Keeping a five year old S-Max

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Mon 19 May 2014 09:33
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Happy Blue!

I have decided to keep my S-Max TDCi Auto for at least another 18 months. It is about to have a service and MoT at 50,000 miles. It has been regularly serviced (every 12 months and 10,000 miles) and has been reliable. I have no complaints about the way the car has performed. There has been the occasional spurious warning message on the dashboard, but these clear very quickly once the car has warmed up and in mechanical terms, so far no issues.

I have managed to dent the rear bumper, but as it is plastic, it is of little consequence. If I keep the car, I will get a few bodywork scratches and scrapes buffed out and will get the wheels refurbished.

But is there anything else I should be doing mechanically? What would you recommend if you were keeping this car?

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Mon 19 May 2014 10:04
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Bromptonaut

As long as you keep servicing it I don't think there's much more to do. What's the cambelt life on that engine? You might need to plan for that quite soon.

How fast does it wear rear tyres? if answer is v slowly and you're not rotating them to front then now is time to replace them - five yrs is enough exposure to UV and potential fatigue to steel plies.

I know nothing of auto boxes but again, beyond regular fluid changes, it probably needs little.

What you may find is that, like the spurious warninigs other niggle type faults emerge. If they're not safety related you may choose to live with them. My Xantia had a rattling clutch bearing for last 50k miles of its life and current 9yo Berlingo is prone to false warning of low brake fluid if parked at certain angles.

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Mon 19 May 2014 10:09
Keeping a five year old S-Max - gordonbennet

I'd get gearbox and final drive (if seperate) oil changed, and coolant.

Would also get someone competent to go right through the brakes, fluid change if not already done, strip pads out clean and lube calipers and pistons properly, and if there's any chance of lubing/re-waterproofing the EPB internal mechanism i would get someone who knows about them to do so.

Presumably its had fuel filters as part of normal servicing.

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Mon 19 May 2014 10:56
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Happy Blue!

Thanks both. Had new tyres earlier this year and do tend to rotate as the fronts last 18,000 miles if i am lucky.

Note all the points about fluid changes (at the garage I use, a full suite of filter changes is automatic in every service) and given the brakes and EPB a good strip down is a good idea.

I will mention it to the garage. They serviced two cars for me last year and seemed happy to do extra work I wanted, but were careful to say that some things weren't vital. NIce family run firm.

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Mon 19 May 2014 13:43
Keeping a five year old S-Max - SteveLee

Get the brake fluid changed as well - keeps internal ABS modulator corrosion at bay.

Other than that there's no reason why it should be trouble free for years.

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Wed 21 May 2014 13:46
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Happy Blue!

Well - here is the good news....

Car serviced, brake fluid, oil and all filters changed. ATF is sealed, so can't change that, coolant not due for a while and not lost anything, cambelt not due for five years, brake pads and discs have at least 12 months life left. But....

Rear shock absorber needs replacement. Apparently my top of the range car has self leveling rear suspension, and it is all built into the shocks. So, bottom of the range S-Max shocks are £50, mine are £350! Checked with a Ford dealer and its correct.

Damned road humps.....


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Wed 21 May 2014 17:31
Keeping a five year old S-Max - gordonbennet

I bet theres a way round that ATF sealed for life cobblers, might be worth a butchers on the owner forums for ways and means, possible remove pipe where it feeds into radiator and pump it out? then top up as normal, might need a couple of changes doing it this way...indeed the Outback requires three changes as the TC can't be drained unless running, hence 20 litres of ATF delivered to my gaff.

On the subject of the self levellers, it sounds like you have Boge (or similar) self contained self levelling rear shockers, top range Volvo 7 and 9 series estates had these, and they were stupid prices in the 80's. let alone now.

Just a thought for you HB, on the Volvo's you could dispense with the self levellers and fit normal shockers, BUT you had to fit the lower spec model's springs which were stiffer, otherwise the car would sit low.

Not suggesting you want to do this, nor even if you can, but just mentioning in case you want to have a chat with your mechanic chappy to see if a similar conversion is feasable on the S Max.

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Wed 21 May 2014 18:16
Keeping a five year old S-Max - GHSAUNDERS40
What a great post Happy Blue.

After much faffing and deliberation I've decided to keep my 57 plate Toyota Auris 2.0 D4D for another two years.

I simply cannot justify the £20k + to replace the car simply to look good in the company car park that at the moment functions perfectly. My only gripe is the car has no stability control, otherwise is highly specified car with leather, climate control etc.

Last year toyota replaced the gearbox and clutch FOC and at the same time I paid for a new DMF. This was due to a sudden failure at 59k.

The car has done 77k and has averaged 20k per years in the last few years.

