Servicing Car

ozzie · May 28, 2015

Hi all

I am wondering when should I first service my car.

It was bought almost brand new from Japan 4 months ago. (10KM on the meter)

And the service agent said to bring it when it reaches 2000KM.

I'm about 3-4 weeks away from reaching 2k KM.

Would that be the recommended cycle?

The car details are Honda Fit GP5.

Kavvz · May 28, 2015

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Hi all
I am wondering when should I first service my car.

It was bought almost brand new from Japan 4 months ago. (10KM on the meter)

And the service agent said to bring it when it reaches 2000KM.

I'm about 3-4 weeks away from reaching 2k KM.

Would that be the recommended cycle?

The car details are Honda Fit GP5.

Not sure what kind of answer you're expecting? I mean the agent told you clearly to bring the car back for an oil change / service / quick inspection when it reached 2000km so what's the mystery there?

If you're wondering why there is such a short service interval well then: Its pretty normal for a oil change and a quick inspection to be done after a new car has has run for a bit, in order to get any manufacturing debris out of the oil (and oil filter) and to check whether any obvious manufacturing defects / errors need to be rectified. With modern cars that's not much of an issue, as manufacturing tolerances and quality inspections are more precise now, but people still do it and there's no harm in it.

But if you're asking because the car is running weird or you feel something needs to be looked at, and you want to take it in earlier without waiting 3-4 weeks, well take it in. Its your car, you call the shots, and there should be no issues with that. Just call up the agent and let them know you're bringing the car in for attention as X, Y, Z needs to be taken care of...

Edit: Sorry I just saw your note about buying the car 4 months ago. Your question makes more sense to me now: Okay, well here are my thoughts, but bear in mind I'm no expert: 4 months is a long time to go without a service ( initial or otherwise). I guess you don't drive this car much.

Based on what you've shared, if it were me I'd go in for a service as soon possible. Its not the end of the world and no harm will ensure if you don't, but that's my recommendation.
Also: When you go in for your service ask the technician or the service bay manager ( not the customer service guys, but the technicians who actually do the oil change or their manager/ supervisor) what kind of oil is being used in your car. If they are using synthetic oil, then you're okay to wait around 6-8 months (even 12 months is okay I guess, but personally I wouldn't wait that long. I'd go in at around 7 months) between services if you don't hit the prescribed mileage for when a service needs to be done. If your car is using regular (mineral) oil then I would recommend you change your oil every 3 months if you don't hit the prescribed mileage for a service interval. Mineral oil breaks down and loses a lot of its lubricating properties after a while, especially in cars that don't get used a lot (such as yours).
I'd recommend synthetic oil for this car if its not being used in it already as you don't really seem to be using it that much. That way you can wait longer between services and not have to worry about oil break down issues between your semi-annual services.
A final recommendation would be to use the car carefully over the next couple of years, (preferably getting it serviced at the agents and parking it in a garage away from sea spray, rodents, small children, teenage children, pets etc. ) and then message or call me when you're ready to sell it

Edited May 30, 2015 by Kavvz

ozzie · June 16, 2015

Thanks a lot.

I put the Havoline 0w20 synethtic oil

Said will last 6 months or 5000KM.

I have to go to Auto Miraj to do the service. Since the Oil was important to change, changed it and next is service.

Thanks again!

Crosswind · June 16, 2015

Most of the manufacturers recommend the first service to be done at 1000km not 2000.

Personally I would recommend taking a Honda to stafford. I have noticed how monkeys at auto miraj treat customers cars. I wouldnt take a car there under any circumstance except for washing.

Crishan · June 16, 2015

Most of the manufacturers recommend the first service to be done at 1000km not 2000.
Personally I would recommend taking a Honda to stafford. I have noticed how monkeys at auto miraj treat customers cars. I wouldnt take a car there under any circumstance except for washing.

Thanks a lot.
I put the Havoline 0w20 synethtic oil

Said will last 6 months or 5000KM.

I have to go to Auto Miraj to do the service. Since the Oil was important to change, changed it and next is service.

Thanks again!

You can do a dry service (as they call in Stafford) any time without prior bookings. It will include oil change, oil filter change and air filter change (if required) then will have to book and wait for at leeeeeast 3 weeks for the usual under carriage + body wash due to this Vesi menia.... Even Stafford accepts this fact and the rattanapitiya new service centre is soon to be opened.

