My Fiat 500 has done 14,825 miles and is a 2012 model and not sure when the first service should be done.Have looked in the service manual and under Warranty Duration it says 12 months/12000 miles 24 months 24,000 miles 24 months unlimited these all have a bar through them it then says 36 months 60,miles 36 months 100,000 miles 36 months unlimited miles.Can someone explain.Thank's
Technical Servicing
- Thread starter muffin999
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Technical Servicing
Just found this on Google
http://www.fiatusaofgreer.com/fiat-500-maintenance-schedule.htm
My car has only done just over 14,000 miles still not sure when to get it serviced
http://www.fiatusaofgreer.com/fiat-500-maintenance-schedule.htm
My car has only done just over 14,000 miles still not sure when to get it serviced
I guess it all depends on how 'well' you wish to treat your car. Have you owned this vehicle from new? Is there any service history at all with the car if you bought second hand?
On a 2012 car which if I've read your post correctly, has never been serviced? it really should have had a service done by now. Yes, the mileage is low, but it is not just based on miles done.
The brake fluid is supposed to be changed at the two year point. Your pollen filter may be worse for wear, I've changed out two pollen filters on RHD 500's and they're a pain in the arse. Also, your air filter may need changing. The breather hose on some 500's cracks/splits and may need replacing with the upgraded Fiat hose that was produced to sort out the problem. I had to replace a breather hose on our old 1.2.
You don't say which engine it has? If it is a 1.2, then the plugs will be in a pretty poor state, the factory fit plugs are generally pretty poor after 11k or so, again I know this from experience.
Your car must have by now expired from Fiat warranty? So, there is absolutely no point trekking off to a Fiat dealership for a very expensive service, though you should be aware, that there were recalls for under dash wiring on certain models and you'd be wise to check with Fiat whether your car was affected. There also may be software updates for your model which may be beneficial. You can specify a low mileage service for your car which will consist basically of a oil/filter change and diagnostic hook up. It will set you back about £150, but any recall/safety work will be done and ECU updated if required.
Has this car had it's first MOT?
It seems from the year of your vehicle, that it is a low annual mileage car. Vehicles that cover low mileages should ideally have a oil/filter change annually, very low mileage cars, every six months. This is because if the vehicle is used on very short journeys, the engine may not necessarily get up to full working temperature and this can affect the oil quality in a very short space of time.
Purely from a safety perspective, you should service your vehicle a little more often than it appears from your post, irrespective of the fact that it may pass a MOT test.
On a 2012 car which if I've read your post correctly, has never been serviced? it really should have had a service done by now. Yes, the mileage is low, but it is not just based on miles done.
The brake fluid is supposed to be changed at the two year point. Your pollen filter may be worse for wear, I've changed out two pollen filters on RHD 500's and they're a pain in the arse. Also, your air filter may need changing. The breather hose on some 500's cracks/splits and may need replacing with the upgraded Fiat hose that was produced to sort out the problem. I had to replace a breather hose on our old 1.2.
You don't say which engine it has? If it is a 1.2, then the plugs will be in a pretty poor state, the factory fit plugs are generally pretty poor after 11k or so, again I know this from experience.
Your car must have by now expired from Fiat warranty? So, there is absolutely no point trekking off to a Fiat dealership for a very expensive service, though you should be aware, that there were recalls for under dash wiring on certain models and you'd be wise to check with Fiat whether your car was affected. There also may be software updates for your model which may be beneficial. You can specify a low mileage service for your car which will consist basically of a oil/filter change and diagnostic hook up. It will set you back about £150, but any recall/safety work will be done and ECU updated if required.
Has this car had it's first MOT?
It seems from the year of your vehicle, that it is a low annual mileage car. Vehicles that cover low mileages should ideally have a oil/filter change annually, very low mileage cars, every six months. This is because if the vehicle is used on very short journeys, the engine may not necessarily get up to full working temperature and this can affect the oil quality in a very short space of time.