It has a full Toyota history and I've dropped the oil and filter changes to every 5k. Toyota charge me £62 for the pleasure. I feel this is well worth it to prolong the life of the turbo and timing chain ( hopefully). I have been using shell v power for some years now.

Is there any anything else I could do to prolong the life of the car other than what has been mentioned in other posts above?

ghsaundes40.

Edited by GHSAUNDERS40 on 21/05/2014 at 18:20

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Wed 21 May 2014 18:50
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Happy Blue!

I will ask around about the ATF. Whilst my garagiste is competent if not knowledgeable, he works mainly with taxis fleets, so something esoteric like what you suggest will probably have him scratching his head!

Don't fancy changing the suspension. Because I have Xenon headlights, there is no headlight manual adjustment, so need the self levelling rear suspension - and besides its seems expensive to do the conversion.

It is amazing how much better a car smells after the cabin filter has been changed!

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Thu 22 May 2014 09:00
Keeping a five year old S-Max - SteveLee

Take it to an automatic transmission specialist - they'll change the fluid.

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Thu 22 May 2014 14:53
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Happy Blue!

Just rang two auto transmissions specialists within a five minute drive of each other near Bolton. One said "why bother?", the other said "I have never known anyone regret having the oil changed"

Latter said he would do it while I wait and would cost less thn £100. Seems a good idea.

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Sat 24 May 2014 14:12
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Alby Back
Just reached the same conclusion with my E Class estate. It's about to have its third birthday and I've had it from when it was 3 months old and had only 200 miles on it. ( I guess it was a showroom / demonstrator )

It's now up to ( might be a bit over come to think ) 90 thousand miles but it still looks pretty good and drives perfectly. Apparently it's "worth" about £15/16k now but a new one to the same or similar spec would be in the region of £40k.

So the head says to justify £25k for a more recent digit on the number plate seems a bit excessive really !

Strikes me that if I keep it for another couple of years it'll not lose more than half it's current value, provided it doesn't break of course which is always the gamble I suppose.
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Sat 24 May 2014 14:21
Keeping a five year old S-Max - SteveLee
Just reached the same conclusion with my E Class estate. It's about to have its third birthday and I've had it from when it was 3 months old and had only 200 miles on it. ( I guess it was a showroom / demonstrator ) It's now up to ( might be a bit over come to think ) 90 thousand miles but it still looks pretty good and drives perfectly. Apparently it's "worth" about £15/16k now but a new one to the same or similar spec would be in the region of £40k. So the head says to justify £25k for a more recent digit on the number plate seems a bit excessive really ! Strikes me that if I keep it for another couple of years it'll not lose more than half it's current value, provided it doesn't break of course which is always the gamble I suppose.

If it's an auto get the fluid changed on that too.

Thankfully the likes of GM, Mercedes and Jaguar seem to have abandoned their flirtation with "sealed for life"(death) transmission maintenance routines. A dealer will say it's not necessary - your transmission will differ.

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Sat 24 May 2014 14:34
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Alby Back
Yeah, it is an auto. That thought re the ATF had occurred to me too. I shall look into that. Thanks for the reminder/tip.
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Sat 24 May 2014 16:15
Keeping a five year old S-Max - Avant

I was being rude about noisy Mercedes diesels on another thread: in fairness I haven't driven an E-class and the clatter may well be better suppressed given that you pay a lot more.

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Sat 24 May 2014 17:04
Keeping a five year old S-Max - scot22

I disagree: you weren't being rude. It was an informed opinion/observation expressed politely which is how a forum should be.

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Sat 24 May 2014 17:23
Keeping a five year old S-Max - corax
Just reached the same conclusion with my E Class estate. It's about to have its third birthday and I've had it from when it was 3 months old and had only 200 miles on it. ( I guess it was a showroom / demonstrator ) It's now up to ( might be a bit over come to think ) 90 thousand miles but it still looks pretty good and drives perfectly. Apparently it's "worth" about £15/16k now but a new one to the same or similar spec would be in the region of £40k. So the head says to justify £25k for a more recent digit on the number plate seems a bit excessive really ! Strikes me that if I keep it for another couple of years it'll not lose more than half it's current value, provided it doesn't break of course which is always the gamble I suppose.

If it's an auto get the fluid changed on that too.

It's worth looking after because if it's the 7-speed, it's a very good tranmission that lasts a long time with fluid changes.

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Sat 24 May 2014 17:28
Keeping a five year old S-Max - corax

Just rang two auto transmissions specialists within a five minute drive of each other near Bolton. One said "why bother?",

A strange reaction from a specialist, unless he's thinking that the car is a throwaway item once something major goes wrong. Even so, for the amount it would cost to perform a fluid change compared to a replacement gearbox or finding another car, it's worth doing.

Edited by corax on 24/05/2014 at 17:31

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