Do you service your car yourself?

junii

Do you do this?
What is there to it apart from an oil change, fuel filter and air filter?

Also, is it every 10,000miles or what?

zuutroy

Yes. It's easy, and saves paying a fortune to a garage who charge €50+ an hour.

Oil, oil filter, air filter, plugs. Fuel filter isn't a service item and is usually tricky to replace. I also change the brake pads and shoes when necessary

breanoh

Should take about 1/2 hour, and cost about €50 to do yourself. Just out of interest, what are the garages charging these days?

Kimbot

Garages range from 200 upwards from what I know for a service!!! I know for a full serivce on a Corolla the dealer wanted over 700 yoyo!!

franksm

oil - about 30 quid and 30 mins to change (council depot can recycle it). I change mine every 3,000 miles.

oil filter - about 7 quid and 5 mins to change. Change mine every 6,000 miles

air filter - anything from 15 to 40 quid I think. Changed every 12,000 miles
spark-plugs - 16 quid or so for four. Changed every 12,000 miles and takes 10 mins to do.

fuel filter - about 60 quid, and 30 mins to change - every 24,000 miles

brake-fluid - about 15 quid, 2 hours to change - every 36,000 miles

gearbox/diff oil - about 20 quid for both, and takes 90 mins to change - every 36,000 miles

brakepads - I just do them when they need it, but they need a visual check every once in a while.

That's about all I can think of. Some cars are easier than others. If your car has a built-in service reminder on the dashboard, you'll need to find someway to deal with that or reset it.

yop

I know they charge 150 euro for a basic service for a focus.

A lad down the road here will do it for about 90, it used to cost me about 50 euro to service it myself.

fletch

Change the oil and filter in mine about every 5,000 miles....

junii

Is it easy to change the brake parts and stuff?

franksm: why do you change the oil every 3000 miles?

franksm

junii wrote:

franksm: why do you change the oil every 3000 miles?

Ah... been doing it for years - my old Triumph needed it done every 4,000 miles; then my '95 Vauxhall Omega diesel needed it every 4500 miles; my '96 MX5 needs it every 9,000 miles but was reading that the '89 to '93 MX5s needed it every 6,000... yet the engines are the same, so what gives ?

Anyway, my car goes better with new oil even after just 3,000 miles so I figure it's cheap insurance.

I use Magnatec (good semi-synthetic) but I reckon cheap oil used and changed every 3,000 miles is better for the engine than "better" oil changed every 9,000 miles. Just my theory

babybundy

franksm wrote:

oil - about 30 quid and 30 mins to change (council depot can recycle it). I change mine every 3,000 miles.

oil filter - about 7 quid and 5 mins to change. Change mine every 6,000 miles

.

wat the point in changing the oil without changing the filter

fletch

babybundy wrote:

wat the point in changing the oil without changing the filter

Especially since they're so cheap too

Gerry

junii - you need to check what service interval the manufacturer recommends for your car, every car is different. Changing brake pads is not particularly tough, but you should have at least the haynes manual for your car if you want to do a decent amount of work on it.

paulmallon

anyone know how to turn off that wee service reminder light on the dash?
its for a vauxhall zaffira

BrianD3

The original poster has a 1.4 Nissan Sunny so it's at least 10 years old and is not a very complex machine. At the same time the oil change interval is probably less than it would be in a modern car.

There's no point going OTT with the servicing. I would change the oil, oil filter and sump washer about every 6000 miles or every year whichever comes first. Use the right viscosity oil, probably 10w40, check the handbook. Use oil with some sort of ACEA rating i.e A1, A2 or A3. Even very cheap oils from LIDL should be fine if they are the right viscosity. If there are oil leaks it might be an idea to use a slightly thicker oil or one which claims to contain seal conditioners (whether these work or not is debateable)

I would change spark plugs and air filter every 12k or every year whichever comes first.

JoeyJJ

I'm also looking to service my car at regular intervals, would it be bet to buy the Haynes manual for my car and is there any other good books on basic car maintenance anyone can recommend.

the_viper2kie

Have any of you got links or useful websites showing how to do the mentioned above? I'd like to get to know more about how to do some of this but would prefer to read a bit about it before doing anything stupid. I know its not rocket science but all the same-wouldn't help to read. Would i be better off just watching someone doing it?

scottledeuce

it isn’t too much trouble to do it yourself if you know your way around a car and have a few tools,
I’d recommend picking up a haynes manual if your not too sure on what you should be doing and I find it’s always a good reference point if you want to learn more.

