Servicing a Diesel Engine

[abillybob]

Hey All

 

I know it's not a car forum but I know we have a couple of car guru's around. Basically I have always had Petrol engines not Diesel, I've always serviced my own car and tend to do the following every year:

Change Spark Plugs (I know these don't need doing every year but I like to)

Change Pollen Filter

Change Oil

Change Oil Filter

Change Air Filter

 

What needs to be done with a Diesel engine? My girlfriend has a Mini One and I said I'd sort it for her as I've done every other car I've owned due to the savings and being able to know what exactly I'm putting into my car but I'm guessing it differs slightly in what to replace such as I don't think there's any spark plugs in a diesel?

 

Thankyou

[pcstru]

Much the same - oil & filters, glow plugs, fluids, rubber bushings etc. Your best bet is to get the Haynes manual for the actual make and model which will have details of the recommended service items and their intervals. If you DIY your services and keep cars for more than 5 minutes, it will quickly pay for itself many times over. Edited July 22, 2016 by pcstru

[abillybob]

Much the same - oil & filters, glow plugs, fluids, rubber bushings etc. Your best bet is to get the Haynes manual for the actual make and model which will have details of the recommended service items and their intervals. If you DIY your services and keep cars for more than 5 minutes, it will quickly pay for itself many times over.

 

Thankyou, so are glow plugs essentially a diesels spark plug? The Haynes manuals are a bit pricy so I'm trying to shy away from them. I'm going to do as much research I can do on the internet first as I know the principle in what to do just need to know where to look for things like the glow plugs... would they be in the same place as spark plugs (on top of the engine)?

[MatthewL]

Just had a look at my last service report, the only other one listed was a fuel filter in addition to the above.

[difinity]

No, glow plugs are only used initially to heat up the compression chamber. Diesel engines use compression ignition not a spark. If the gf doesn'y have issues starting in the morning leave them alone. You do not want to snap one off in the engine.

My Focus has done 150k and is still on it's original glow plugs.

[Stevecee]

Thankyou, so are glow plugs essentially a diesels spark plug? The Haynes manuals are a bit pricy so I'm trying to shy away from them. I'm going to do as much research I can do on the internet first as I know the principle in what to do just need to know where to look for things like the glow plugs... would they be in the same place as spark plugs (on top of the engine)?

 

Hi

 

Glow plugs are to help you start on cold mornings when its cold outside, don't think the are replaced every service though. I would not dismiss the haynes manual as it will give you a list of what you need to adjust change at each service period and of course it will give you step by step instruction to do those fiddly things! does you local library have a copy you could borrow?

 

The other thing to consider is how old is the car? if you service the car it might nullify any warranty that is left, I know with my last car the first two years had to be done by main dealer agents the third year of the warranty wanted someone who was VAT registered.

 

saving a few quid here might prove costly later on if you are not careful

 

Steve

[JoeBloggs]

I like to get a stamp in my book to help the car keep value

[3s-gtech]

Don't change glow plugs unless you're having starting problems. They can be a swine to get at and if they snap of in the head you will have made yourself a big job.

 

Depending on the age of the car, it may still be better to have a dealer stamp, but beyond about seven years it's not such an issue, especially with mainstream cars. The finance/warranty aspect is important if they're active.

[MatthewL]

Doesn't necessarily have to be a dealer but any VAT registered garage I was always told. I'm looking at moving mine to a smaller garage but with a good reputation due to the cost of servicing going through the roof at the dealership I use.

[pcstru]

Thankyou, so are glow plugs essentially a diesels spark plug?

No and they are generally quite long service life but exactly how long the recommended service life is will be in the manual :-).

The Haynes manuals are a bit pricy so I'm trying to shy away from them. I'm going to do as much research I can do on the internet first as I know the principle in what to do just need to know where to look for things like the glow plugs... would they be in the same place as spark plugs (on top of the engine)?

At £15 a Haynes manual is cheaper than 5 litres of good quality synthetic oil and it's a few minutes of a mechanics time. You must be destitute!

[difinity]

Doesn't necessarily have to be a dealer but any VAT registered garage I was always told. I'm looking at moving mine to a smaller garage but with a good reputation due to the cost of servicing going through the roof at the dealership I use.

 

Having worked at both a small independent and also a main dealer, a service is far more thorough at a small independent than a main dealer.

I got shouted at and questioned why I was talking the wheels off for a service when I worked at a main dealer. They didn't come off until about 80k, the brakes were checked through a little rubber bung on the back of the drum up until then. There was also the matter of the lying salesmen "The warranty covers everything" and also the ones using dodgy paperwork to get the customers finance but that's a different story.

[abillybob]

Thakyou peeps I can do the rest you listed with no problem I was just mainly concerned about the glow plugs but since learning now they don't need to be changed unless there are issues starting I'm happy!!

 

I've never done a fuel filter though so I'll look this up. My girlfriend's car is an 11 reg and she's going to be keeping it for a long long time and there is no warranty left on the car, I'm going to keep all the receipts for everything so if selling private in the future she can show them - this is what I do with my car.

