Flexible or Fixed Service Intervals?

[dutyhog]

Continuing to revive this old thread - the 1.6 Greenline had the first service yesterday after two years exactly, and I expected them to reset to the flexible sevice.

 

After driving home 128 miles frorm the dealer (with a small diversion to the nearerst Morrisons which is only 95 miles from home), the Maxidot now says

oli change 0mi/364days

inspection 19900mi/729days

I assume that the oil change miles and time will soon spring up to meet the inspection miles, since the dealer said it should also be changed after another two years. If it doesn't do that within a few weeks I'll phone them, but I don't want to travel 200+ miles to have it reset to minimise the risk of losing the warranty.

 

The receipt says that I paid £41.70 for "long life oil".

[eribaMotters]

Continuing to revive this old thread - the 1.6 Greenline had the first service yesterday after two years exactly, and I expected them to reset to the flexible sevice.

 

After driving home 128 miles frorm the dealer (with a small diversion to the nearerst Morrisons which is only 95 miles from home), the Maxidot now says

oli change 0mi/364days

inspection 19900mi/729days

I assume that the oil change miles and time will soon spring up to meet the inspection miles, since the dealer said it should also be changed after another two years. If it doesn't do that within a few weeks I'll phone them, but I don't want to travel 200+ miles to have it reset to minimise the risk of losing the warranty.

 

The receipt says that I paid £41.70 for "long life oil".

I would not count on it. I am on fixed service intervals and I have now had two services at end of year 1 and year 2. My maxidot seems to have a mind of its own, and after 4 weeks [first service] and 2 weeks [second service] the maxidot called for an oil service and needed to go back in to be reset.

I have been told some Yeti's do this and need to be reset "by the back door". That has meant two hours wasted whilst waiting plus journey time.

I hope yours is not the same.

 

Colin

[g7eor]

My maxidot says  inspection due in xx days. Is this the same as a service?

[silver1011]

An inspection service is just that, a visual inspection. No parts are changed.

 

Some may argue an unnecessary attempt to get the car into a dealer.

[silver1011]

Hi friends,

sorry to revamp this (very?) old thread. 

My 1.2tsi yeti (with maxidot) asks for servicing in 17 days or 13.600 KM.

The odd is that the car (that sholud be on variable intervals) is 15 months old. 

Is that normal? Shall I change engine oil (seems to soon, only 8 K Km carried). 

Any help?

 

The car appears to be set to long life or variable servicing.

 

This is up to 2 years or 20,000 km. The car monitors the type of driving style, engine load, number of cold starts, oil quality etc. and decides for itself when it needs fresh oil.

 

At 15 months old you have reached the time limit before you have reached the mileage limit so yes the car is now asking for a service.

 

It also sounds that you cover low annual mileage, therefore you would be better asking the garage to reset the service computer to fixed intervals (12 months or 10,000 km, which ever is reached first). This will ensure fresh oil once a year.

 

Remember oil is the lifeblood of the engine and turbo.

[silver1011]

Continuing to revive this old thread - the 1.6 Greenline had the first service yesterday after two years exactly, and I expected them to reset to the flexible sevice.

 

After driving home 128 miles frorm the dealer (with a small diversion to the nearerst Morrisons which is only 95 miles from home), the Maxidot now says

oli change 0mi/364days

inspection 19900mi/729days

I assume that the oil change miles and time will soon spring up to meet the inspection miles, since the dealer said it should also be changed after another two years. If it doesn't do that within a few weeks I'll phone them, but I don't want to travel 200+ miles to have it reset to minimise the risk of losing the warranty.

 

The receipt says that I paid £41.70 for "long life oil".

 

Something isn't right there.

 

Assuming the oil has just been changed then the mileage until the next oil change should be close to 10,000 miles, not 0 miles. The number of days (365) is correct though i.e. one year. This suggests the car has been set to a fixed service interval (10,000 miles or 1 year, whichever is reached first).

 

The inspection service is not a service, it is a visual inspection only so no parts (including the oil) are changed.

 

All diesel engines with a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) require the long life oil (VW507.00) regardless of which service interval the car is set to.

[dutyhog]

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm awaiting an email back from the "master tech".

 

"inspection 19900mi/729days" made sense because I started with the variable service and told them that I expected to continue with it.  But I would also expect the oil change to be at the same time, or earlier if the system thinks it needs fresh oil. I expected them to have used the long-life diesel spec oil. I'm willing to gamble on the engine system knowing if oil needs replacing before two years (about 11000 miles for me). I seldom do a journey of less than 40 miles (to the nearest shop, fuel, pub etc), most of it on roads than can't take more than 50mph, so the engine is nicely warmed up but not too stretched.

