The 50K service :
I had already decided to get the 50K service done at
Ignite on EastCoast Road, run by Raghav. There were good reviews about his service on tbhp by those who had got there car serviced with him. Also, I had recommended 3 of my colleagues to his garage and they were happy with his work.
Called him up yesterday evening to check if I could drop the car today morning. He said they open at 10AM and after the routine service I could get the car back same evening, which suited me well. So, as is my usual practice, I clear all stuff from the car, leaving only the bare necessities like spare-tyre and jack.
Arrived before 10AM at his garage today morning and he is there. After intros, he takes the car out for a drive to understand any issues that need attention. Ofcourse, I have no issues with the car as such, other than the EML (Engine Malfunction Light) being on - possibly due to a kaput O2 sensor. Unfortunately, he does not have a Maruti scanner, so no way of reading the error code. He tells he will try to clean the O2 sensor & check the catalytic-converter assembly - hopefully that would take care of the EML.
After the drive, since he finds nothing requiring special attention, I ask him to do the routine 50K service with oil&filter change. For the Baleno, the services at 20K intervals are more extensive, requiring change of gear-oil, coolant, spark-plugs etc. All these having been done at 40K kms, the only change required at 50K kms is oil & filter.
He calls around 4PM to say that the car has been serviced, the O2 sensor looks good and so does the cat-con, but the EML still stays on. He says that another possibility is the throttle body assembly - the sensor there could also lead to EML. So should he go ahead & clean the assembly ? While there is no guarantee that cleaning this will erase the EML and this costs 800bucks, I still decide to go ahead with this job due to 2 reasons :
1) I don't remember the last time this was cleaned - good to clean the muck
2) Occasionally I used to get some resistance with the A-pedal, which while not serious was irritating. I reckoned that would get fixed.
I am at Ignite around 6PM and the car is almost ready - final wiping of windows etc. There is no power and so he shows me the bill on his laptop and says he will email it across later.
50K Service (all inclusive) : 3000
Throttle body/assy cleaning : 800
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Total : 3800
A quick-look of the maint. expenses for my Baleno since it was bought in Mar-2005 :
Routine services :
1st Free Service @ 1020kms - Rs.604
2nd Free Service @ 4218kms - Rs.0
3rd free Service @ 9705kms - Rs.634
4th Paid Service @ 20224kms - Rs.2919
5th Paid Service @ 30767kms - Rs.2385
6th Paid Service @ 38357kms - Rs.4337
7th Paid Service @ 50100kms - Rs.3800
Other maintenance expenses :
2 tyre punctures : Rs.80 // in 6+ years - I love Bridgestone
Battery charging: Rs.119 // twice drained due to boot-light being on.
Breakdown repair: Rs.10155 // RHS drive-shaft, inter. shaft, bearing etc
Battery replaced in 3rd year : 3500
Grand total : Rs.
28533.
That comes to like
Rs.4755 per year and
Rs 0.56 per km.
Some people don't include battery/tyres in maintenance calculations, in which case, the maintenance expense for me comes to
Rs4172 / year and
Rs0.49 / km.