Service regime for Skoda Rapid TDi

[AK67]

Servicing of 2013 SKODA RAPID ELEGANCE TDI CR 5 DOOR HATCHBACK

 

Hi All,

 

Please help if poss. My Skoda Rapid has been on a fixed service regime and serviced on:

 

12,000 miles (before I bought the car, serviced by Nationwide...)
20,000 miles (serviced by the Skoda dealer who sourced the car for me from the hire car company it was originally with)

 

It's now due a 30,000 service and then the dealer is putting it onto a flexible service regime.

 

My question is this: when was/is it due a major service? A different Skoda dealer advised me today that it should have had a major service on 20,000 miles...

 

Skoda UK's records has my car as a flexible regime from day one! Confused!

 

Cheers.

Edited 11 February, 2015 by AK67

[chrisgreen]

Just because the car is on the variable service schedule, doesn't mean it has to be serviced on that basis. I'm on variable, but I opted to have my car serviced at 12months (9,509 miles) - and stayed on variable after that.

What were the age points when the car was serviced.

If the car is an ex-hire car (personally I would have not touched such a vehicle) - I would strongly recommend you give it a full, major service - do everything (all the filters, brake fluid, long life oil, AC service etc). Hire cars are serviced with the cheapest possible consumables and are abused and ragged mercilessly by customers - after 30,000 miles it'll need some TLC.

[littleade]

Do you have a copy of what Nationwide did on tnat 1st service as if on the fixed regime it should have been done at 10k or 12 montns which ever came 1st, not 12k. Normally on fixed the regime is minor at 1st, major at 2nd, minor at 3rd, major at 4th and so on at each 10k/12 month interval. The minor is just a basic oil change, the major is the same as a variable service IIRC. What did it get at 20k, minor or major? Also how many miles are you doing a year?

[MarkRawlinson52]

My TDI is on variable has covered less than 5K and was reg in May 2013.  I got it as ex demo from Motorpoint withh 10 miles on clock.  When I asked at the dealers they said do not service until the car asks for it (due to hardly covering any miles).  When I was looking thru the maxidot display my service is due in 13 000 miles or 200 days.

[AK67]

Thanks for responding guys. Littleade, I'm waiting for dealer feedback regarding the nature of the 20,000 mile service. That's the key question I reckon. At present the picture I have of my service history is higgledy-piggledy!

[littleade]

Yes, spot on there. It should be a major service and depending on how many miles your doing a year will dictate whether you should be on fixed or variable

My TDI is on variable has covered less than 5K and was reg in May 2013. I got it as ex demo from Motorpoint withh 10 miles on clock. When I asked at the dealers they said do not service until the car asks for it (due to hardly covering any miles). When I was looking thru the maxidot display my service is due in 13 000 miles or 200 days.

if your doing less than 10k a year it should really be on the fixed rather than variable servicing program? You'll need to check with SUK but for the mk2 octy they all came from the factory on the variable service and as part of the buying process the dealer was supposed to find out how many miles you did a year, so if it was under 10k then fixed servicing should be recommended and they would change the service reminder in the cars ecu to fixed. The variable servicing is really aimed at high milage business users who do lots of motorway miles. If you're not that type of driver and intend keeping the car I'd change to fixed-there's nothing to stop you booking it in after 12 months even if the computer says 'No' !

[AK67]

Dealer says my car is on a fixed servicing regime and that my 20,000 mile service was a pollen filter service rather than a major service. They say that the 30,000 mile service will be just oil and filter, and then the 40,000 service will be the major service.

However, Skoda UK told me yesterday that the 20,000 mile service should have been a major service...

[AK67]

Update! Skoda admit they had got it wrong and based their info to me on my car being on a variable regime, which it wasn't.

On a fixed service regime the first major service is at 40,000 apparently.

[chrisgreen]

Regardless - the car did substantial miles before you took ownership, you have no way of knowing whether it was driven with care or - more likely as it was a hire car - driven like it was stolen, also you cannot be sure whether the non-dealership garage that did the first service 1) used OE quality parts, 2) used the right oil, 3) actually did any of the work it billed for.

On that basis - overservicing the first time you put it in for servicing is a good way to minimise the wear and tear impact of the previous use of the car, and ensures you get to start your ownership and future maintenance on a cleaner slate.

Finally - and this is entirely a personal view - 40,000 miles with the same air filter or especially a pollen filter is not good. Oil is cheap, a blown turbo due to gunked up oil feed pipes is not.

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[littleade]

http://www.skoda.co.uk/owners/service-and-maintenance/national-pricing/servicing/

quote name="AK67" post="4129860" timestamp="1423780950"]Update! Skoda admit they had got it wrong and based their info to me on my car being on a variable regime, which it wasn't.