 

"oli change 0mi/364days" is just inconsistent, so needs explaining or correcting. I do expect to have the brake fluid changed in 364 days at the same time as the first MOT -  I'll  go to a Škoda dealer then. After that the warranty expires, so maybe I'll find somewhere else nearer home. I do all the servicing on my boat's three-cylinder diesel, and used to service my cars, but I'm gettiing lazy in old age, as well as having to keep in warranty for a while.

Edited 7 July, 2016 by dutyhog

[dutyhog]

I had this message:

I have spoke with my master tech, and we think we have not re-set the service light within the maxi dot system.
We apologies about this, and for any inconvenience. I know you are coming from a distance away but if you are passing at any point, please pop in and we will sort this for you.

[horatiog]

Hi All,

 

 

Just picked my Yeti 1.4 Tsi 4x4 up from the dealers at the beginning of this month. I asked them repeatedly to have my service regime set to variable and they assured me they had. When I first got the car, the inspection service was saying 20000mi/730days. However the Oil Service was saying 9500mi/365days. I had heard that the variable service needs some time & miles to "learn" your driving patterns, so did not think the above was unreasonable. However, since then, I have driven ~700 miles which has been a mix of initially steady motorway (60-70mph for ~350 miles) and then lots of start/stop, lanes & hills (Devon trip in the middle of grockle season!) My inspection service now reads 18300mi/673days but the oil service has just clicked down it terms of the mileage done & (more or less) the number of days that have passed - now reading 8800miles/359 days. See a screenshot of my Maxidot attached:

Looks to me like my Inspection Service is on variable but my oil service is still on fixed. Can anyone back me up before I call the dealer. (I am travelling back up North tomorrow and would like the selling dealer to sort it out if ncessary. But dealer is in Preston and I am in the Scottish Highlands, so the only chance I'll get is tomorrow (Thursday) on my way back home, so if anybody could fire me a quick reply, it would be much appreciated.)

 

Cheers,

Harry.

[VAGCF]

My understanding is that on variable a service can be indicated anywhere between 10k. and 20k. miles and a max. of 2 years and as you say is dependant on driving style, with sensors in the engine monitoring the condition of the oil.

 

My previous Passats on variable would usually do about 18k. before the service indicator came on.

 

So yes, it does look as though the oil service is on fixed. 

 

Your choice obviously, but what's your annual mileage and type of use?

[horatiog]

Probably 10-12k p.a. Mostly free-flowing A-Road where I'll be maintaining a steady 50-60 mph over ~30 miles each way to work. (Not as just now in Devon.)

[VAGCF]

Yes, I can see why you wanted it set to variable.

[BobbyG79]

Is there a definition of what variable is for? I'm not gonna change my annual intervals on the Yeti, but my wife does about 2k/year in her Fabia, and it seems a bit silly to service it every year (yet that's what it's set to)

[Ootohere]

Servicing every 12 months as a minimum seems totally sensible especially with low mileage vehicles.

 

Oil and filters are a different matter from Service & Maintenance like the checking of tyres including the inside walls for damage / pressures, 

checking visually steering and brake components, general checks, wiper blades etc which degrade as much from seldom use as lots of use.

(For oil and filter people know how and where they drive and modern oils are good, but short journeys and oil not up to temp still has moisture (h20) build up in engines and not get burned off, bad for Oil & Engines.)

If people are checking the important mechanical and rubber bits themselves regularly & fluids then maybe paying a professional is not necessary, but leaving it until 2 years has passed is just not really a good idea.

 

VW bother to have Owner Information easily found, a pitty Skoda do not.

http://volkswagen.co.uk/owners/servicing/regimes

Edited 18 August, 2016 by GoneOffSKi

[BobbyG79]

Great advice, thankyou

[dutyhog]

Hello Horatiog,

 

after the same thing happened to me the Stirling dealer asked me to  call in to have it corrected. Being a 200 mile round trip I won't go unless I need to (eg recall or next service). But they said that the facts that the oil change had actually been done, and that I should be on variable service were recorded onto Skoda's database, so there won't be any warranty bother, and any other dealer should see  that and should be able to set the Maxidot correctly. Perhaps you should phone any Škoda garage that you may ever go near to see if they will do the same. 

 

I suppose your home is far away from these Škoda oases as I am.

 

Gordon

[horatiog]

Hello All,

 

Just to finish off the variable service saga (well, as far as I am concerned - hopefully!), I called back into the original leasing dealer on my way home today. After being told that my Oil Service mileage/days numbers were normal for Variable Service, and then that Skoda don't do "Variable" Service anymore (they do "Flexible" instead !?!!?!?), they eventually agreed to let me speak to a tech, who took one look at my numbers and said, yep, the oil service hadn't been set to Variable. He took my car away, hooked it up to his system, and 20-30 minutes later, had the car back with 17,300mi / 713 days to next oil service (similar to the inspection service) - Result! (Thanks Dave, if you are reading this - you should give the bods in the office a masterclass!)

