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Wed 23 Apr 2003 08:47

Diesel Servicing - Wee Willie Winkie

You all seem like a clued up bunch, so I thought I'd ask your advice....

I own a 2001 406 HDi (lucky me!). The service intervals are every 12k - which seems the norm for a diesel now. I travel a far distance every day, which probably equates to 25k a year. Am I okay just sticking to the servce schedule, or would my car benefit from a bit of tlc, in the form of an oil and filter change every 6k or so? Is there anything else I need to do, apart from changing the car, to help me in my quest for a form of transport that never fails me?

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

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Wed 23 Apr 2003 09:15

Diesel Servicing - Shortwing Rob

My understanding is that since you are doing longer, rather than shorter trips you could safely extend the service interval. More frequent changes are recommended for cars that do a fair bit of stop-start motoring and small journeys.

At one point BMWs had a computer that calculated when a service was due based on the car's useage, so some little idiot light would come on when servicing was due. The actual mileage the light came on at varied quite widely with the type of useage as described above.

I suppose the only thing to say is that more frequent oil changes can't actually hurt your car. Whether the practice is defensible on environmental grounds is another issue.

If it makes you happy and you don't mind effectively wasting money - do it.

Rob

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Wed 23 Apr 2003 10:40

Diesel Servicing - M.M

12K is *already* an extended interval beyond the ideal 6K. However as you are doing longer journeys and 25K/yr then your 12K at least equates to fresh oil/filter each 6 months.

That is the minimum I would advise, if it were my own though I'd still change the oil and filter every 6K.... but my annual mileage is much lower.

I've a diesel here this week with a 6K service interval where the owner has *stretched* it to at least 9K and often nearer 13K. It also arrived very low on oil.No wonder it is one of the roughest examples I've seen for a while of that particular engine and it's only done 79K!

Wonder what he'll think if it needs a £1800 exchange unit by 100K? And that leads me to another thread...

MM

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