General Servicing (again)

[RUI]

I know this has been done about 100 times before but I have spent that last 30 mins looking and have not come up with the correct info.
I have also called 3 dealers and they all gave me different answers, so i called Fiat head office and they said they did not know when my car needed servicing or what service it needed.

So my car is 2 years old in a couple if weeks, it has done 13,000 miles and is a 1.2. I have not had it serviced before so this will be it's first service.

Does it need a full service with plugs filters oil and break fluid or as one of the dealers said just the low milage service?

Again Fiat do their best at making something so simple a mission to sort out.
My service book only quotes servicing every 18,000 miles and says nothing about getting the car serviced every 2 years.
I don't think I am going to get this done by Fiat but by a friend that owns a small garage, he is not VAT registered so I will miss out on the 3rd year of warranty but reading what it covers I will not be missing out on much.

 

[306maxi]

Really it should have been serviced at 12 months. The service schedule does say if you do a low mileage (less than 9 or 10k a year) that your car should be serviced every year.

If you're not bothered about warranty then how much you service is up to you of course.

Personally I'd do the following
Filters
Plugs
Oil
Brake fluid (you don't need to, but you might as well while he's there checking the brakes)
Tappets (you'll need to buy a gasket)

It'll run forking sweet once it's had that service.

I know the tappets aren't due till 36k from memory, but having had mine done at 23k I think, the car ran much better for it.

 

[Ffoxy]

Pretty sure a service should be done every 12 months regardless of miles covered, or earlier if you reach the allotted mileage allowance in the 1st 12 months. If the car has done low miles a low mileage service is in order & a full service next time. Any Service Agent HAS to be V.A.T. registered or Warranty will be voided full stop.

 

[RobinPJ]

Well if you are not worried about the warranty, and according to the book you do not need a service, then I suppose it is fair to say that you are more interested in the car's helath than in the inky stamps.

That being so, and speaking as a non-mechanical person, I would think that after two years it would be high time for some clean oil and filters, at the very least.

As to plugs - could your friend whip one out and assess how they look?

Actually, thinking about it, if you are getting "mates' rates", I would go the full monty now even if it is early. The additional cost should be quite small and you will have the valuable commodity - peace of mind.

I know that doesn't actually answer your question - sorry about that...

 

[306maxi]

Pretty sure a service should be done every 12 months regardless of miles covered, or earlier if you reach the allotted mileage allowance in the 1st 12 months. If the car has done low miles a low mileage service is in order & a full service next time. Any Service Agent HAS to be V.A.T. registered or Warranty will be voided full stop.

For the 500 you can do a service at 2 years providing you're not classed as a low miler (I'm wondering if low mileage is actually less than 9 or 10k miles now that I think of it.....).

Personally I have had my car serviced early both times. As RUI isn't bothered about the warranty, VAT registered or not doesn't really matter all that much and he'll probably be just fine.

 

[Ffoxy]

For the 500 you can do a service at 2 years providing you're not classed as a low miler (I'm wondering if low mileage is actually less than 9 or 10k miles now that I think of it.....).

Personally I have had my car serviced early both times. As RUI isn't bothered about the warranty, VAT registered or not doesn't really matter all that much and he'll probably be just fine.

Aah cool... I always service early too, but I am keen on keeping the remainder of the original 5 year Warranty lol! Personally I'd at least swap oil & filter every year... every car deserves that, especially low milers.

 

[RUI]

I will get the Filters, Plugs, Oil and tappets done. I never use the breaks so I will get him to have a look and only change anything that NEEDS doing.

 

[RobinPJ]

Aah cool... I always service early too, but I am keen on keeping the remainder of the original 5 year Warranty lol! Personally I'd at least swap oil & filter every year... every car deserves that, especially low milers.

Huh?

 

[306maxi]

Huh?

He's got a Hyundai

 

[frupi]

Handbook clearly states that servicing intervals for Fiat's current range of cars is based at 9,000, 12,000, 18,000, 20,000 or 21,000 miles depending on the model and engine.

I estimate that at our own 500 registered on 28 Feb this year, will only have covered about 4,000 miles come end of Feb next year. I will still have the vehicle serviced in a accordance with a low mileage service plan, not necessarily from a Fiat Dealer, but at our local Fiat trained specialist (who seemingly has a good reputation). At the end of the day, it's still all about choices.........

 

[RobinPJ]

He's got a Hyundai

Ah. Well, I suppose someone has to.

 

[306maxi]

Handbook clearly states that servicing intervals for Fiat's current range of cars is based at 9,000, 12,000, 18,000, 20,000 or 21,000 miles depending on the model and engine.

I estimate that at our own 500 registered on 28 Feb this year, will only have covered about 4,000 miles come end of Feb next year. I will still have the vehicle serviced in a accordance with a low mileage service plan, not necessarily from a Fiat Dealer, but at our local Fiat trained specialist (who seemingly has a good reputation). At the end of the day, it's still all about choices.........

Tbh with such a low mileage I really would have it looked at every 6 months. 10 miles a day average is such a low mileage that the oil will almost never get the chance to be properly up to operating temperature other than on the occasional long journey you may do. On such a low mileage car things like breather pipes will tend to get blocked up and that aint good.....

 

[IainG GPS]

On 2009 models servicing switched to two years or 18,000 miles whichever was sooner, with a recomendation for an oil and filter change at 12 months.

This applied to our first 500 a 1.2 registered in June 2009 and our subsequent February 2010 1.4 Sport.

Whats included in a two year service I can not recall though, but could find out.

 

[RUI]

Tbh with such a low mileage I really would have it looked at every 6 months. 10 miles a day average is such a low mileage that the oil will almost never get the chance to be properly up to operating temperature other than on the occasional long journey you may do. On such a low mileage car things like breather pipes will tend to get blocked up and that aint good.....

Unless you are doing a 30 mile trip every 3 days.

 

[frupi]

I value your comment, but like I said, it's all about choices. The car gets up to temperature quite nicely. Quite happy to stick with a low mileage 12 month plan. This mileage is purely based on the fact that we will have only owned the car for just about 7 months when it comes to first service interval. I estimate the second year of full ownership and indeed subsequent years, my wife will cover 8500 miles per annum, which is exactly what she used to cover in her Mazda previously.

 

[306maxi]

I value your comment, but like I said, it's all about choices. The car gets up to temperature quite nicely. Quite happy to stick with a low mileage 12 month plan. This mileage is purely based on the fact that we will have only owned the car for just about 7 months when it comes to first service interval. I estimate the second year of full ownership and indeed subsequent years, my wife will cover 8500 miles per annum, which is exactly what she used to cover in her Mazda previously.

Well it takes a car far longer than that for the oil to actually reach operating temperatures tbh even if the water temp does reach the normal position. 8500 miles PA is not too bad I guess though.

 

[306maxi]

On 2009 models servicing switched to two years or 18,000 miles whichever was sooner, with a recomendation for an oil and filter change at 12 months.

This applied to our first 500 a 1.2 registered in June 2009 and our subsequent February 2010 1.4 Sport.

Whats included in a two year service I can not recall though, but could find out.

The low mileage service has always applied though and even with a 2 year or 18k service schedule, if you're doing low miles it HAS to be serviced yearly to maintain warranty.

 

[frupi]

Oh yes, I know. I used to be a diesel fuel injection engineer, so I've got a bit of knowledge about vehicles, oil etc etc....like I said, I value your comment

 

[Ffoxy]

Ah. Well, I suppose someone has to.

Dont knock it til you tried it

 

[RUI]

Maxi that is not true. I had a claim but never had a service.