Regular servicing for car not intending to sell anytime soon?

fred246

Mickey666 said:

I drive an automatic . . . what's a handbrake

Back to the topic though, which is about servicing, I agree with the poster who said forget the main dealer and find a local garage for annual oil & filter changes.  That's what I've always done (except when I had company cars) - buy a 'newish' car (1-3 years & 30k miles old) and keep for at least 100k miles.  Change the oil & filters every year and then just do whatever is necessary to pass the annual MoT test - mostly just the 'wear' items such as tyres and brakes.  By the time the car is over 10 years old a main agent full service history will be pretty much worthless anyway.

Modern cars are amazing pieces of machinery, completely unlike those of Britain's 'industrial heydays'.

The only bits missing then are filters and spark plugs. Cambelt? You do change the brake fluid every 2 years I hope or early death is certain for you.

32Battalion

fred246 said:

 You do change the brake fluid every 2 years I hope or early death is certain for you.

You have been watching far too may you tube videos.  

Mickey666

fred246 said:

Mickey666 said:

I drive an automatic . . . what's a handbrake

Back to the topic though, which is about servicing, I agree with the poster who said forget the main dealer and find a local garage for annual oil & filter changes.  That's what I've always done (except when I had company cars) - buy a 'newish' car (1-3 years & 30k miles old) and keep for at least 100k miles.  Change the oil & filters every year and then just do whatever is necessary to pass the annual MoT test - mostly just the 'wear' items such as tyres and brakes.  By the time the car is over 10 years old a main agent full service history will be pretty much worthless anyway.

Modern cars are amazing pieces of machinery, completely unlike those of Britain's 'industrial heydays'.

The only bits missing then are filters and spark plugs. Cambelt? You do change the brake fluid every 2 years I hope or early death is certain for you.

I mentioned oil filters.  Spark plugs don't need regular changing IME and tend to let you know when they do because the engine management system counts misfires and will issue a 'Check Engine' warning light of the count gets too high.  Had that once when an ignition coil was in the early stages of failure - car started and drove fine but the 'Check Engine' light kept coming on.  Local garage diagnostics pointed towards one of two coils.  I admit I was skeptical but had it replaced and never had another problem.

Can't remember ever having a cambelt changed, except on company cars, but I don't think I've ever kept a car with more than 130k miles, so may have been lucky (or had a car with a cam chain).

I find it hard to believe that brakes are going to suddenly fail for want of changing brake fluid every two years.  A gradual loss of performance I could imagine, but then the MoT test would fail if things got too bad and would then need fixing.

I'm not suggesting never fixing things, more that the scheduled servicing is typically overkill for most modern cars and that the extensive sensor & fault logging systems will usually report when things NEED to be done rather than the servicing schedule in which an expensive technician mainly just CHECKS if anything needs to be done (apart from regular stuff like oil/filter changes as I previously mentioned).

Perhaps I've just been lucky over the years but the only actual breakdown (other than standard stuff like punctures and failed battery) I can recall was a fan/alternator/waterpump belt failing because of a seized tensioning pulley.  I'm not sure the recommended service schedule would have picked that up anyway.  Oh yes, and a broken spring - though that wasn't a breakdown as such because the car was still driveable

fred246

Whenever someone comes on here and says "I never service my car" I would always think "that's a bit daft, you should always change the oil at least". Not keeping an eye on cambelts is also asking for trouble. I wouldn't do it because I can do a full service easily and cheaply but for someone trying to run a car on a tight budget I think MOT & annual oil change is sort of OKish.

droopsnoot

fred246 said:

Not keeping an eye on cambelts is also asking for trouble. 

Indeed, though it does depend on the engine. The engine in my daily driver can suffer catastrophic damage if the belt lets go, but the one in my classic will just stop. Interference vs. non-interference engine.