Do people believe your spreadsheet?
Do you service your car yourself?
- Thread starter jsmoke
- Start date
Do people believe your spreadsheet?
Soldato
I've done one myself, but i found that i don't have a clue what i'm looking at in other areas, so for the sake of the extra £100 a year i take it to the garage round the corner so they can give it a once over.
Soldato
This. Most of us dont see the underneath of cars day in and day out, so a visual inspection by a professional is well worth it in my view.
Don
Service is done by either the manufacturer or a specialist. Repairs are usually done by myself.
Soldato
I tend to do them myself, i did an oil change on of my wifes car before i went to work 2 weeks ago as it only takes 30-40 mins.
I just keep all the receipts and make a note of the mileage, not had an issue when selling anything on yet but then usually when i'm coming to sell any of our cars they're not worth much anyway.
I just keep all the receipts and make a note of the mileage, not had an issue when selling anything on yet but then usually when i'm coming to sell any of our cars they're not worth much anyway.
Caporegime
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- 21 Jun 2006
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No as you can't trust a lot of garages these days.
Stamps don't mean much to me unless it's a main dealer.
I get an old geezer who runs a garage to do the bmw. Once a year. I provide all the parts and fluids he provides the Labour.
On the Lexus as it's under warranty it's service and mot is done by main dealer as a package deal. If anything was to break not covered by warranty I fix myself.
Caporegime
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I would if he showed me his ecp account with all the orders of oil, etc.
Soldato
I leave it to the Pros.
Caporegime
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- 21 Jun 2006
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Every 10k miles or once a year.
Most oils these days are longlife and therefore rated to last anywhere between 20 to 60k.
As in gearbox fluid is once every 60k. Diff fluid once every 40k. Brake fluid should be done yearly as it absorbs water.
Engine oil every 6k is excessive unless you only do 3k miles a year.
Soldato
Reminds me of my Speedway Bike. One thump of the engine and the oil was spat out below. Total loss system. Castrol R40 at that. Over £10 a gallon in 1979 !
20k to 60k, are you sure about that? Oil gets dirty just through normal use, the dirt affects the viscosity. I'd imagine after 60k miles in an engine, the oil would resemble treacle.
I thought guidelines for brake fluid changes were every 2 years, not that I expect many cars to get regular brake fluid changes. I expect brake and power steering fluid changes in general are massively neglected.
Most people's idea of a 'full service' is oil, air filter and spark plugs.
Caporegime
What good is a list when you have no idea what you are looking at, looking for and diagnose? You might as well be poking it with a stick.
True but we do have google?
Don
It's not though is it?
Condition based service intervals are far better for those doing e.g. lots of long motorway journeys Vs lots of stop start school runs.
Lol
Soldato
I replaced my oil filter with a screw-on thread so that I can attach a new 5L can of oil every week. Bam. Constant supply of fresh oil.
On a more serious note, I have the yearly service done at Ford partly to keep up the FFSH and partly because I get European breakdown cover included, although I'm not sure if the latter is still offered, so I'm starting to wonder if I should just save the cash and do it myself. I don't plan on getting rid of the car any time soon, and I have a spreadsheet and receipts showing servicing and any consumables or repairs (I do these myself).
Changing the oil every 2-3k is a ridiculous waste of time and money unless it's a track car.
On a more serious note, I have the yearly service done at Ford partly to keep up the FFSH and partly because I get European breakdown cover included, although I'm not sure if the latter is still offered, so I'm starting to wonder if I should just save the cash and do it myself. I don't plan on getting rid of the car any time soon, and I have a spreadsheet and receipts showing servicing and any consumables or repairs (I do these myself).
Changing the oil every 2-3k is a ridiculous waste of time and money unless it's a track car.
With modern synthetic oils the recommendation is usually 5-10K, studies have generally indicated that around 18K the performance/quality of the oil tends to start dropping off sharply with an increase in the chance of serious problems.
But as I said in another thread recently some of my family's cars have been taken on by other family and run into the ground once they get old doing like another 50-60K without bothering with an oil change and that is rarely the cause of what finally scraps them - not that I would recommend leaving it that long between oil changes.
Personally I have a main dealer do a full service rather than mess about with it myself (bit expensive but one near me does a very good job and replaces a lot of consumable bits for the money as part of the service).
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