Service intervals 1.4fr 150

[Hughsey]

Hi guys

Just bought the 1.4fr 150 and wondered if anyone could shed any light on the servicing

They said they would put on long life service at 20k or every 2 years but when I said I'd only do 6-8k per year they said it would need doing every 12k or 12 months

What's the deal on the 20k long life?
In theory I could never need a service over a 2year period?

Any advice please
Thanks

Ps. fantastic car!

 

[weirdkerr]

Long life is 20k or a year(best for folk doing high mileage) Fixed mileage is every 10k or a year if you do less than 10k (best if you are doing less than 10k a year) long life uses different oil... I think

 

[Hughsey]

Long life is 20k or a year(best for folk doing high mileage) Fixed mileage is every 10k or a year if you do less than 10k (best if you are doing less than 10k a year) long life uses different oil... I think

Thanks.
I best do the normal servicing then. Thought I could get get away with the yearly cost
Don't want to break my new toy though

 

[G.P]

long life uses different oil... I think

Same oil used for both services..

 

[Dr.Dash]

The Long Life service is good for up to a maximum of 20,000miles or 2 years, whichever comes first. In the UK I've yet to see a VAG group car which flags up the service early in normal use.

Given that the dealerships do little more than an oil & filter change then you can save a few quid by sticking with what the car recommends, and then doing an oil change yourself (filter and 5 litres of the correct spec oil are around £35) after a year.

You can check which service intervals your car has been set up for via the Easy Connect system:
>CAR button
>Setup function button
>Service function button

HTH

 

[gartner]

Well, these are some very high milage numbers. In my country there is a service interval every 15000 kilometers,not miles or once a year. Also using the LL oil.

 

[Hughsey]

The Long Life service is good for up to a maximum of 20,000miles or 2 years, whichever comes first. In the UK I've yet to see a VAG group car which flags up the service early in normal use.

Given that the dealerships do little more than an oil & filter change then you can save a few quid by sticking with what the car recommends, and then doing an oil change yourself (filter and 5 litres of the correct spec oil are around £35) after a year.

You can check which service intervals your car has been set up for via the Easy Connect system:
>CAR button
>Setup function button
>Service function button

HTH

Just been into the menu and it does say next service in 19k miles
Does this mean I can service car in 2 years time? I won't get anywhere near 20k in that time

 

[Seastormer]

If you don't do the higher mileage the car will tell you long before the 2 years that the oil needs changed, as the system monitors it, better doing the once a year service for your mileage.

 

[Dr.Dash]

...Does this mean I can service car in 2 years time?

In short, yes.
There should be figures for Inspection Service and Oil Change, and the number of days for each.
The 20K miles figure is for the Inspection service, whilst the oil change using long life oils is often "quoted" as 20k miles it's start point is 18,700 miles (30,000km).

Not getting near the 20k miles in 2 years is no problem, you are simply avoiding paying for a service after 1 year in which they do nothing but an oil/filter change.

Personally, I don't like the idea of long service intervals from a mechanical point of view, they are something which fleet managers like. However, paying a dealer £179 to change the oil is daft IMO when you can do it yourself for £35-40.
If you don't like the idea of any DIY maintenance then a local independent will charge £40-60 depending on the oil used etc. Either way you've saved over £100.

The manual has instructions for resetting the service interval reminder, or use some of the money saved to buy a simple diagnostic scanner (£20-50). They are useful to have and many have the reset service reminder function too.

If you don't do the higher mileage the car will tell you long before the 2 years that the oil needs changed, as the system monitors it, better doing the once a year service for your mileage.

In over 20 years of owing VW/Audi I've yet to see the service reminder do anything other than countdown.

The "oil quality monitoring" is much less sophisticated than the dealers would like you to believe. The sensor is simply for oil temp, that data is used in conjunction with the number of cold starts and a simple algorithm takes a guess at the oil's condition. Fairly meaningless as modern fully synthetic oils are good for a lot more than 20,000 miles unless they are taken over 135C, which should never happen during road use.
In the haulage business oil often does 50-100k between changes. It's sampled and properly analysed after 50k to determine when it actually requires changing.

Contamination of the oil is the issue, hence why I prefer more regular oil/filter changes, and there's no onboard system to accurately assess oil contamination.

 

[Hughsey]

In short, yes.
There should be figures for Inspection Service and Oil Change, and the number of days for each.
The 20K miles figure is for the Inspection service, whilst the oil change using long life oils is often "quoted" as 20k miles it's start point is 18,700 miles (30,000km).

Not getting near the 20k miles in 2 years is no problem, you are simply avoiding paying for a service after 1 year in which they do nothing but an oil/filter change.

Personally, I don't like the idea of long service intervals from a mechanical point of view, they are something which fleet managers like. However, paying a dealer £179 to change the oil is daft IMO when you can do it yourself for £35-40.
If you don't like the idea of any DIY maintenance then a local independent will charge £40-60 depending on the oil used etc. Either way you've saved over £100.

The manual has instructions for resetting the service interval reminder, or use some of the money saved to buy a simple diagnostic scanner (£20-50). They are useful to have and many have the reset service reminder function too.


