Long life/Standard service intervals VRS

[Parslad]

Spoke to dealer this morning as my dash tells me that I need a service in either 500 miles or 180 days.

However, dealer thought I was on long life servicing and would not need to come in until 20,000 miles (I've covered 11,500 so far)

Anyway of telling which I'm on, dealer was not sure on the phone!

[poonpatch]

I think if you hold down the trip reset button when turning on the ignition it shows you the miles to the next service - someone did it on mine a few days ago and I'm sure this was the combo - 4800miles to my service and I've just down 10,000...

[poonpatch]

And you're octy instruction manual has a sticker on the inside cover which should detail qg0/qg1/qg2 - again these tell you which service intervals the car is set for - I think qg1 is variable and the other 2 are fixed...

[chequeredflag]

As far as I'm aware, 'long life' or 'variable' servicing works on an internal sensor whichs judges the quality of the oil, and flags up a service when it the quality is low.

this can be UP TO 20,000 miles or two years.

[gregozedobe]

Originally Posted by chequeredflag

this can be UP TO 20,000 miles or two years.

But if you do lots of short trips where the engine doesnn't get to warm up properly and/or lots of stop-start driving in heavy traffic and/or drive with a heavy right foot it can be a LOT less than 20,000 miles.

[Parslad]

Conflicting info from the dealer on this.

It was holding down the tripometer that flagged up I was due a service in about 500 miles (or 180 days oddly)

Phoned the dealer who said this must be wrong as I won't be due a service until 20,000 miles as I'm on long life servicing apparently.

They've "reset" my counter but I'm now a tad paranoid that the engine thinks it needs a service, dealer is telling me I don't!

Seems a hell of a long time to go without an oil change as well, long life oil or not....

[Babs]

Long Life is the Devil's work!

[Jonno VRs]

Dealers don't tend to advise consistently on longlife servicing.

Don't leave it till 20k - I did and the car wasn't driving that well but it felt so much better after the service.

If your manual says variable then I would suggest getting it done when the indicator on the car comes up, or very soon afterwards.

[Parslad]

Was thinking that.

Sod's law they reset it yesterday when I took it in to make it "think" it needs to wait to 20,000 miles now.

[mikel543]

When I bought my VRs TDi in March, the dealer told me that the car was on variable servicing and could potentially go up to 20,000 miles. However he said he'd be disappointed if it was that long before it came in for servicing as it meant it hadn't really been driven much. Basically if you drive it like an OAP you get the 20k servicing otherwise it may need servicing earlier depending on the oil quality.

TBH I don't really mind how far it goes before it needs a service, I got a TDi VRs because I wanted to have a bit of fun (which I'm having ) while still getting some decent fuel economy, although current price of diesel makes me a bork a bit when I fill up. The way I see it is that every mile I do over the 10k is a bonus and I've had fun getting there.

My last car an Octy Mark I Elegance was recoded by an unscupulous dealer to fixed 10k services, even though the vehicle code sticker specified variable. Hence I bought my VRs from a different dealer, incidentally the one who had pointed out that my original vehicle had been recoded and put it back to variable for me when I took it in for the tandem fuel pump recall.

[Parslad]

Not convinced by the 20,000 claim by the dealer, given that maxidot was telling me I was due a service in about 500 miles.

Will take it in I think and get the first service done anyway to be on the safe side.

I've not been overly conservative in the way I've driven it since new....

[allan1888]

your car may have been set to fixed servicing by the supplying dealer

[Parslad]

I must be missing something here, but surely a TFSi engine needs serviced either on a fixed schedule or a variable (driver dependant) schedule?

Cannot understand how a dealer almost flicks a switch or keys in something to a pc deciding which method is used.

Does not help when the dealer themselves was confused by the maxidot telling me it was due a service at 12,000 whereas they thought it should be first due at 20,000.....

[uncle bulgaria]

There are loads of threads on here about the "apparent" confusion dealers have caused over the two servicing regimes. 12,000 for 1st service on a TFSI isn't as bad as some on the forum who have reported a lot less than 10,000!

Mine managed 16,000 before it needed it's first service, and did 19,000 before it needed it's second. However I do about 2,000 a month mostly on motorways & fast A roads, and I often use the cruse control

When I bought previous VW group cars I was offered the choice between the two serviceing options & was explained that the variable was better if I did the longer motorway stuff. This could be changed proir to delivery on a new car or at each service. So you should be able to ask for it to be set to fixed milage at service, if this would be better for you.

I didn't get the offer on my vRS as it had been pre registered & used as a demo car, however when I took it in at 16,000 I was advised to stick to the variable schedule, as it was "working for me"!

The key is that the regiem is actually both time limted & mileage/oil/driving dependent. So it could go as far as 20,000 miles, however if you the oil was fine & your driving style & mileage didn't trigger the service reminder It would eventually come on at 2 years.

[mannyo]

Originally Posted by allan1888

your car may have been set to fixed servicing by the supplying dealer

if this were the case, then the service would have been due at 10K miles, and would have been prompting since 9K.

The key to variable servicing is that the limit is UPTO approx 20K or a maximum of 2 years between services, the service indicator can trigger at any point UPTO these limits.

[Balham]

Just got my vrs and done some searching on here but I'm still a tad confused about the fixed / variable service thingy. After pointers on here I'll check my service book to see if there's a sticker to indicate what I'm on.

I bought the car with 13,000 miles at which point they did an oil change service, so I'm assuming that the full service won't be due for a while longer. Regardless of which type I'm on the service indicator on the car dash will always tell me when it's due so I don't really have to worry?

Sorry for the thicky questions!

Balham

[VRSJGM]

When i bought the car i decided to go with a 1 year fixed service schedule.

I am much happier getting the car looked over every year rather than 2, and certainly dont like the idea of what the oil will look like having not been changed for 2 years

[dan_the_v8man]

my vRS TFSi decided it was due at just over 13000 miles for its first service. before it went in some times it was a bit ropey starting, since its been serviced its a totally different car

[_ZS_]

Oil and filter every 6-8k, will keep things sweet, and probably help stop the turbo falling out at 40k.

My Astra (also on 20k/2y variable) gets a dealer service every 20k and two oil changes in between.

[InSaNeCaT]

From what you said your computer was telling you, it sounds like you are on variable servicing and that it was indeed going to want serviced at 12k miles which sounds about average for the TFSI.

My first one was required at about 12.5k-13k and is currently indicating next one needed in 800 miles with 26.2k now covered. It is defo down to the way the car is driven, how long between services which can be anything from about 10-20k or up to 2 years. This actually suits me perfectly as it's matching up to roughly how many miles I do a year so basically getting serviced every year for me.

Going for my 2nd service on Saturday and as the car just turned 2 in June it's good timing for the 2 year brake fluid etc at the same time which I think it's needing as felt brakes a bit funny a couple times lately...

So my advice would be to get your 1st service done in about 500 miles and get the variable trip computer reset again at this time.