Kavvz · June 25, 2015

You can do a dry service (as they call in Stafford) any time without prior bookings. It will include oil change, oil filter change and air filter change (if required) then will have to book and wait for at leeeeeast 3 weeks for the usual under carriage + body wash due to this Vesi menia.... Even Stafford accepts this fact and the rattanapitiya new service centre is soon to be opened.

Well the 'dry service' covers the important / critical stuff. The rest can be done at home / at an under-the-mango-tree service station that has a pressure washer...or as in my case put off indefinitely

Edited June 26, 2015 by Kavvz

gayanath · June 26, 2015

Thanks a lot.
I put the Havoline 0w20 synethtic oil

Said will last 6 months or 5000KM.

I have to go to Auto Miraj to do the service. Since the Oil was important to change, changed it and next is service.

Thanks again!

Who told you 6 months or 5000 km?,

mineral oil also recommended for use 6 months or 5000 km,

Generally mineral oils are recommended for 12 months or 10,000 km or above.

The Don · June 26, 2015

Who told you 6 months or 5000 km?,
mineral oil also recommended for use 6 months or 5000 km,

Generally mineral oils are recommended for 12 months or 10,000 km or above.

Look we have just about had enough of you. This is general practice in Sri Lanka. This is what all the authorised dealers reccomend.

About 5 years ago there were a number of serious incidents involving the new generation VVTi power plants from Toyota. A number of them needed total rebuilds due to sludge build up which could not be removed before dismantling the entire engine (and before you say it, yes they did try the chemical method).

On investigation it was found that the oil had suffered serious chemical break down under normal operation in our weather.

And in Sri Lanka even sythentic oils are not imune to this problem. A certain manufacturer was implicated in a number of instances and literally temporally pulled their fully synthetic products out of the market. Even now this is the least reccomended brand though they claim the issues are resolved.

What you have to understand is engine oil is a chemical, and while its generally stable it is not completely so. It interacts with various impurities in fuel and carbon in the engine and transforms over its usable life. This process is accelorated when the car is not used much or due to harsh running (I'm sure you would have read the definition in the last thread). Thus it turns to sludge and start to settle along oil lines, sump and in other places sometimes interfering with engine operations. It also loses its lubricating properties leading to premature engine wear.

Also engine oil is cheap. For around 2500 you can buy 4L and that is all you need for a standard car.

This is all about preventative maintenance and avoiding costly repairs, and thats why this reccomendation is in place. It doesn't have to be expensive engine oil, just the correct grade from Lanka Super will do, but its is the changing of oil which is important.

If the car is not used much (less than 5000 km a year) you can switch to anual oil changes. Manufacturers have extended these service intervals in recent decades, but this has been attributed to premature engine and wear of items like turbos in European cars as well. If you read BMW forums for example you will note that most users do an interim oil change in between manufacturer reccomended ones. This is because an oil change is £50 and DIY while a replacement turbo is £1300 + labour.

We do not go on about this because we are a bunch of idiots or because we work for oil companies. In fact none of us do. We care about cars and we care about saving people money on the short run.

In the good old days, people change oil every 2000km but the quality of oil has improved and thus the 5000km mark.

We do not care about what you do with your own car. But please do not quote European or American articles, or articles from the oil manufacturers and make claims in Sri Lanka and mislead people.

Our opinions are based on real events and actual experience.

Edited June 26, 2015 by The Don

gayanath · June 26, 2015

Look we have just about had enough of you. This is general practice in Sri Lanka. This is what all the authorised dealers reccomend.
About 5 years ago there were a number of serious incidents involving the new generation VVTi power plants from Toyota. A number of them needed total rebuilds due to sludge build up which could not be removed before dismantling the entire engine (and before you say it, yes they did try the chemical method).

On investigation it was found that the oil had suffered serious chemical break down under normal operation in our weather.

And in Sri Lanka even sythentic oils are not imune to this problem. A certain manufacturer was implicated in a number of instances and literally temporally pulled their fully synthetic products out of the market. Even now this is the least reccomended brand though they claim the issues are resolved.

What you have to understand is engine oil is a chemical, and while its generally stable it is not completely so. It interacts with various impurities in fuel and carbon in the engine and transforms over its usable life. This process is accelorated when the car is not used much or due to harsh running (I'm sure you would have read the definition in the last thread). Thus it turns to sludge and start to settle along oil lines, sump and in other places sometimes interfering with engine operations. It also loses its lubricating properties leading to premature engine wear.

