1000mile Oil Change?

[redbaron]

Has anyone bothered doing this... im not a fan of ludicrous intervals (20,000 miles or am i reading the book wrong?)

if so what you using? i am planning on mobil 1 and a healthy does of slick 50? your thoughts please:confused:

[TaviaRS]

OK my thoughts....

As you may know, my car has a relatively hard life. Instead of the variable servicing, I went for fixed every 10k. However, I still use the long life oil. Even at the 10k the oil hasn't turned to gunk so its doing its job. Personally, with my driving, I wouldn't want to leave it any longer!

What I'm trying to say is that the standard oil is perfectly adequate. Before you say its going to be on track days, mine so far has done the best part of 8000 track miles.

[FightingDiva]

I agree with you guys. Oil is something you normally want to change after the recommended interval (15000km).

Now, my story with the Skoda dealer. I went to them and asked, can I leave my car for service? The car had gone 11000km.

They simple said to me, is your service indicator on the dashboard indicating that service is needed?

No, i answered.

Come back when it's lit.

Doh! What if a simply want to leave my car for a service?

So, I still haven't gone to the Skoda service yet. Presuming I trust their word of letting the car tell me when it's time.

Cheers,

FD

[TaviaRS]

FD,

With the Octavia you have a choice, variable servicing (where you wait for the car to tell you) or fixed which is every 15,000km (I think, but it is 10k miles). The dealer can set this in the ECU using his 1552 machine. I've gone for fixed as then I know when it needs serving (very important with the miles I do) but I do use the long life oil that is used in the variable schedule.

Jon

[llblake]

My RS is serviced ever 10K which I think is better considering all the work I have done to my car. To date the dashabord indicator hasn't come on yet and I have done over 23K miles.

Lloyd

[steveredvrs]

I think it depends on how long you intend to keep the car.

As the UK cars have a 3 year & 60000 mile warranty - then I have gone for variable servicing - as I will probably only need two services before 60,000 miles.

According to Skoda UK the 10,20 and 30000 services will cost around

[llblake]

I agree with you Steve about the trade in value, with all the mods I have and I am going to have. My RS won't be worth as much as a standard RS with no mods when it comes to trading it in. But it is better to keep the service intervals up-to-date for piece of mind.

Lloyd

[TaviaRS]

I agree with Lloyd, even though mine has minimal value left.

[redbaron]

cheers for the input boys but nobody actually answered the question... is it worth doing a 1000 mile oilchange?

i getting the drift of no... but surely on a new engine etc...?

[TaviaRS]

No.

Unlike some other cars, eg Subarus, the engine comes with "normal" oil it rather than a thinner "running in" oil so it is not required.

[KLB]

I used to get the oil changed at 4,500 miles "just in case" on my previous cars (Citroëns) with a standard service interval of 9,000 miles. With hindsight, it didn't make a scrap of difference.

As long as you stick to oils meeting the appropriate VAG specifications, you should be OK.

I'd be very wary of using oil additives - especially Slick 50. Take a look at the engine oil bible and the oil additives section at

http://www.chris-longhurst.com/carbibles

[redbaron]

KLB,

cheers for the info...I never knew they had problems...

[spc]

I guess advances in both materials and lubricant technology have been combined to produce longer times between oil changes; no doubt driven by the desire to reduce garage visits and and so make life easier for the customer/owner.

There is no way that I could see more frequent oil changes doing any harm, as to the benefits, obviuosly there is a degree of debate about that.

Strange thing is that our American cousins benefit from the same technology advances as us but they still insist on 3000 mile changes. As an oil company employee all I can say is please go ahead and change it...

:cheers: Paul

[Dutch4x4]

More oily threads here:

http://forums.briskoda.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=370

http://forums.briskoda.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1191

There is no need for, but also no harm in frequent oil changes. Maybe except for during the run-in period! If I understand correctly, the internal engine bits (particles) coming off the engine actually help smoothen up the cylinders and pistons. The long-life oil is specifically designed to last the job.

Better to top up than change in the first few thousand miles, as it is wise to check the oil level regularly. The 1.8T is known to burn some oil, especially when it isn't run-in properly - which is when you've been too easy (yes, then too) or too hard on it - and when chipped, will do so anyway.

