Servicing/oil change 10 year old car

brucethefish

Hi

Ive got a Skoda Citigo (14 plate), which has now done 117,000 miles

I last had it serviced at 113,500, basically annually prior to that

Im just wondering if its now worth getting it done more often, or at least an oil change?  Id rather pay say £5-600 a year in repairs than get a new car on finance

Mark_d

Doing about 12000 miles a year I don't think you  car needs servicing more than annually.  If you were doing 20000 miles per year then things would be different.

Mr.Generous

Oil and filter change still important on low mileage, once a year will be fine.

Mildly_Miffed

Servicing isn't "repairs".
Servicing helps to PREVENT repairs being needed...

brucethefish

Well, repairs/maintenance, it just seems to keep going so want to keep it as long as really

thebullsback

best advice I ever heard  never ever use Hall Frauds or Kwick Flip for any thing that has an engine .

CliveOfIndia

It's often said that even if you do nothing else, an annual oil/filter change is one of the best things you can do to prolong the life of the engine (more often if you're doing high mileage, but that probably doesn't apply to you).

Are you able to change the oil and filter yourself?  It's usually a really easy job, though I appreciate not everyone has a driveway or a suitable place to do it.  But if you can do it yourself then it'll not cost much, and should keep the engine happy for many more miles to come.  And 117,000 is actually not that high these days, it should have plenty of life left in it yet.

Of course, the engine isn't the only vital component in a car, things like transmission and suspension can still wear out.  But even then, as long as you like the car and it does what you need, a few hundred quid a year on repairs & maintenance is a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a new car.  And even a new car will still need maintenance, and consumable items will still need replacing.

fatbelly

Those cars need an annual oil change and new filters.

Good little things, aren't they?

Veteransaver

I've always changed the oil based on miles rather than time. It's a bit pointless despite what the manufacturers claim for example to change the oil every year if you've only done 4000 miles. I used to do around 4000 miles a year so changed the oil every 3 years. Never had any trouble with the engine.

Mr.Generous

Veteransaver said:

I've always changed the oil based on miles rather than time. It's a bit pointless despite what the manufacturers claim for example to change the oil every year if you've only done 4000 miles. I used to do around 4000 miles a year so changed the oil every 3 years. Never had any trouble with the engine.

Not always the case, if you do a lot of short trips the engine doesn't get hot enough to evaporate the condensation under the rocker cover, and water gets into the oil. Once its in the oil its very hard to get it out. Ever wondered why you have breather pipes under the hood?

The cooling water will be hot on a car long before the oil is up to a good working temperature. That's the main reason why manufactures set a time limit for a service.

400ixl

Veteransaver said:

I've always changed the oil based on miles rather than time. It's a bit pointless despite what the manufacturers claim for example to change the oil every year if you've only done 4000 miles. I used to do around 4000 miles a year so changed the oil every 3 years. Never had any trouble with the engine.

Unless that is to do it more frequently than the time based interval that is very poor advice. Oils absorb all sorts of elemental contaminants that mean the time based changes are as important as mileage.

Time does not necessarily mean annually, but bi-annually is usually the maximum limit most manufacturers would go.

I do about 4k a year in mine and the service interval is 12k or 24 months. It still gets the oil changed every 12 months, even if the rest of the service is stretched to 2 years.

Depending on the engine in the OP's car, if it is the TFSi engine the 12k is stretching the oil change on those engines. They are well known for starting to burn oil at that sort of mileage if they haven't had regular oil changes.