The standard recommendation is to service your car every 10,000km or 12 months, whichever comes first… but do you really need to service it every 12 months even if you don't drive it frequently?
I've had friends not service their Toyota/Honda for 18-24 months and it was fine.
I've had friends frequently service their BMW/Mercedes every 6-9 months but it was still a disaster.
What's the longest you've delayed servicing your car? Was your car okay?
Depend if u do 20000 km a year or not…..all depends on the conditions.
I service mine every 2-3 years, although i probably don't drive as much as most do
Yeah Im the same.
One of my cars only does about 2,000km per year, so service every 2 years (4,000km). Full synthetic oil. Had it for about 6 years so far and no issues.
why do you even have a car?
Prolly quicker to drive than walk 4km in the rain everyday
“One of my cars”.
Catching a bus to and from a Tindr hookup isn't very fetch.
Me too!
Looked at the sticker on one of mine yesterday. Service was due in Feb 2018, but still about 6K to go.
It's all good. Had it since brand new.
Gets a thorough "going over" every time I use it, which will be tomorrow.
The other ones get serviced on time or before.
Warranty voided on that one if not serviced to schedule
@2esc: It’s like some people don’t understand that cars actually continue to exist after warranty is up.
@Euphemistic: Yeah but it’s at 6000kms, doesn’t really need to be changed especially if it’s synthetic or semi-synthetic and hasn’t been sitting the entire time
I'd be wanting to do at least a oil change, and replacement of the air filter if it's been since 2018! Old oil gets funky, and well air filters need replacing.
A long time ago I had an ES300 and for 3 years didn't service it. I did around 50,000 ~ 60,000KMs.
Oil came out fine and wasn't sludgy, level was fine too as it never burnt out. I think there were several things I had in my favour
95% of the mileage was all motorway.
The mechanic used fully synthetic.
Car was driven pretty sedately.
It's also a Toyota, so yeah, dependable.
I had a 98 Celica that I drove for 2 years before I serviced it. And I drove that thing a lot.
Curious, if the oil doesnt come out sludgy, but its been ages since change, does that mean the oil has more life left?
Oil health depends on many factors but it wasn't broken down and wasn't pitch black either. Just brown.
I'm not advocating what I did so, I don't recommend this, but I was honestly surprised at the condition of both the oil, and that the car appeared to be fine.
Max 2 years or 20k km
Service my Mazda every 2,000 klms
I buy mine off a mechanic who tells me to ignore the check engine light and any other strange noises
I see what you did there.
Lol,
what a waste
Troll post, unless sonly doing 2k per year
Make sure you do service every 2000km, another 100km and bad things happen.
If only they came back earlier…..the mechanic could have fixed it….
From memory it was close to 20 months maybe? For 19 of those months the car was under a tarp in the garage whilst I was overseas. I dropped the oil before it was started up
Toyota - longest stretch was 2 or 3 years. It was ok.
I went 20,000km without a service (toyota)
Now the dipstick is stained yellow.
3.5L V6?
I have an old car that hardly gets driven. It's been around 5 years since I changed the oil. I just keep the oil topped up.
Not good. Topping it off leaves the majority of the contaminants to continue circulating even if some burns up or oil leaks out during use/sitting. If barely used sure you can go longer but if mostly driven short distances, I wouldn't stretch beyond one year, ever. Be sure to keep your fuel topped off, the more air in the tank when left to sit, the more water condensates each day in the heat of the day/cold of the night diurnal cycle, forming acids that will lead to expensive fuel system failures. The systems are designed to use fuel regularly, burn the water molecules at a reasonable rate, and keep the amount of water in the system at negligible levels.
It doesn't leak much but does burn over 1 litre per 1,000 km. I'd say the oil is plenty fresh. As for the fuel I tip my jerry cans in before fuelling up when the price is low. Then syphon it out as needed when prices are high.
Got tired of being screwed by the dealer. Every time they claimed there were things that needed work that had been quite OK when the car was given too them. The most ridiculous example was it supposedly needing the exhaust system being replaced. Its still running that exhaust system that needed replacement 12 years ago.
Switched to a local mechanic, but got tired of him whingeing that the car was so difficult to work on. Like, they sent me the wrong rear disks, so when I tried to put them on and couldn't I had to refit the old ones and put the car back out in the yard until the right ones arrived.