 

Hi Dutyhog - Yup, In one way I'm lucky as I'm only 35 miles from my nearest Skoda place in 'Sneckie. However, its an Arnold Clark dealer - and I had a bad experience with AC Hyundai with my previous car - really bad Customer Service. Next nearest ones are Aberdeen or Perth at ~100 miles.

 

So that's the service intervals sorted. However, even Dave couldn't do anything to help with my other requests. These were to de-couple my folding mirrors from my sunroof. (So I can fold in my mirrors without closing my tilted sunroof when I lock the car) nor can Skoda UK dealerships adjust the system so the mirrors will fold in without having to press and hold the lock button on to the key. (I was hoping there was an option to just fold the mirrors immediately as I lock the doors with just a single press of the key button.) Apparently the Skoda dealers are now very constrained as to what they can do with the parameters and have to have any "unusual" codes sent directly over from Czech online and straight into the car (for anything but standard settings.)

 

Also, now, apparently, the L&K no longer has the "Auto-close windows & sunroof in case of rain" function. (As mentioned elsewhere on these forums.) This seems very peculiar to me - apparently, if the car HAS the rain sensor, it DOESN'T now have this ability - that's just downright perverse in my book. (Or maybe it was more bull from the bods in the office?) I defo cannot find the option in the MFD menus and I've spent quite some time looking.

 

As I said to Dave, I think I am going to have to find some kind soul with a VCDS who lives near Aviemore, to set all these things up for me (plus quite a few more.) Dave reckons it may be possible to do some of these things on the VCDS but offered a note of caution, to check that all the other functions still work on the car after the VCDS fiddle, as Skoda will know its been done and will bounce any warranty claims to get things sorted out again. I think I read on here somewhere, that with VCDS/VagCom, you can back-up your original settings before fiddling, so in the worse case (or before it goes back to the lease company ), things can be restored to the original factory settings.

 

So, any kind VCDS souls in the Aviemore/NE Scotland area?

 

Cheers,

Harry.

[Urrell]

nor can Skoda UK dealerships adjust the system so the mirrors will fold in without having to press and hold the lock button on to the key.

Why not fold the mirrors by turning the mirror switch to "Fold" before you switch off and get out?

[horatiog]

Why not fold the mirrors by turning the mirror switch to "Fold" before you switch off and get out?

Ywp - Dealer suggested that too. Trouble is - my memory and the fact that I haven't had a car that can do this before! Also - they are called "Convenience Features" and the "close the sunroof, then tilt it for cooling, then get out, then lock it, then remember the mirrors, then the long push, then the sunroof closing again, then opening the car up, re-inserting key in ign, then deploying manual mirror close knob and re-tilting sunroof, then locking up again" procedure does not strike me as particularly convenient!

[horatiog]

Ywp = Yep = Yes (Cannot seem to edit my own posts?)

[Ootohere]

Skoda have a 'Simply Clever' attitude.  

You buy and pay for a vehicle with all the gear and mechanical bits and you own them.

Obviously not all function without being enabled or the owner paying extra to have them as a convenient functional piece of equipment.

 

No salesperson taking your order before delivery goes through the various choices you can have enabled by a Qualified & Trained Technician that might or might not do a PDI or check the unqualified fitters PDI.

Just like they do not discuss the Service Regime that will suit your needs.

They will try to sell a Service Plan, GAP Insurance, Life Shine, Wheel & Tyre Insurance etc.

 

You check a brochure or configurator, you decide what you want, you buy,

You get all the gear just no idea which bits will work when you receive the car and which a Dealer wants to charge to enable.

[freedie]

All the gear and no idea.

Applies in so many walks of life...

[Urrell]

Skoda have a 'Simply Clever' attitude.  

You check a brochure or configurator, you decide what you want, you buy,

You get all the gear just no idea which bits will work when you receive the car and which a Dealer wants to charge to enable.

I got exactly what I ordered and even did not need to order some bits that the dealer said it would come with so saving money.

It's not Skoda, just some dealer salesmen who should not be in the job.

Got mine from Horton's Skoda of Lincoln and was very pleased with the price and service they provide.

The salesman I dealt with Paul Miller was excellent, VERY knowledgeable about the brand.

[VAGCF]

Trouble is guys like that are few and far between.

[Ootohere]

But it all shows it can be done, and is be many but not all.

No real extra effort required.  Repeat customers and recommendations aplenty.

 

The parts are on the car, the software is on the car , the buyer just needs a list offered and chooses what they wish activated before hand over.

It is called customer service and getting what you paid for.

 

Now that is 'Simply Clever' maybe worth more than a Ice Scraper in a Fuel Filler flap that freezes closed sometimes if it is wintery.