Edition 30 first service issue

[R32UK]

Sorry but I wouldn't touch any car that hasn't had an annual/12k service. Forget Long Life, it's just something dreamed up for company cars to cut running costs. T&D all the way for me, regardles of make and model.

As a second owner, you should ensure the car has been well looked after, the first owner or the dealer won't give a toss as, he's either sold it on or they're only interested in your cash. Plenty out there - make sure you get the right one

Cass   

Strange you should say that.... My first service light came on at around 10000miles which I thought was very soon but tbh I do alot of short (quick) journeys. When I spoke to the dealership about booking it in, I was told that the service program was meant to be on longlife but had obviously been put on the wrong setting (T&D). At the time I wasnt really familiar with the different settings so took their word for it.

The car then had to be booked into the dealership it came from so they could change the setting to Longlife. It was then another 11000miles before the service light came on again.

[sunnylunn]

had my first service on my ed30 at 11000 miles on long life and my second at 22000, would it have been any different on t and d. its still getting an oil change every 11000 ish, dont see the problem myself.

[corgi]

My Ed30 is going in for it's first service on Wednesday... the dash says "Service in 100 miles" mileage... 17,200

I will do between 35 and 40k miles this year the majority of which is motorway... LL for me all the way

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Service cost is approx £200. My first service on long life was @ 21k.

From what I remember my dealer telling me, to get the service changed from longlife to T&D you wold have to take it back to the original dealers. hth

Nope.  You can change it yourself to T&D.  Just look in the maintenance + info sub-section of this forum (http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?board=59), and look for the sticky post on how to reset your service interval display.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

I'm looking at an edition 30 which was registered in April 2007. It has 16.5k miles on the clock and has never been serviced. The dealer is telling me it's due a service now "the light was on when I picked the car up".

OK, that is feasable.  If you have read and digested correctly the info on the VW LongLife regime, then you should know that the car can go upto 24 months (2 years, for those running out of fingers and toes!    ) - OR 20k miles (for a petrol engine) - which ever occurs first.  But you should also understand that the LongLife regime is actually 'variable' - and if the requirements of the LL regime are not met, then a service could be called for in as little as 12 months or 9600 miles!

From my readings on here a GTI reaching over 16k without the service light coming on is a bit optimistic to say the least.

Hmmmm, it could be done.  However, to reach 16.5k miles, you generally need to be doing around 20k miles per year (or more), and yours doesn't seem to fit that pattern.   

Obviously there is no way of proving exactly when the service light came on but my first question is would you avoid this one??

Oh there is!    Contact the previous owner.  Their details are on the V5C logbook.

And as for avoiding the car - well we can't really tell you one way or the other - without knowing some more detail from the previous owner.

If the answer to above is do not avoid then any clues as to how much this service would cost and also what is involved?

Prices can vary quite a bit.  But firstly, you need to be aware that you not only need the 'Interval Service', but you will also need the 2yr 'Brake Fluid Change'.  And don't forget that VW dealers will offer a price match - so get a couple of written quotes from other garages, and if they are cheaper, then the VW dealer will lower their prices too. 

Oh and I would be looking at getting the servicing changed from longlife to time and distance.

Just ask the garage who services it to put 365 days into the service reminder settings, rather than the 730 days they would use for LongLife.

HTH

[Teutonic_Tamer]

my dealer telling me, to get the service changed from longlife to T&D you wold have to take it back to the original dealers.

Your dealer lied to you.

Hmmmmm, maybe, maybe not.  It is possible for it to reach that amount of miles.  Weather it is actually good for the car is another issue though.

My ED30 had its first service. Was on LL but after only 8k miles (5k of ownership) it wanted a service.

But that all depends on how you drive.  If you are stuck in the middle of London, and basically spend your life crawling around at an average speed of 16mph (or what ever the 'smoke' average speeds are), then the mileage will be massively shortend compared to someone else sitting at 70mph on the m-ways for 8hrs solid every day.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

IMO as condition of the sale insist the dealer service the car before purchase and put it on to time and distance schedule.

I agree.  But you must make sure that it is actually the correct and proper service.  Most dealers now just do a 'used car sale inspection' and stamp the service book - should be outlawed if you ask me, but even main stealers can get away with this! 

[Teutonic_Tamer]

My ed30 was done at 14k and then 28k on LL. The R32 I bought has the first stamp at 16K (whoops forgot to check that), but ticks over sweetly enough so I am not concerned.

So an engine with a 'sweet tickover' is now the sign of not only a perfect engine, but also a perfectly maintained car as a whole? 

LL seems to get a bad rep, but if you are doing 15k+ a year with longer journeys etc then I dont see a problem. If its purely short town driving then go TD.

I disagree.  What about how the car is actually driven.  To qualify for LongLife servicing, you must also keep the engine under 3,000rpms - generally not an issue on a turbo diesel - but on a petrol engine - is very highly unlikely.

iirc they do know if it has been driven for too long with the service light on. More than 2k with the service light on then bang goes the warranty I think. Dealer should be able to check that.

Yes, the dealer can check - but the issue is weather they want to check and give the correct info!  I'm sure we have yet to find a VW stealer who can correctly advise on ALL of the requirements for LongLife servicing regime.

And just to correct you slightly, you are allowed a statutory fixed period of 'grace' for allowing for delays in getting a car serviced.  This is one calendar month, or 1,000 miles.  Any longer than that is entirely at the discretion of the vehicle importer (in our case, Volkswagen UK).  And this is just for the 'manufacturers' two-year warranty - you could probably kiss goodby to the UK third year of the warranty.

[Teutonic_Tamer]

My first service was at 2500 miles!

Yikes - why was that?       

As far as i am aware the first service is after one year or 12k,

Wrong.  For the fixed interval 'Time and Distance', then it is one year or 10,000 miles.  For the variable interval LongLife regime, then it is up to two years or 20,000 miles.  Both these mileages apply only to petrol engines.  Diesels have longer mileage allowances.

then the dealer/you decide which service type you go on.

Agreed.  But unless you specifically ask, the stealer will just continue with the LL regime, and might actually be costing you more than if you were on T&D.

I went for the longlife service but on a max of a year on timescale.

There is no such thing.  The LongLife servicing regime is up to two years.  Or did you actually mean you are on the T&D service regime, but used the LongLife oil?

[Teutonic_Tamer]

Sorry but I wouldn't touch any car that hasn't had an annual/12k service

In other words you wouldn't buy a car if it had been set to longlife when new?

I personally agree with Cass.

But it is a more difficult call for the vast majority of Joe Public.  Because if no one bought a car 2nd hand which was set to LongLife, then there will be an aweful lot of 1, 2 or 3 year old cars heading for the crusher.  Because, by default, VAG stealers will automatically set the regime to LongLife - UNLESS a discerning customer has previously researched and specifically requests that it is set to T&D from new.

There are many MANY other considerations, besides how the car has been serviced, when selecting a 2nd hand car.  Did the previous owner smoke in the car?  Did they have screaming sh!t factories (babies and small children) which pooed and puked in the car?  Was the previous owner a spotty 17yo chav who thrashed the car from cold?  Or were they a 90yo OAP who had zero clutch control, and slipped the clutch like crazy?

So many other questions need to be answered . . . .