Hey guys, just wondering what you would recomend as a good service interval for a Remapped fabia VRS? Due to the extra power etc i would have thought it necasary to reduce the service intervals? but to what? and what would you change at each interval and when would things such as the water-pump and timing belt/rollers be changed? Cheers in advance.

I'd keep it at the std intervals tbh unless you are planning on running it on a track every week.

Take the power gain as a percentage, and deduct that from the oil change interval.

e.g. 10% power gain, 10,000 miles -10% = 9,000 miles.

So if you go from 130BHP to 170BHP that's a 24% power gain, so oil change would come down to 7,600 miles.

More power stresses the oil molecules with more load, especially the big end bearings.

I'd just stick an extra oil change in between services. But I did that even before the remap.

Take the power gain as a percentage, and deduct that from the oil change interval.

e.g. 10% power gain, 10,000 miles -10% = 9,000 miles.

So if you go from 130BHP to 170BHP that's a 24% power gain, so oil change would come down to 7,600 miles.

More power stresses the oil molecules with more load, especially the big end bearings.

WHY?? I might be wrong but I am a little confused here, I can understand extra stress being placed on the engine components, and even on a cam belt from extra torque, but as the engine shouldn't be running any hotter, or any faster (unless the rev limit is increased with bigger injectors etc) and the spec of oil used is also used in cars with the same service interval but higher standard outputs, then why will the oil break down or deteriate any faster:confused::confused:

Take the power gain as a percentage, and deduct that from the oil change interval.

e.g. 10% power gain, 10,000 miles -10% = 9,000 miles.

So if you go from 130BHP to 170BHP that's a 24% power gain, so oil change would come down to 7,600 miles.

More power stresses the oil molecules with more load, especially the big end bearings.

I'm not changing my oil every week, it would cost a fortune......

i change my oil every 3000miles ish

WHY?? I might be wrong but I am a little confused here, I can understand extra stress being placed on the engine components, and even on a cam belt from extra torque, but as the engine shouldn't be running any hotter, or any faster (unless the rev limit is increased with bigger injectors etc) and the spec of oil used is also used in cars with the same service interval but higher standard outputs, then why will the oil break down or deteriate any faster:confused::confused:

Any increase in load stress on engine moving parts also hammers the oil. So if you have a 20% increase in power, that extra load is applied to the film of oil between crankshaft and big end bearings via conrod. Mains are effected less, as it's mostly rotational forces, with shear load spread across five bearings. HTH

Any increase in load stress on engine moving parts also hammers the oil. So if you have a 20% increase in power, that extra load is applied to the film of oil between crankshaft and big end bearings via conrod. Mains are effected less, as it's mostly rotational forces, with shear load spread across five bearings. HTH

But won't this 'extra load' also be present in other engines with a bigger outputs but using the same oil with 10k service intervals???

But won't this 'extra load' also be present in other engines with a bigger outputs but using the same oil with 10k service intervals???

Yes it will, but they will have the oil pressure adjusted to increase oil cushion/film strength to take the extra load.Or they may even have different bearing clearances to match the load

If you remap a car without adjusting the oil pressure you have a less than ideal situation.

Bottom line is, if you increase the power from standard (unless the car was deliberately under-tuned by designer) you increase loads and stresses. Compared to rebuilding an engine, an oil change is cheap. It's safe to leave filter to every other oil change if your doing more oil changes, but for the want of £5 I tend to do oil and filter every 5,000 miles (and that's on a standard car)

Oil molecules have a shear strength, and if it's exceeded the oil breaks down.

Might not be such a problem on the PDI engines, as the oil is designed to handle the pressures of the PD injector cams and rockers, and these will not see much extra loading.

cheers you learn something new every day.

Thanks for all the info guys, im going to get Some Oil and a Filter ordered for the weekend, ive done around 7K Since my last service.

Thanks for all the info guys, im going to get Some Oil and a Filter ordered for the weekend, ive done around 7K Since my last service.

You might as well wait until the 10k now mate or it's a waste of oil seeing it will need doing in 3k miles unless you are going to do it every 7k?

Remember, mapped or not, this is a standard Diesel engine produced in the millions by VW, It's not going to last any less by doing th oil at 10k like VW advise.

OK, I know that the oil is the lifeblood of the engine, but they certainly 'aint no impreza engine that require regular service.

It's a low revving engine compared to a petrol.

What if it was on the variable service......there is no way I would do my oil 3 times before the car lets you know it needs doing?

I would only bother with an extra service if I were going to take mine on a track day, I do think (& this is just my opinion), people worry too much about things like this.:confused:

Im doing 5k changes in mines but as i do lots of miles its a pest... personally id say 7.5k isnt a bad shout

If you're concerned, I'd wait until the next proper interval at 10k, then do it every 5k. Then you don't get out of sync with the proper servicing schedule.

Steve