Switching to Fixed Service Schedule

[dognbones]

Hello.

Bought my Mk1 Octavia VRS on Monday and so far i'm loving every minute of it.

I believe it is on a variable service schedule as in the service book the last two services have had longlife oil written down. The last service was completed in December 06. After some searching, am I correct in thinking that with a variable service schedule in theory i can either wait until December 08 or until the light comes on which could be up to 20K (whichever is sooner). Its currently at 63K and the last service was done at 55K.

After reading many posts I think i am going to convert to fixed servicing as I currently only do approx 7000 miles a year but is it best to wait until the service light comes up before switching?

Many Thanks

Shane

[mannyo]

Variable servicing max time between services is 2 years, which with your annual mileage is when the next service will be due, so that dec 08.

On variable each service is a basically a full service using longlife oil, on fixed they alternate between oil and major using a cheaper oil.

So, it boils down to if you want to service the every year or every two years in your case.

[dognbones]

Thanks Mannyo, i'll have a think.

I may look at changing it over to fixed when the next service is due.

Is there any easy way to know if your on fixed or variable? They only put longlife oil in variable services dont they?

Tell me to search if i'm being lazy.

cheers

[hussarman]

Having purchased a used Octavia, I too would like to know how you can tell what service schedule the car is on.

[Clive 1939]

I have a 2003 Octavia 130PD. When bought (from a Skoda dealer) it had 4800 miles on it. At 20,000 miles I had it serviced at the dealers and asked for it to be changed to 'fixed' service intervals. I then had it serviced again at 30,000 (again at the Skoda dealers, when the 'service' light came on). At 39,000 miles I took it in for a cambelt (+ water pump) change but in order to keep the costs down decided to do the 40,000 mile service myself. The car now reads 41,300 and no service light has appeared! I questioned the dealer, who tells me that the 10,000 mile intervals indiicated are only 'approximate' and it's quite OK to wait until the car tells me it's due a service. I'm getting concerned though that I may be exceeding the 'service now' time. The dealer also suggested that the algorithm which decides when a service is due is applied to 'fixed' as well as 'variable' regimes. This seems to me to be wrong. Can anyone convince me one way or the other???

[cheezemonkhai]

The 10k servicing isn't approximate, that is the variable one.

Is it perhaps a 12k interval?

[Clive 1939]

I thought that was the case. I'll wait until I've clocked up 42,000 then, and see what happens. Incidentally, how can I tell if the car is actually set to 'fixed' rather than 'variable'?

[Clive 1939]

Now topped 42,000 miles and still no 'service now' indication! I took it to my Skoda dealer and asked him to check to see if it was in fact set to 'fixed' (as I had previously asked them to do). Five minutes later he reports that it is now set for a service indication at 52,000 miles, but either doesn't know whether it was on fixed or variable, or will not tell me! I'm not at all confident it'll indicate anything sensible when I reach 52,000 miles (once I've done this service). I think I'll ignore the bl---- thing and just service it at 10,000 mile intervals!