Service Intervals

[morbo]

Hey all, I dont have the handbook in front of me but i was wondering what's the minimum required service interval to ensure that the warranty is honoured.

Someone from Ford called me up to remind me of a service BUT
a) i bought the car in Feb
b) it had its complementary service (which wasn't complementary because i got an oil change)
c) its only travelled 5000 kms.

Methinks someone is getting greedy.

[FOCUSonTHIS]

15,000km or every 12 months whichever comes first

[Piotr]

The service intervals are 15,000km under "normal" driving conditions

[photn]

yer you dont want to change it like every 3000k or 5000k like one member i know....to really get the best out of the oil, especially if its driven normally like pie said its 15000k.

hope that helps mate.

[morbo]

Thanks! Oh sweet - i had a feeling that i had to do it every six months like my old car... Huzzah money saved!

[theostheone]

hey all,

the last service my car had was at about 30,000k (i think i cant remember) and now its up to about 75,000... still works fine. Maybe the whole idea of getting a service is overrated.

i'll be getting one soon anyway.

[Lisho]

lol just because it still works fine doesn't mean its a good idea. I didn't change the oil in my Magna for 35,000 Km and I drove it hard every day. Not to mention the rust in the cooling system. Something tells me the current owner is going to have some problems to deal with not far down the line.

[robjh80]

If you really care for and want to look after your vehicle, forget what the "book of fairytales" tells ya (aka: service book), the oil and filter should be changed every 5000km or 6 months whichever comes first, that goes for any car, not just a Fiesta.

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by robjh80

If you really care for and want to look after your vehicle, forget what the "book of fairytales" tells ya (aka: service book), the oil and filter should be changed every 5000km or 6 months whichever comes first, that goes for any car, not just a Fiesta.

Unless your using the cheapest worst possible oil you can find and bouncing off the limiter all the time that is just a waste of money.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Piotr

Unless your using the cheapest worst possible oil you can find and bouncing off the limiter all the time that is just a waste of money.

Investing $65 every six months on some good quality oil and and a good quality filter "surely" cannot ever be classed as a waste of money.

That actually equates to only around 35c per day invested in ensuring your "pride and joy's" engine is being well cared for and looked after ensuring it's long term viability, money well spent I'd say.

Most Motor Mechanic's worth their salt will tell you that every 5000km is the optimum time for changing the oil and filter, car manufacturers on the other hand create service manuals and logbook servicing with ridiculous service intervals quoted in them..........why?

Because car manufacturers are in the business of "selling cars"..........they dont want your car to last past it's use by date.
They "design/engineer/manufacture" cars to last approximately 5 years or around 100,000kms, the longer it lasts past that expiry period the more dollars are taken off their bottom line in the masses not having to replace said vehicles.

I believe they also quote these ever increasing service intervals on various vehicles as a bit of a "sales feature" for ill informed people to actually "percieve" the cost savings to the themsleves (the purchaser) in vehicle maintenance over it's life term.

You do whatever you like.........."I think I'll keep investing the 35c per day thanks."

[Ives]

Originally Posted by robjh80

Because car manufacturers are in the business of "selling cars"..........they dont want your car to last past it's use by date.
They "design/engineer/manufacture" cars to last approximately 5 years or around 100,000kms...

That the first time I hear/read that. I drove '98 Hyundai Excel Sprint before...

-Serviced every 10,000kms
-Mineral oil only god knows what viscosity it's got.

The whole time I drove it, it ever had any probs with the engine.

I dont think cars "expire" after 5 years. Abused cars.. yeh maybe they'll self-destruct in 5 yrs.

[Piotr]

And car mechanics are in the business of having your car in the shop so the conflict of interest works both ways.

No doubt if you drive your vehicle under "adverse" condition as outlined in the service manual you should change oil more frequently but if you don't there is no point changing the oil that frequently.

The motor companies spend millions of dollars and thousands of man hour on building your engine, testing it under hundreds of different conditions (99% of which your car will never see), different settings etc to see what work and what doesn't. They know best what is good and what is bad for the engine. A mechanic working on hundreds of different cars probably knows less about your car that you do.

A warranty claim costs money and they don't want to spend anymore money than they have too.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Ives

That the first time I hear/read that. I drove '98 Hyundai Excel Sprint before...

-Serviced every 10,000kms
-Mineral oil only god knows what viscosity it's got.

The whole time I drove it, it ever had any probs with the engine.

I dont think cars "expire" after 5 years. Abused cars.. yeh maybe they'll self-destruct in 5 yrs.

My Brother-in-Law has been an A Grade Motor Mechanic for over 30 years, he and his peers (ie: those who genuinely know what they are on about), are very much strong conscripts to the 5k/6mth oil brigade.

Their are many others of course who would state otherwise as this subject is a very subjective one, how one drives and under what conditions another individual may not etc.

Bear in mind that the 15k service book recomendation is under "optimum driving conditions"..........one could conclude that pretty much every vehicle in Australia could in some form fall under the "extreme driving conditions" heading or in the Fiesta's case "C Class" conditions, "driving in heavy stop/start traffic" (pretty much most Aust Cities these days) or perhaps "driving on dusty roads" (many country areas perhaps?)

There is no definitive right or wrong answers in the age old "when should I change my engine oil" debate, you just do what you personally think is correct and justified for your own peace of mind and keep your fingers crossed no matter how much your engine oil interval change is.

We are of course at the end of the day dealing with a reasonably complex mechanical device and things do sometimes go wrong regardless of how careful we are.

Here is some interesting reading, the Engine Oil Bible which in the "So how often should I change my oil" paragraph states........."You can never change your oil too frequently."

