When do you service your vehicle - by distance or by time?

[Syndrome]

The Ford manual recommends service intervals every 15,000km or no later than 12 months since previous service for the FG X.

I drive less than 15,000km per year. However I have always scheduled service every 15,000km. The latest service is 17 months since the previous service.

Going a little beyond 12 months between services should not be a major problem. I understand leaving intervals too far apart causes issues as for example oil begins to oxidise.

What is the longest time you've had between services and what did you notice?

[oldel]

The factory has already stretched out the interval from 10k to 15k and that's fine if you use a good full synth oil and good filter.

Bare in mind "hardly driving", with lots of cold short trips is bad, so by the time it gets to 15k the oil has degraded even more than what is considered normal use.

If you are currently expecting to jump into it and drive it anywhere then you should change the oil every 12 months, ie don't stretch it out to 2 years just because it takes that long to travel 15000kms.

Note: On a hardly driven car I would put in a synthetic oil and try change it every 12 months, but I would stretch it out if it's sitting in the driveway and I have no plans to go anywhere any time soon. IE, no rush to reset the clock for another 12m if the car is sitting there with no plans of going anywhere.

I would change the oil before the first time it's got to move somewhere and I plan on driving it. E: I haven't changed the 14 month old oil in the BA yet, but that's because I'm not even using it - it's ute, I use it to pick up parts and I have no projects anymore. My BMW E34 project has gone and the nissan patrol can pick up it's own parts.

[DFB FGXR6]

Well, my 2008 FG had its umpteenth 30,000 km service this week. Actually, it was quite confusing for the service advisor, his computer said 105,000km but the odo said 31,000km.

In other words, I service once a year regardless of km's.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Well, my 2008 FG had its umpteenth 30,000 km service this week. Actually, it was quite confusing for the service advisor, his computer said 105,000km but the odo said 31,000km.

In other words, I service once a year regardless of km's.

Yeah same here, mines not quite as low kms. But i never do anywhere near 15k kms a year, so yeah always every 12mths.

[JasonACT]

Good question.

I've been doing 12 month services too until a year or so ago, when Ford told me to switch to who services my car, the "new" Canberra Ford dealer who never even sold my car (2012 XR6T) or any other AU made car for that matter. Their idiot staff, that didn't know how to uncouple the glove box without breaking it, then blaming me and being rude about the debacle, screw that.

It's now being done every 5000Ks by someone close to where I work, and definitely not by them, and it's not 12 months - more like 19-20 months. I win.

I mean, 61000Ks after 12 years, who really cares. It's not going to explode or anything.

Screw you Ford.

[Citroënbender]

Neither distance nor time for me.

The nexus of observations, experience, gut instinct.

Occasionally a $3000 gearbox will blow up.

[PHANTMXR6]

Annual for me being heavily modified.

Always a new fuel filter and diff oil replacement as well.

Last service the car had done 4500ish kms since the previous and 1500ish kms for the one the year before.

[HIPO]

10k for oil on my Barra Territory & annually for our Historic Reg. cars, tractor & quad.

[rare ss]

we run ours every day, I service at 7,500km with 0W-40 works around around 6 months on my BF and closer to 12 months on the wife's FG

The VK is looking more like a barn find and playing the role of an all purpose shelf atm, no idea if there's still an engine under the bonnet or not

[Big_Daz]

The wives and my daily's are both by KM (well the Everest hasn't done enough for its first service, but will) as we do enough driving for the KM interval to hit first.

For my SSV Redline I only do 5-7km/year in it so it gets a service every 6 months from the workshop that did the engine mods

[Franco Cozzo]

Distance but every 10,000km rather than 15,000km intervals.

Oil and filter is cheap

Generally every 12 months for the Caprice, but it's lucky to do 200km/year these days

[.:4:.]

I asked my cousin k's or time. He said they say time because degrades however you don't know how long the oil has been sitting before you even buy it. So he recomended kays but preferably before the 10/15 whatever the service interval is just for good measure.

[Blue_XR]

I have a BF XR6 Turbo, that rarely gets driven, 1000km in 2 years (83k genuine kms only) I waited 2 years to complete the last service a couple of months ago. I do use a full synthetic oil and replace the oil filter every time. If I start to drive it more often then I'll change it.

For our daily Subaru, I keep an eye on the kms (we do under 10k) but I change that once every 12 months. If I exceed 10k then I would change it as per the kms.

