Hi all,
I've recently bought a 2.0 TDi Leon, the first service was already in the book. The second service is scheduled at the 20,000 mile mark and is fast coming up. I note from the receipt in the service book that a little over £100 was paid to a local Seat dealer. My closest Seat dealer wants closer to £250. As far as I can work out, there is little to justify this huge jump in costs other than the following: the 10,000 mile service was a mere oil and filter change, the 20,000 mile service also includes an inspection... Have I got this distinction right? Am I going to be ripped off if I pay the nigh-on £250 being demanded of me? What extra work am I actually paying for (the person I spoke to wasn't overly forthcoming with reasons to charge the extra money).
I understand that the oil for the 2.0 PD TDi is specialist and costs a lot of money, but I don't want to pay over the odds for what I suspect will amount to the most expensive lubricant change I've ever had to pay for.
One afterthought: does anybody know when the cambelt / tensioners need changing on this VAG diesel engine?
Thanks everyone,
Ben
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Dealer servicing is a well documented ripoff. I run a VAG PD diesel, bought second hand from a VAG dealer at 2 yrs and 20k miles. Although the car had just been "serviced" (joke - airfilter was clogged and spare tyre flat but not punctured) I insisted as part of the deal that 506.01 oil was put into the engine and the servicing timer set to "variable".
This means that by the book, the car will be out of warranty when it calls for a service. In fact, I'll do an oil change with 507.00 oil as soon as the warranty expires - 20k miles is too long for any oil. I would suggest that if you are prepared to gamble having to argue about any possible warranty claim, you do the next service yourself or get somebody to do it for a fair rather than for an extortionate profit.
Timing belts on PD engines are a problem. It was a poor engineering decision to power this excellent injection system with a belt drive and casualties have not been light. The official recommendation for my engine (AWX) is 40k miles or 4 years whichever is sooner. The tensioner and idler rollers must be changed at the same time and anyone with wisdom will change the cambelt driven water pump. These have plastic impellers which fail. I believe GSF will sell you a pump with a brass impeller.
659.
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Thanks for your thoughts 659.
For the record, every other service is 'minor' and the other half are 'major'. I don't really want to miss a service stamp out of my book with the car still being less than a year old, I think I'd have a nightmare trying to sell it on without at least the first 3 or 4 with proper endorsement. And it isn't that I'm not capable of dropping the oil either... I presume that the third service will be closer the £120 mark again with the fourth costing double that (or more if it will need a cambelt / tensioners / water pump).
Can anybody confirm what the actual difference is in work carried out at the 10,000 minor service and the 20,000 major service?
Thanks again
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The service schedules are usually in the service book, giving a list of work to be carried out. Usually just a list of sentences that begin with "Check..." or "Inspect..."
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An independant would want similar for the service and the broken history would reduce the value of the car by£0000s?
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The first service is usually well over £100 (it cost me £150), so the previous owener got off lightly. £250 is about right for a 2nd year service at a VW garage, but ring round. Also allow for ~£50 for the brake fluid to be changed at year two.
As for cambelts, my dealer tells me its 4yrs or whatever the milage says in the book (60k for my 1.9TDI). Certainly the TDI company cars we have don't get the belt changed at 40k (1.5yrs)!
Joe
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Ask for a break down of the charge being levied. You would get one on an invoice so it shouldn't be a problem to provide one. I would expect one increase in costs to be for a pollen filter which is usually replaced at this mileage.
I'd also consider moving to variable servicing if possible and you do sufficient mileage - ideally more than 15,000 a year. You may pay slightly more for the higher spec oil on the 20,000 mile service, but once on variable a 2.0TDi will typically do 15,000-20,000 between services (my A3 did 16,000)
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