VW Longlife Servicing good/bad?

[Walter Sobchak]

Have recently bought a Golf (58) 2.0 GT TDi 140 and have noticed it has been put on the Longlife Servicing plan.

It was first serviced at 12898 miles and again at 28467. It is now on 35k, should I switch back to servicing every year/10k miles?

Not sure if I like the idea of not changing the oil every year. Will be doing roughly 10k mileage per year.

 

[Minstadave]

I think it's generally regarded as bad, especially for any turbo engine.

I've been on AVS for the 30k I've had my A3 but I do 15-20k a year so it's less than a year between services. Even so I've started doing an oil change in between services.

If you go to fixed servicing you'll save a few quid as you don't need the more expensive long life oil. AVS is a compromise to save time more than anything.

 

[Dandle]

I think its good, it works out when the car needs servicing. Our A3 came up for its first service at 9k miles due to the variable service schedule, if it had been on fixed it would have had the oil in longer. At the end of the day oils have got better and engines don't run as dirty as they used to so the oil can stay in there longer if the conditions are right. Manufacturers of the oils and the cars have spent millions on the development of of variable servicing, if they had got it wrong they would have dropped it years ago.

 

[Mud]

I think its good, it works out when the car needs servicing. Our A3 came up for its first service at 9k miles due to the variable service schedule, if it had been on fixed it would have had the oil in longer. At the end of the day oils have got better and engines don't run as dirty as they used to so the oil can stay in there longer if the conditions are right. Manufacturers of the oils and the cars have spent millions on the development of of variable servicing, if they had got it wrong they would have dropped it years ago.

Manufacturers don't much care past ~100K miles. The variable service plan is mostly a sweetener for fleet managers to reduce servicing costs and thereby net themselves a decent bonus; most would recommend fixed interval servicing for a privately owned car.

 

[Brookert]

I often use a VW polo 1.6 tdi, which is on a long life service.

I've never had to put any oil in it (never asked for it), and it seems good in the hood so far..........

 

[[TW]Fox]

It's probably fine. Owners like to think they know better than the people who actually designed the car. It's even worse in America where many believe you are mad not to change oil every 3k.

 

[Type_R]

I think it's generally regarded as bad, especially for any turbo engine.

I've been on AVS for the 30k I've had my A3 but I do 15-20k a year so it's less than a year between services. Even so I've started doing an oil change in between services.

If you go to fixed servicing you'll save a few quid as you don't need the more expensive long life oil. AVS is a compromise to save time more than anything.

This. Any VAG TFSI engine should really be serviced at a fixed 10k especially if privately owned. I know a lot of the GTI enthusiasts look for this (quite rightly) in the FSH when you come to sell it.

 

[Dogbreath]

It's probably fine. Owners like to think they know better than the people who actually designed the car.

Car manufacturers don't always get things right - timing belt change intervals for instance. They don't design these programs as a way of extending the cars life to the maximum, but only to appeal to the pockets of buyers (especially fleet managers) whilst maintaining adequate reliability with the warranty period.

 

[Type_R]

Car manufacturers don't always get things right - timing belt change intervals for instance. They don't design these programs as a way of extending the cars life to the maximum, but only to appeal to the pockets of buyers (especially fleet managers) whilst maintaining adequate reliability with the warranty period.

Exactly. At the end of the day any car company is out there to make money and as long as they don't lose money doing expensive repairs during the warranty period they are happy. Some might even say that they want things to fail after 3 years to milk customers post warranty.

 

[[TW]Fox]

We've had Long Life servicing intervals across various manufacturers for over 10 years now.

Are we seeing lots of cars dying a death at 110k miles due to oil change related issues?

 

[Minstadave]

Seen lots of VAG TDIs munch their turbos way before 100k. Not sure if it's oil related but it's not going to harm having more regular services and doesn't cost any more as the service itself is cheaper.

 

[Mud]

We've had Long Life servicing intervals across various manufacturers for over 10 years now.

Are we seeing lots of cars dying a death at 110k miles due to oil change related issues?