On a fixed service regime the first major service is at 40,000 apparently.

hmmmm. See their own website page above!

No doubt they do more on the 40k service -see the 'as required' items, but the 20k service is still classed as a major-the 10 and 30k ones being little more than an oil, oil filter and polen filter change plus a diagnostic check, software update and road test. A fair few of us elect not to let them clean it!

[AK67]

Your mechanical nous is way superior to mine Chris, and I share your concern about those miles as a hire car and whether that first service was thorough. The car has driven well since I bought it but I do hope it turns out as good as the Octy 1.9TDi which I owned prior to this.

Btw, I do about 18,000 miles a year so perhaps variable should have been the regime rather than fixed...

[littleade]

Your mechanical nous is way superior to mine Chris, and I share your concern about those miles as a hire car and whether that first service was thorough. The car has driven well since I bought it but I do hope it turns out as good as the Octy 1.9TDi which I owned prior to this.

Btw, I do about 18,000 miles a year so perhaps variable should have been the regime rather than fixed...

At 18k variable is the obvious choice for you. Being on fixed won't have done any harm as the oil used is the same IIRC, it's more of a problem when people leave it on variable but should be on fixed due to doing fewer annual miles etc. So don't have it serviced often enough.

[chrisgreen]

Btw, I do about 18,000 miles a year so perhaps variable should have been the regime rather than fixed...

If you are doing about 18k a year (and I assume mostly motorway miles?) then variable is definitely suitable for you. However, servicing every 10k has the benefit of keeping your oil in good shape. Think of it as having an interim oil change between each 18k service.

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[Stormchaser]

Highly recommended oil changes at every 10K for one of those for prolonged life. 20K is too long [emoji57]

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[AK67]

Good advice guys, thanks. An oil change between those s-p-a-c-e-d apart variable services then? I'm being put on variable as of tomorrow.

Littleade, your Skoda website link on servicing is interesting. It doesn't tally with the dealer (and now Skoda's customer services) saying that the first major service should be at 40k? ...

[Stormchaser]

If on variable it would be. My Octavia was set up for this but I done oil changes at 10K religiously [emoji4]

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[MarkRawlinson52]

This may be similar to my very early Fabia, that had 2 service dosplays one for oil  then spanner for bigger service, only thing was the oil service always showed upabout 3 weeks before the bigger service reminder. 

[AK67]

6 days after my service and my dash is telling me "service now"! I've only done 200 miles since the pigging service. Help!

[chrisgreen]

Go back to dealer, get them to actually reset the service counter - clearly they didn't bother when they serviced the car.

[Stormchaser]

That's poor they should've done that automatically.

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[AK67]

Cheers. The annoying thing is the 60 mile round trip. I wonder if they would send someone out? Their error after all.

[camelspyyder]

Why do VAG recommend 30000km service intervals, and all the armchair expert mechs on here dont?

 

I have previously needed to oil change my Citroen diesel every 9 weeks so I'm in favour of regular service, but not more often than the manufacturer recommends.

[chrisgreen]

The manufacturer service schedule is a minimum that should be adhered to in order to ensure warranty compliance, optimum operation and minimal wear and tear. It's not the be all & end all. Environmental variables (heat, cold, dust, dirt etc), driving style and journey type have a huge impact on servicing needs and thdeteriorqtion of oil, filters and other fluids, which is why extra servicing (if you have the time and can afford it) is always beneficial, even if not entirely necessary.

Also, with so many cars now using turbos, clean oil is much more important than it is on normally aspirated engines. It doesn't take much to clog up turbo oil feed pipes, leading to a very quick and unrecoverable failure of the turbo due to oil starvation. Use of old and/or crappy oil that isn't low saps can also impact on EGR valves by clogging them up with soot, causing fault codes and hampering engine/turbo performance.

Regular and frequent oil changes diminish these risks considerably, and reduce engine wear and gunk deposits.

The more complex the engine mechanicals, the more it will benefit from more frequent servicing over and above the manufacturer spec.

[chrisgreen]

I will add one extra thing, the 1.2TSI has got to be one of the easiest engines around to do an oil change on. The oil filter is mounted on the front top of the engine, you can reach in and take it off with no obstructions. Getting to the sump plug to release the old oil is almost as easy.

If you are so inclined (and I know it's not something most people - including me - would normally want to do), but doing your own interim oil change on that engine can be done with little more than a low-cost jack and a very basic socket set.

[chrisgreen]

Cheers. The annoying thing is the 60 mile round trip. I wonder if they would send someone out? Their error after all.

No chance - it doesn't affect the operation of the car in any way, so you'll have to go back to them sadly.