Author Topic: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing  (Read 22105 times)

Offline JHWP

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 70
My car (MY14 MK7 Golf GTD) came from the factory set for flexible service intervals (longlife) with PR code QI6. I believe most or all V.W. cars now come like this and have longlife oil as a first fill in the factory. My car was changed from flexible service/QI6 to time and distance/fixed servicing by the dealer at PDI or first service but I am wondering what corresponding PR code I should be following for servicing now as the maintenance charts by V.W. use the PR codes as the reference - QI1, QI2, QI3, QI4, QI7 for fixed servicing, QI6 for flexible servicing and QI9 for fixed servicing on electric vehicles. It would seem that it would depend where you are in the world and also the quality of fuels used/available. All of this is made very clear by V.W. apart from the case of taking a QI6 PR car off flexible servicing and putting it onto time and distance/fixed servicing such as my case.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Offline mcmaddy

  • Forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 5,244
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #1 on: 07 March 2018, 07:29 »
In the UK every car comes from the factory set to long life servicing but can be changed to fixed servicing on request. It then becomes 12 months or 10,000 miles whichever happens first.
TCR, Pure Grey, DCC, Dynaudio and Climate Screen.

Offline JHWP

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 70
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #2 on: 08 March 2018, 08:55 »
There are two very similar PR codes listed by Volkswagen on the official maintenance schedule - QI4 and QI7 and that is what I find a little confusing. They are essentially the same (give for the slight difference between the km value and the miles value) for the oil change service. QI4 is 15,000 km or 1 year and QI7 is 10,000 miles or 1 year but they differ quite a bit for the inspection service. QI4 being 30,000 km or 2 years then every 30,000 km or 1 year and QI7 being every 20,000 miles or 2 years.

I think that European cars that are taken off QI6 flexible servicing are then put onto QI4 fixed servicing and for markets such as the U.K. that use miles, while miles are stated by owners and dealers etc. the actual distance calculated by the car is in km, 15,000 km being just under 10,000 miles at 9,320 miles and I think that the QI7 PR code is for the NAR (North American Region) only but I could be wrong. Can anyone confirm the above?

Thanks.

Offline fredgroves

  • Serious forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 7,602
  • Professional Um Bongo drinker
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #3 on: 08 March 2018, 09:06 »
Don't you have a service manual for the car?

Can't you just look at that for the schedule?
Current: Mk8 GTI DSG, Adelaides, DCC, HUD, HK, Winter Pack, Rear Camera.. Aka "HMS Weasel"

Gone: 2017 Mk7.5 GTD,manual, NavPro
Gone: 2014 Mk7 GTD, manual, NavPro, DCC

Offline JHWP

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 70
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #4 on: 08 March 2018, 09:35 »
I do indeed have a service manual for the car. I also have downloaded all of the service information from erWin. It would be very straight forward if my car was still on QI6 flexible servicing as then I would follow the servicing schedule for PR code QI6 but as I have said, it is not on QI6 flexible serving. It has been changed to fixed or time/distance servicing. In this case, it is unclear what the new/changed or correct PR code and corresponding service schedule is in this situation as Volkswagen do reference QI6 cars being taken off flexible servicing and being put onto fixed servicing but don't mention which fixed servicing schedule to follow in that case. I asked my dealer and they couldn't tell me. They kept saying to bring it in to be serviced when the car tells me as it monitors the oil itself. This is even though I told them more than once that the car wasn't on flexible servicing anymore. I also emailed Volkswagen and asked them the question and never got a reply.
As you can see below there are multiple fixed servicing options. Narrowed down by the quality of fuels it leaves two options - QI4 and QI7 (oddly for the oil change service QI4 covers both areas of compliant and non compliant fuels but this is not the case for the inspection service). I would like to know which of these is to be followed in the situation where a QI6 car is taken off flexible servicing, such as my case. It does not sate this in the service manual for the car unfortunately. It also appears not to state this in any of the official Volkswagen service information





« Last Edit: 11 March 2018, 17:34 by JHWP »

Offline fredgroves

  • Serious forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 7,602
  • Professional Um Bongo drinker
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #5 on: 08 March 2018, 09:49 »
Q14 is in KM, Q17 is in miles no? Same distances 15km is ~10 miles in rounded VW terms.

But there is a difference in inspection regime of Q14 being every year and Q17 being every two years. The oil change is the same.

Which is weird because whilst I understand oil types maybe different, the inspection must be the same?

