Leon FR Tdi Servicing

[KevinG]

Hi all,

I'm looking for advice.

My Leon FR Tdi went in for 1st service 5 days ago - cost £213.34

Only additional item I asked to be inspected was the brakes - they were squealing.

I've just checked the oil level, it is the same as it was before it went in, and the oil is black in colour. Surely it shouldn't be black already!!!!?

The brakes still squeal, just as before - apparently the pads were 'deglazed' - FOC.

I won't name the service centre yet, just looking for advice at this stage.

Thanks,

Kevin.

 

[LEON_FR]

HOW MUCH???!!! i paid £140 with a curtesy car!!!
Thats mad mate way too much.
Mind you do Diesels and petrol have the same service cost??

 

[Sisson]

I changed my oil, and within a few miles it was black, i think its normal for a diesel

 

[MattR]

Ive changed oil on diesels before - it goes black pretty much straight away - nothing like a petrol.

 

[WaveyDaveyGravy]

There's quite a lot of residual soot in diesel engines so they do go black straight away more or less. I am staggered by the cost of that service - mine was £194 and I felt violated for what is in essence a glorified oil change. So unfortunately you've found out the hard way.

Result of this was me shopping around - the original dealer won't be seeing me again, especially as they have another dealership very locally that charges substantially less, and it's not down to fancy dealerships either - it's been there for 20+ years. So realistically there isn't much you can do about it now, but you can change in the future. It is very short sighted of dealers I think, as they will always make more from repeat custom that they will from high priced one offs, but there you go.

And without wanting to sound like a total doom-monger I think most dealers miss faults - I've used SCN info to tell dealers what is wrong with my car despite them telling me everything is fine! If you are sure there is a problem do a bit of digging and go armed, although you shouldn't have to do it it always helps!

 

[Arctic]

Mine was £170 inc a courtsey car from a Seat service centre

 

[ChrisUK]

Seat wanted £180 from me for the 1st service, so I shopped around and eventually got it done in a Skoda garage for £140

The service was superb, and they even cleaned & polished it, left some sweets on the front seat, along with the rest of the washer fluid (which I'm still using now), and the door hinge grease spray thingy !!

Top service by Alex Lawrie Skoda - well recommended, and I will be going back there at 20k !!!


I think seat seen you coming for £213.34 - did they give you new wheels or something ???????

 

[Wrighty]

10k lube service on mine back in january came to £60 at the dealers, but i did supply my own oil (Millers @ £24 for 5l from local motor factors)

 

[sssstew]

yup agreed, the oil goes black quick in TDIs. bummer you paid so much though!

 

[ronnie939]

Just had my second service in a year £90 !, all vag parts and only the best oil ! I gave the bloke a £10 drink as well ;-)

 

[willisthm]

1st year service 158 sheets at Alex Bridge Seat Sunderland and courtesy Altea thrown in. I dropped the car in at 8.45 and got a call at 10 saying it was ready. They must of spent less than 1 hour doing this service.

Most main dealer servicing is a rip off. Difficult to do without it though when you still have a warranty.

 

[Wrighty]

1st year service 158 sheets at Alex Bridge Seat Sunderland and courtesy Altea thrown in. I dropped the car in at 8.45 and got a call at 10 saying it was ready. They must of spent less than 1 hour doing this service.

Most main dealer servicing is a rip off. Difficult to do without it though when you still have a warranty.

i believe there was legislation brought in a few years back which meant that you dont need to go to a main dealer to keep your warranty valid.

does affect resale though not having a service book fully stamped up by a main dealer

 

[chrisfr]

I paid £155 for a 10000 miles service

 

[ChrisUK]

By the way, dont get confused with the 1st service.

You can get 2 different services.

One is a main service (at 10k miles or 1 year, whichever hapens sooner), or you can just get a lube service (i.e if you do silly amount of miles per year!)


Wrighty - you are talking about "Block Exemption". As long as the garage uses the standard parts & to the dealer spec, than you can get it done anywhere and keep your warranty.

But come to selling it on, I would prefer a dealer FSH than a back street garage one ??

 

[KevinG]

The service I had was the 1 year/10K mile service, which included an inspection, and hooking the car up to the diagnostic computer. This is more comprehensive than the interim lube service.

The main cost was labour (1.6 hours @ £69 per hour + the very expensive oil). When you add the VAT you can see how the charges add up (£181.57 before VAT) They also mentioned the fact that they are charged to dispose of the old engine oil. It breaks down as:

1 Element
1 Screenwash (it was full when it went in, this is just part of the 'package' printed on my invoice??!!)
1 Plug
5 5w-40 1ltr
2 consumables
1 b/cleaner

The dealer claims that the oil always turns black after as little as half a mile on a TDi.

They did also identify a noisy wiper motor, which the car will be booked in to have replaced in due course, under warranty.

 

[ChrisUK]

Still a lot of cash mate - did they give you the rest of the washer fluid that wasn't used ??

Try a Skoda garage next time, I'll be there for my 20k service next

 

[ronnie939]

Dam... thats expensive, as above you can get the car servied anywhere accourding to the deal spec / parts used.

When you trade in the car, it makes no differece to the part ex, Trust me 4 cars later and I have never had a problem.

One guy i did say to him " You work here, can you say hand on heart that you are happy with everyone that works on the services" . at that point he said fair point, and I did ask him if he wanted to give it any test then feel free.

 

[ChrisJConnolly]

Just had my 20K service at the bargain price of £ 246.00 must be the pollen filter they replaced even though my 1st service was done in November '05. Must be the heavy winter pollen count!!!!

 

[neo265]

Servicing can be steep and I do 30k miles per year.

I buy parts from Seat and my local garage charges £20 for a 10k service and about £35 for a 20k service. So with parts thats £60 and £90 respectively. Its still covered by warrenty as Ive just had a new clutch free of charge.

Im sure the savings Ive made through servicing at my local far outweighs the resale loss of not having it serviced at Seat.

 

[ronnie939]

Servicing can be steep and I do 30k miles per year.

I buy parts from Seat and my local garage charges £20 for a 10k service and about £35 for a 20k service. So with parts thats £60 and £90 respectively. Its still covered by warrenty as Ive just had a new clutch free of charge.

Im sure the savings Ive made through servicing at my local far outweighs the resale loss of not having it serviced at Seat.

Agreed, I have had new brakes on my old LCR before and they never questioned it.

You are best of buying the parts yourself and getting a proper garage to fit them.