Servicing question

[irtg]

Bought a 2.0 GT Line (UK) 6 months ago. Service history is patchy, first services were done by Kia at annual intervals rather than the required 6 months - and then some other services were done by a non-Kia garage that I can't contact and no record of what they did (just stamped the book).

Booked in for a service at dealership and they recommended a 72 month service as the car is 5 years old and the history is vague. Said this would handle a lot of the key parts that may have been missed.

I think my drivetrain warranty is invalid anyway due to the service history, so wondered if it's overkill doing a 72 month (72K) service on a car with only 20K miles on the clock. Dealer said it would give me peace of mind, but it looks like it will be north of £600 which is a bit of a hit after only owning the car a short time.

As a side note - who buys a 35-40K car brand new and then doesn't follow the required service intervals - putting a 7 year warranty at risk!? Seems to be quite a few stingers in the UK with 'part' service history and very low mileage.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I think the low miles answers your question. Previous owner didn't drive a lot and didn't think every six months was realistic maintenance. I thought that KIA said 6,000 miles or 12 months, whichever comes first. My dealer tried to set my next service at six months too, it's on the oil change sticker in the window. But Ima not going in until a year since the last oil change. Oil doesn't really break down in 12 months of mostly sitting anyway. If it were me, I'd not be doing any extensive service until the miles say so, but I would change the oil and filter out every year or so.

 

[stoopid]

Mileage/driving is harder on the oil than sitting as snicklefritz says. 6+ months on an oil change is perfectly fine.

If it were me I'd do fresh oil, brake fluid, coolant, and maybe tires if the rubber shows the slightest bit of cracking/crackling. Brake fluid and coolant can start to collect water/lose effectiveness in time. I'd be less worried about differential and transmission, IMO those are mileage thresholds for service.

 

[irtg]

My service book says every 6 months / 6000 miles whichever comes first, which is why the dealer is telling me it's missed a lot of services. Does seem excessive especially with the car doing around 4K miles a year. I thought Kia were just being ultra careful due to the long warranty period and specifying frequent service intervals.

Regarding the diff - I've got the RWD LSD version and the service list they've given me includes the newer recommended oil (per the thread about LSD oil issues). So I may go ahead with getting that changed just in case mine has the original incorrect spec oil. I'll debate the rest with them.

Thanks for the quick replies. Difficult getting info in the UK as there aren't many stingers around and they have different specs/options to the NA market. Even some of the TSBs / recalls that have been mentioned on here don't seem to apply to my model in the UK (Fuel pump etc).

 

[Stanger21]

I'm with you on the lack of UK specific info, but that's the price we pay for driving something mildly exotic.

If I were you I'd just resume the normal service schedule, getting unnecessary items done early isn't going to repair any damage done from missing services in the past (although any damage/undue ware is very unlikely with such low mileage). The diff oil change is prob a good call, although unless you're actually experiencing issues then it would be more of a belt & braces exercise.

Tbh it sounds like the dealer is playing on your fears around a few missed services to make a few extra £'s. Don't be afraid to take it to a non-franchise garage if you have one you trust, due to the amount of Stingers in the UK I'd say even the dealers wouldn't have built up any particular expertise working on these cars than anyone else.

FYI my service is due in the next month and they've got me down for the latest recall which is a new set of locking wheel nuts so might be something to enquire about, apparently the old ones were as good as made of play doh.

 

[Ah GetFd]

The dealer services are simply too expensive and do very little. But to comply with warranty at least here it has to be done by a Licensed mechanic or dealers can reject warranty as .

The first service of $360 here at 10,000kms (6000 miles) replaces an oil filter and 6.9 litres of Castrol 5W30 "A5" oil. The rest of the blurb is Inspect this, inspect that. You could do this yourself with genuine parts for $100.

Also, all services in Australia are 12 MONTHS/ 10,000kms not six months so I would not panic about six month services.