Hi All,

had the service indicator come on after 12months, ok fine but i thought i was on long life, so i phoned the dealer to check, yep on long life service, they sudgested that it may of come on early due to the number of starts i could of made. The millage is only 11000 or so since the last service, anyone else had this? or does it sound like they've switch the service intival by mistake?::confused:

Cheers.

Regards

Blanchie

I don't know whether the correct service regime has been set in the configuration or not , however I would suggest that if you are only doing 11,000 miles a year it would sensible to have it serviced at 12 months any way. The longlife regime is really designed for those doing high mileage.

I'm pretty sure that if it's on fixed rather than variable, the oil changes are max 10,000 or 1 year. So, if it's gone more than 10,000 before calling itself in then I'd say it is on variable and it's just decided it wants servicing.

Personally I don't have a problem with being on variable and doing a low mileage, as it means servicing every 2 years instead of every year, saving hassle. But, if your driving pattern/style means it's calling itself in after 11,000 anyway, then you are probably better off on fixed.

One other thought - you haven't topped up the oil with normal stuff instead of the special long-life have you? If you do that you're meant to go back to 10,000 max, and I've got a feeling that the oil sensor might detect it and call it in earlier.

AIUI variable works the same sort of way as when BMW first invented it; it considers time since last service, how and where you drive etc, so if that's 12_000 miles of stop-start town work, or "binary throttle" driving, it's not unreasonable.

AJB, I thought the long-life oils were controlled by the additive pack, and I just don't see how, other than having a chemistry lab in the sump, the engine could detect anything more than overall oil viscosity.

Certainly on other VAG cars, variable intervals note how hard you drive, how many cold starts, how often the bonnet is opened (!), and has an oils sensor that can measure the oil's condition.

I got 24k with my A3, but that was mostly motorway, few short trips, few cold starts.

If you know someone with vag-com they should be able to check the setup.

AJB, I thought the long-life oils were controlled by the additive pack, and I just don't see how, other than having a chemistry lab in the sump, the engine could detect anything more than overall oil viscosity.

I honestly don't know what the sensor measures, but even if it is just viscosity then a lesser oil might be starting to break down earlier, reducing the viscosity to the point where the computer calls it in for a service.

It was just a thought though, and I can easily believe that 11,000 of short stop-start journeys could make it call itself in even with the expensive oil.

I honestly don't know what the sensor measures, but even if it is just viscosity then a lesser oil might be starting to break down earlier, reducing the viscosity to the point where the computer calls it in for a service.

It was just a thought though, and I can easily believe that 11,000 of short stop-start journeys could make it call itself in even with the expensive oil.

Absolutely; it was just that your previous sounded like you thought that the oil sensor was measuring something more than viscosity.

Well Autosales in Cannock fitted us in for a quick 10min check:), looks like the "wrong software put in" for the service indicator