Hi all,

My Fabia 1.4 16v has done a year since it's last service, but only about 5,000 miles - so it's showing Serivce INSP on the dash, instead of Service OIL as on the 10,000 mile interval before.

So I need to know- do I need to put it in for a partial service, or a full one? I believe it was put on Long Life oil at the last service (which was the 60k, done at @62k), so I'm not sure what needs doing?

Also, is there a thread somewhere advising on places to get the service done - I'm in Birmingham Central (B9) but haven't had my car serviced in this area before. Where would you advise is the best place for workmanship & value for money...or where can I ask!? Also how much is a reasonable price, bearing in mind I can't afford to splash out as it could be 3 months until I'm earning again.

Thanks,

Andrew

Have you considered doing it yourself? Your car is 10 years old, with the greatest of respect when you come to sell it a file of paperwork/receipts is going to be just as reassuring to a potential buyer as a stamp in the book from somewhere they've never heard of, better yet they know you actually purchased all the items and didn't just tick the box and stamp the book like a less reputable garage may.

Oil/filter should be changed every 12 months irrespective, most of my service history comes from annual services every 2k prior to me buying the car. You may also have to do the air filter, plugs, brake fluid/coolant but your service book will tell you what's due and when it was last done. If it's just oil/filter then it's going to be circa £25, add plugs and an air filter and you're looking at more like £50, brake fluid will set you back circa £5 and coolant about £12, shouldn't take you more than 1-2hrs depending on what's due and you only need the most basic of tools, certainly a lot less than any garage will charge you. The rest is mainly basic visual checks on the brakes, tyres, lights, suspension/bushes and lubrication. A basic check-list is available on here or in the Haynes manual.

Hmm. Thanks for the advice. In all honesty I haven't considered doing it myself purely on the basis that I'm not entirely confident doing it, but equally I think pretty much everything you mention was changed last year so if it is as little as you say I'll call the friend who did my brakes...

In theory a Fabia needs an Inspection service annually - to answer your question directly. But I don't disagree with Avalon either.

Thanks. I just spoke to a friend who's much better with engineering than me and he's happy to do the service and checks etc thanks for the advice.

One thing though- is it possible to reset the service indicator on the dash myself, and/or get someone to do it for me. I've been thinking about getting the interface cable/software so that isn't a problem

It's in the Manual - page 12 in mine:

It is also possible for you to reset the Service Interval Display with the reset button

? page 11, fig. 4 as follows:

• Press the reset button ? page 11, fig. 4 with the ignition switched off and

and hold it down.

• Switch the ignition on, release the reset button and and turn the reset button

to the right. All counters will be reset to 0

If I were you, I'd be servicing myself. After seeing some guys paying for things, only for them to have not been changed, or even put in! I know as soon as my warranty is up, I'll be doing it myself.

I might get the odd major service done by a dealership as they supposedly do all these checks and more importantly, ECU updates. I wouldn't personally know what I was looking for!

Perfect- Thanks DRj, I'll check that out

xreyuk it certainly seems that's the popular option here! Sadly whilst I'm enthusiastic about cars my ability to work on them is diminished, hence why I appreciate having a friend who does have said ability! I'm limited more to basic internal mods...I know what you mean though, for some reason last year I let myself get royally ripped off for the 60k service (sadly at the time I was so busy I had very little option :( ) The 10k services don't look too tricky though so I'll see what he does and perhaps do it myself next time around...

Yeah the 10k service is just an oil change and replacing the filter