S90 V90: Synthetic Oil and yearly servicing

[Jsavoor]

Hello all

I am really happy with my 1 year old V90 Inscription Pro, but I am little flummoxed as to why my car is telling me I have 172 days to go to service and some 12000 odd miles.

But Volvo and the dealer tell me that the service interval is 1 Year or 18000 miles. I have currently done 6500 miles ..

Irks me when the car has synthetic oil that only needs to be replaced at 18000 miles and costs a lot more than regular motor oil.

So why service a car and throw away that oil that is perfectly good for another year? VW dont do this .. they give you a choice of choosing a 9000 mile service or 18000 mile service, the latter option using synthetic oil.

Volvo management needs to be more environmentally aware and not do things such as this without reason.

Any views?

Jay

[green van man]

Well I change my oil every year at annual service, milage 7000 max. In my view it's a service not an oil change, 18000 miles is enough to wear a set of brakes out in the right conditions. You only have to look at the number of cars that fail their first MOT at 3 years old to realise the importance of proper servicing.

My landrover I change the oil twice a year again 6/7000 miles but I wade the vehicle and emulsified oil is no good to any engine. In theory the water should not get into the engine but hot engine cold river and the breathers gulp water, likewise gearbox and axil are checked regularly , any sign of emulsifino and the oil is changed.

You have a choise, don't change your oil and void your warranty or change it and sleep easy. Castrol Edge 0/30 A5B5 is just over £10 a liter when baught in 4 ltr jacks from halfords with a trade card including VAT which is a better buy than volvos bulk at £11.60 plus vat.

Paul.

[DaveNP]

I'm confused, you say the car is one year old with 6500 on the clock, the car tells you you have 12000 miles or 172 days to service. That sounds like the car has compensated your low mileage by extending the service to 18 months or 18000 miles if you do that first.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Jsavoor

Hello all

I am really happy with my 1 year old V90 Inscription Pro, but I am little flummoxed as to why my car is telling me I have 172 days to go to service and some 12000 odd miles.

But Volvo and the dealer tell me that the service interval is 1 Year or 18000 miles. I have currently done 6500 miles ..

Irks me when the car has synthetic oil that only needs to be replaced at 18000 miles and costs a lot more than regular motor oil.

So why service a car and throw away that oil that is perfectly good for another year? VW dont do this .. they give you a choice of choosing a 9000 mile service or 18000 mile service, the latter option using synthetic oil.

Volvo management needs to be more environmentally aware and not do things such as this without reason.

Any views?

Jay

so the computer says you have 6 months to go to the service , or 12000 miles ... fair enough . but you say the car is a year old so it will either have just had it's yearly service or it is due now .. it does not make sense except that if you have done 6500 miles then it is right in saying service is due in 12000 miles time .

Once you do have the service ( 18000 miles or one year from first registration ) then they reset the service counter and it will be ok until the next time when it should make sense .

[baggy798]

Change mine at around 5k. Only interested in longevity of the mighty redblock, not environmental bollocks!

18k changes are ridiculous and fully synthetic really isn't much more nowadays.

[Peter86]

Car oil isn't that expensive, at volvo anyway. My Volvo dealer sells me 4ltr castrol edge 0w30 at £24 with vat. 1 ltr bottles are £12, why so much more I don't know. They will probably be charging you by the litre on the service, plus volvo labour rates. At my dealership older cars get better discount, newer cars get very little till about 3 years old.
I signed up at the parts desk for discount, last time it was in for a job, got the quote, they rang the parts on my behalf, asked for the discount, saved about £90 total on new alternator, aux belt and aircon belt. Don't get discount on labour though. Still not trade rates but still I saved.
Pop into the parts or give a call and see if they give discount on your car, takes 5 mins of your time.

Another good option that someone I know did was buy a 5 year service plan with the car. Worked out at £100 a service. Now his cars 5 years old he's going to ask if he can buy another plan.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by baggy798

Change mine at around 5k. Only interested in longevity of the mighty redblock, not environmental bollocks!

18k changes are ridiculous and fully synthetic really isn't much more nowadays.

They have been working well in UK for the last 14 years with no problems at all that is what synthetic oil is for , engines are still sparkling clean inside .... Things may be different in Korea ...

[phil1968]

Originally Posted by Clan

They have been working well in UK for the last 14 years with no problems at all that is what synthetic oil is for , engines are still sparkling clean inside .... Things may be different in Korea ...

25k oil changes on my van (12-plate Merc Vito, had from new), just passed 250,000 miles with no problems, still doesn't drink any oil between services.

[CJL]

Originally Posted by Peter86

Car oil isn't that expensive, at volvo anyway. My Volvo dealer sells me 4ltr castrol edge 0w30 at £24 with vat.

Which dealer is that?

[DSK]

If the car is on lease or some finance plan where you hand it back, service is as per your dealer/manufacturer schedule.

If its a car you have bought outright and plan to keep for some time, change the oil annually at least or every 10K for fully synthetic.

I also do not believe in extended drain periods for oils and use fully synthetics myself but, change them every 7,000 miles (about 4 times a year for me). I do not believe oils are so resilient all of a sudden to the common issues of degradation caused by every day driving circumstances. My view is, that its an easy way to cause premature failure so that punters have to scrap their car quicker and get a new one. How clean and engine are and how worn the components are also two different things.