Was clocking up very few kilometres, so I simply switched from regular servicing to getting things done when they needed to be done.
It recently started making noises that said it needed a new timing belt. That belt was supposed to be replaced every 4 years. It had lasted 15 years. The belt turned out not to be the problem, it was the water pump**. I got everything checked and serviced at the same time. That was the first time in 8 years. The only thing done to it in that period was a mobile mechanic topping up the fluids as part of the deal when I had him look at why it was hard to start.
**The previous mechanic has said he'd replaced it, and charged me for doing that. This mechanic said the water pump he replaced was the original factory part.
You just got lucky with the timing belt. The wrong kind of engine and a snapped belt is goodbye valves and pistons
I know someone who traded in a 80,000km Audi. Never serviced, occasional top up and it was fine. May lord have mercy on the soul of the next owner.
Someone bought a car with a blank service logbook?
"traded in"
I'm assuming the trade in offer was laughably low compared to market rate as a result.
Was probably immediately sent to a wholesaler or auctions.
Common.
There is only one person that first owners care about less than second owners, and that is the third owner…
Have a look on grays on line majority have either in complete or missing service books. If the price is right some people consider the risk worth it.
Bought a Datsun 1200 wagon and drove it for a few years. I don't recall doing any maintenance unless you call topping up with used oil from my Bluebird (1200 had a crack in the sump)
.
My car is there to service me.
Something wrong with your situation
Could say the same about my girlfriend
A reason you might? Complete service history (arguably) improves resale value thereby reducing your depreciation loss. But nowadays we all have synthetic oils so as long as you check all of your fluid levels then longer low-mileage intervals should be fine. It would be good get advice from a professional automotive tech.
… forgot to add, if you substitute lawn mower for car, I put Mobil 1 in my trusty Honda HR214 some 30 years ago and haven't changed it since.
Primary wear agent in an engine is not a broken down oil, it is the particulates that make it through the filter. Replacing both is a good way to prevent it- and is very cheap to do.
If you feel you can't afford a 'service', ask for an engine oil change at least. Dangerous wipers, brakes, etc- all that can wait if its not critical and you can avoid using them much, lol! Dirty oil though- its like having too much fat and sugar in your blood, the effects are very difficult to reverse later on.
When the oil does break down, it isn't long before it fouls up the oil delivery to critical parts, lubricates less allowing more friction which in turn begins causing localised heat damage to bearing surfaces, caking, etc.
every 10,000k's don't really go by years
Mind you i currently have a sportage that went 25,000 between the last oil change (mechanic receipts) and just ticked over 290,000k's
Change your oil every 6 months if you want your car to last 10+ years or 5+ years if it's EUROtrash
PERIODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
For the love of god change your oil. CARS HAVE FEELINGS TOO!
But why?
Prevent deposition of combustion byproducts inside the engine.
Because manufacturers ‘lie’ about 12 month servicing and more is better according to plenty of ‘mechanics’.
Show me EVIDENCE that servicing more than the nice a year or more frequently than the manufacturer specs actually makes your engine last MEASURABLY more than otherwise and I’ll believe it. Until then, you’re likely just going off a recommendation handed down from some race mechanic 50 years ago. Things have changed since then.
TURBO ENGINES NEED A SERVICE EVER 5000 OR THEY JUST IMPLODE
2008 BMW 135i - I followed the manual's (and car's OBC) recommendation of every 25 000km or 2 years. Car still ran great when I sold it last year.
The only time I did a half-way oil change was when I did a track day and went to the skidpan regularly.
On the flip side I had a BMW X5 35i M-sport with the same N55 engine. Purchased it at 100k kms and previous owner followed the scheduled service intervals. When I took the valve cover off, there was oil gummed up everywhere. Maybe it had a life of short trips without getting to full temperature, or didn't run fully synthetic oil. We'll never know.
Story of my life right now with a recently acquired M135i :) :) :)
Valvetronic assembly didn't like that, and now I'm paying for it haha. Ah well, I wanted a BMW, thats part of ownership.
Porsche scheduled servicing is every 3 years or 30,000kms. Makes you think if all these car companies that require every 6-12 month servicing is just a money making scam lol
Every 2 years or 30k.
Most Porsches rarely do more than 15k every 2 years.
The oil does really deteriorate after 2 years regardless of mileage.
The thing is that they only have to warrant a car for a few years.
