop it wobbling. If this is in fact not the case and you do carry out routine maintenance and self inspection then yearly servicing is not necessary. Any safety issues will be brought up at MOT.

northern_munky

kittiwoz wrote:

Any safety issues will be brought up at MOT.

Not quite, what if the brake pads are worn, they aren't checked in the MOT! (unless the tester can see them through the wheel apertures).

The 36 month service which the OP needs states that spark plugs, air, fuel and pollen filters should be renewed (are they only going to be changed when the car breaks down?). If they are the originals then they need changing now.

Plus you'll keep your service history book upto date which will help you sell the car in future and help keep it's value. The extra wear and tear on engine components which will occur from having dirty fuel and air filters isn't worth it. This is an 03 car not some 15 year old shed. Either buy a manual and check all these things yourself or get it done, it's a no brainer!

cheekychappy

Why not buy your oil and filter from Ford (ask for trade prices) and service yourself as you suggest. If the car has been serviced with Genuine parts, then in my eyes, they are as good as a stamp in the book. I would argue that you would save more on servicing costs than you would gain on resale value having a fully stamped book when you sell it, if you follow my drift.

kittiwoz

Just reading back what I said and I think I should add a bit because it could be a bit misleading.

I don't mean to imply that cars do not require regular servicing. They certainly do. I notice quite a few cars around my area that clearly have problems that need attention and some people seems to take the attitude that as long as it goes it must be OK. This is not right. If you think this then you are probably not competent to attempt your own maintenance and you should get your car serviced at a garage regularly. My mum is like this. She has no conception of how an engine works, she doesn't hear changes in the engine noise let alone know what they might mean, she can't identify the sound of a hole in the exhaust and she doesn't even notice the pull on the steering caused by a punctured tyre. If she wasn't married to my dad she would definitely have to pay for servicing.

If you are not going to get the car professionaly serviced you do need to maintain it yourself and not just repair it or get it repaired when it breaks down. You need to be aware of which jobs need doing periodically, such as replacing brake pads, oil and filters and keep track of when you last did them and when they will need doing again. You also need to be aware when the car is showing symptoms of a problem, eg. odd noises, clutch starting to slip, dark exhaust and get it sorted, not just wait for it to get worse.

immoral_angeluk

I would get a full service every year whether it needed it or not. They check for all kinds of things and not just change the oil and filters and it's better to be safe than sorry if something comes to attention that can be sorted for pennies now compared to hundreds of £'s if it's ignored.

Wig

northern_munky wrote:

Not quite, what if the brake pads are worn, they aren't checked in the MOT! (unless the tester can see them through the wheel apertures).

I have found on many cars that I have been warned my front pads are getting low.

The 36 month service which the OP needs states that spark plugs, air, fuel and pollen filters should be renewed (are they only going to be changed when the car breaks down?). If they are the originals then they need changing now.

As I understand it the car is now 4 years old this is the 48 month service. If it were the 36 month then none of those things would need changing if there was nothing wrong with them, (where did you get the information anyway?) just because some booklet says they need changing doesn't make it so, the whole affair is designed to make money for the stealers.
A visual inspection of the air filter is all that's needed if it looks clean enough leave it alone.
Spark plugs, you can hear if the engine is running alright, but it you really want to just take them out and have a look, it's actually a good indicator of other problems so well worth a look.
Pollen filter - come on. No doubt you'll now quote some things from the 48 month service, some more things equally unecessary to have to change.

Plus you'll keep your service history book upto date which will help you sell the car in future and help keep it's value.

Not to me it won't it means nothing.

The extra wear and tear on engine components which will occur from having dirty fuel and air filters isn't worth it.

it's only done 3500miles since last service and only 27,000 overall. It doesn't need a new fuel filter.

This is an 03 car not some 15 year old shed.

You have to draw the line somewhere, I recommend you draw the line when the warranty runs out. My last car was bought at 2yrs 6 months with an expired warranty (due to a service being missed) I serviced it myself and have never taken it for "servicing" It is now 7 years old (I think).

Either buy a manual and check all these things yourself or get it done, it's a no brainer!

Good advice, buy the manual and check em yerself, but the world's not going to end if this guy doesn't service this car for another 12 months.

northern_munky

Wig, it's pretty obvious that the OP is not capable of doing any of these jobs himself. I made a mistake with the 36 month old stuff, I still think it's 2006:rotfl: You are right, I am going to quote the 48 month service and this is a nice easy one, oil and filter only and a check of brakes, steering, suspension etc. Hopefully the other filters and plugs were changed last time.

But, you are so wrong about leaving the oil in, yes it's only done 3500 miles since the last change but that oil is now 1 year old, it needs to be changed, it's nothing to do with how dirty it is, over time oil loses it's lubricating properties and stops doing what it's supposed to be doing. The amount of short distances the OPs car sounds like it does will not help the oil at all either. If there is one thing that will prolong any engines life it is regular oil and filter changes.

Back to the MOT again, maybe you have been given a report on your pads at MOT time but as I said, it all depends on if the tester can see the pads. If the car has wheel trims and you can't see the pads then they can not be inspected in the MOT.

The service book might not mean anything to you but it will certainly make the car easy to shift when it comes to selling. Which would you sooner have out of two identical cars, one with a FSH from a respectable garage or one with no paperwork but the owner says he has changed the oil when it looks black and changes the plugs and other filters when the engine starts running rough, I rest my case.

Happy days :T

Wig

Where do you get the service information from?

I'd buy the car that was the best value taking into account the cleanliness inside and out and in the engine bay. The one with the best sounding engine, the one with the best compression readings on the cylinders. The one without anything wrong with the spark plugs like oiled plugs for example.

northern_munky

Can't argue with you there Wig.

I get my service info from a CD called Autodata CD2, has tons of info for virtually every car upto 2006, best £20 I ever spent