Self Service

[Liquidfusion-S3]

Has anyone self serviced their car?

Changing:

Engine oil
Engine oil filter
Fuel filter
Air Filter
Pollen Filter
Spark plugs

I've Youtubed it and doesn't seem too difficult, except I have to purchase all the tools to do it, however it'll be a good learning curve for me and save a few £££.
What brands do you use or do you order parts from Audi?

Crosland, and Mann seems to pop up quite frequently on a few car parts sites.

 

[a6_chris]

Why would you on a car thats in warranty? Yes you can use genuine parts but you're not a VAT registered garage doing it!

Yes go to a specialist who's VAT registered and your warranty will be fine but doing it yourself will only cause issues imo.

 

[Rodders.]

Wish I could. Need to keep the FSH for good resale value. I've used both those makes on other cars with no problems.

 

[Liquidfusion-S3]

Ah I guess it didn't cross my mind about the warranty issue. You're right, it is best to bring it to a garage until the warranty is up.

I suppose this would be for future reference.

 

[the_cueball]

I service all my cars myself.

never had any issues come resale time (I don't buy new cars, so have no need to worry about a warranty)

once you've been around a bit, you'll realise that stamps in a book mean **** all about a car either being looked after, or serviced correctly, and I certainly wouldn't pay 1 pence more for a car that had full main dealer service history.

:thumbsup:

 

[Liquidfusion-S3]

How does 3rd party products compare to Audi's original parts when it comes to servicing it?

 

[the_cueball]

the only parts that I go to Audi for are brake disks...

oils, plugs, filters etc are all OE spec from Euro car parts...

their brake discs just don't seem to be good enough - but are fine for my Jeep and Z4 oddly enough...

 

[benjie]

I certainly wouldn't pay 1 pence more for a car that had full main dealer service history.

:thumbsup:

I completely agree with you, but a lot of people find it hard to see past the dealer stamp when it comes to servicing.

 

[a6_chris]

You'll not be saying that if you ever need to plead for goodwill eh.

 

[paul-psa]

Service all my cars myself, the main dealer stamp means Jack@@@@,when you come to sell your car on, if it's over 3 years old these days, if its out of warranty I personally would'nt trust many garages including maindealers! for sevice work , Ive worked in a few garages in my time and trust me, unless you know your mechanic personally it's all abit of a lottery who to trust with your pride & joy ,unfortunately most of the larger garages and main dealers give the servicing work to apprentices, some good and some not so good?
I always fit genuine parts and keep all receipts ,that in its self is a good selling point, I use TPS (Trade Part Specialist) for genuine audi parts.

 

[hades-]

i agree with the dealer stamp
anyone can get a stamp

 

[rum4mo]

To the OP, sound logic - bad timing I'd reckon though. Typically a DIYer starts out with doing all his own work on an older cheap car, then eventually buying better and better cars - maybe leaving out doing the servicing while under warranty, then taking over after than - that is if the plan is to keep the car for a few more years.
In my case, after buying many Fords and only keeping them for a couple of years and trading them in, I could do the work but kept them in the dealer service loop. Then I made a leap in car and bought a VX CAV GSI 4X4 with some warranty, after it was out of warranty I did all the servicing etc using VX parts, kept it until it was over 9 years old and sold it on privately after I had imported a new VW Passat B5 2.8 V6 4Motion - same thing wrt servicing, kept it 13 years and sold it on privately, then bought a 2.5 year old S4 with a year's warranty - so I'm still thinking about what to do next. I've done the same thing with wife's cars over that period, in essentially run the cars until they were not worth too much so service record was not important, though it was always done in time using manufacturer's parts except OIL + SPARK PLUGS + BRAKE DISCS&PADS - though always used OEM parts. So, in my mind, starting from were you seem to be with no tools or mechanical knowledge, and with a quality car - just does not seem to make much sense, who wants to buy a newish car that someone has learned to do their own servicing on - no thanks!

 

[Liquidfusion-S3]

haha thanks for the essay

I completely agree but I forgot my car was still under warranty, I have done bits and bobs here and there. Buying the tools is for the long run and for any other cars which I may buy in the future, also including the wife's car.
Of course I will leave it for now, the servicing doesn't seem too complicated hence I brought up this topic.

If anything doesn't work, I can always put it back to the way it was before.

 

[rum4mo]

Quote:- "If anything doesn't work, I can always put it back to the way it was before. "

Seriously, I would not bank on that, bad things can happen when you take things apart.

 

[Freeman_1986]

I do it myself.

I just put the receipts for the oil/filter/spark plugs etc in the folder that will be going with the car when I eventually sell it.

 

[ss]

i would go for mann or hengst filters from eurocarparts ort carparts4less.
for oil i tend to use quantum oil which you can get from ebay or TPS.
brake pads and discs i would go for textar/ate/pagid brands from ecp or carparts4less
never had issues with these brand on my cars so far.
you will save a packet on labour costs if you do it youself but again the warranty issue is important so I would consider and reputable independent specialist.

 

[rum4mo]

I do it myself.

I just put the receipts for the oil/filter/spark plugs etc in the folder that will be going with the car when I eventually sell it.

That works okay for a shortish period of ownership, but I can assure you it gets a bit much when you keep the car for 13 years, I know this as when I sold my 2000 Passat 4Motion the guy I sold it to did not want that stuff and I still need to dump it - wife's 2002 Polo 1.4SE history is even bigger as you would expect from a car that is just a re-suited Skoda Fabia!

I got the couple or so dealer receipts with my 2011 S4 - including the method of payment tabs - sloppy!

 

[B5NUT]

Just get a basic oil and filter service and get them to stamp the book (You can provide your own oil) and then do the rest yourself. With cars under warranty always use genuine parts, even a year after the warranty has expired as you may get goodwill gesture from Audi if things go wrong and the car has FASH!

 

[rum4mo]

Just get a basic oil and filter service and get them to stamp the book (You can provide your own oil) and then do the rest yourself. With cars under warranty always use genuine parts, even a year after the warranty has expired as you may get goodwill gesture from Audi if things go wrong and the car has FASH!

I just can't see that working at all, what you should end up with is, some stamps in the book - all just for basic oil change as I'd hope that any proper Audi dealer's workshop will tick all the boxes for items "done" and cross all the boxes for items "not done" - alter that at your peril as any smart dealer or other buyer will just walk away or knock the price down quite a bit - that is if you are trying to get a proper price.