Shoot a PM to Evo on here, he works for a VW dealer.... might be able to help you.
Current: Mk8 GTI DSG, Adelaides, DCC, HUD, HK, Winter Pack, Rear Camera.. Aka "HMS Weasel"

Gone: 2017 Mk7.5 GTD,manual, NavPro
Gone: 2014 Mk7 GTD, manual, NavPro, DCC

Offline JHWP

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 70
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #6 on: 08 March 2018, 10:48 »
Q14 is in KM, Q17 is in miles no? Same distances 15km is ~10 miles in rounded VW terms.

That's what I initially thought - I assumed that QI4 in km was for markets that run in km such as Germany, France etc. and QI7 in miles is the same schedule but just in miles for markets that run in miles such as the U.K. But... then I thought why would V.W. bother to differentiate the two of them if they are essentially identical (after being rounded). I thought why don't they just have the one and write 15,000 km/10,000 miles or one year rather than have two separate PR codes listed with essentially the same distances and the same time frames. Then when I saw that the inspection service was totally different between the two I was truly confused...  :laugh: I'm thinking that it is a possibility that all European built cars actually calculate in km only and that is why some U.K. owners report the servicing distance values shown by their cars as being slightly less than 10,000 miles and not exactly 10,000 miles as 15,000 km is 9,320 miles. I'm also thinking it is a possibility that U.S.A./Mexico built cars for the NAR market may calculate in miles only and this is what the QI7 PR code is connected to (but... not all V.W. cars for the NAR market are built there such as the Golf R...). If this is the case I'm still unsure as to why the inspection service interval would be different between the two markets though.

To shed further curved light on this I checked the service information on my car this morning via the car menu. It is showing the car being due an oil change service in 10,400 km or 7 days but it is also showing the car being due an inspection service in 25,400 km or 358 days. If the car is following the QI4 service schedule then once the car has reached two years old (which it has) it is due an inspection service every year (or sooner if I reach the +30,000 km mark before then) and an oil change service every year (or sooner of I reach the +15,000 km mark before then). Although the distance elements differ between the oil change service and the inspection service, should they not be aligned in the time element of 1 year within the menu of the car? I will always reach the 1 year mark before the distance marks as I only drive low miles. For example I have only driven 4,600 km since the last service which was one year ago. Not sure if it makes a difference but my GTD was originally a U.K. car as was sold new in Northern Ireland but it has since been exported and is now running on roads which use km. Obviously I can switch the unit value between miles and km within the settings so it may be an identical car (other than the speedo markings) to the same model had I bought it new from my local dealer for example.

I really wish V.W. made this sort of information more available or at least that their dealers were more clued in. It's pretty simple stuff but very difficult to nail down and get a conclusive answer unfortunately.

I'll contact Evo and see if he can straighten this one out. Thanks for the info.

Offline fredgroves

  • Serious forum addict
  • *
  • Posts: 7,602
  • Professional Um Bongo drinker
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #7 on: 08 March 2018, 13:32 »
Here's a US service schedule:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynawu6w2kbnvmkq/2016%20Maintenance%20Cards_USA_GTI__2.0T_August%202015.pdf?dl=0

For a GTI of course, but it looks very much like oil change every 10k and other things are 20k (miles)

TBH, "inspection" is just a look at things to make sure they aren't worn out (if you read that chart). In the UK, after 3 years the MOT will cover nearly all of that for you!
Current: Mk8 GTI DSG, Adelaides, DCC, HUD, HK, Winter Pack, Rear Camera.. Aka "HMS Weasel"

Gone: 2017 Mk7.5 GTD,manual, NavPro
Gone: 2014 Mk7 GTD, manual, NavPro, DCC

Offline JHWP

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 70
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #8 on: 08 March 2018, 17:19 »
I did notice that the inspection service includes mostly all erm, inspecting  :grin: So no actual actions/work needed unless as you say something is worn out. I'd like to know though if it is recommended by V.W. to do it every 30,000 km/2 years then every 30,000 km/1 year or, every 20,000 miles/2 years.

Unfortunately my car won't be going through an MOT test and the equivalent test applicable to me is a bit of a joke. I would imagine an MOT test would be far more thorough. I'll check the stuff myself just to be sure...

Offline dfsGTD

  • Not said much yet
  • **
  • Posts: 39
Re: QI6 Flexible Servicing To Time and Distance Servicing
« Reply #9 on: 08 March 2018, 22:44 »
I didn't think servicing was so complicated. I just drop mine in at a good independent every 10000 miles and they do what is needed. Job done 😊