[McobraR]

I usually did it every 10-15k, but i was rarely driving the girl as i use to catch the train to work, so it could've been every 18months per service.
Office has recently moved and now i have to drive total 120km per day, which would total over 30k a year.
I'll likely be servicing it twice a year now, every 15k.
- 2011 XR6 NA 6spd auto, with 193k on the clock.

[Citroënbender]

I don’t agree with the idea that oil and filters are cheap.

Take the Barras: 5W-40 FS costs me about $8/litre in bulk, and genuine filters just over $10 apiece. So, about $65 in my costs - of course, free of labour charges.

That’s a good half of the weekly shopping cost. If you pay retail on a name brand oil, you’re going to be well over my spend. I’m not going to be the only one here who notices a sixty-five dollar hole in their wallet. And realistically, from the neglect I’ve seen on various motors, stretching an NA Barra to the far end of “ideal” isn’t going to drop the sky on your head.

[rare ss]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I don’t agree with the idea that oil and filters are cheap.

Take the Barras: 5W-40 FS costs me about $8/litre in bulk, and genuine filters just over $10 apiece. So, about $65 in my costs - of course, free of labour charges.

That’s a good half of the weekly shopping cost. If you pay retail on a name brand oil, you’re going to be well over my spend. I’m not going to be the only one here who notices a sixty-five dollar hole in their wallet. And realistically, from the neglect I’ve seen on various motors, stretching an NA Barra to the far end of “ideal” isn’t going to drop the sky on your head.

My $81.50 oil change only works out to 25% of our weekly shop LOL

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I don’t agree with the idea that oil and filters are cheap.

Take the Barras: 5W-40 FS costs me about $8/litre in bulk, and genuine filters just over $10 apiece. So, about $65 in my costs - of course, free of labour charges.

That’s a good half of the weekly shopping cost. If you pay retail on a name brand oil, you’re going to be well over my spend. I’m not going to be the only one here who notices a sixty-five dollar hole in their wallet. And realistically, from the neglect I’ve seen on various motors, stretching an NA Barra to the far end of “ideal” isn’t going to drop the sky on your head.

Using your logic, why even service it at all?









Thats my old man's old Mazda 323, went 140,000km between oil changes, and was probably only serviced maybe 5 times in its 429,000km life before it spat its OEM clutch

The old man's perspective is look at all the money he saved by not servicing it, it still lived a pretty long life.

He's not wrong either

[.:4:.]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

Using your logic, why even service it at all?

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Thats my old man's old Mazda 323, went 140,000km between oil changes, and was probably only serviced maybe 5 times in its 429,000km life before it spat its OEM clutch

The old man's perspective is look at all the money he saved by not servicing it, it still lived a pretty long life.

He's not wrong either

Eh, sure thats not the scrapings of the tray under a well used bbq?

[Rallye Sport]

The FG daily gets oil and filter every 10000km's which is about every 4 months.
Escort (performance engine) every 6 months which works out at about 1000km's.
The TD Cortina every 12 months, about 500km's.
Supercheap normally does a half price Penrite special around Boxing day / Australia day, so I stock up for the year, for filters I go to Veale, usually $8-$10.

[DFB FGXR6]

Originally Posted by Citroënbender

I don’t agree with the idea that oil and filters are cheap.

Take the Barras: 5W-40 FS costs me about $8/litre in bulk, and genuine filters just over $10 apiece. So, about $65 in my costs - of course, free of labour charges.

That’s a good half of the weekly shopping cost. If you pay retail on a name brand oil, you’re going to be well over my spend. I’m not going to be the only one here who notices a sixty-five dollar hole in their wallet. And realistically, from the neglect I’ve seen on various motors, stretching an NA Barra to the far end of “ideal” isn’t going to drop the sky on your head.

You would hate to be oiling a Miami V8 then.......................

8.5 Lt Castrol Edge 5W-20 - $203.15

[DFB FGXR6]

As mentioned earlier, I had my FG serviced this week. The car has always run with Castrol Edge 5W-30 A3/B4. I once had a mechanic tell me to pick and oil and stick with it, so I have.