Purely from a safety perspective, you should service your vehicle a little more often than it appears from your post, irrespective of the fact that it may pass a MOT test.
There was no service history when I bought it and it is a 1.2 lt engine when we bought it in August 2014 it had 7200 miles on the clock and now has 14825 so in two years we have done roughly 7600 miles which works out at 3800 miles a year.Most cars are still being run in at that mileage.It had MOT at the end of August last year it is due on the 31st this year so will have it serviced at the same time.Thank's for your reply
Ok, so that confirms the very low annual mileages. Personally, I'd get the car serviced asap.
Also, with respect, there's no such thing as 'running cars in' these days. It's wise not to exceed certain revs during the first couple of thousand miles, but all car engines are 'run in' on test benches at the factory before they hit the dealerships. I know this because I've been to three car factories in my lifetime, including the giant Nissan plant in Oppama, Japan where I saw engines being run in. That was back in 1990!
Look after your car and it will look after you.
Also, with respect, there's no such thing as 'running cars in' these days. It's wise not to exceed certain revs during the first couple of thousand miles, but all car engines are 'run in' on test benches at the factory before they hit the dealerships. I know this because I've been to three car factories in my lifetime, including the giant Nissan plant in Oppama, Japan where I saw engines being run in. That was back in 1990!
Look after your car and it will look after you.
A engineer would change the oil every six months regardless of manufacturers recommendations I do it (now) every year even given our low mileage 6k a year.
ahmett
Prominent member
i think every 6 months is overkill = ) i change mine every 12k or so, i think thats reasonable
Don't be surprised if the mot and service throw up some things that need replacing, here's a price guide for some parts so you don't get ripped off that I would expect will require changing but maybe part of the service;
Front brake discs £18-24 (Pair)
Brake pads £20-24
Spark plugs from £12 set(4) up to almost £60 ask what is being fitted
Wiper blades £25 set, Only get Bosch ones most others are not as good I've found
Oil and filter £20-30
Air filter £7-10
The above is £112 in parts(retail) labor 2-2.5 hours if all above done, did you get a price ?
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Possibly true but given the low cost of oil and filter its good practice if you are going to keep the car for a long time like we tend to, but yes I now do it once a year rather than mileage.
Back in the 80' Honda said every six months, every 12 weeks! in extreme conditions, no wonder we never had a single mechanical issue in 30 years.
ahmett
Prominent member
of course it depends on the oil you use. i always use Aral (owned by BP) 5w-40 fully synthetic C3, it only costs me 6 Euros a bottle in Greece anyway. In the garages they sell 10w-40 rubbish semi synthetic for more, and that oil lasts much less!
You should change yours at least once a year given your hot conditions, not based on distance unless you are quoting Km's 12,000 being 6,000 miles? in less than a year.
ahmett
Prominent member
no 12 k miles = 20,000 kms. I am now on 15 months on the same oil and about 12k miles, so will be changing the oil within the next month or 2. Mind you I always keep it topped up, the 1.4 engine uses about 1 lt of oil every 10,000 kms. I never do the rookie mistake of driving between services without ever topping up my oil = )
I am really impressed with this aral oil, the engine consumes much less oil than when it had the castrol magnatec rubbish. So when I go for an oil change, I buy 6 liters of 5w40, of which about 4 is used for the oil change. Then I use the remaining 2 slowly slowly until they all run out in 12k miles, then I go for my oil change = )
ahmett
Prominent member
sounds reasonable depending on what is serviced.
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An engineer would take a sample and have it tested, then come up with a service regiment based on their own car.
Six months is total overkill. My Prius does all our short journeys to the shops and the like, that's murder for oil (even worse as the Prius is always switching it's ICE off). Even with semi-synth oil, testing shows 12 months is a good interval.
