Long Life Service

[bora(ing) nick]

Bear with me......

I bought my 55 plate 1.9TDI PD 100 BORA, from the car people in september 06, with 13000 miles on the clock. They told me they had done a full service and used longlife oil, and the car would tell me when the next service was due.

Turned my car ignition on this morning and a message comes up with "service due in 2000 miles". Having only covered 3500 miles from when i picked it up, i thought it a bit strange that an apparantly a longlife service only lasts 5500 miles.

I came to the conclusion that when they serviced it, they didn't reset the ecu. So i took it back to the car people today and they cleard the message for me.

Now, when i got the car back, there was a print-out on the passenger seat that had the directions to reset the service message, and a disclaimer that said if my vehicle was on a Long Life services it can only be done with diagnostic equipment, and i think they have reset as normal service (if that makes sense)

My question's are ....(eventually) how will this affect the car's ECU, and is the "normal" reset just a counter for milage on time.

Thanks for any help in advance.....

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Bear with me......

fx/on <bends over, drops trousers & shreddies to ankes, yells - MOONIE> fx/off

Will that do - ah $hit - that wasn't what you meant, was it!

I bought my 55 plate 1.9TDI PD 100 BORA, from the car people in september 06, with 13000 miles on the clock.

What were they like to deal with - I've not had any feedback about them?

They told me they had done a full service and used longlife oil, and the car would tell me when the next service was due.

Hmmm . . . seems way too early (both time and distance) for a LongLife service. Look at the receipt/invoice for the service, does it state exactly what type of oil they used? If not, get in touch with the Car People and ask them to confirm, in writing, exactly what type of oil they used. This will be very important.

Turned my car ignition on this morning and a message comes up with "service due in 2000 miles". Having only covered 3500 miles from when i picked it up, i thought it a bit strange that an apparantly a longlife service only lasts 5500 miles.

The message came up automatically, without you pressing the spanner button? That seems to confirm it was still on the original LongLife interval, and they had not reset the Service Interval Display.

I came to the conclusion that when they serviced it, they didn't reset the ecu. So i took it back to the car people today and they cleard the message for me.

Whoops - bad move. Your initial thought was correct, but your subsequent actions have hindered the matter. My guess is that your car was programmed for LongLife servicing. When you bought the car, the service was still a long way from being due, but the Car People probably sell their motors with some spiel like "freshly serviced", and so did a service, but didn't have the proper kit to reset the Service Interval Display for LongLife servicing.

Now, when i got the car back, there was a print-out on the passenger seat that had the directions to reset the service message, and a disclaimer that said if my vehicle was on a Long Life services it can only be done with diagnostic equipment, and i think they have reset as normal service (if that makes sense)

Yebut - they have now fu$ked up the Service Interval Display even more.

My question's are ....(eventually) how will this affect the car's ECU, and is the "normal" reset just a counter for milage on time.

Righty, here goes. They have now put it onto a time/distance servicing regime, as you guessed, just counting down the miles and days, with the countdown starting from the moment they reset it.

This may be fine if they did use the very expensive proper PD and LongLife oil, but if they didn't, then those alarm bells should be ringin' very loudly.

Two issues. Firstly, your engine, irrespective of the service regime, requires an expensive engine oil, specifically for the PD engine - no PD oil, then hello to even more expensive camshaft wear and potential engine failure.

Secondly, the LongLife regime uses three separate elements to calculate the Service Interval Display: a/ it uses a time countdown of 730 days, b/ it uses a distance countdown of 30,000 km (I think!), and c/ the most crucial part is the oil quality sensor reading.

If the car were left on the LongLife service, and non-LongLife oil was put in, then the oil quality sensor will automatically re-adjust the Service Interval Display (it will notice anything over &#189; litre of the wrong stuff), dramatically reducing the days and miles to the next service.

Thanks for any help in advance.....

You're welcome - just keep us informed of your progress.

Rgds

[bora(ing) nick]

I haven't got it in writing from the car people that the oil is long life for the PD, but i very confidant that they have used it because there was a delay in picking it up becaude they were waiting for a delivery of oil from VW and he whinged because he said it was more expensive than the normal oil.

I think the car people are good. Just like the advert says, no hassle with salemen, quabble free customer services that listen to what you have to say, and when i did call a salesmen over, he was a top bloke who explained everything clearly to me.

When i told him i wanted to buy it, we went to the manager and whispered to me "follow my lead"...he told the manager about a few problems (scratch on back bumper, dirty glovebox, no books, and no spare key) which i had missed.

The car had a full supaguard, scratch filled in,spare key ordered, service book ordered. They serviced it because it was 12 months old 2 days before.

My mate bought a diesel Vectra form there but they lost the alloy locking wheel nut. They had his car in for 2 days and gave him the choice of any car in the lot to use as a courtesy car!! He ripped my Bora apart with a civic Type R.

I got my 55 1.9TDI PD100 SE, for £7999. (i had been looking at older models for £5k )

By the way, all your assumptions have been correct so far. now what can i do about the service intreval settings???

I think i need a service every year anyway to keep up with the warranty

Thanks and regards

Nick

[bora(ing) nick]

i

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I haven't got it in writing from the car people that the oil is long life for the PD, but i very confidant that they have used it because there was a delay in picking it up becaude they were waiting for a delivery of oil from VW and he whinged because he said it was more expensive than the normal oil.

