Car's just gone in for a service and the garage has phoned to say that there's a bunch of stuff needs doing:

• Battery £87.24
• Start motor £187.56
• Brake fluid £40.80
• Anti-freeze £35.94
• Pollen filter £35.51

So, that's going to produce a somewhat larger bill than I was expecting/hoping for 

 

What I'm wondering (apart from are batteries and starter motors really that expensive these days?!?) is how necessary the pollen filter is? I've not noticed any bad smells or air quality issues (apart from when the g/f has had a curry  ) so do I really need to change it? 

 

Thanks!

It gets full of leaves and crap so worth doing

Did you have issues with it starting? They are not routine service items!

 

Pollen filter is probably £10 from ECP and a 10min fit...

Your ventilation system will perform better with a clean filter, as said previously, easy enough to remove and give a visual check/clean if deemed applicable.

Also is this on top of an oil/oil filter and air filter change? Or are they not bothering with that.

the starter will go and be reconditioned so the garage will get some money from that too.

If the pollen filter and or scuttle get blocked as they do with leaves and crud then you will find water coming into the passenger side of the car. 

Google the price of a new battery. Not a big job to do yourself.

Try an independant garage.

Have they tested the antifreeze and brake fluid or are they just changing it on a duration/mileage basis?

Edited 28 March, 201412 yr by loskie

Based on the price of the anti freeze etc i'd hope those prices are including VAT and Labour at the very least...

 

For reference my car had a service on Wednesday including Oil, Oil Filter, fresh set of spark plugs, pollen filter, anti freeze and window washer liquid and including labour it was £165... could do it myself but i'm lazy and I wanted a stamp :P

 

Pollen filter is definately worth doing if you've no evidence of it being done, and the starter motor is a common fault but can be obtained a lot cheaper than that and is a fairly straightforward DIY.

What's wrong with the starter?

 

Had you noticed problems?

I think it was a fairly standard check list based on the mileage.

It has been a bit sluggish starting so the battery/starter motor thing wasn't a complete surprise...no issues that I was aware of with anything else.

In the end I just did antifreeze and brake fluid...will shop around for the other bits

Sluggish starting on a 2007 vRS suggests the battery, what grounds have they got for wanting to replace the starter motor?

 

I'd start with the battery and then see if starting improves.

 

A pollen filter is £10 off eBay and takes 30 seconds to DIY fit.

 

Brake fluid - OK, fair enough.

 

Antifreeze, again not sure why this would need changing unless it is contaminated.

Have a look here:

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/car-battery

As loskie said, you can see from the link bellow just how much extra the garage is making out of you for 'disposing' of your old starter motor.

http://www.carparts4less.co.uk/starter-motor

As the others have said I would not change the starter until I'd changed the battery and seen that there was no improvement.

The USUAL problem with any starter ( I've come across) is the solenoid contacts if the motor is sluggish with a good battery. Easy check is to put a DVM with a hold range across the main feed and turn the motor over. Anymore than 0.5v drop across the solenoid contacts would have me looking for contact maintenance/ replacement solenoid/replacement motor .