Would you service after 4,000 miles?

[curiousgeorge]

I've had my car nearly a year now so I'm getting the service due in x days warning, but I've only done about 4,000 miles.

Should I bother or wait a few more months? It's only £99 for the interim service, compared to £249 for the major service. I presume it's just plugs, filters and oil change.

[Crasher]

Yes and change it to annual fixed interval servicing using Platinum oil, not Longlife.

[curiousgeorge]

Thanks, will do. I presume because long life oil leads to sludge build up.

I forgot to mention that I recently replaced most of my oil which had somehow been consumed or had leaked out. Does that mean it's not as urgent?

[Crasher]

I am not sure about Longlife, I get a feeling it may not be as good as Platinum at protecting the engine if changed annually anyway and Platinum is slightly cheaper but Longlife 3 is a 5w/30 not 5w/40, the jury is out. Certainly LL3 does not cause sludge but whether or not it stops it compared to Platinum I would not like to say, or test it! Not on a car I was paying for anyway…

[vwcabriolet1971]

If only doing 4K miles a year and it involves lots of short journeys there is a good case to made that the oil should be changed at 6 months ! If the oil does not get up to working temperature then a lot of combustion by-products will not be burned off and this will degrade the oil & cause wear. It is kinder to the engine to do 25mile + journeys rather than 5 mile ones even though the 25 mile trips may result in much greater yearly mileage.

[curiousgeorge]

That's a good point, thanks.