Many new cars now have warning indicators showing that a service is due. I always had the impression that these were dictated to some extent by the type of journeys undertaken, and the way in which a car was driven. For example my father used to have an A Class and when he enquired of the main dealer when his first service was due they were able to run some diagnostics to tell him.
However I have recently bought a VW Passat TDI and the handbook appears to indicate that service should be carried out every 10k miles or earlier.
Does anyone have any knowledge about whether the operation of these differs between manufacturers?
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Hi Brambob
I have a 2001 TDI PD Passat, I think you will find that depending on how your drive yours a service interval countdown display will appear on one of the LCD panels in the dash panel sometime after 8k miles unless you have opted to have the thing on a longlife service regime.
The type of service regime is apparently allocated on delivery and you agree it with the supplying dealer. The vehicle can however be swopped between fixed and variable servicing by sorting it out at a VW dealer.
The VW dealer tells me that lots of short trips will cause the thing to come on after 6/7k but 8/9k is common for mixed journeys.
You can reset the service indicator yourself and there was a recent thread on this, however resetting it and missing the interval service can have warranty implications if you have a VW that is still under warranty.
as ever
Mark
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Hi Mark
Thanks for reply.
So the real purpose (on the VW system) is to get people to have their cars serviced earlier than the standard intervals specified. Call me naive but I had not thought of that.
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Hi Brambob
seems to work that way on fixed servicing the handbook says every 12mths or 10,000 miles, however service indicator can come on earlier and then I think you have 500 miles after it countsdown to zero or else warranty is affected.
My service indicator has consistently counted to zero at around 8.5k/9k despite mostly motorway miles (it must really take heed of short trips when they occur) As a result it had three services in 12 months having done 26/27k. 40K service which includes cambelt will occur at c36/7k if this continues and at some point in the future it will get ahead of itself with regards to the mileage/number of services equation if you look the 10k or 12mths version. Still better than longlife servicing where you can get over 20k before the indicator comes on with the only difference being the engine gets fully synth rather than semi synth when it is changed. Given that PDs seem very sensitive to oil type running on degraded oil might be a very false economy even if it is called longlife.
It starts to get expensive but then the VW dealer has a very smart showroom and assorted muppets to support.
as ever
Mark
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They use a formula to work out how many miles between services. The one for BMW is below:-Mileage is estimated based on the following formula:
e= a(1+t+r)
e=Estimated mileage
a=Actual mileage traveled
t=1 if engine temperature is below operating temperature, else t=0
r=.5 if engine is above 4500 RPM, else r=0
Example: If you traveled 5 miles with a cold engine running at 5000 RPM, the SII computer would actually "estimate" 12.5 miles traveled:
Solving for e:
a=5 (the actual miles traveled)
t=1 (because the engine was cold)
r=.5 (the engine was exceeding 4500 RPM)
e=5 X (1+1+.5)=12.5 estimated miles (from a trip of only 5 miles)
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