Maintanance Schedule

I'll sink to answering a question with a question... Who knows more about your car, the factory or the dealer?

I bought my '99 Outback new and it's got over

100k miles on it. I've done all of my own servicing except a torn CV joint boot that was covered under warranty. For me, the factory schedule is/was fine.

I bought a brand new WRX, my subaru dealer told me to bring the car in for service every 15000km (9375miles) or 6 months.

the first time will be small service so just oil change, the second the will do some more like oil and all filters, the second time just oil again, this will be like this after every 15000km or six months big service than small than big etc.

allmost all new cars sold (in Europe, I live in the Netherlands or Holland however you wana name it) have this type of intervall, this was the same with my dads mazda 626 and also my opel astra I had before the WRX.

so yes if more than this is a rippoff

I rely on the manufactures recommendations and do all of my own scheduled maintained. If I was to depend on a Subaru or any other dealer I would take my manual with me and circle what the manufacture recommends for MY driving conditions. i.e. severe service=3,750 mile oil/filter changes or normal service=7,500 mile oil/filter changes. Many dealers have their own agendas and recommend "extra" service which may be ok but, usually is just a money maker. THE MANUAL IS YOUR FRIEND and you will not go wrong or broke following it. ed

What I said: shortened service intervals if car driven hard or in severe conditions. Thank you for pointing out that the manual agrees with me. If you're driving in trafic a lot, you're not doing a whole lot of mileage but your engine still runs, like you were doing the miles. A better system is number of hours of use, like for an aircraft or marine engine.

My dealer recommends an oil and filter change every 3 months, I do every

4 months.

Hi,

Well, if you don't want to start a war over dino vs synthetic, there's always "how often to change oil!" You'll get some rather impassioned responses either way. All have some merit, most have some fault as well.

Best thing to do IMO is to look in your owners manual. You'll probably see a "normal" and a "severe" service interval. For MOST of us, "normal's" a pipe dream. Read the definitions that determine "severe" and you'll find that if you drive your car at all, it's probably "severe" service! So stick with that schedule.

Having said that, I stick with a 3000 mile oil change schedule and have since the days of air-cooled VWs that didn't even have an oil filter. I can't say it's bought me anything over a slightly more extended schedule, but I also can't say I've wasted that much money, either. I currently have 355k miles on my Subie, 218k on my Toyota, and previous vehicles have been treated, and rewarded me, in similar fashion. So let's just say that while going too far between oil changes MAY harm the engine, going a little on the "frequent" side won't.

Some responders, especially from Europe, will say we change way too often in the US. I'd tend to agree, but there are some differences, too: I seriously doubt many drivers in Europe put on the kinds of miles we do here, and even if they do, they're getting different oil than we do. Go down to your auto parts store and look at the "For Sale in North America Only" sign on a bottle of Castrol. Castrol's sold worldwide: is this hype or not? Considering the stricter testing sequences for many European engines, I doubt it.

Also, it may be changing, but in the past the Europeans have had a slightly more "hands on" mentality about maintenance than the Americans. I remember one owners manual I had that specified "at 36k miles, or engine teardown" for certain maintenance? What? That's barely a year for me and many I know--tear down an engine annually? I don't think so!

So, make your own decision based on the owners manual, and you should be ok.

Rick

Must have been a Jaguar (:

You need to follow the dealer's schedule to avoid warrantee disputes. The dealer's schedule is based on local driving conditions. Most manufacturers claim 7500 until you read the fine print, at which point you find it's really somewhere between 3000-3750 miles. Drive in polluted air? (Unless you are in Death Valley, you do) - severe duty. Stop and go? (not all highway driving) Severe duty. Start the car often? (More than twice a day) - severe duty. etc...

Alan: Just read your owners manual as to what constitute severe duty. No where does it allude to more than two starts per day as severe and dirty air except in death valley??? Where did you manufacture that kind of thinking??? Follow the manual.

My Subs do 58,00Km/yr (35K miles in Aus with probably 5% dirt driving and

30% short hop city. Still on 12,500Km (7.5K mile) dealer service interval with no problems in between except occasional boot or bulb failures. Surely 3750 miles could only be oil/filter & safety check? So you're doing extra schedule 1 services. Basically it's good peace of mind if you regularly do lots of 3 mile trips, flog the nuts off the car from cold, or travel with half a ton of trade samples. Otherwise? It's really your call unless it's going to void warranty. Cheers

Depends on where you live and how you drive. Live in the big city and spend hours idling in traffic? It would be wise to change the oil every 3500 miles. Live in the country w/ no stop and go traffic? You could probably go 7500 in between oil changes. I suspect most of us are somewhere in between...

I think the best system would be the combination of

1) Measurement of total engine revolutions (engine usage) 2) Total mileage (distance traveled)

This way we can easily tell what kind of usage history a car has had. For example, a car with low mileage, but with high engine usage would suggest that the car has likely been driven in stop-and-go conditions.

I just got back from my first Subaru service (3750 mi). The oil change wasn't bad (like US$23) but behind the counter they had a list of recomended services posted along with the cost. I was astounded. $450 for the 12,000mi checkup (and similar amounts at 12,000mi intervals)

What in the heck could a dealer do that would justify $450 for a healthy car!

All they had listed were things like engine diagnostic service, oil, filter and lube, Transmission adjustment (it's a manual, what's to adjust!). These people must think that their greesemonkeys graduated from Harvard Medical School. No, can that, I don't pay my friggin' doctor that much!

Philip

Stop at any other dealer. There isn't much difference between brands, unless you go Euro, where it's even more expensive.

Barry