Also engine oil is cheap. For around 2500 you can buy 4L and that is all you need for a standard car.

This is all about preventative maintenance and avoiding costly repairs, and thats why this reccomendation is in place. It doesn't have to be expensive engine oil, just the correct grade from Lanka Super will do, but its is the changing of oil which is important.

If the car is not used much (less than 5000 km a year) you can switch to anual oil changes. Manufacturers have extended these service intervals in recent decades, but this has been attributed to premature engine and wear of items like turbos in European cars as well. If you read BMW forums for example you will note that most users do an interim oil change in between manufacturer reccomended ones. This is because an oil change is £50 and DIY while a replacement turbo is £1300 + labour.

We do not go on about this because we are a bunch of idiots or because we work for oil companies. In fact none of us do. We care about cars and we care about saving people money on the short run.

In the good old days, people change oil every 2000km but the quality of oil has improved and thus the 5000km mark.

We do not care about what you do with your own car. But please do not quote European or American articles, or articles from the oil manufacturers and make claims in Sri Lanka and mislead people.

Our opinions are based on real events and actual experience.

Sorry for the mistake, comment should be modified as,

Who told you 6 months or 5000 km?,

mineral oil also recommended for use 6 months or 5000 km,

Generally Synthetic oils are recommended for 12 months or 10,000 km or above.

The Don · June 26, 2015

Sorry for the mistake, comment should be modified as,
Who told you 6 months or 5000 km?,

mineral oil also recommended for use 6 months or 5000 km,

Generally Synthetic oils are recommended for 12 months or 10,000 km or above.

Sadly in SL even this doesn't quite apply. Funny enough when they started they started talking about 20,000km first, then went down to 15,000 and then down to 10,000.

On most occasions the reccomendation is, if the car manufacturer has not reccomended synthetic oil, and the correct grade is available semi synthetic or mineral, to save the money, and do oil changes more frequently instead.

In SL you cannot rely on manufacturer claims when it comes to motor oils. For evidence, if you go to the Toyota Lanka yard, I'm sure they will be able to point you to a few vehicles that have been bought in due to sludge issues. Somebody even posted a pic once of what the head looked like when removed. It was just blocked full of a black hard tar like substance. This was an extreme case of course.

Crishan · June 27, 2015

Well the 'dry service' covers the important / critical stuff. The rest can be done at home / at an under-the-mango-tree service station that has a pressure washer...or as in my case put off indefinitely

Yep. That's correct.

Magnum · June 27, 2015

On the topic of service how do I know if I should replace my diesel filter?

The Don · June 28, 2015

On the topic of service how do I know if I should replace my diesel filter?

Is it still collecting water well? Is your engine a common rail diesel engine?

Magnum · November 27, 2015

Is it still collecting water well? Is your engine a common rail diesel engine?

Just saw your reply

What do you mean collecting water?

and yes its a common rail engine.

Anyway the diesel filter was replaced during the last service but I wanna know how we know when to change

SachiNayar · April 8, 2016

If your car is new then you should service, often as is outlined in your owner's manual. For older cars, you need to have at least an oil and filter change every six months or 500 miles.

kusumsiri · April 8, 2016

If your car is new then you should service, often as is outlined in your owner's manual. For older cars, you need to have at least an oil and filter change every six months or 500 miles.

When a "new" car become "older" ? After certain mileage / some years ?

Every car must have service and it is mentioned in the manual. I am pretty sure its not 500 miles.

Quiet · December 22, 2016

https://www.facebook.com/ken.vijayakumar/posts/10209788063171431

Jor-el · December 22, 2016

On 5/28/2015 at 9:15 PM, Kavvz said:

Edit: Sorry I just saw your note about buying the car 4 months ago. Your question makes more sense to me now: Okay, well here are my thoughts, but bear in mind I'm no expert: 4 months is a long time to go without a service ( initial or otherwise). I guess you don't drive this car much.

If your car is using regular (mineral) oil then I would recommend you change your oil every 3 months if you don't hit the prescribed mileage for a service interval. Mineral oil breaks down and loses a lot of its lubricating properties after a while, especially in cars that don't get used a lot (such as yours)

Wait - so is it recommended that the engine oil should be replaced every 3 months? (Mineral)

I'm using Valvoline premium conventional (Rs. 4150 for 4L canister) and replace it every 6 months regardless of the mileage (I never hit 5000Km mark in 6 months)

My owners manual recommends replacing engine oil every 6 months if the car is run under severe conditions.