I really would try v.hard to get written confirmation from them, because youv'e still got two-ish years of warranty left. Whilst the EU block exemption for franchised dealer servicing was removed, and because it was serviced at a non-franchised dealer, you will now have to prove that genuine OEM parts, including the proper spec oil, was fitted at the service, in the event of any future warranty claim.

I think the car people are good. Just like the advert says, no hassle with salemen, quabble free customer services that listen to what you have to say, and when i did call a salesmen over, he was a top bloke who explained everything clearly to me.

OK, good to hear (not much use to me in my neck of the woods, but useful for any fellow northerners on the fourm ).

When i told him i wanted to buy it, we went to the manager and whispered to me "follow my lead"...he told the manager about a few problems (scratch on back bumper, dirty glovebox, no books, and no spare key) which i had missed.

That is quite refreshing to find an up-front salesman.

The car had a full supaguard, scratch filled in,spare key ordered, service book ordered. They serviced it because it was 12 months old 2 days before.

They probably didn't check when it was due - if you press the spanner button, it tells you.

My mate bought a diesel Vectra form there but they lost the alloy locking wheel nut. They had his car in for 2 days and gave him the choice of any car in the lot to use as a courtesy car!! He ripped my Bora apart with a civic Type R.

Yup, Civic Type-Rs are pretty rapid, but you do have to cane them to keep them in the VTEC rev band, and they get a bit noisy and tiresome after a while! My sis has one, but she drives it like an old granny!!!

I got my 55 1.9TDI PD100 SE, for &#163;7999. (i had been looking at older models for &#163;5k )

I just realised, that is "old stock", had been sitting on some dealers forcourt as a unsold, unregistered car, 'cause the last official new reg for the Bora was on a 2005/05 plate! Next time you pass your VW dealer pop in with your VIN and a friendly parts chap will be able to tell you the exact week it was built. You got it for a cracking price though! Did it come with an HPI check? And are you the second owner on the V5?

By the way, all your assumptions have been correct so far. now what can i do about the service intreval settings???

Have a search on Steve Hall's VAG-COM locator http://www.steve-hall.com/cgi-bin/VAG-Locator.pl and see if anyone in your area will sort it for a beer or two. Otherwise, just keep it on the one year/10k miles interval, and reset the display yourself - the manual, or the sheet you found on your seat tells you how to.

I think i need a service every year anyway to keep up with the warranty

No you don't, your car was built with LongLife servicing already enabled, so it can go upto two years between servicing, and not affect the warranty. However, depending on how you drive (if you regularly give it some beens, do short journeys, lots of stop-start or in-town driving), you may wish to change it to the one year servicing anyway.

Thanks and regards

Nick

[bora(ing) nick]

Yeah i'm the second owner on the log book, first was volkswagen itself?

I've been on to the car people again and told them i had been in contact with volkswagen trying to find out more about LL servicing, and that VW would not honour the warrenty unless they had a list of the parts used, and only then if these were orignal VW parts.



The list is in the post .

Thanks TT .

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Yeah i'm the second owner on the log book, first was volkswagen itself?

How long did VW own it for?, and does the reg plate begin with the letter "O" by any chance?

I've been on to the car people again and told them i had been in contact with volkswagen trying to find out more about LL servicing, and that VW would not honour the warrenty unless they had a list of the parts used, and only then if these were orignal VW parts.

The list is in the post .

Good, it is surprising how much a proper paper trail helps, particularly for warranty stuff, but also for future resale.

Thanks TT .

Wadworths 6X, thanks.

[bora(ing) nick]

The reg begins AF, Not sure how long VW owned it for ??? The Car people didn't have it long, because at the "handover" meeting the guy said he was looking for the same car and didn'nt realise they had 1 in stock. He moaned about another Bora that was there because it was a champagne colour (53 plate) rather than my diamond black 55 plate .

Thanks again for all your help and advice, and if your ever up this neck of the woods i owe you a .

Nick

[Teutonic_Tamer]

The reg begins AF

Ok, that was then registered at the Peterborough licensing office region. If it had been OY or somthing similar, it would highly likely have been a VW press office car, with the potential of having the likes of Clarkson, Needel, Plato etc thrashing it around disused airfields or european mountain hairpins!!!

Thanks again for all your help and advice, and if your ever up this neck of the woods i owe you a .

Nick

I'll hold you to it

Rgds & best of luck.

[shaunw]

Hopefuly a simple and helpful reply for you:

As I understand (being a VW and Audi owner) a longlife service interval generally falls due within 20k miles or 2 years from last sevice.

So the above to me sounds like the last dealer may have done an oil change / service before you bought the car and just not reset the service indicator unit. Also if they have serviced the car then the reference to using the right PD oil is important and the "Car People" are likely not to have used the correct grade.

My advice would be to get an oil service done at VW which will include the right oil and an indicator reset (cost around £90). If you are a competent DIY-er you could do youerself as oil spec will be per handbook and service reset tool available from auto tool stores (cost around £40 inc. tool).

There should be no damage to ECU, although engine internals not likely to benefit from using the wrong / cheap oils.