Servicing

[Blackstorm]

Hi All,

Just a quick question regarding frequency of services for our TFSI Jetta. I have been told that they really dont need to be services as much as your normal japanese cars. I have even been told that 15000 - 20000 ks between a service is acceptable. I find this very hard to believe. What are your opinions?

CHeers

Steve

[anthony]

I have my Jetta serviced every 15000 kilometers as per the service book,and that is fully acceptable.

[Blackstorm]

I have my Jetta serviced every 15000 kilometers as per the service book,and that is fully acceptable.

wow that is remarkable. I guess that just reinforces the quality these cars posses!

[Blitzen]

Hi All,

Just a quick question regarding frequency of services for our TFSI Jetta. I have been told that they really dont need to be services as much as your normal japanese cars. I have even been told that 15000 - 20000 ks between a service is acceptable. I find this very hard to believe. What are your opinions?

CHeers

Steve

Steve, I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but you really need to read your owners manual and service guide that came with the car. ALL of this is covered in the publication, including service intervals (which is 15,000km, as most European cars are these days), type of oil needed, and what is done at each particular service.
Also, please use the "Search" function as part of this forum. This particular topic has been covered a number of times in the past.

[Blackstorm]

Steve, I don't mean to sound rude when I say this, but you really need to read your owners manual and service guide that came with the car. ALL of this is covered in the publication, including service intervals (which is 15,000km, as most European cars are these days), type of oil needed, and what is done at each particular service.
Also, please use the "Search" function as part of this forum. This particular topic has been covered a number of times in the past.

Fair call, however i was asking for people's opinions, as many car enthusiasts regardless of makes and models have different methods of maintaining thier cars. If i wanted to know the factory recommendations i would have as you said 'Read the manual'

I used to own a few other performance based cars and the factory requirements for maintaining were never really spot on and everyone who owned one looked after them in different ways.

Cheers

[Blitzen]

Thats fair enough. I service mine every 7500km. Polo has the same 15,000km servive interval as the Golf, but I halve it. Its not like oil and filters are expensive, and I do the changes myself.

[Blackstorm]

Thats fair enough. I service mine every 7500km. Polo has the same 15,000km servive interval as the Golf, but I halve it. Its not like oil and filters are expensive, and I do the changes myself.

Thats another thing i am half considering at the moment aswell. I am used to doing most work on the cars myself however as most of you would know, these cars are quite a big investment for a person that has come from the lower end of the market and hasnt got much experience with german cars. I am in two minds about whether to pay the 500 - 600 per service or to potentially be able to pay less than half by doing it yourself.

I have also heard through the grapevine that you should always service the car with a VW service center as they have all the correct diagnostic tools etc to make sure things are going good and to even be able to detect problems before they cause any obvious issues.

[Treza360]

Thats another thing i am half considering at the moment aswell. I am used to doing most work on the cars myself however as most of you would know, these cars are quite a big investment for a person that has come from the lower end of the market and hasnt got much experience with german cars. I am in two minds about whether to pay the 500 - 600 per service or to potentially be able to pay less than half by doing it yourself.

I have also heard through the grapevine that you should always service the car with a VW service center as they have all the correct diagnostic tools etc to make sure things are going good and to even be able to detect problems before they cause any obvious issues.

No what you actually want is an independent VW mechanic who relies on their reputation as a VW specialist mechanic who has the same diagnostic tools and know how. Whilst you might not get the fancy showroom coffee and lounge you will actually get to talk to your mechanic and he actually gives a damn about you and your car as he is actually the business owner as well and needs to. You also won't get stung the 500/600+ plus servicing costs as you mentioned.

You have quite a few options:
- Jmac on here should have his mobile servicing up and running full time (if not already). Link
- Mike Weber's Prestige and Performance is at Cooparoo here in Brisbane. Link
- V A Garage is at Southport on the Gold Coast. Link

Spoilt for choice.

Just make sure you avoid any generic garages and especially the likes of Lube Mobile or Ultratune. They lack the specific diagnostic tools for the makes as well as not really knowing what they're doing for a lot of the complexities of our vehicles.

Cheers,
Trent

Note 1: I can vouch for the first two mechanics mentioned above but not the last. Others on here have though.
Note 2: There may be others that I am not aware of.

[gerhard]

15,000 or 12 months whichever comes first. In Europe they can and do go longer distances using longlife oils.

It doesn't harm the car to do a 6 month oil change, and it doesn't harm the car to use longlife oils. It only harms your wallet to use cream where milk is perfectly adequate.

I gave my GTI a 6 month oil/filter change myself, dead easy, using 502 oil. The 12 month service gave it Penrite Enviro+ oil, a longlife VW approved oil (I don't do 15,000 in a year...) Service don at the dealer, $270 approx with me supplying the oil.

[Blackstorm]

15,000 or 12 months whichever comes first. In Europe they can and do go longer distances using longlife oils.

It doesn't harm the car to do a 6 month oil change, and it doesn't harm the car to use longlife oils. It only harms your wallet to use cream where milk is perfectly adequate.

I gave my GTI a 6 month oil/filter change myself, dead easy, using 502 oil. The 12 month service gave it Penrite Enviro+ oil, a longlife VW approved oil (I don't do 15,000 in a year...) Service don at the dealer, $270 approx with me supplying the oil.

I have just checked the paperwork that we got from the dealer we purchased it off. We need to service it every 6 months or 10 000kms (what ever comes first) to keep warranty. Damn, seems like some uneccessary dollars going out of my pocket

[gerhard]

I have just checked the paperwork that we got from the dealer we purchased it off. We need to service it every 6 months or 10 000kms (what ever comes first) to keep warranty. Damn, seems like some uneccessary dollars going out of my pocket

That's weird - you must have got some sort of non-genuine aftermarket warranty from the dealer for them to impose a harsher service routine than the factory does.

[Blackstorm]

That's weird - you must have got some sort of non-genuine aftermarket warranty from the dealer for them to impose a harsher service routine than the factory does.

Yeah i bought the car from a toyota dealer.

[gti]

I serviced my gti at 7.5km and then will be doing it again at 15,000km.

[NickZ]

Yeah i bought the car from a toyota dealer.

What sort of additional warranty did you get with it? If under 3 years old, you will still have the original warranty until 3 years after first rego, and can extend it for $1500 or so for an additional 3 years. This will be a full extension of the warranty, without the exclusions and limitations that some of these dealer warranties have, and will only require your car to be serviced 12 months or 15000km.

[brad]

Yeah i bought the car from a toyota dealer.

Does the servicing have to be done at the Toyota dealer? I wouldn't let them near it. They won't have a clue (or the tools- ask them what a triple square bit is)
servicing at adealer or an independant isn't expensive. Get the factory extended warranty (use the search function - most of yourquestions have been covered several times over)