Advice about the cheapest way to service my car

StanwithaPlan

Joe, thanks for that - I did wonder if it would do more harm than good

And Benson and Joe re tools, I will have a look what I have, I have all sorts of donated/inherited tools but a starter set seems a good investment - I do have a socket set that my Dad gave me ages ago and I looked at it and wondered what I'd ever need it for! must find that..

forgotmyname

Dont buy a cheap set. False economy.

Buy a small basic but good quality set.

The draper set mentioned above says 107 piece. But 20 or so are allen keys. A load of screwdriver bits and the main part is just 12 spanners. and a 39 piece socket set.

I have had my Kamasa set for almost 30 years. Ive hit the ratchet with hammers and used metal poles as an extension and never broken anything.

Still works a treat. Same with the trolley jack i bought a decent wide base high lift one which at the time cost £40 or so. Mate bought argos specials for about £10 and they all failed. Mines still going ove 20 years later seals still holding.

Joe_Horner

I've got one of those Draper sets as a "boot set" for my wife's Daf and it's more than up to general servicing.

I also have a Draper 3/8 drive set that I got back in 1985 which is still going strong with a few replacements for losses (not breakages). In that time it's been used for everything from normal servicing / and countless minor repairs to stripping / rebuilding BMW straight 6s, total rebuilds of a couple of Dafs and even an old Fordson Dexta that hadn't been started / moved since before I got the sockets.

I do also have some 1/2 inch stuff for really heavy jobs but hardly ever need them for anything except crankshaft ot hub nuts, neither of which the OP is likely to be tackling in a hurry

I even use Silverline spanners at around 80p to a couple of quid each. I've never broken one or damaged a nut / bolt with one yet and they regularly take stupid abuse involving lump hammers!

Stoke

Last oil + filter cost me £13. 4.7 litres of fully synthetic, not crap supermarket stuff either. Self service of course. Having done it a few times, I'm also pretty quick. I can have a full oil change done in about half an hour, with a 5 minute tea break while I wait for the oil to fully drain from the sump. Would probably take me 20 minutes drive to the nearest oil change place

londonTiger

Joe_Horner wrote: »

If you're able and willing to read a Haynes manual then there's no reason at all that you can't do a full service yourself, including the oil change.

Phone your local proper motor factors (NOT somewhere like Halfords) and ask for prices for the filters (oil, air. fuel) and 5l of the correct oil. You'll almost certainly have change out of the £50 the garage is quoting just for the oil change.

If you don't already have them you'll also need a basic set of tools but for general servicing it really is a basic set - another £20 - £30 on top of the parts will see you good to go, and that extra is an investment towards every future service.

depends on the oil. A lot of cam chain car owners buy the most expensive oils (Castrol edge for VAG cars). You wont get much change from £50 for a bottle of 4L of that stuff.

Not all VAG cars take 4L of oil either, my humble 1.6 uses 3.5 litres, but some of the big diesels use more than 4L.

StanwithaPlan

Thanks all for your replies, it's payday on Monday so my poor neglected car has to hold on for a few more days until I can put my order in on Euro parts - I'm itching now to have a go, found some brilliant videos on YouTube and even whilst I always knew the theory, I've never been bothered to practice which is just daft!

Joe_Horner

londonTiger wrote: »

depends on the oil. A lot of cam chain car owners buy the most expensive oils (Castrol edge for VAG cars). You wont get much change from £50 for a bottle of 4L of that stuff.

Not all VAG cars take 4L of oil either, my humble 1.6 uses 3.5 litres, but some of the big diesels use more than 4L.

The OPs Golf takes 3.8 litres, so the 5 litre recommended oil from Europarts will lbe more than enough. And many owners may choose to "use the most expensive", but with regular services any correct grade and spec synthetic is going to be perfectly ok

StanwithaPlan wrote: »

Thanks all for your replies, it's payday on Monday so my poor neglected car has to hold on for a few more days until I can put my order in on Euro parts - I'm itching now to have a go, found some brilliant videos on YouTube and even whilst I always knew the theory, I've never been bothered to practice which is just daft!

Be careful, it can be addictive - soon you'll find yourself looking out for a hobby classic that you can do more on. Mmmmm, points gaps, dwell meters, timing lights and £80 a year insurance....

StanwithaPlan

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Be careful, it can be addictive - soon you'll find yourself looking out for a hobby classic that you can do more on. Mmmmm, points gaps, dwell meters, timing lights and £80 a year insurance....

I have no idea what you just said...

I'll just stick to fuel filters for now!

£80 insurance you say?....