UFI is my long trip car, generally doing 50km a day, after one year the fully synthetic oil tested 'as new' after 12 months, so I'm happily leaving it in there another year.
Both cars travel a similar annual mileage.
My Flathead V8 has a 2,000 mile/3 month oil change interval, it will be interesting to monitor that engine's oil degradation, but for a modern car on synth, I can't envisage ever needing to change oil more often than 12 months.
Without also knowing:
- who's going to be servicing it
- what, exactly, they're going to do
- what parts & materials (including what brands) will be used
it's impossible to comment meaningfully on this.
I come from an age when oil was not great, I agree oil has come on in terms of quality by miles and engines have too, Castrol say even their Edge oil only lasts two years at most, it's all because car manufacturers want to say the car costs little to service in the first years so extend the service interval, then charge you £150 to change the oil! People have their own way of servicing I'll stick with once a year for now @ 6000 miles
Well I change the oil and filter in my Saab 9-3 1.9, every 5000 miles without fail. It takes me around 7 months to cover 5k. I carry out the oil and filter change myself, very easy job now that I have spent £25 installing a Fumoto quickvalve:
http://quickvalve.co.uk/
5 litres of 5w30 ACEA C3 low saps oil for my car, of which I use 4.3 litres (not for 500's), costs me no more than £20, buy it off ebay and that includes postage. A genuine Mann Hummel oil filter costs £4.50. Fuel filter, £15, but that only gets changed every 15 to 18 months.
Upshot of my 'overkill' oil changes, are a very clean engine, virtually no soot build up in the EGR, no DPF problems and the car passes its emissions test with a virtually nil reading on the analyser, every year.
Servicing your own car can be done very economically and I could easily carry out a intermediate service on a 1.2 500 having bought all the service items and parts myself, for less than £100, to include all of the parts that John202020 listed, minus wiper blades.
The only reason I would ever take a car outside of warranty to a main dealership, would be to have safety recall work done, diagnostics (updating software/ECU) or, if I didn't have a full dealership service history, I might 'treat' the car to a one off visit to ensure that everything was in order.
http://quickvalve.co.uk/
5 litres of 5w30 ACEA C3 low saps oil for my car, of which I use 4.3 litres (not for 500's), costs me no more than £20, buy it off ebay and that includes postage. A genuine Mann Hummel oil filter costs £4.50. Fuel filter, £15, but that only gets changed every 15 to 18 months.
Upshot of my 'overkill' oil changes, are a very clean engine, virtually no soot build up in the EGR, no DPF problems and the car passes its emissions test with a virtually nil reading on the analyser, every year.
Servicing your own car can be done very economically and I could easily carry out a intermediate service on a 1.2 500 having bought all the service items and parts myself, for less than £100, to include all of the parts that John202020 listed, minus wiper blades.
The only reason I would ever take a car outside of warranty to a main dealership, would be to have safety recall work done, diagnostics (updating software/ECU) or, if I didn't have a full dealership service history, I might 'treat' the car to a one off visit to ensure that everything was in order.
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Changed my Prius oil for the first time yesterday, it went 3,000 miles and 11 months. In future, I'd shorten that interval a little as oil degrades more quickly towards the end of it's life it seems, but that was dealer fill oil, so who knows what they put in it. Toyota doesn't require even semi synth, but to this day require six-monthly changes. I put in semi-synth I had on hand, but I won't get to see what effect this has on oil acidity and contamination, as that car's being sold
On the other hand, UFI's oil still scored top marks after 18 months.
Goes to show the importance of working out what's required for your specific use. Trucking companies do it for a reason. With oil and a filter costing up to $150, I don't need to be doing oil changes monthly, although I accept I'm not typical.
On the other hand, UFI's oil still scored top marks after 18 months.
Goes to show the importance of working out what's required for your specific use. Trucking companies do it for a reason. With oil and a filter costing up to $150, I don't need to be doing oil changes monthly, although I accept I'm not typical.