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

For the record my Brother-in-Law used to work at a large Hyundai dealership some time ago and they would not even look at trading in any Hyundai that was getting close to the 100k mark as they knew the vehicles were coming to the end of their life span mechanically.

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Piotr

The motor companies spend millions of dollars and thousands of man hour on building your engine, testing it under hundreds of different conditions (99% of which your car will never see), different settings etc to see what work and what doesn't.

And hence know intimately that the engine should last approximately "_00,000kms" (enter sufficient digit at _) before major mechanical repairs or imminent engine failure "could" occur...........thereby ACME car company will offer sufficient warranty period for said mileage, after that "your on your own,"........too late to start changing your engine oil more frequently at this stage (after the warranty runs out), the damage is already done.

Last time I looked my warranty on the Fiesta was 100,000kms or 3 years........."quite ironic really isn't it?"

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Piotr

A warranty claim costs money and they don't want to spend anymore money than they have too.

"And you can bet your LIFE, HOUSE, DOG and FAMILY that they wont!!"

Have you ever even taken the time to read through the "Warranty and Service Guide" booklet that corresponds to your car?

I dont know about the WP but for the WQ Fiesta the "Ford Warranties" section consists of something like 15 pages of various "definitions" and general "legal speak jargon" which is undoubtably there to assist in abstaining the manufacturer themselves from upholding their commitments in regards to warranty claims made by customers,...... "it isn't there for your benefit."

I remember a case not too long ago where a customer made a warranty claim to a very large, major and substantive car manufacturer for a failed engine component which had unfortunately gone on to damage the motor quite considerably.

This particular car manufacturer got away with not honouring the warranty claim as the customers vehicle had been "modified"..........apparantly he had lowered springs on the vehicle, (as most of us have!!)

Of course what has lowered springs got to do with a failed part in the engine?.......absolutely nothing!!, but the manufacturer was well within their right "legally" to dismiss the claim because it was written in the small print of the owners warranty manual in such a way that they could get away with it.

So, in essence if you have an engine failure due to not properly (or overly) maintaining your vehicle (whatever the case may be) and you need to make a warranty claim to Ford or it would seem any other manufacturer for that matter, you had better hope that your car is not "modified" in any way whatsoever and that on that particular day "your God is not busy"..........you may need him!!

Good Luck.

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by robjh80

There is no definitive right or wrong answers in the age old "when should I change my engine oil" debate, you just do what you personally think is correct and justified for your own peace of mind and keep your fingers crossed no matter how much your engine oil interval change is.

Exactly. You have your views and I have mine, we are both happy and have healthy cars.

In regards to warranty I didn't have any problems with my warranty claim (Clutch slave cylinder) even though I had a nice CDA sitting in place of the standard intake system. What about extended warranties? The standard focus has a 100,000km warranty yet ours has extended warranty to 200,000km, OH NO fords master plan of having the engines explode @ 100,001 km has just failed.

You can be happy with your point of view and ill be happy with mine

[robjh80]

Originally Posted by Piotr

The standard focus has a 100,000km warranty yet ours has extended warranty to 200,000km, OH NO fords master plan of having the engines explode @ 100,001 km has just failed.

You can be happy with your point of view and ill be happy with mine

I'd suggest you perhaps take the time to read some of the horror stories here,

http://www.motorsm.com/AUS/cars/complaints_corner_o.asp

seems lots of people are just "so pleased" with their extended warranties, they are simply "not worth the paper there written on".......just another way for the dealer to get more cash out of your wallet when you actually buy the vehicle.

A bit like that meeting with the dealers "Accessories Co-Ordinator" or whatever your particular dealer wishes to call that poor individual who has the unenvious job of trying to flog off to you that overpriced "security window etching", "window tinting" or "paint treatments" etc etc..........I suppose you went in for some of that gear too did you?..........what a laugh, it's always the most entertaining part of buying any new car I think.

[morbo]

Hehe it turns out that i got extended warranty too. It was 'complementary' - but it means driving 900 kms back up to sydney for every service. No thanks

Anyways thanks for the oil tip. I got them to change the oil and filter during my 'complementary service'. I'm not really prepared to change the oil and filter every six months - i'll just stick it to the scheduled servicing.

The points you've made are interesting though. I'm not too sure whether this deliberate attempt for engine failure thing is really true though. I would have thought car companies wanted to develop customer loyalty not completely destroy it. It would have made sense for ford (or insert other company here) to take a long term view of profits.

To me it would be more profitable to set a service interval that is more regular that also extends the longevity of the vehicle. Customer keeps on paying for six month servicing, car keeps on running, everyone is happy. Customer is happy and moves from a budget car to a more profitable car: fiesta to focus, from focus to mondeo and so on...

I'm pretty sure it doesn't make sense for them to sell a budget car such as the Fiesta (which has minimal profit margins compared to their more bigger luxurious cars), extend scheduled servicing from six months to 12 months (depriving them of more income) and get the car to die 1 km after warranty as its only going to get the customer to scorn ford (insert other car company) and flock to toyota and buy a corolla.

[kiwijohn42]

I don't see any problem with only a once a year service, especially if you use a good oil. Just make sure whoever does it is aware of what a Fiesta needs, (5-30w).The local dealer here needed this explained to them after they filled mine with 15-40w. I have may have been a bit fussy about it, it may have been fine. But this is my first new car & I'm going to service it by the book.

[Ives]

Yeh I supply Ford with my own 5W-30 oil... also I spy on the mechanic that's working my car, making sure he's putting in the oil I brought-in.

Apparently there are drifferent viscosities that can be used for the Mk.6 Fiesta. I know the WQ User Manual said 5W-30 and nothing else... but WP's User Manual specified more suitable viscosities.