These issues usually arent evident until further down the track, and it keeps first owners happy
In saying that, modern oils do last a lot longer.
2008 135i here.
Have always wondered if it was normal that my car was waiting that long between services..
I do half-way changes anyway. Usually coincides with some other repair I need to do to stop an oil leak anyway.
Of course the person with the hydration product username is talking about giving more fluids.
This was your plan from the start!
if its still under warranty its a big no no to not service your car on time.if anything catastrophic happens your not covered .ask john cadogan auto expert.
6000kms and 6 months late.
All depends on the value of the car. Expensive - service more often. Cheap, barely service. Owned. $1500 20yo corolla for a couple of years. Didn’t do many kms, changed oil once I think.
I’m in NSW so we need an annual inspection which normally means I degrease the engine bay once a year Nsw have a look around. Often will change the oil at this time. I target getting oil changes on the 10k mark regardless of time - but don’t always get it done because - reasons.
2006 BMW X5, never changed blinker fluid as it still looks brand new.
Around 18 months. Vehicle out of warranty and basically didn’t use it for almost 12 months while travelling. Added less than 5000 km in that time.
Oil not meant to be in there over 12 months was the main reason I serviced it
Normally service it every 12 months (about 7,000km) but do the brake fluid and coolant service every 3 years.
every 10k km.
its usually every 6months for me
About 6 years. But that car only did about 500km per year normally and during that 6 years it probably spent 4 of them parked.
60K kms on my current car - 5 years
2GR BABY
I've had friends not service their Toyota/Honda for 18-24 months and it was fine.
I've heard some people smoke and live to 80 as well.
Your small sample size doesn't mean anything.
Also it's not like a car will explode if you don't service it for 6 months (assuming you think a 12 month interval is standard). The effects of not servicing it will be felt in 5-10 years with larger issues and a decreased engine life. Also resellability. People want to see a car that is maintained. I can guarantee you that if I'm looking at a second hand car and it hasn't been serviced in 3 years, I'm offering much less than market rate.
For reference I service my car every 9-12 months, but it's a 20 year old car with a turbo and 350,000km. needs a bit more attention than most newer cars.
2.5 years
People keep talking about engine oil but i'm pretty sure most of these 2+ yearly oil change cars must have rusted to shit brake calipers and corrosion filled coolant.
And hard as a rock tyres
It's not like the cars are getting their oil changed every 2 years. It's more like there would be the occasional (every 5 or 10 years) missed service.
Brakes were maintained and changed as their pads wore or became hard and ineffective.
Coolant didn't carry rust. It evaporated before that happened.
cars must have rusted to shit brake calipers and corrosion filled coolant.
Why do you think that? Ever seen someone get a car going that’s been sitting for 20years? They work with a bit of TLC.
Cars that keep getting used are not going to have rusty callipers nor corrosion filled coolant. They keep going the fact they are driven keeps stuff movinnnaround and less likely to rust.
Most brake fluids absorb water out of the air. The piston seal generally isn't perfect.
I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that the majority of cars don’t have brake fluid changed at 2 years, eapooncw out of warranty. It’s probably more like 5 or even 10 years. Yes, brake fluid absorbs moisture, but brakes seem to keep working well beyond what the manufacturer recommends for a brake fluid change interval.
@Euphemistic: If they are log book serviced it will usually be done every 3 years. Sure, plenty of people neglect their cars, that's the topic of this thread, still horrible though.
Family member drove a 90s Honda civic for 5 years without servicing - oil was like vegemite but she owned it for another couple of years afterwards with no obvious ill effects.
Moral being if you give a kid a first car, tell them it needs regular service!
FWIW I’ve owned lots of shit boxes which I only ever serviced by kilometers, sometimes with 2 years plus on the oil. And I certainly stretched the kilometers by an extra 4k or 5k too. My takeaway is modern synthetic oil suffers much less from environmental age issues than old fossil oil did.
If I owned a car I loved I would keep the oil fresh and close to spec, but a car on its last legs needs little love.
Knew a guy who just topped up the oil for 10 years, and around 120,000km. Car still went fine, I borrowed it for a few months and learned manual in it, then bought one for myself.
Toyota Echo, awesome bulletproof cars
Bring it to Gerry
walk home with one of his toilets…
Can't remember? It was probably maybe 4 years since the little 1999 Suziki Belano that my wife had as her first car we used as a town run about. Cheap to run on fuel and was so easy to park. We don't have it now, but it was about 4 years since it probably had a complete oil change and filter, it used a bit of oil so that was always topped up. Don't know how many kms it was over that time.
