Having so little use it could be more important to have a service - lack of use - stuck brake pads, binding handbrake, degradation of oil quality through lack of use etc etc

We've been here before, haven't we ? Unused oil, unless it's very stale, doesn't go rancid or anything by itself. If the car normally gets well warmed up when driven, the oil will not accumulate much acidic moisture and should be OK. It's churning oil round a hot engine that wears it out, not sitting in a cool dark place. I have driven my 1994 306 for about 2000 miles since August 2019, and have just changed its oil, but not the filter (I emptied and replaced that).

As for the brake pads and binding handbrake, the MoT should pick those up.

Edited by Andrew-T on 27/09/2021 at 15:22

Having so little use it could be more important to have a service - lack of use - stuck brake pads, binding handbrake, degradation of oil quality through lack of use etc etc

'Little' is not necessarily 'infrequent'. 1000 miles could be either a twenty mile trip once a week, or a few long journeys with several weeks of idleness when things might seize up. And if oil isn't used, it doesn't 'degrade' unless contaminated or exposed to the atmosphere and its contents.

Didn't bother having my Mondeo serviced last year. It had only done 1500 miles in the previous year so I just put it in for an MOT after checking all the obvious things myself. Fortunately it passed!

I did have it serviced this year, though, even though it had only done a further 1000 miles. Even the engine oil was still yellow!

Edited by Galaxy on 27/09/2021 at 18:11

Then in November 2022 I will have it serviced including a new cambelt and tensioner as it will be sixteen (it's every eight years or 100,000 miles on this engine, possibly because of the variable timing?)

Interesting. I would have thought any theoretical increased wear and tear from the VVT (if indeed there is any of significance) would result in a mileage, not age, reduction from the original 10yrs/100,000 miles.

John F - do you want my old cambelt?

;-)

I'd rather have the virtually unused tension pulley! I wonder if it is as easy to exchange as it was in our old Passat GL 2.0, in which the original cambelt was still doing its job at over 240,000 miles when we sold it.

I once (when my car was well out of warranty) changed my service from the (more expensive) more major service to the (far cheaper) minor one because of a similar reason. This was pre-pandemic (by some years) and I just effectively deferred the major service by one year.

Skipping service entirely is, in my view, not recommended because low mileage/usage means certain components may get seized or damaged, like brake pads/discs, air conditioning and even flatspotted /mishapen (due to being left to get flat) tyres.

Checking the operation of components, especially ones that need usage to keep them in good order, often because usage mean all the parts get lubricated should be done annually. Obviously checking the condition of the battery is a must for low use cars.

Similarly with changing out certain fluids, e.g. brake fluid. I would also say that certain cars have more issues with a lack of use than others, and being a long-term owner helps guide you to have a better idea what issues may occur and what don't.

My car tends to only have issues with seizing brakes when not used a lot, plus I need to keep an eye on the battery.

If a car owner is competent enough to check some of these themselves, then great, it saves money on garage bills, but if not, why risk an expensive or even terminal (enough for the car to be scrapped) failure just to save £200 in a year?

It appears that oil changes are a bone of contention, perhaps because degridation varies considerably from model to model, or is more dependent on what type of use the car gets and perhaps the ambient conditions? At least via the dipstick you can - reasonably - check the condition of the oil as well as its level.

Depends what you mean by "service". I've never had one, but its my understanding (and has already been pointed out above) that none of the things you mention get done in a standard pro service.

This implies that, unless you DIY, you would have to specify these inspections and verify they'd been done. I doubt that is even possible unless you have special cred with your garage , but if it is it still sounds like it would be a hassle.

Assuming service = oil change, my last service interval was about 6 years. The engine was very clean at the end of that period, cleaner in fact than it was at the start, and there was no sign of oil degradation.

bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/engine-after-sit.../

It seems possible, however, that there was a some increase in wear due to the accumulation of debris in the oil.

Edited by edlithgow on 02/10/2021 at 10:18