[slipperyslipped]

I'm sitting at the Mahindra Service Centre as my XUX 500 is in for it's 20,000KM service.

The thing is, I have only driven it for 17,000KMs over a period of 2 years. Yep... If I recall correctly, the car has been serviced 4 times in this period.

My question is, what should be the ideal maintenance schedule if a car is being driven this rarely. And is it possible for someone not very mechanically inclined to do maintenance themselves?

Thank you.

[AROO7]

The question is do you have the time, patience, space to work on, and the right tools to carry out the maintenance yourself? To get a better idea go through BHPian Jeron's thread of maintaining his vintage beauties.
Here is a link to it-
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-d...spider-67.html

Now coming back to my first question let's say you have all these. Then you need to download or arrange for the workshop manual of the XUV500. Follow it religiously and you would be good to go. If the answer to the first question is a no, then don't worry much. If your running is less follow the rule of 10,000 km or 1 year. I do the same for my beater i10 which is mainly used to get grocery and run errands. Because saving 5-8k in a year is neither worth the hassle nor worth the time.

[anandhsub]

17k over 2 years is not exactly little running. I know cars that run < 5k an year and yet they still stick to the specified service intervals. The engine oil and other filters need to be changed yearly irrespective of the running especially in the dusty conditions that we face in India.

Anyway as long as you are in warranty period there is no point in doing DIY. Post that if cost is the only issue you can take it to an FNG. The labour is usually less than half of what the ASS charges and parts cost will be the same.

I wouldnt recommend DIY if not inclined to do so.

[revsperminute]

8.5k km/year isn’t really very low running. My Octavia has done only 50k in 8 years of its life. I clocked just 4.5k between the last 2 services. Engineers do a lot of R&D to come up with maintenance schedules of these vehicles. I’d advise you to stick to it.

[Benoit]

Sticking to other bhpians' views to emphasize more. Get a service from the service center or an FNG. If it's an alto and something right above the alto used primary in the city, it's probably okay to experiment, but an xuv500 is more complicated than that. Periodic checks on brakes, clutch, suspension, and other components is prudent, at least to prevent breakdown. Always remember, periodic maintenance is mostly just preventive maintenance for components from failing.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by slipperyslipped

I'm sitting at the Mahindra Service Centre as my XUX 500 is in for it's 20,000KM service.

The thing is, I have only driven it for 17,000KMs over a period of 2 years. Yep... If I recall correctly, the car has been serviced 4 times in this period.

My question is, what should be the ideal maintenance schedule if a car is being driven this rarely. And is it possible for someone not very mechanically inclined to do maintenance themselves?.

As others pointed out, you are still driving it about 8500 km annually. That is not much below the annual average of many family cars.

Usually, Your owners manual will tell you the required maintenance based on mileage and or time, whichever comes first.

I don’t know what made you think of doing the maintenance yourself? If it is cost, you are only going to save labour cost. And labour cost for car mechanics is pretty low in India to start with.

DIY maintenance is certainly possible. But you do need the correct tools and some knowledge. Ideally find somebody who knows what they are doing and tag along. Lots of very useful information on YouTube and the internet too.

But whatever you do, stick to the official maintenance schedule, don’t skimp on replacing parts or liquids! If your car is new and still under warranty, DIY work is likely to void your warranty in India.

Be very cautious when it comes to safety. Both in terms of working on your car as well as with respect to the safety of your car. E.g. never get under a car that is just supported by a Jack, use axle stands. When working on the brakes or the suspension you really need to know what you are doing!

AR007 already pointed to my thread. You will be able to find almost any regular maintenance job, but also many special quite challenging jobs I have undertaken on my cars over the years.

Jeroen

[shankar.balan]

In todays world a regular working person living in an urban sprawl, may typically do around 7000-12000kms per annum. Many urban families tend to have two cars which further reduces the average number of kilometres driven in each.

I prefer to follow the time-scale for maintenance rather than the number of kilometres driven, for exactly the above reason. Also because the oils and fluids tend to deteriorate with age, I generally like following the oil change routines at intervals of 1 year.

Yes one can sit and drain and change the oil quite easily one’s self. If one has the tools, the space, basic knowhow and interest, it is a simple matter.

However, it is a greasy job and things like spillage can occur, which makes a big mess.

In India, generally, labour isn’t expensive, and the workshop/ service centre has the space, the 2 post lifts, the specialised tools, the knowhow and multiple technicians.

Apart from this, there is the question of proper waste oil disposal and/ or re-cycling of engine oil, differential oil, brake fluid etc and for this reason alone, I would always opt to go to a workshop.

Also, if one goes to the workshop one can also take the opportunity have one’s vehicle(s) inspected for other general health parameters etc.

[GoBabyGo]

Hello, I drive Honda City VMT iVtech 2018, covered little over 55000 kms. My monthly running is approx. 1600 kms. My City has 3 years warranty which was over during the pandemic times. I was getting my car serviced at Cherish Honda West Delhi when I was living in Delhi. Since December 2020 I had moved to Greater Noida, where I found a very good FNG (owner lives in same apartment building where I live). After my City's 3 years warranty is over, I started getting my car serviced at this FNG and I am very much satisfied with their work. I moved to FNG because I did not find a good Honda Authorized service centre in Noida and basis review and my discussion with some colleagues who live in Noida & Ghaziabad & own Honda cars, they are not at all satisfied with Honda Service Centres across Noida & Ghaziabad.

I get to service my car every 7 months and average cost comes out to Rs.6500/- for full service plus interior dry cleaning, rubbing & polishing.

