Regular Servicing

Service schedules applicable in one part of the world for a given vehicle are meaningless when applied to another area. Ambient temperature, average humidity, typical road conditions, and many other factors will vary greatly from place to place.

The only way to maximise safe and economical vehicle use is to service your vehicle in accordance with the manufacturer's schedule for the area in which you use it.

Chris

The standard answer is to check the makers servicing recommendations *for your country* as locally available oils etc may not be the same as elsewhere. Long service intervals demand special oils which may not be viable locally. Best buy a service book from a main dealer if the car was secondhand and didn't have one - that should give details. Car makers tend to know their products better than newsgroup readers.

My Service Booklet from Suzuki doesn't mention a lot of stuff.

- For eg. During one of my servicings, the dealer has charged me for

- Every now & then, he charges me for Wheel Balancing, Wheel Alignment & cost of weights for this operation. My Booklet only mentions rotation of Tires every 5000km.

- My dealer occasionally charges me for Cleaning Brake Pads & Liners. My booklet says nothing about this - it talks about replacing brake fluid every

Also during Tyre rotation, my dealer only the 4 tires - he never involves the spare tyre in this operation - this doesn't seem right. And my spare tyre is a regular tyre, not a temp tyre like in the USA.

Hence my questions. So if someone can answer questions from my original list & I can make a reasonable guesstimate about my local conditions & get a fair idea if my dealer is trying to fleece me.

Also, I am very confused about car terms in general. What are the different types of oils & filters in a car - Is engine & motor oil the same or different - how frequently do different oils & filters need to changed/topped up. Likewise for any other fluids & filters which need to be changed/ topped up.

When you go for an oil change - what oil are we talking about.

Sorry if my questions are silly - I have never known much about cars - I am trying to learn a little.

Usually it's engine oil. There are different oils for different parts of the vehicle. You have the engine/motor oil, gearbox oil, power steering oil, differential oil and they could all be different and have different lifetimes.

A UK group isn't really the best place to ask. I know we are cooler here and tend to use 10W40 engine oil but there are some cars that must have 0W40(0W30?) I believe. You probably have to have higher numbers and maybe more frequently but I'm only guessing there.

Balancing wheels sounds like a good idea especially if new weights are required but it's not usually done here except when new tyres are fitted. Rotating wheels also isn't common these days as far as I'm aware and the spare is usually left alone unless it's needed, apart from checking the pressure when you check your other tyres.

Dusting out brakes and pads is also not common but we have a lot of rain that tends to keep the dust down. If my brakes and pads were dusty I'd like the dealer to dust them out though since road dust and grit will cause them to wear more quickly. My experience is for disc brakes though, if you have drum brakes I believe dusting them out is needed.

How many miles/km are on the clock? Generally changing gear box fluid isn't done here but if it was I suspect gearboxes would last longer. My automatic gearbox is 'sealed for life' but that life is expected to be around 100,000 miles and if you change the oil a bit before then they tend to keep working. I suspect that in India with the heat that mileage is a lot lower.

I've always assumed that it's very dry, hot and dusty there except in the monsoon season and I wouldn't even ike to have a guess at what that does to brake fluid. Two years is the average lifetime for brake fluid but it does vary and the garages test the fluid to decide if it needs replacing unless the manufacturer specifies something else so that can vary as well.

It sounds to me as if the dealer is looking after your vehicle properly to give it as long a life as possible. Maybe that's why there are so many older vehicles in India when something on TV is filmed there. Attitudes here seem to be to get people to buy new cars (presumably it's similar in the US) whereas in India I think it's to keep them running as long as possible.

Then you need to find a workshop manual - even a Haynes one. Or write to the makers saying you're taking the car to a country where they don't have dealers so would like the full service info.

It's pretty unusual to change gearbox oil at all these days - except possibly at a high mileage.

Rotating tyres is usually an option. Cars tend to wear the tyres slightly differently at either end and swopping them can upset grip. Also means you have to buy a full set at once rather than just two. If you're having to pay for this to be done - and re-balancing - I'd say it isn't cost effective.

Again you need to find out what the maker says. Every two years or so is common for brake fluid.

See above about having to buy new ones. Might make sense rotating if you change the car before a new set is needed.

If they're doing the work properly it's not fleecing.

Rather outside the scope of a simple post. A Google on the subject should give you enough reading for a year...