Servicing periods on Mark three Fabia

[hetty1]

                   Hello. My June 2017 Fabia tsi sel estate 110 was on variable servicing when I first viewed it in December 2019 and test drove it. It had been serviced in April 2019 by the Skoda dealership I  saw it at. I was only doing 5000 miles a year with a fair bit of urban motoring and I asked for advice on this on this very forum. Based on this and my own feelings about servicing and oil longevity   I asked for it to be changed to annual servicing and was told this had been done. I asked for this on the Wednesday but the salesperson was off on the Thursday so he saw my message on Friday morning and I  collected the car on Friday afternoon. I  emailed before going down and was told it had definitely  been done and I had no reason to doubt this. Because of this  I never checked on the maxidot.

 

                 It now turns out that the car is still on variable servicing. I was putting the car clock forwards today and brought up service and the display read 279 days to the next oil service.   That only really confirmed what I already knew  as the "service due" light and audible alarm countdown  had not come on and the car was last serviced on April 2nd 2019. So they would have come on by now if the car had been on annual servicing.  The car has long life oil in it and its only done 7200 miles since then  and on annual servicing 9400 miles max  is OK so I am not too bothered, within reason, about it staying in the engine for a bit longer. Its quite likely that the 372 days between services on annual servicing  will be exceeded, that would mean April 9th 2020 and I may have to live with that as long as it doesnt drag on and on. I am simply not physically  fit enough to do an oil and filter change, I wish   I was but I cannot lie on my back to do it so that option is sadly   out.

 

              I am definitely  not interested in having a row with the dealership, I went down that particular road with the dealership regarding my Fabia 2 and there were definitely  no winners from that. Mistakes do happen. Now, of course, the dealership is closed because of the coronavirus and no one knows when it will open again, weeks or maybe even months.  I may well have the 3 year lubrication service done at my independent as there were people whose bookings with the Skoda garage predated mine so there will definitely be a backlog even if they do reoopen mid April and thats by no means certain.  I will, of course, get them to get a genuine   Skoda oil filter and drain plug from TPS and use Castrol Edge 5w 30 long life oil. The warranty should be OK as the garage is registered for VAT. I had intended to get the Skoda garage to service it to make the approved warranty more bullet proof but that looks unlikely now,.  If I do get it serviced at my independent can they change it to annual servicing or can only a Skoda garage do that? The independent will have the physical car but will they have access to the Skoda computer?  If not, the service will at least get  done and I suppose I will have to wait until the Skoda garage reopen whenever that may be to get the servicing regime changed.

 

                         Thanks.

[rum4mo]

I'd think that your independent should just use genuine parts and oil as you suggested and reset the service warnings if they can and just leave the changing of service "type" to next year when hopefully the UK has returned closer to normality.

[Ootohere]

The car is on Variable so Fixed Service interval does not apply, and even if it was changed to Fixed it would not matter as the cars engine has Long Life oil in.

Maybe just do not service (Have an oil & filter service) it anytime soon as really not Essential, and best to Self Isolate and 'distance' from people.

The car will be fine doing its low mileage in the next weeks or months and can get serviced when the time when people are not supposed to travel unnecessarily is over.

 

PS

There are Independent VW Specialists that have licensed equipment and access to TPI's / Software Updates and that can input Service Details.

They can also change Service Schedules as long as the tech knows who to use the correct licensed equipment.

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

 

Edited 30 March, 2020 by Roottootemblowinootsoot

[ettlz]

32 minutes ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

The car is on Variable so Fixed Service interval does not apply, and even if it was changed to Fixed it would not matter as the cars engine has Long Life oil in.

Maybe just do not service (Have an oil & filter service) it anytime soon as really not Essential, and best to Self Isolate and 'distance' from people.

The car will be fine doing its low mileage in the next weeks or months and can get serviced when the time when people are not supposed to travel unnecessarily is over.

 

Mine was meant to have its first service next week, but this has now been delayed. So for the meantime I'm just hunkering down, keeping the mileage low (not that I have anywhere to go -- 1 shopping trip a week at most, about 5 miles) and checking the oil level. Service centre says this shouldn't affect the warranty as I had booked it earlier and the delay is circumstances beyond my control. As pointed out, they fill Long Life from the factory and claim this is good for 18,000 miles/24 months (and up to now I was driving it 25-30 miles/day including regular NSL A roads).

 

I've done my 'due diligence', and I'm far from the only person in this situation -- given this time of year is the traditionally sales push season.

Edited 30 March, 2020 by ettlz

[Ootohere]

@hetty1

Has a car that the 1st MOT is due in June 2020,  and service items like the first Brake Fluid change is due at 3 years.

Since getting a MOT is not required currently it might be an idea before the Manufacturers Warranty expires to have the car inspected if anyplace is open just incase any Warranty Work could be required.

Even get a MOT if any testing station is available.

It will all depend on how Lock Down' in the UK goes over the next few months.

[pikpilot]

I would have to have a look at my wife's Fabia 3 to check, but on my Octavia you can reset the service display yourself AND in doing so, it also changes it from variable to fixed service. I expect all VAG models are similar.

[Ootohere]

@pikpilot

Maybe have a check.  You might find that if on fixed you can reset the service to 372 days / 9,400 miles but not from Fixed to Variable or Variable to fixed,

[pikpilot]

3 hours ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

@pikpilot

Maybe have a check.  You might find that if on fixed you can reset the service to 372 days / 9,400 miles but not from Fixed to Variable or Variable to fixed,

 

On the Octavia and some other models if you reset the service indicator when on variable it forces a reset to fixed miles/time but you need VCDS to go back to variable service. 

 

[Ootohere]

That is good,

so what about on a Mk3 Fabia which is relevant here?

 

Edited 30 March, 2020 by Roottootemblowinootsoot

[pikpilot]

1 minute ago, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

That is good,

so what about on a Mk3 Fabia which is relevant here?

 

Just suggesting it may be worth trying the same on the Fabia 111.

[Ootohere]

It is worth trying.

Just a pity that the supplying Dealership with all the gear had a technician or fitter with no idea, or a salesperson without any knowledge.

[Eccles]

Happens all the time which is why I trust my much cheaper and more reliable mobile mechanic who has not let me down in ten years. He tells me it is quite easy to access the Skoda computer - erwin-portal or something like that.