Is 12,000 km for the 1st service Excessive?

[MuzzyDelta90]

Hi,
Have had my new Defender 90 for a couple of weeks now and just love driving it - haven't had it off road yet, but would like to get it run in and things bedded in a bit before I take if off-road - it's just barely got a 1000 kms on the clock. Maybe offroad it when I have a few 1000 kms under the belt.

Which brings me to the point of the thread - when I picked it up from the Dealer, the guy said that it's first service was due after 12,000 km. The book also says the same thing. I was always under the impression that a new engine needs it's first service after a few 1000 km to flush out all the stuff from the engine slowly wearing in. I realise that a lot of factories run the engine in on test beds these days, but still 12,000 does seem a long time to wait.

Or am I out of touch these days?

cheers
Andrew

[TwoUp]

Out of touch:p

Take it off raod it's OK.

Cheers,
PeterW

[Humphrey]

Hi MuzzyDelta90,

I got a new 110 wagon last April, drove it from the showroom to our fishing spot 1000km north of Perth.
took it off road, beach, and it didn't miss a beat.

Had my first serivce at 10,000km

Cheers,
Humphrey

[PAT303]

I did my first service at 5K and 10K after that. Pat

[Marty110]

Drove mine from the show room strait to the High Country and did 800km of tracks over 7 days with 33 creek/river crossings thrown in and never saw bitumen (they were double black or some strange rating) - didn't miss a beat and 33,000km later still good. The drive from SA to High Country was the 'run in' period.... First service was at 5,000 now every 10. Don't like long intervals for a diesel - even 10 thou seems too long to me.......

[Chops]

I was told 10,000 for my first service,,
Have been in the High Country, beach, mud etc all in the first two months :D, have just delivered (Fri 16/) it to have its first service at 12,500ks. Its overdue as they couldnt supply me with a loan car untill now. When I asked if it was alright to leave it longer, (knowing that I would rack up the extra 2K), they said it would be fine.

An issue I have with the car is some "roughness" when idling at the lights, although very intermittent. They have replaced the ECU, but now cant get it to learn the injection system,,:eek: I'm not a happy camper,, I'm in a small Volvo,,:mad: Looks like Friday I may be able to pick my baby up.

[sniegy]

10K Km between services.
All new engines are bench run, oil dropped & refilled.
It's not going to harm it if you want the oil changed earlier;), I did with mine,but I still believe in old school!:p

[newhue]

1000, then every 10K

[Scallops]

Take it off road now :thumbsup:...you'll actually run it in better that way....different gears, different revs...get the transfer case happening too....having fun and doing what it were built for all at the same time!

Services - as Pat said. ;) Oz is regarded as "arduous" and service interval is 10,000km unless the 2.2 engine has changed this...:)

[RVR110]

Verify what they will do on the first service. You may find that it is just a number of checks. Once you know what is being done then you can decide if you're happy with that or if you want some additional things done as well.

[Naks]

I was always under the impression that a new engine needs it's first service after a few 1000 km to flush out all the stuff from the engine slowly wearing in. I realise that a lot of factories run the engine in on test beds these days, but still 12,000 does seem a long time to wait.


Change the engine oil after 1 or 2 thousand kms, everything else should be ok until the first service.

[cal415]

I was looking in my service book today, it actually states the sevice interval of 12,000 miles(20,000km) for australia? the dealer has told me every 10,000???

[carlschmid2002]

Me too, they put a 10000 km sticker on the windscreen when I left the dealership.

[Loubrey]

The official service interval is heavily dependant on the conditions the car operates in.

In the UK every drop of fuel is regulated and ambient temperatures are significantly lower than elsewhere in the world. The vast majoroty of UK Defenders are bought by farmers and they don't do long distances, hence the 12,000 mile service interval.

City driving, long distance driving, ambient temperatures above 40 celcius and dusty high reving environments needs that interval adjusted to suit the perceived average environment of each individual car.We've had threads about this before and every dealer seems to have their own interpretation.

My car's official interval according to the dealer's sticker is 12,000km and those are done either back in Perth or Broome (closest LRA approved service centres). The service manager does however know I live in the Pilbara where a "Sunday drive" quickly turns into a 400km round trip and the average teperature hovers around the 38C mark. I buy filters from Southern Land Rover in Perth and I sourced the correct Castrol oil from the Reliance Petrolium to change the oil every 6000km to fit in halfway between the "book" services.

The next challenge is to get them to change to gear oils sooner than the book says...