Time will tell...but would you happily run a taxi on variable servicing? The ~15-20K intervals variable servicing seems to give might with modern tribology be adequate for most, depends whether you're planning to run your car to the moon and back I guess. It's so hard to get proper numbers for these things though. Get an oil change and get some exercise...they're both cheap and will extend respective life expectancy

 

[[TW]Fox]

If you go to fixed servicing you'll save a few quid as you don't need the more expensive long life oil

The variable service plan is mostly a sweetener for fleet managers to reduce servicing costs

it's not going to harm having more regular services and doesn't cost any more as the service itself is cheaper.

See what I mean? Even you guys who claim its bad can't agree amongst yourselves. One of you think it's done by manufacturers to reduce servicing costs, the other one claims that fixed servicing is cheaper anyway?

If you can't even agree on that you can imagine why some of us as sceptical as to the technical credentials behind the claims that manufacturer designed service schemes are wrong and people on the internet are right.

 

[Minstadave]

It's not money that the fleet managers save! its time, less time with their cars out of use for servicing. You'll get one or two fewer services for the average fleet cars life span.

For petrols AVS will let you go a maximum of 2 years or about 14-16k between services. If I follow AVS with my usage it lets me go to about 12-13k between services, not a huge amount more, however you pay an extra 20-30 quid more for AVS spec oil. So you don't save much with an AVS regime.

Diesels will go further between services on AVS than petrols. The max they can go is 20k iirc, though most actually get about 14-16k before being told to visit their garage.

 

[Type_R]

See what I mean? Even you guys who claim its bad can't agree amongst yourselves. One of you think it's done by manufacturers to reduce servicing costs, the other one claims that fixed servicing is cheaper anyway?

If you can't even agree on that you can imagine why some of us as sceptical as to the technical credentials behind the claims that manufacturer designed service schemes are wrong and people on the internet are right.

Just because there are a number of factors which are responsible for it being 'bad' and not just one, does that suddenly mean that the manufacturers are right?

At the end of the day the manufacturers themselves give you the option of fixed interval servicing for a reason!

I don't understand how anyone can be convinced that changing oil every 10k miles is worse than leaving it for 20k miles.

 

[Mud]

See what I mean? Even you guys who claim its bad can't agree amongst yourselves. One of you think it's done by manufacturers to reduce servicing costs, the other one claims that fixed servicing is cheaper anyway?

If you can't even agree on that you can imagine why some of us as sceptical as to the technical credentials behind the claims that manufacturer designed service schemes are wrong and people on the internet are right.

I don't think anyone is being as black and white as 'bad', it's just that there are clear advantages to keeping the oil fresh. I believe the DOHCs on the VAG TDi engines really rely on decent lubrication for instance.

Whether the lubrication has advanced sufficiently that it's no longer the limiting factor to making the engine last as long as the rest of the car is really the question here.

 

[Mud]

It's not money that the fleet managers save its time, less time with their cars out of use for servicing.

For petrols AVS will let you go a maximum of 2 years or about 14-16k between services. If I follow AVS with my usage it lets me go to about 12-13k between services, not a huge amount more, however you pay an extra 20-30 quid more for AVS spec oil. So you don't save much with an AVS regime.

Reduced downtime is the money saving for fleets. Yes, you can arguably get cheaper services on fixed intervals, but I'd still use 507 spec oil.

 

[Minstadave]

Reduced downtime is the money saving for fleets. Yes, you can arguably get cheaper services on fixed intervals, but I'd still use 507 spec oil.

Yeah we're talking slightly at cross purposes, for us as individuals AVS isn't going to save us any money. For fleets it saves time and money.

I don't see the need for 507 spec if youre on a 10k interval, I don't think VAG insist on it either.

 

[Dandle]

The days of cars being binned because the engine is knackered are long gone. The chassis and electrical system faults are what put most cars in the breakers these days. Engineering and oil tech has moved on, like Fox says Americans take it to the next level with some changing the oil when it starts to look dirty. Variable service has been around for years and there's no signs of sudden engine failures or excessive wear.

 

[Minstadave]

Really? Because there's more and more use of small capacity turbo engines and turbos are very lubricant dependant. They also have a high failure rate, especially on turbo diesels.