[styx71]

Hi All,

I have a specific question for replacement of Diesel Filter - related to low running kms vs years elapsed. Would there be any detrimental effects if I delay the replacement of the Diesel Filter - if my running doesn't not meet the Kms specified in the manual, but meets the specified the years elapsed. Considering that it's a Filter and not Fluid (whose properties would degrade along with time), why do manufacturers specify replacement interval in kms or years - whichever comes first.

Thanks!

[EV NXT]

My mum has a Hyundai Santro that has done only 18,000 kms in 14 years.

Still as good as new.

And goes for its annual service to the ASC on time every year.

17,000 kms in 2 years low? No way!

[autobahnjpr]

Rarely is not the right word for the running of this car. It is quite an average running, I would say. 8500 kms in a year means about 23 km per day which is very decent running. There are cars which clock only a thousand kilometers or less in a year.
So, you should continue your scheduled service at a recommended authorized service centers.

Originally Posted by slipperyslipped

My question is, what should be the ideal maintenance schedule if a car is being driven this rarely.

Thank you.

[voldemort]

Your car is seeing decent running in my opinion.

Our cars tend to have really low running (because nobody at home commutes anywhere).

• Our old Figo (now sold) saw a little over 20k km in 5 years
• Our diesel Honda City bought in early 2015 (8 years ago) has only recently crossed the 50k km mark.
  • We bought diesel because back then we were infact having high running, but situations changed.
  • Actually, until the COVID era it was doing about 8k km per year, but since 2020 our car has seen maybe 5000 km. That's just 1000 km per year .
  • We do drive it around town on most days — just that the drives aren't very long.
  • We service it regularly though. The car is in top shape.
• Our W212 E-Class bought in late 2016 (6.5 years old) has touched 57k km.
  • Even though it was bought after the City, it has clocked more kilometres.
  • Serviced regularly. However, there are some pending work that needs to be taken care of (faint sounds from rear suspension area — ride is still supple though).

Ironically enough, we need two cars. No plans to replace either of these steeds any time soon precisely because the running is low.

[IndieGooner]

As others have pointed, timely service done by a knowledgeable shop is an absolute must.

A little anecdote from my side regarding a diesel Fiesta we used to own. Unhappy with Ford service at my town, i had switched over to a neighborhood FNG post warranty. The car was used sparingly and had done just over 25,000 KM in its 5th year. One day, the gear shifter completely gave up while I was going at ~60km/hr on a busy highway! Like I did an overtake and was slotting to 5th when the gear shifter is all wobbly, not slotting on to any gear and the car is rapidly rolling away on neutral on a busy two lane road! I was very fortunate that there was some empty space by the road side that i could stop without hitting anything/anyone or getting rear ended

I call up Ford road side assistance and eventually two boys who looked no older than 20 turned up. They rightly diagnosed the issue as a rubber bush connecting cable to gear box that had gone bust. Issue was fixed in 20 minutes flat and at an expense less than Rs 1000. They told me that this was a part that Ford changes during scheduled service. Had i stuck with Ford service, this part would have been swapped on my previous service and i could have avoided this near mishap.

Lesson learned - get your cars serviced periodically from ASS. If you want to opt FNG, find someone who you are absolutely sure to be familiar with the make/model of your car. Personally, i have used only ASS since this incident some 8-9 years ago.

[kvsneela]

After reading the title , I thought some thing like 1000/2000 kms per year( yes some cars have seen that much low running) which might be applicable to me so I opened the thread to see feedbacks. But 17000 kms in 2 years is not really low running. Why 4 services in 2 years ?.I think XUV500 has 6 months or 20000 km schedule.. So you are following the schedule as per time( 6 months).The schedule given in the manual is only for reference until warranty period. After that it is upto you to follow the schedule as per your driving style. ( If you are using only mainly for highways or short city trips or mixed of both). For peace of mind one can follow the manual. Basic maintenance is definitely doable as DIY. I had maintained my previous cars Nano, i10,Alto myself ( engine oil/filter, air filter ,ac filter , brake fluid, spark plugs etc., changing) . Nowadays cars have long change intervals for coolant and trans.oil. So I might sell the car before those intervals as my running is less. My March 2022 Spresso was used for 5000 km in first 6 months but in next 6 months another 1000 km only. So I will wait for the 3rd service in March 2023( which will be the first major service like oil changing) and decide to do 4th service ( in 2024)at dealership or not as that will be the last service in warranty of 2 years. Due to my habit of DIY, I normally go for cars for which spares are available easily and also less expensive and less technical. In case of Nano , Chennai dealers were selling parts in retail also. In case of Hyundai , though it is not possible to get spares from dealers but available in open market in Chennai shops. Now in Pondy I went for only MSIL cars due to availability spare parts ( we have a distributor in Pondy also). As IndieGooner mentioned , the rubber bush in gearshift mechanism is a perishable item ( I had the same problem but one set of gears worked , costs about 40/- with service charges 300/- for my Alto) but I don't think it is a checked as a part of maint. schedule. But DIY requires interest, time, patience and aptitude for research ( means computer savy these days). One more thing is one may not be able to finish the jobs at one go and so the car may not be usable for some time. Since we don't use cars daily it was ok in my case. I have been doing DIY maintenance in scooters/bikes also for last 20 years.My reason is that the service personel cannot give special attention to our car only like their own car( as they get lots of cars for service) but for the owner it is very special to give personal attention and care.

[Kosfactor]

Originally Posted by slipperyslipped

My question is, what should be the ideal maintenance schedule if a car is being driven this rarely. And is it possible for someone not very mechanically inclined to do maintenance themselves?

Thank you.

I think you can make time to service the vehicle once a year, the maintenance cost of a 1000/ year run vehicle and 10,000 / year run vehicle is the same.

All the more reason to tank up and drive.

The best part of buying a vehicle with good after sales support is that you don't have to worry about doing this yourself for the life of the vehicle , be it in warranty or not.