In over 20 years of owing VW/Audi I've yet to see the service reminder do anything other than countdown.

The "oil quality monitoring" is much less sophisticated than the dealers would like you to believe. The sensor is simply for oil temp, that data is used in conjunction with the number of cold starts and a simple algorithm takes a guess at the oil's condition. Fairly meaningless as modern fully synthetic oils are good for a lot more than 20,000 miles unless they are taken over 135C, which should never happen during road use.
In the haulage business oil often does 50-100k between changes. It's sampled and properly analysed after 50k to determine when it actually requires changing.

Contamination of the oil is the issue, hence why I prefer more regular oil/filter changes, and there's no onboard system to accurately assess oil contamination.

Great in depth explanation thank you
I'll do the service inspection when the car says, most probably 2 years
But I'll probably take the advice and do the oil change and filter myself after 12 month.
There is no possibility of invalidating the warranty if only done after 2 years?

 

[Dr.Dash]

...There is no possibility of invalidating the warranty if only done after 2 years?

No.

As long as you comply with the onboard service indicator then the vehicle is being serviced in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. (You can exceed the mileage by up to 1000 miles and a maximum of 30 days iirc).

For peace of mind fit a genuine OEM filter, rather than an "OEM quality" filter, it'll cost a bit more (£15 rather than 6 or 7) and they're no higher quality but it keeps everything factory.

HTH

 

[Hughsey]

No.

As long as you comply with the onboard service indicator then the vehicle is being serviced in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. (You can exceed the mileage by up to 1000 miles and a maximum of 30 days iirc).

For peace of mind fit a genuine OEM filter, rather than an "OEM quality" filter, it'll cost a bit more (£15 rather than 6 or 7) and they're no higher quality but it keeps everything factory.

HTH

Perfect. Thanks you for your great advice

 

[philhoward]

BMW must use an actual quality sensor in the oil as I picked up a pool car for a couple of weeks - it said it needed an oil change in about 800 miles but was also low. Topped the oil up and magically it didn't need an oil change for another 7000 miles...

I was led to believe that VAG cars with variable servicing capability did have an oil "quality" sensor of some type - probably nothing more clever than measuring the resistivity of the oil?

 

[Dr.Dash]

BMW must use an actual quality sensor in the oil as I picked up a pool car for a couple of weeks - it said it needed an oil change in about 800 miles but was also low. Topped the oil up and magically it didn't need an oil change for another 7000 miles...

I was led to believe that VAG cars with variable servicing capability did have an oil "quality" sensor of some type - probably nothing more clever than measuring the resistivity of the oil?

BMW oil quality monitoring? Maybe, but I've only seen permittivity monitors on trucks.
A trick which used to work on Mercs which flagged an oil service due, was to syphon a litre of oil, switch ignition on/off, refill with oil and miraculously you'd gained another 4-5k miles on the service indicator. This worked even if you simply reused the old oil, so clearly no quality monitoring but just another input to the algorithm which assumes you've added a certain volume of fresh engine oil.

For VW group cars look at some markets where they don't have variable service intervals. The only parts difference is the TOG sensor, a pan mounted Oil Temp and level sensor. I've not had reason to investigate the 5F and Mk7 Golf system, it's possible they've added more sophisticated monitoring, but I'd be surprised.

 

[philhoward]

In that case, it sounds like a "frig"...

 

[Daire92]

My dealers service tag states it's 15000km or 1 year from purchase, which ever one you hit first.

 

[philhoward]

Sounds like yours has been put on Fixed Interval servicing then. Mine is on the 18.5/19k or 2 years but then I'm probably going to be doing 25-30k a year.

 

[Daire92]

Sounds like yours has been put on Fixed Interval servicing then. Mine is on the 18.5/19k or 2 years but then I'm probably going to be doing 25-30k a year.

Ya i got the 3 years servicing pack with my car. I'll probably be doing about 20,000km a year.

 

[Houghsx]

The Long Life service is good for up to a maximum of 20,000miles or 2 years, whichever comes first. In the UK I've yet to see a VAG group car which flags up the service early in normal use.

Given that the dealerships do little more than an oil & filter change then you can save a few quid by sticking with what the car recommends, and then doing an oil change yourself (filter and 5 litres of the correct spec oil are around £35) after a year.

You can check which service intervals your car has been set up for via the Easy Connect system:
>CAR button
>Setup function button
>Service function button

HTH

So the oil is the same regardless of service interval?. I'm on long life but don't do 20k a year, half that at most. I should keep to that but just do an oil and filter change myself as you suggest then.

 

[Dr.Dash]

So the oil is the same regardless of service interval?. I'm on long life but don't do 20k a year, half that at most. I should keep to that but just do an oil and filter change myself as you suggest then.

Yes. Out of the factory they all come with the VW 507 spec "Long Life Oil". Dealers may use the slightly lower spec (VW 504) oil if you change to the fixed service interval.

Your usage sounds the same as mine. I'll be doing an oil/filter change around 5-6k miles, given that a new engine is likely to contaminate the oil more during this initial phase.
By the first official service at 2 years then it'll have done another 10-12k miles, I'll have saved some money, run the engine on a sensible oil change schedule and minimised the dealer's opportunity to screw something up!