Edited December 22, 2016 by Jor-el

Kavvz · December 22, 2016

13 hours ago, Jor-el said:

Wait - so is it recommended that the engine oil should be replaced every 3 months? (Mineral)

I'm using Valvoline premium conventional (Rs. 4150 for 4L canister) and replace it every 6 months regardless of the mileage (I never hit 5000Km mark in 6 months)

My owners manual recommends replacing engine oil every 6 months if the car is run under severe conditions.

Based on your usage as listed above, I'd recommend synthetic oil. That way you can stretch out the oil changes to 10k or 6/9 months at least, saving you quite a bit of time (and money). Plus if the car is not being driven daily and not driven long enough for the oil to come to temp when it is driven then synthetic oil would be the best type of oil to use under that type of driving.

To answer your question: As far as I know for conventional oil (mineral oil and most blended oils) the rule of thumb is 5k or 3 months whichever comes first regardless of the brand. Personally I've always gone with 3 months or 3k for mineral oil as I drive my car hard.

For another car in the family that uses synthetic oil we've gone with 6 months or 10k whichever comes first ( the manual for that car states 1 yr or 15k but that's a bit too long I feel. The jury's out on that one, as synthetic oil holds up pretty well apparently, but I still like to err on the side of caution and take it in sooner rather than wait a full year.)

If I had a motto for oil changes it would be: Use the best you can afford and change it often! Come to think of it that would be my motto for most consumables: oil, rad fluid, wiper blades, underwear, shoes, vesi's, socks, et al !

Edited December 22, 2016 by Kavvz

Jor-el · December 22, 2016

22 minutes ago, Kavvz said:

Based on your usage as listed above, I'd recommend synthetic oil

To answer your question: As far as I know for conventional oil (mineral oil and most blended oils) the rule of thumb is 5k or 3 months whichever comes first

Thanks K, I did a brief research on the oil change intervals - couldn't find any source that says conventional engine oil should be changed every 3 months, even if the car is run under severe conditions. From where/whom were you advised to change engine oil every 3 months?

Kavvz · December 22, 2016

Just now, Jor-el said:

Thanks K, I did a brief research on the oil change intervals - couldn't find any source that says conventional engine oil should be changed every 3 months, even if the car is run under severe conditions. From where/whom were you advised to change engine oil every 3 months?

I've always had that as a rule of thumb ( 5000k or 3 months for conventional oil) Honestly it could be a Sri Lankan thing, we tend to change our oil sooner than the norm as its cheap etc. I'll look around online and post a link if I find something to back it up...

Jor-el · December 22, 2016

3 minutes ago, Kavvz said:

I'll look around online and post a link if I find something to back it up...

Waiting on ya

Kavvz · December 22, 2016

40 minutes ago, Kavvz said:

I've always had that as a rule of thumb ( 5000k or 3 months for conventional oil) Honestly it could be a Sri Lankan thing, we tend to change our oil sooner than the norm as its cheap etc. I'll look around online and post a link if I find something to back it up...

33 minutes ago, Jor-el said:

Waiting on ya

Well a quick google search indicates that the 3000 miles (5000km for us) and 3 months rule of thumb was an old school measurement that was encouraged in part by mechanics and oil change chains.

Modern oil technology has come a long way apparently and most articles state that changing your oil that frequently maybe a waste. However most of the articles I found / browsed touched on synthetic oil. There was not a lot out there with regards to conventional mineral oil and a safe time based oil change guideline. Some articles do state that while past 5000k modern conventional oils still do lubricate well, the protection qualities and the additives in it do start breaking down at around that point.

So in short: 5000k or 3 months for conventional oil maybe overkill. BUT I could not find any updated guidelines other than a heap of articles stating that we (motorists) on a whole are changing oil too frequently.

Until I find anything more conclusive I'm still going to stick to my 3 months or 5000k rule of thumb but if you find anything please do update us. I for one will be very interested.

A selection of the more decent articles I read:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/oil-change-truths/

http://www.testingautos.com/how-often-change-oil

http://www.cbc.ca/news/change-oil-less-often-automakers-recommend-1.872815

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2415746

Edited December 22, 2016 by Kavvz