Irritating yellow spanner warning.

[Drago]

That 3 banger Nissan/Renfault/Dacia/Mercedes diesel engine is a good performer for its size and very economical, albeit it's a rough and noisy old thing. However, theyre not at all tolerant of neglect and abuse. If youre the sort of person who skips the odd service then you could've picked a more robust engine to do it with.

I bet hes the sort of person who puts off buying new pins for his hand grenade collection

 

[slowmotion]

Stick a small piece of black insulation tape over the offending spanner.

 

[Smokin Joe]

I had an Astra where the engine management warning light came on and was still on two years later when I scrapped the car due to terminal rust. The engine still ran sweet.

 

[RichardB]

As above, the service is due on time as well as mileage. Get it done - an oil and filter change at minimum. Fifty quid max and half an hour. It's cheap compared to a new engine.

 

[Seevio]

Does any one know how to turn it off ?

Did you want it to turn on again at some point?

 

[screenman]

The car I just purchased has done 50 miles since it's last mot and service 12 months ago, it is being seviced by myself this week, including full brake strip down including fluid change.

 

[gavroche]

That 3 banger Nissan/Renfault/Dacia/Mercedes diesel engine is a good performer for its size and very economical, albeit it's a rough and noisy old thing. However, theyre not at all tolerant of neglect and abuse. If youre the sort of person who skips the odd service then you could've picked a more robust engine to do it with.

I bet hes the sort of person who puts off buying new pins for his hand grenade collection

The car is booked in for a full service and the B service is the big one, oil change, filters etc....at a cost of £159. They also wanted £84 extra for cleaning the rear brake drums. I declined that and will get a local fully qualified mechanic to do it at a fraction of the cost. I always get Renault for servicing thought with genuine Renault parts.
Next April is going to be expensive: new cambelt and water pump as the car will be 6 years old then. Cost: £650

 

[RichardB]

The car I just purchased has done 50 miles since it's last mot and service 12 months ago, it is being seviced by myself this week, including full brake strip down including fluid change.

I'd buy a car from you.

 

[screenman]

I'd buy a car from you.

Over 4500 people did when I was a dealer.

 

[Drago]

Over 4500 people did when I was a dealer.

I know. I've read your memoirs.

 

[screenman]

I know. I've read your memoirs.

View attachment 549892

Looking back you could be right, many of my old staff and customers are still pals so maybe not quite as bad.

 

[Broadside]

I make sure I have an annual service. As Drago says the oil needs to be changed particularly if you are doing a limited mileage and short distances. It can also affect your insurance value if you are unfortunate enough to have a write off which is not difficult with many modern cars due to the cost of repairs. No good service history means you are a careless owner and the car value is written down accordingly.

True about the write off value for no standard service history, it brought the value of my car down by £250 when it got written off when someone drove in to it in January. I stretched the service intervals to every 25k miles and probably saved about £1k through the life of my ownership in doing so.

But the loss is tiny compared to the saving so I was quite happy to be £750 up overall!

 

[oldwheels]

True about the write off value for no standard service history, it brought the value of my car down by £250 when it got written off when someone drove in to it in January. I stretched the service intervals to every 25k miles and probably saved about £1k through the life of my ownership in doing so.

But the loss is tiny compared to the saving so I was quite happy to be £750 up overall!

One of our vans was written off after an idiot came round a blind corner too fast to stop in time on a single track road. I got far more than I expected from the insurance as our maintenance was always spot on and any repairs were done immediately as required.

 

[Drago]

I always think that if you cant afford to maintain a car properly then youre in the wrong car.

Aside from all the excellent points made above, there are items that degrade as much with time as mileage, and some of them are safety critical. Indeed, a glance over with a skilled eye could save your life, or someone elses.

Then there's the questuon of pollution. If a car isn't absolutely tip top then its harming the environment more than it should. Even if its a miniscule amount, multiple that up by all the badly maintained vehicles around the world and suddenly you're talking real dirt. Conversely, a scupuloisly maintained car can be squeaky clean - my own car at 141,000 miles with a full Volvo dealer history was so clean on its last MOT that it didnt even trigger the machine on the smoke test, no detectable particulate emissions. Imagine a car with 141k that had missed a few services, thats even if it manages to live that long.

I can think of no solid argument for not maintaining a vehicle properly, and dozens for doing it by the book, and if you can't afford it you should've stuck to a sheety Dacia tossmobile or the bus.

 

[Broadside]

I agree completely about appropriate maintenance of vehicles but don’t agree with following arbitrary service schedules.

You’ll shoot this down quickly because it mentions VW but they are by far the only manufacturer at it.

I’ve bought a VW this year that is just turning 4 years old, the service schedule for VW UK states to replace the timing belt at 4 years at a cost of £850. For the rest of the world the change interval is 6 years unless driven in sandy conditions where it drops to 4 years. Clearly the timing belt is just one example.

Should people blindly follow the UK service schedule to line the dealers pockets because VW UK have done something different to the rest of VW worldwide?

I believe in appropriate and timely maintenance so I will probably get mine done between the 5-6 year point.