service query (low mileage use)

mutley74

car servicing query
My dad only does ~5,000 miles per year. His c3 Picasso is now 3 years old.
His current manufacturer warranty expires this month.
Car last serviced April 2016 by Dealer.


Why does he still need to get it serviced now? could he not delay this say 6months or until he covers more mileage (up to 12,000miles)?


Or does the engine oil degrade with time, is this why annual service is required?


thanks

Stevie_Palimo

I would personally always run a annual service on the car.

agrinnall

Where does he get his time machine serviced?

mutley74 wrote: »

His c3 Picasso is now 43 years old.

BeenThroughItAll

And right there is why I won't buy a low-mileage car.




OP - low mileage is (or always used to be) regarded by manufacturers as 'harsh usage'; they'd say so in the handbook.


Harsh usage = more servicing, not less.

mutley74

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

And right there is why I won't buy a low-mileage car.




OP - low mileage is (or always used to be) regarded by manufacturers as 'harsh usage'; they'd say so in the handbook.


Harsh usage = more servicing, not less.

He only drives to medical appointments and shops, since last service covered under 5,000 miles. No idea why that would be classed as "harsh usage"..???

F1F93

With that sort of mileage, I'd be servicing it every 6 months. As mentioned, this counts as harsh usage so more servicing is required.

Why not learn to do it yourself? It's surprisingly easy, and a youtube guide can usually be found. You servicing it twice a year will be far cheaper than even 1 annual service at a dealer.

tho_2

The engine never gets a run in and clear out (particularly if its a diesel), most of the time the car sits on the drive with gunk forming. The castrol oil advert a few years ago was reasonably true, you need to get the oil warm to lubricate the engine properly. The clutch is used much more on those short stop start trips to the shops and doctors than most 100 mile motorway journeys and as the question you asked showed, low mileage cars are more likely to have services skipped.

tykesi

mutley74 wrote: »

He only drives to medical appointments and shops, since last service covered under 5,000 miles. No idea why that would be classed as "harsh usage"..???

A quick search of this forum or Google will tell you exactly why that is harsh usage and needs more servicing.

I do 8k per year and have one service and do an interim oil change myself.

onomatopoeia99

Get the service done now, while it is still in warranty, then if anything is picked up during the service as needing replacement it can be fixed under warranty (obviously not friction materials etc though).

Short journeys mean the engine spends a large proportion of the time it is running not fully up to temperature, which harms the oil more, hence other posters describing the usage as harsh. Mileage and age are also factors in oil degradation, but not the only ones.

System

mutley74 wrote: »

He only drives to medical appointments and shops, since last service covered under 5,000 miles. No idea why that would be classed as "harsh usage"..???

Lots of gear changes, lots of braking, lots of acceleration, lots of steering movement over a car driving down a motorway. Engine never gets hot so doesn't burn off moisture in the oil or in the exhaust, catalytic converter gets flooded with fuel due to spending most of its time operating in a condition where the engine is running cold start mix, if its a diesel the DPF never gets hot enough to burn off all the particulates stored in it.

The car spends long periods not being used. That puts abnormal stress on the tyre sidewalls in one place. Brake calipers, especially the handbrake mechanism and auto adjuster in the rear brakes start to seize from lack of use, the handbrake cable is under high tension far more than a normal use car so stretches prematurely. Bearings and other moving metallic parts that are normally almost permanently covered in oil no longer are as the car is stood long enough that all oil coating has drained off. The clutch plate starts to stick to the pressure plate and flywheel due to moisture; This results in abnormal wear to the friction plate and even potential damage when it frees off when setting off after long periods stood. Similar story for brake pads too.

The vehicle battery takes a real hammering. It goes into a quite discharged state, due to long periods not being charged and systems like the immobiliser drawing current or doing journeys which aren't long enough to replace the charge lost from starting the engine, which they're not designed to do. Its expected to provide a high load for longer than normal when starting the car due to the slower speed the starter motor turns over and the fact the fuel pump has to run longer before starting to re-prime the fuel system.

Air con system tends to fail prematurely due to the gases not being circulated. Clutch in the aircon pump suffers same problems as the main clutch.

I could go on.

consumers_revenge

Feeling guilty I only do 3k a year now!