I've always supplied my own oil for this car. I needed to grab another bottle have to enough to go with 6 Lt I bought earlier this year when it was on sale. Looked up who had it cheapest and landed at Supercheap, only to find they don't have Edge Titanium 5W-30 in 5 Lt jugs, but had a store full of the what they call Edge Hyspec 5W-30 A3/B4.

https://www.castrol.com/en_au/austra...gine-oils.html
https://automotivesuperstore.com.au/...SABEgItPfD_BwE

Of course, the Supercheap website doesn't list this product at all, I probably wouldn't have gone there if it was.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/br...castrol%20edge

I ended up buying a 1 litre bottle of the old Edge Titanium at a premium just so I didn't end up mixing different oils. The question I have though, are these two different oils, or just a rebrand to latch onto the greenies in their hybrids? The A3/B4 prefix remains.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

As mentioned earlier, I had my FG serviced this week. The car has always run with Castrol Edge 5W-30 A3/B4. I once had a mechanic tell me to pick and oil and stick with it, so I have.

I've always supplied my own oil for this car. I needed to grab another bottle have to enough to go with 6 Lt I bought earlier this year when it was on sale. Looked up who had it cheapest and landed at Supercheap, only to find they don't have Edge Titanium 5W-30 in 5 Lt jugs, but had a store full of the what they call Edge Hyspec 5W-30 A3/B4.

https://www.castrol.com/en_au/austra...gine-oils.html
https://automotivesuperstore.com.au/...SABEgItPfD_BwE

Of course, the Supercheap website doesn't list this product at all, I probably wouldn't have gone there if it was.

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/br...castrol%20edge

I ended up buying a 1 litre bottle of the old Edge Titanium at a premium just so I didn't end up mixing different oils. The question I have though, are these two different oils, or just a rebrand to latch onto the greenies in their hybrids? The A3/B4 prefix remains.

With regards 8.5 litre fill on Miami,
It might be worth your while doing a search and check if it’s available in 10/20 litres.
If so, it might cost a lot less than buying from supercheap….can we trust Amazon?

[Citroënbender]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

You would hate to be oiling a Miami V8 then.......................

8.5 Lt Castrol Edge 5W-20 - $203.15

Can you not match the API / ACEA specs in another brand for less? Else, how much is a drum?

[minheim]

My 2018 titanium ecoboost escape has just shy of 56K on it since new. It gets serviced every 12 months as it never goes near 15K in a year. Due for its next service in 2 months. The fixed price servicing, map upgrades and free road-side assist have helped offset the cost factor of time servicing and also preserved warranty (and hopefully goodwill if needed). The 14 year old mitsubishi lancer with 186K gets serviced by kms now as she does few kms per year. Most of its life it was serviced by time. It has also had a few automatic services done at the dealer in its time to ensure Mitsubishi fluids and precautionary maintenance. The old girl still runs well.

[XR Martin]

Every 12 months for my Sprint, which might be 2500km at most.

[ToryMikey]

The XH, probably once every 3-4 months. They ain't making any more.

[oldgringo]

I always change Oil and filter on the FG every 6 months as a high percentage of its trips are under 10 km. Routinely use a full synthetic. The first hot-cold cycle starts the clock ticking on the usable life of the oil. Car averages around 4,000 km every 6 months.


Same oil and filter change interval with my Chrysler 300 SRT which is lucky to travel 500-700 km every 6 months.

[portokatsiki]

On my Territory Turbo religiously every 5000kms oil and filter. On my AU V8s once a year, maybe 5000kms each.

[Trevor 57]

2016 Ranger, every 10,000
2015 Mazda 3, every 10,000
1997 EL Fairmont Ghia (club reg) every 12 months
1987 XF Fairmont (club reg) every 12 months
1966 XP Falcon Hardtop (club reg) every 12 months

[prydey]

Why does it have to be one or the other?

Ford say 12months or 15000km whichever comes first. So it's not like you have to commit to time or distance.

Ford also say that less than 7500km/yr qualifies as 'extreme conditions' and recommended 6 monthly service intervals.

I've always tried to service my cars as per ford recommendations but I must admit I have often forgotten when I last did the service due to only writing it in the book and not making a note on a calendar anywhere. I never went much beyond 12 months but a couple of times, by the time I checked the book to see when I last did the oil, I noticed I'd done closer to 20k instead of 15k. This was only in the territory.

I also believe in using good oil and sticking with the same oil. I've used shell helix ultra professional for close to 30yrs.

I don't subscribe to over servicing. My experience has taught me there is no 'risk' with the factory intervals. I've done over 100k km in every car I've owned and using fuel economy as a guide to engine health it has always improved from when I bought it and stayed consistent until sold. Proof is in the pudding for me.