What I normally do is service my car myself and then for its next service bring it to a garage and have them give it a look over because sometimes they can spot things that I might miss or spot something that’s about to go wrong,

junii

Anybody know anyplace that sells second hand haynes manuals?

JoeyJJ

I don't but I think Halfords do them new if its any help

Blue850

I get my 94 Vectra TD serviced every 6/7000 miles with a friend who's a good mechanic for about 100 euros, hes got a lift and proper tools,air wrench is a godsend and has a good look round the car and he doesn't do anything extra without checking with me first. My 71 Fiat 850 I do myself cos the engine is in the back and access is awkward, service it once a year as I only do 2-3000 miles a year with it. Main dealers are very expensive, my mechanic got an Avensis Verso TD in 2 weeks ago after the owner was told by the dealer the turbo was gone and it would cost 1500 euros, a little t-piece in the turbo plumbing was missing, about 20 euros worth, car had full power again when all pipes were reconnected.

junii

Yeah, Ive seen them for sale in different motor stores in the past alright...

Is there a Halfords in the west?

pclancy

paulmallon wrote:

anyone know how to turn off that wee service reminder light on the dash?
its for a vauxhall zaffira

You need access to one of the handheld computers that plugs into your ECU to reset warnings and service reminders. Im lucky in that a mate that works for a garage has access to one. They're worth a few grand so not that easy get one...

BigCon

Hold in the little button on the display while turning on the car - it should reset itself, assuming it's the same as the Opel Astra...

kluivert

paulmallon wrote:

anyone know how to turn off that wee service reminder light on the dash?
its for a vauxhall zaffira

For the Astra, when you turn on the ignition, where the mileage is displayed you should see INSP, this means the car is due a service to switch it off or reset it simply press and hold the the counter button for a couple of seconds and it resets.

Should be the same in Zaffy.

What year is it anyway.

scottledeuce

junii wrote:

Yeah, Ive seen them for sale in different motor stores in the past alright...

Is there a Halfords in the west?

I know there is one in Sligo anyway.

calmur

a haynes manual & common sense. its not hard and will save u a fortune over the years

Fey!

I'd be afraid to try servicing mine; the good Lord himself only knows how much damage I'd do!!!

And don't be like the guy with the M3 in the states who forgot to put his oilcap back on - he stuck a sock in instead, which was sucked into the engine and eventually completely killed the engine!!! Obviously a case of more money than sense!!!

Max_Damage

I do oil changes, filters, etc. myself. I replace the oil and filter every 6 months; air filter and spark plugs every 12 months; & the fuel filter every 2 years.

I'll also do brakes aswell, but bigger jobs like timing belts and so on, I'll leave that for the professionals. Luckly for me a mate of mine was a mechanic, so that cuts costs aswell.;)

It's a money-making scam with many modern cars having those service/engine lights on that only can be turned off by a main dealer. It will spell the end of DIY car maintenance.

Max_Damage

junii wrote:

Anybody know anyplace that sells second hand haynes manuals?

eBay have loads of them, depending on the car of course, got mine for my Micra of it. Cheap aswell.

Lucifer

To reset the service light on most opels and vauxhalls you hold your finger on the mileage reset button and turn on the ignition, it will flash insp for a few seconds and the four lines will appear (----). it is then reset. it is mostly the vectra c/signum (02-04 approx) that needed a computer to reset.

afaik all cars now must be able to be reset manually to allow all garages to work on all cars. not sure if this is 100% true.

overdriver

Honestly, it's a piece of the proverbial to do. You will save a fortune. Get a mate to help you first time, and you'll never pay a garage again. Even better, pick a local motor factors, and get the name of the first guy who serves you.

Next time, ask for him, chit-chat a bit, whatever, then as he's totting up the bill, say " Is that the best you can do for me?", and nine times out of ten, he'll give you a discount! Even more moolah to spend on petrol. Better in your pocket than anyone else's ( not the petrol, obviously).

I do the oil, and both filters on the Hiace every 5k. The fuel filters get done when I reckon they need done.