75,000km servicing

wanted to do a minor checkup through Riverview's standard servicing package at $160, so they can help me identify any stuff that needs changing at 80,000km. I was more interested in the fan belt and rear brake pads check, the rest were alright... so i thought.

The candidate for this round

on reaching there, told Vincent i brought my own Redline oil, he jokingly said should use his oil. As cheeky as he was (and myself), i proclaimed my interest in trying different oils and specified that i could skip the engine bay and car wash. So instead of the standard package, he just charged me the oil filter + standard checks for $38, brake checks for $27 and a surcharge $15 for bringing my own oil. This is perfect alright, because i'm rather impressed by their mechanic's technical skills during the first visit.

then the checks started at 1.30pm, and ended at nearly 5pm. Reasons being...

1. Drain plug out of stock. The aluminum plug become thinner after few rounds of engine oil change. Sourced from their partners, still don't have. Small problem actually, the mechanic Ang used white tape to prevent leaks.

2. Rear brake pads worn out. One was finishing, the other just finished. So got it changed, and surprised that they used OWS Quit Squeal on the brake pads when taking them out. No additional charge.

3. Tyre damaged, discovered during rotation. The inner sidewall of one of my Falken ZE522s started to tear in 4 spots. According to them (and 2 more tyre shops) it's a explosion risk. Changed to a brand new set of Yokohama S.drive at Chen Jin Trading. More on this later...

4. Too much gap on NGK Iridium sparkies. Ang offered to re-gap for me, but i declined - no more Iridium plugs that cost $80-150 for me. Asked for a set of copper plugs, only $22.

The iridium plugs from NGK, Huat Lee charged me $85 1 year ago


Too big a gap...

5. Coolant filled incorrectly. I remember from the 70,000km servicing it was done at the tyre shop at AMK Ave 1. My reserve coolant tank was empty, and the main tank was still not full. Apparently it needs to be drained via vacuum, otherwise it's not properly done. That tyre shop overfilled my engine oil too, so i've learnt a great deal - never use a tyre shop for servicing.

6. Other checks - third brake light bulb burnt, they charged me $3. Quite alright, but should have told them i'll switch to LED one. And they checked the spare tyre too.

the trip to RV cost me $180, which wasn't expensive considering the extensive checks and change of sparkies and brake pads.

the tyres cost me $145 each, with unlimited free rotation and balancing at their Serangoon and Woodlands branch. Learnt something from this shop as well - the tyre shop i went to did their tyre balancing on the outer side only, not the inner side. Scary stories ....

S.Drive