 

Last time I traded in my Peugeot against another car I asked the dealer how much I would get extra if it had full service history via Peugeot and they said around £200 - £400 extra which considering a full service from the garage is £200 alone I can't see the logic in where you'll make money it probably makes sense for the first two - three years but can't see why after that. Plus the Mini garage my girlfriend takes her car to did a rubbish job last time and only changed the oil, didn't bother about oil filter etc and that was £200. So last year she took it to her local garage to get a service and new brake pads, now the brakes stick (I'm presuming because they didn't lubricate and clean all the rubbish from the runners) and the oil is a very dark BLACK, they pumped up her tyre to only 1 Bar where as the recommended is 2.6Bar... I could go on, it was just a shoddy job.

 

So hence why I said I'll do it for her as I know I'll do a good job for her and it'll cost less than half the price.

[difinity]

Oil in diesels is always a lot blacker than petrol due to the nature of the engine but she shouldn't be waiting until a service to pump tyres up if one is less than 14psi !!

[LincolnE]

I personally wait and do dealer servicing for at least the first 3 years (and then continue depending on price).

 

It depends on if you can trust your dealership though, I tend to check things soon after a service such as the oil, the filters and whatnot. You can tell immediately if they've not done anything.

[Geoff]

Also depending on the type of usage the DPF may need looking at (assuming the car has one).

[JoeBloggs]

Last time I traded in my Peugeot against another car I asked the dealer how much I would get extra if it had full service history via Peugeot and they said around £200 - £400 extra which considering a full service from the garage is £200 alone I can't see the logic in where you'll make money it probably makes sense for the first two - three years but can't see why after that. Plus the Mini garage my girlfriend takes her car to did a rubbish job last time and only changed the oil, didn't bother about oil filter etc and that was £200. So last year she took it to her local garage to get a service and new brake pads, now the brakes stick (I'm presuming because they didn't lubricate and clean all the rubbish from the runners) and the oil is a very dark BLACK, they pumped up her tyre to only 1 Bar where as the recommended is 2.6Bar... I could go on, it was just a shoddy job.

"Not having a full service history can wipe almost a quarter off the value of a used car"

The value of a full service history

[abillybob]

"Not having a full service history can wipe almost a quarter off the value of a used car"

The value of a full service history

 

Meh. Not according to the 3 dealerships I went to! I think it also massively depends on how old the car is and a whole bunch of other variables also which that link doesn't account for. I know some enthusiasts especially on the Civic forum I'm on that won't buy a car if it's been serviced by a garage and want to know that the owner instead has serviced it. It shows them they're looking after it better on some occasions and that they know a bit about cars.

 

Either way I prefer to do it myself

[JoeBloggs]

Personally, if I didn't see the stamps I would avoid, but each to their own

@Geoff "Also depending on the type of usage the DPF may need looking at (assuming the car has one)"

What needs to be done with this ? Does long runs help it re-gen ?

[Geoff]

Personally, if I didn't see the stamps I would avoid, but each to their own

@Geoff "Also depending on the type of usage the DPF may need looking at (assuming the car has one)"

What needs to be done with this ? Does long runs help it re-gen ?

 

It depends on the DPF, but generally they can get clogged up. Older passive DPFs simply burnt off the soot as soon as the exhaust system got hot enough. If you have an newer active DPF you'll get the ECU altering your fuel mix at about 45% 'fullness' to raise the temperature in the exhaust system and burn off the soot. If you interrupt the regeneration cycle then you'll start having issues and usually a dashboard warning. Either way the solution is simple. About 10 - 20 minutes at motorway speeds. I do a lap of the M55 myself.

 

If you completely ignore the dash warnings on a diesel with an active DPF you're risking a trip to the dealer to get it sorted.

 

As a practical example, I have a BMW '09 e90 320d. It has an active DPF. Asking ECU what the rules are yields that DPF regeneration occurs when the coolant is above 75C, there is over 10litres of fuel in the tank and the exhaust temp is circa 250C. The handbook claims best regen results are met at a constant speed of just over 60mph for about 15 To 25 minutes.

Edited July 26, 2016 by Geoff

[Boredguy]

My Pug 308 (current model) will flash up on the dash if the filter is starting to be blocked, and the solution is just a blast along the nearest dual carriageway or motorway (or any A road that lets you get above 40mph) and after a couple of minutes the alert will go away and it's happy for another 1000 miles or so.

 

It also seems to have less regen cycles than the old model which is nice.

[JoeBloggs]

It depends on the DPF, but generally they can get clogged up. Older passive DPFs simply burnt off the soot as soon as the exhaust system got hot enough. If you have an newer active DPF you'll get the ECU altering your fuel mix at about 45% 'fullness' to raise the temperature in the exhaust system and burn off the soot. If you interrupt the regeneration cycle then you'll start having issues and usually a dashboard warning. Either way the solution is simple. About 10 - 20 minutes at motorway speeds. I do a lap of the M55 myself.

 

If you completely ignore the dash warnings on a diesel with an active DPF you're risking a trip to the dealer to get it sorted.

 

As a practical example, I have a BMW '09 e90 320d. It has an active DPF. Asking ECU what the rules are yields that DPF regeneration occurs when the coolant is above 75C, there is over 10litres of fuel in the tank and the exhaust temp is circa 250C. The handbook claims best regen results are met at a constant speed of just over 60mph for about 15 To 25 minutes.

 

Thanks!

 

I've just got a 16plate Focus ST and it my first diesel, so I have a DPF so looks like I'll go on the motor way every now and then !

[3s-gtech]

With an ST I'd imagine you're not going to granny it around all the time - the occasional bit of harder acceleration should keep it in check.