VW say I have already damaged my engine?

whitecloud663

I had purchased my VW Golf 1.4 petrol from the VW Citygate dealer brand new in September 2009. To date it has only accumulated 16,000 miles. My driving compromises of stop/start, less than 2 miles journeys on a daily basis. My service schedule is as follows:

at 4k November 2010 serviced at VW citygate
at 8k November 2011 serviced at VW Citygate
at 12k Septeber 2012 serviced at Audi/VW specialist (included brake fluid change)

I took my car into VW Citygate yesterday as they were offering a free healthcheck (whatever that means) and as soon as the check was done the technician came out ranting and raving at me!

He said that I may have caused damage to my engine because I had not changed the oil for over 2 years. I had explained that the last garage who serviced it at September 2012 used long life oil and that he does not need to be changed for 2 years. The VW technician, who seemed very frustrated and agitated by my responses, explained that because of the nature of my driving I should be getting it changed every year at the very least and that the longlife oil is designed for high mileage users.

After going on for a god 5 minutes how my engine may be damaged, he went on saying that I should have changed my cam belt last year too and advises that from now on I get it serviced every 6-8 months. I requested for a quote for the full work that needed to be carried out and I rather taken back by the price! Admittedly, the majority of the cost was the cambelt but it also had other items like brake fluid change for £56 plus VAT. I questioned this with the technician and he just came angry and said changing the brake fluid every 2 years is an absolute must if you value your safety!

I can't tell whether this dealer/technician are just trying to scam me out of more money? Have I actually caused damaged to my engine?!

worried_jim

Your driving style requires greater maintenance and absolutely an oil change every year. Lots of short journeys mean that the engine rarely gets to full operating temp which can put a greater strain on the lubrication qualities of the oil- ie needs changing more often.

patman99

He's just !!!!!! that you went to an indie to get the work done.
Very much doubt you will have damaged the engine at all.
Good advice is to do a yearly oil change, but if you use high grade synthetic oil then 2 years should be fine (Ford actually took some Mondeos off the end of the production line and filled them with Mobil One oil, ran them for 100,000 miles, then stripped the engine to check for wear. They couldn't find any).

As for changing the brake fluid, in all the cars I have owned I have never done this and never suffered any kind of drop-off in braking efficiency at all.

JustinR1979

At those miles I'd be inclined to change oil twice a year.
If you were doing 3 times the mileage then once a year.
Lots of nastiness in your oil with that treatment.

whitecloud663

thanks for the replies. What about the cambelt? Does that need to be changed even though I have only done 16k miles?

JustinR1979

patman99 wrote: »

He's just !!!!!! that you went to an indie to get the work done.
Very much doubt you will have damaged the engine at all.
Good advice is to do a yearly oil change, but if you use high grade synthetic oil then 2 years should be fine (Ford actually took some Mondeos off the end of the production line and filled them with Mobil One oil, ran them for 100,000 miles, then stripped the engine to check for wear. They couldn't find any).

As for changing the brake fluid, in all the cars I have owned I have never done this and never suffered any kind of drop-off in braking efficiency at all.

No, he knows about oil.
Ever seen the oil level go up?
I have, imagine how well that oil is working...

welfayre

whitecloud663 wrote: »

changing the brake fluid every 2 years is an absolute must if you value your safety!

It's just a money making scheme tbh. It never used to be a "must" every 2 years. You used to take a sample and use a brake fluid analyser to see if it was ok. Obviously that didn't make enough money for the dealers so they came up with the 2 year thing but that falls down on the fact that brake fluid isn't dated so you could go into Euro car parts or Dingbro or Halfords etc and buy a bottle of brake fluid that's been sitting on the shelf for 2 years.


The thing that effects brake fluid is use. Someone tearing around the countryside with lots of heavy braking is going to need it changed more often than someone who does a 10 mile motorway trip every day.

whitecloud663 wrote: »

thanks for the replies. What about the cambelt? Does that need to be changed even though I have only done 16k miles?

Think your cars recommended replacement for cambelts is every 48months regardless of miles so yes if you leave it and it goes you'll land yourself a hefty repair bill.

anotherbaldrick

Doing that sort of short journey motoring you should take the car out on the by-pass every 3 weeks for an Italian Tune Up

AdrianC

welfayre wrote: »

the 2 year thing ... falls down on the fact that brake fluid isn't dated so you could go into Euro car parts or Dingbro or Halfords etc and buy a bottle of brake fluid that's been sitting on the shelf for 2 years.

You've never opened a new bottle of brake fluid, have you? It's hermetically sealed. Once you open it, it's open to absorb moisture from the atmosphere - just as it is when it's in the brake system in the car.

The thing that effects brake fluid is use. Someone tearing around the countryside with lots of heavy braking is going to need it changed more often than someone who does a 10 mile motorway trip every day.

Nope. The thing that most affects brake fluid is the fact that it's hygroscopic. It absorbs water from the atmosphere, lowering the boiling point and corroding the inside of calipers and cylinders.

You don't have to change it every two years, no. But if you don't, you will have to change brake cylinders and calipers far more often, and you may well find yourself with boiling brakes one day. Not fun.

forgotmyname

Cam belts that get little use need to be changed earlier. They can get brittle through lack of use.

I do short journeys and a fairly low mileage and change my oil every 6 months. With a full service yearly. Even if its only 2000 miles.

You can ignore the cam belt. But if it breaks you may need a new engine.

Nilrem

whitecloud663 wrote: »

thanks for the replies. What about the cambelt? Does that need to be changed even though I have only done 16k miles?

How old is the car?

Cambelts are usually meant to be replaced at a set interval of either time, or distance travelled, whichever comes first (they tend to be made out of a rubber compound and thus wear out both from physical wear and tear and the effects of time).

So you could have a car that's only done 100 miles, but the cambelt is due a change because it's 5/7/10 years old.