Mechanic? Please have a look...

Hi all, My company car was serviced yesterday, (87500 miles) and this morning I'm really struggling to see what they've done to it. The car is pretty dirty, (they usually clean it) there is no lithium grease on the hinges, the rams keeping the boot up are dry and I just can't see anything different.

I'm no mechanic but shouldn't I see some differences? The car is a 1.6 diesel Ford Focus estate. Here is a photograph of the engine oil after around 3 miles:

How does it drive? What do they claim to have done? Engine oil often still looks grubby straight after an oil change, especially on diesels, as there's so much crap hiding in little corners.

The oil on the missus's Punto though is still golden 4000 miles after a change. Lovely little engine; shame about the rest!

If its just a service, you normally wouldn't see any difference at all.
All the bits that need servicing are tucked away. Pretty sure greasing of door hinges and lubrication of the boot lifters/rams aren't included in the service schedule for fords either.

Also, grubby oil straight after servicing is usual, unless they drop the sump/powerclean the engine.

It may be that this is the first service outside of warranty too. (Not sure what the warranty is in the UK for fords, last new car i had in the UK was 3 years/60000 miles). They aren't so likely to go the extra mile for someone driving an out of warranty car.

bear in mind most 'services' are check and adjust if necessary, take a look at the point list (i can print it out from autodata if you want.
check brakes, means just that, they will take the wheels off and look at the brakes, if they are ok then they are ok and the wheel gets put on.
most '35 point' services are something your average spanner monkey could do on a driveway with a couple of axle stands and a jack.
oil and filter service is a 10 min job these days they just suck the old oil out of the sump through the dipstick hole and then plug the cambus in and see if anything needs doing. its money for old rope seeing as most modern cars there is very little to adjust as the various computers do it for you.
in the good old days of adjustable tappets and drum brakes ect there was a distinctive need to actually take bits off and properly adjust them.
all your getting these days is peace of mind that you have spend £150+ for someone to poke around with nothing more technical than a torch and a stamp in the book.

Iwasgoodonce":11ht135n said:

Hi all, My company car was serviced yesterday, (87500 miles) and this morning I'm really struggling to see what they've done to it. The car is pretty dirty, (they usually clean it) there is no lithium grease on the hinges, the rams keeping the boot up are dry and I just can't see anything different.

I'm no mechanic but shouldn't I see some differences? The car is a 1.6 diesel Ford Focus estate. Here is a photograph of the engine oil after around 3 miles:

Click to expand...

As others have said - for some engines, the oil can look dirty almost immediately.

How easy is it to see the oil filter, and does that look new? Fuel filters get replaced more frequently on diesels, don't they?

What sort of service was it? At an annual service, I'd expect hinges and door check straps / links to get some grease.

Do you have a sheet that says what should have been done? For example, it should be pretty easy to spot if the air filter has been changed.

It could well be it's a brief service where all they've really done is change the oil, maybe the odd other filter, and done some checks - or should have. There have been examples where garages haven't done the service things they've charged for - but for at least some things it should be reasonably easy to verify they've done at least some of what they've billed for.

Actually, you mention that its a 1.6 Diesel focus, that means it's got the DV6 engine in it, probably a B version if its coming up to 90000 miles. These engines have a very fragile turbo. (Well, technically the turbo is bomb proof, just the oil feed to it is cack!)
If you can get the actual service schedule check list from somewhere (i would have thought the dealer would have given it to you with the receipt?) and just have a look through to make sure they've done all the oily bits properly.
If they don't, you could be looking at a lunched turbo not too far down the line, especially annoying now its (probably) out of warranty.

Or as its a company car, ask the fleet manager to look into it, it is his/her job!
There are plenty of reports around of faulty PSA 1.6 Diesels. One reason why my new car hasn't got one! (It's not a very good engine compared to other options in the model range!)

Typical service replacement parts are engine oil, oil filter, air filter, and possibly cabin filter and fuel filter if they're due.

An interim service will be bare minimum of the above,plus (as has been said) checks on the braking system (pads and discs and handbrake function) check of steering components, suspension bushes, dampers, fluid levels and exhaust. They may plug in a diagnostic tool depending on who's servicing.

As has been said, it can be done on a driveway in 20 mins by someone that knows what they're doing.

I'd never expect door hinges, boot struts etc to be touched TBH, and for me, If a garage offered to clean it as part of a service, I'd assume they're going to charge through the nose for the privilege.

That oil looks perfect.


HTH

Cool, thanks all. I don't pay for it and it'll be replaced in the Spring. I thought new oil would be sort of honey coloured? It has to survive another 6 months and its gone. The only company car I've ever had to get MOT'd.

Not been a bad car really. All the stuff I mentioned they did in the past. One service, I got it back and it was like it had an extra 30 BHP! That never happened again.

You need to see a list of items on the service list. These can be quite long to mske you feek you are getting great value but when yiu read it and i am recakking stuff when i had my volvo sefvice most of it is checking stuff like washer level or sticking s tiny bit of grease on door hingrs ffs . This trivual stuff i snd most people shoulf be abke to do that.

... then the charge s fivet for topping up the washer bittke ffs.

According to the list the oil and filter has been done. However, on the way home tonight the "Bing-Bong" Service Oil warning come on. So, one thing I can be sure of is that they didn't bother to reset the service interval.