At least, that's what I've heard...

[TaviaRS]

Mine, to date, has used no oil. Guess I'm driving it just right then

[redbaron]

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Mine, to date, has used no oil. Guess I'm driving it just right then

ditto

[Dutch4x4]

Originally posted by TaviaRS in this post

Mine, to date, has used no oil.

How could it have? It was you who gave me precisely the correct run-in instructions...

[TaviaRS]

I was just thinking though it really should have used some oil, even with me driving like a granny

Delivered with 3 miles end of Sept 2001

Chipped at 9,000 miles

Exhaust and DV replaced at about 15,000 miles

485 laps of the Nurburgring

14 UK trackdays with about 150 miles covered on each one

1 new sump

5 new coil packs

3 new sets of discs

2 sets of rear discs

2 sets of rear pads

6 sets of front pads

11 complete sets of tyres

Mileage now is 94,000 miles.

Obviously mine has had a gentle life

[DGW]

I'm sticking with variable servicing. Skoda have enough faith in it to offer a 3 year unlimited mileage warranty for my car, and I am prepared to believe that the fully synthetic longlife oil used really is that good.

The vehicle maintenance schedule for a US-spec 2002 1.8T calls for engine oil and filter changes every 5000 miles. I believe that VW engines for the US market are made in Mexico and presumably manufacturing standards and tolerances are not as high as those for European manufactured VAG engines. Furthermore, the US market doesn't (or didn't) use the longlife oils we do. Engines do need to be designed and manufactured specifically to take advantage of that oil since it is very thin one, ie 0W-30.

[Dmac1969vRS]

Mine used a bit of oil in the 1st 1500 miles , but has used very little since. I usually check it every 2 weeks and top up (with the proper 12 quid a litre castrol longlife oil) when required. I'm on variable servicing (car currently states Service: 400 miles) but I wont do the milage before my car is 2 yrs old , so it will be going in on its 2nd birthday for its first service! On the subject of trade in prices , I had a shocker this weekend , went into my dealer to check how much i still owe on the car (

[FightingDiva]

Why did you think i got mine revo'd? Simple because I knew that the car wouldn't be worth that much after say two years.

The only thing that would make me change my Octavia RS is if Skoda release an improved Octavia with 4x4 and 225bhp engine or the Tudor sportscoupe with a V6 engine like the Golf R32.

Otherwise I'm going for an Audi, and my favourite is the RS4.

Cheers,

FD

[robmawer]

Originally posted by Dmac1969vRS in this post

1 owner 23 months old and almost 14K miles on clock , and MINT)...

[redbaron]

its not just skodas.... everything is worthless.

people are losing big money on TT's Boxsters BMWs and Mercs (trust me)

people who payed 47-48k for boxster S with options are getting bid 32-33 at 18mths old... thats nearly A GRAND A MONTH!!!

the new company car tax rules have killed anything with 2.0+ petrol engine hitting all the luxury marques hard... and if you can buy a 2 year old 7 series for 18k your not going to pay 10k for a 2 yr old octavia... sad but true....

[tavia4x4]

I would say throw it in anyway, my opinion (for what it's worth) is that the more often the dealer has the car up on the ramps, the more likely they will spot anything major before it falls off

That's also why mine is on 10k servicing, I drive it (ahem) fairly hard but still want to look after it.

[Dutch4x4]

To give you some perspective on residuals on the continent - the Skodas ain't doing half bad here!

New RS: EUR 27,120

6/2001 RS, 40,000kms: EUR 21,500

7/2001 RS, 9,500kms: EUR 26,485

1/2002 RS, 8,000kms (demo): EUR 27,000

New 4x4 Estate: EUR 26,550

8/2001 4x4 Estate, 40,000kms, Skoda-approved chip: EUR 21,450

New 1.6i Comfort: EUR 18,760

1/2000 1.6i SLX, 62,000kms: EUR 12,950

New 1.6i Ambiente: EUR 16,930

1/2001 1.6i Ambiente, 43,900kms: EUR 13,500

So here, Skodas hold their value pretty well!

Is that Dutch egalitarianism vs. British class society?