Nowdays, I do it as per the sticker, often a bit earlier as I have to book in advanced.
When I serviced my VE myself, I did it every 5-10,000kms depending on what driving I had been and was planning to do.
I've got a 2015 Honda HRV and use 0W-20 full synthetic oil. Drives are usually 25-30 mins each before it's parked and allowed to cool down (2x a day).
I change out my oil and filter every 10,000km along with cleaning out the air filter with the aircompressor. (The air filter gets changed out every 30,000km).
It's at 110,000km now and running just like the day I got it. Probably needs the valves clearances readjusted when it hits 150,000KM along with a new set of spark plugs.
The only thing I'm scared of is that CVT nuking itself. Atm it's past the age of getting new transmission fluid and changing it out could possibly do more harm than good. Well, we'll see how long it lasts. (No shuttering or slipping atm, fingers crossed).
At 110k the trans is hardly beyond getting a fluid change. If synthetic (it would be) the fluid is considered lifetime fluid (lifetime for the life of the trans). So the fluid itself is still ok, it is just that contaminants from worn friction materials need to be removed to prevent fouling. So so long as you can change some of it, especially what settles in the sump, you'll be doing the right thing- just use the right fluid- this is a common cause of post-change failure, the primary ones being only changing the oil when operation becomes abnormal, or kms get too high. Because so many people accept 'equivalent' fluids, instead of fluids that meet all parameters manufacturers take into account, when buying oil for use in a particular model and/or production line.
Agree - I've got a Civic with the traditional auto transmission and did the first change at 100,000km using genuine Honda ATF (very expensive!) but it shifts fine afterwards.
I delayed mine for about 6 months. All was fine and there was no extra charges.
Neighbour of mine has had a vx commodore he bought it 15 years ago when it had a 120,000 on the clock its now done over 600,000. In 500,000 his changed the oil twice. No way i would do that but a car is not going to blow up if it goes a kilometre over the scheduled service.
30 years ago my father put a 245 out of a $100 wrecked charger in his old charger (so he could hot up the 265) i drove that for 2 years no service. That 245 motor he gave to a mate for his farm ute and that ute is still going today and knowing this guy maintenance would be certainly lacking. Mind you the older motors have less to go wrong.
I change mine at around 8000-10,000km which is every 6-8 months. Oil goes on sale regularly (a 5W-30 oil can often be found on Ozb for around the $40 mark) - Filter on sale is around $15. So I can service my car for less than $60. I wouldn't leave it to 20,000km thats too much
I've heard rumours that hire cars dont get serviced (just tyre changes as necessary) and then have a service before being sold off.
My wife had a car when we first started dating that she never serviced. Old Datsun (yep, that old) Pulsar that never saw a service, and ran fine for years with my just topping the oil up, and for who knows how long before I came along. Hardly a performance engine though.
I was flat broke in the late 1980s and a family member said I could have her 1977 Datsun 180B, as long as I looked after it and gave her the money when I sold it. I drove it for 4 years and never had it serviced in, I think, about 60,000km.
In the end it was unsellable, so I took it to a wreckers that specialised in Nissans. He offered me $100 and I accepted and, after he gave me the cash, he asked me to move it around the back of his office. I said, 'not really', took the cash and left.
The motor had seized twice on the way to his yard and I had to wait for it to cool, pour in a litre of oil and hope it would start.
You drove the motor into the ground. Probably glad to get rid of it in the end.
I usually service every year, but looking to sell my car so i thought i will sell it soon and its now been almost 2 years and i still havent gotten around to selling it :(, Basically issue for me to sell is i first need to get all my audio equipment out of it and i just havent gotten around to organising a company / guy to do that. In the meantime i have been holding off on servicing it but i might have to bite the bullet. I do only 5000km per year or so.
3 years but it was a camry.
On a lexus 10k or 2 years.
But if you want to be sure, you can do an engine oil analysis. It wasnt that expensive. It can give you a better idea of when you nedd to change.
Honestly, other than change the oil what do they do at a service that is important?
We always get the logbook service but most of the time when we check the list of things all they've done is just checking things. This is Honda - they make you service it every 6 months.
2 years for a mercedes, its fine for now but im sure as hell doubt it will be fine later haha.