oil change... is it as easy as doing it on a normal car?

[trevb]

hello,
im in the proces of decidig to buy a bongo.. nearly convinced but a bit worried about the cost of servicing.. ie- i heard that oil change needs to be done evry 3000 miles?


is it an easy enough diy project to do... im just thinking about the engine being under the seats!
trev

[Peg leg Pete]

Oil is filled under passenger seat, very close to alternator, so make sure you use a funnel Lots of members change there oil themselves, so plenty of advice if you need it

[trevb]

thnx peter, thats great
trev

[Peg leg Pete]

No problem, you will love your bongo when you get one

[mvous]

My oil is changed every 6 months. I do around 12-14000 miles a year. I was told that with today's hitech oils it does not need to changed as often as 3000 miles.

[alphabetter]

I have done it twice without too many problems so it must be easy.

Only tricky bit is that the ground clearance isn't that good and it can be hard to get the spanner and the oil-catcher under the sump.

The oil change fact sheet in the members area give good clear instructions.

[haydn callow]

Easiest oil change ever.

[trevb]

My oil is changed every 6 months. I do around 12-14000 miles a year. I was told that with today's hitech oils it does not need to changed as often as 3000 miles.

ok thnx for that, thats reassuring!

anyone else do this or heard of this? sounds great!!!

trev

[swifty]

I agree with Haydn, very easy only problem I had was getting up again after removing drain plug!

[brorabongo]

No problems changing oil, the only part which I found a bit messy was removing oil filter as its large and I had to remove it from underneath but loosen it from above. Mind its over 6litres so large container needed to catch the old oil. This makes it tight for space when undoing sump plug . As for sump washer:-

Sump washer

[Harry]

I've done around 120,000km since August 95 when I bought our Freda and the oil has only been changed on the regular six monthly garage service...so that equals about 40,000km between each oil change..a bit over the recommendations

Commuting back and forth to southern france, northern scotland etc, doesn't half clock up the milage!

Freda has now gone past the 200,000km barrier!

Just keep an eye on levels (our oil is very rarely topped up between services) and watch your temp guage like qa hawk and stop quickly if it overheats. usually something simple like a leaky coolant pipe.

Good luck

H

[smartmonkey]

The oil Mazda recomends is one step from crude. Modern oils are much improved and I will stretch my interval to 5000 miles. I don't need to stretch it further because that will be 12 months and I would always service a car once a year. Combustion by-products that blow past the piston rings are what kills diesel oil (and make it black). Good oils have detergents that keep the contaminants suspended so 10000 mile new oil is better than 0 mile old oil. Go for the highest "C" rating you can.

I am now getting comma stuff (5W30) for about £8 for 5L. I may use fully synthetic 5W40 next because it is only £12 for 5L.

[francophile1947]

I may use fully synthetic 5W40 next because it is only £12 for 5L.

Where from? - that's well cheap.

[smartmonkey]

I got an account at a company called NPA. They are part of a buying group and do all car consumables at very good prices. They only sell top stuff as well (fram/cooper etc.). They are about half retail plus vat for most stuff.

[francophile1947]

Thought it looked good - not available to public.