Inspection 1 and 2. Time or mileage?

[beanie]

My car is due it’s yearly oil change which I do as a matter of routine. Given I generally do 3-5k a year it’s not strictly necessary, if you go by the book, but it gives me some peace of mind.

However, as I looked through my service history I began to wonder what peoples opinions and practices were regarding the bigger, inspection services.

For reference, my inspections have fallen as follows and the car will be close to 71k by the end of next week.

Running in
Oil.
Insp 1 - 20k 2011
Oil - I bought it here, 2013
Oil
Insp2 - 45k 2015
Oil
Oil
Oil
Insp 1 - 60k 2019
Oil
Oil

Looking at the history I could go another year and it would only be +/-15k between inspections, hardly intergalactic mileage on any modern fluid.

So what do we all think, are four years between inspections too long, or is an inspection service every 15k a reasonable way to do things?

 

[buzyg]

What you are proposing is exactly what I have switched to, since my annual mileage dropped several years ago.

I change the oil and Brake fluid every year and now alternate the major services every 4 years. Except that I did the rear diff oil last year, which would normally be in with Ins2, as the seal was seeping a little and I had the exhaust off for a repair. At some point you will probably want to do the crank bearing shells too. :wink:

 

[abar121]

Time and mileage.

I do even less miles, but that doesn't stop fluids, belts, hoses, bushes etc etc ageing.

 

[Mr Tidy]

My car had an Insp 1 at 24K, Insp 2 at 48K with oil services in between so was due an Inspection service when I bought it on 76K in 2019, which helped in my price negotiations!

As the Insp 2 was done in 2013 I decided to have an Insp 2 done at 77K while I was still trying to make my mind up about the rod bearing shells.

Then after more research I decided to get them replaced along with the engine mounts at 78K, and wished I'd had them done when I had the Insp 2 done - if nothing else I'd have saved the cost of an oil filter and 5.5 litres of Castrol 10W/60!

On the topic of bearing shells I decided to get them done because the car is a keeper so they'd need doing at some point, and as the car had 7 previous keepers I reckoned at least more than one may have been less than sympathetic. And I was glad I had because more than half of them were showing copper, and my engine mounts were definitely sh*gged!

But when to do them is pretty much guesswork unless you've owned the car or known it's history for a long time. I've met an M owner who had them replaced just after 50K and his were looking pretty worn, but another who had his done after over 100K.

Mine is due an oil service soon based on time - I don't do many miles in it - but in 2024 I plan to have an Insp 1 anyway even if it probably won't have done 90K. Although that will be a major service every 4 years like buzy does and you are considering.

 

[beanie]

Time and mileage.

I do even less miles, but that doesn't stop fluids, belts, hoses, bushes etc etc ageing.

So do you do an inspection service every other year regardless of miles covered?

It’s a good point about having things picked up that might not be during an oil service. Even thought they should be discovered at MOT time, we all know the reality and half of the things are covered by engine trays an the like.

What you are proposing is exactly what I have switched to, since my annual mileage dropped several years ago.

It makes sense to me, the most important oil is kept fresh and the rest is given a sensible life that is still half of what my car recommends me to do. I’ve done a good few K since last year and my car is still telling me I have 13000 miles until the next service.

On the topic of bearing shells …

I see a bearing job in the not too distant future (mileage not time based! :wink: ) I’ve done over 50% of the miles in mine in nearly 10 years but that still leaves 32k of who knows what. I’m fastidious with warming it up and a fair portion of the miles are back and forth to Italy, so low stress, easy miles with everything at temp. I’d like to think the shells are ok but in reality they could be hanging on by a thread!

 

[abar121]

Oil service then Inspection 1 or 2.

 

[hopz121]

With mine I do yearly oil changes and a micro filter & brake fluid every other one then I do an inspection 2 every 4 years and don’t bother with the inspection 1.

 

[Iggy]

I have the oil + filter changed every year (manual says every two years maximum). Inspections are mileage based and alternate every 20-30K miles. If the car does fairly low miles, it's best to go for an interim diff & gearbox oil change every few years because it degrades over time and that's usually included in the inspections.

 

[Adam D]

Oil and filter changed yearly, it’s cheap and easy to do. With specialist doing the sequence of oil - insp 1 - oil - insp 2 usually on the 2 yearly intervals owing to low miles covered.

Gearbox, diff, brake fluid all changed diy more often than required as it’s nice to tinker in the garage

 

[SonnyA85]

[youtube]TJhFAwFv-O0[/youtube]

Worth a watch if you think oil doesn't need changing yearly. This guy recommends every 6 months or 5K miles whatever comes sooner.

He strips down the engine and shows you why.

Bare in mind he's talking about an engine that will last you 400K miles. If you don't plan on going anywhere near that kind of miles yearly is likley good enough. But I wouldn't push it like some people who have serviced based on mileage and won't do a service for like 5-6 years.