Day 174 / 2016 - Scheduled Log Book Servicing

We only have another 40 days to go before it is time to move off and once again start heading south for the summer. It also signals the time to prepare the vehicles which means another car service. I do try to do as much of the maintenance as I can but modern vehicles really require modern tools so I defer to the professionals.

Touring adds extral strain on your vehicle fully loaded with all your travelling stuff as well as towing a caravan fully loaded with all your travelling stuff. Addtionally the roads you travel on are generally less than ideal once you leave the confines of the city limits even main Hwy's can be like goat tracks.

With these conditions servicing becomes very important the more frequent the better. The recommended interval for our Patrol is 10,000Km when towing nearly 100% the interval is every 5,000Km. We tow about 25% of the time so we try to change the oil every 6,000 to 7,000 Km. We also like to have services done as per the log book. I did a google search on prices for the 100,000 Km Nissan Patrol log book service and a selection of dealer and non dealer service centres were displayed for the Brisbane area. The prices quoted were between $470.00 to $570.00 interestingly the most exspensive was not a dealer. I know that I could get a service for under $250.00 but would it be as per the log book or just an oil change.

When travelling full time on the road you don't have the luxury of planning your maintenance around your regular mechanic. Apart from breakdowns travellers try to schedule their services when they are at home. The diffcuilty for us is we have no relationship with the local mechanics. How do you choose, dealer service centres arn't always the best but a small mechanic shop may not have all the technical data to service your particular model of vehicle. You don't have history with any of the workshops in the area to make a choice. All good service centre's will strive to do a professional job but a change in staff can affect the quality of work. With us travelling through they know they will proberbly not see us again so due dilligence may not be their number one concern especially if they are busy.

Most times we choose a dealer service centre although you wont be immune to the problems but at least (in theory) they have access to the technical data for your model and have more than just a customer to loose if they stuff up badly. We did choose a non dealer service centre while in Cairns as they came highly recommended from several sources and they specialised in Nissan Patrols. We try to choose larger towns that have several dealer service centres to choose from and source recommendation's from the web. Local knowledge can is also important but a single persons view of a service centre maybe coloured by a bad experience so you need to ask around. Another advantage of dealer service centres is most times they can provide you with a loan car if you are able to give them advance warning. Personally we have been lucky so far only having trouble with one dealer service centre (yes it does happen) but the rest have been good.

The caravan is another vehicle that needs a regular service every 10,000 Km or 12 months according to the manufacturer. As much as I would like to save money by doing it myself we really don't have the tools so again default to the sevice centres. Generally it costs about $450.00 for a tandem axle service. They inspect and regrease the bearings as well as check the brakes and inspect the suspension. On our last caravan service they even inspected the sealant on the roof to make sure it was still water tight. When choosing a caravan service centre again we try to look at the larger towns with more than one centre to choose from. Of course there is always a risk we have all heard the stories of someone towing there van out of the service centre heading off on a big trip and a few hundred Kms down the road a wheel falls off. Fortunately we haven't experienced that problem so far.

Servicing especially log book servicing is one of those cost I would like to do without as it cuts into your travel funds and there is no visual benefit (unlike when you do a modification) but the alternative of a problem developing somewhere out in the never never will be even more expensive as well as inconvienent possibly even dangerous. Regular log book servicing doesn't eliminate the chance of something going wrong but it does significantly reduce the risk.