Car Servicing
- Replacing oils and fluids before they wear out and cause engine or transmission wear
- Replacing coolant before its boiling and freezing points change and before its anti-corrosive additives fade away
- Replacing filters before they start to clog
- Rotating the tyres so they will last longer
- Replacing spark plugs before they wear and cause a misfire and catalyst damage
- Adjusting valves before a tight valve causes engine damage
- And most importantly, inspecting the car so we can find small problems before they develop into big problems.
This car servicing checklist is found in virtually every vehicle’s logbook. These are the standard service items that comprise a tune-up, service or whatever you like to call preventative maintenance.
Get a car service from the team you can trust
We’ll give you a competitive quote based on your vehicle model and mileage. Our fully qualified, friendly mechanics service all makes and models including log book and general servicing using quality oils and filters.
Even our basic service exceeds the requirements for any logbook service.
While servicing your vehicle we’ll bring to your attention any issues we find. And we’ll suggest cost effective solutions.
We’ll maintain your car to strict manufacturer’s standards, log all repairs and provide you with a 12 month/20,000km guarantee on all mechanical work, providing the car is appropriately maintained in the meantime.
What will it cost?
- Small Car – $160
- Large Car or Small Diesel Car – $180
- Petrol SUV – $200
- Diesel SUV – $220
- 4WD or Commercial Vehicle $250
- Hybrids are priced depending on the vehicle type and primary fuel type
A minor log book service includes fully synthetic oil, and premium oil filter as well as all the checks and top ups required for your vehicle. If you’re due a major service call us for a quote. If we discover any issues during your service, we’ll quote and check first before carrying out additional work.
A minor log book service costs:
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Most mechanics agree on what is required to maintain a vehicle, but often disagree on how regularly it should be done. Depending on your vantage point this can lead consumers to feel as though they are being ripped off or that perhaps your vehicle isn’t been maintained properly.
So if mechanics disagree how do you as the consumer know what is the correct amount of maintenance for your vehicle? Often it comes down to trusting the people in charge of your vehicle and hoping for the best. Dealerships are perceived by many people as a safe option, they know they are going to get charged a premium, but at least the maintenance will be of a high standard. Now this is often true, but dealerships are only as good as the people running them and there are some pretty average operators out there.
Some people assume that as long as the maintenance is carried out as per the manufacturers log book that everything will be fine. Sadly, even this isn’t true; manufacturers are under pressure to decrease the perceived cost of ownership and will omit things from maintenance schedules if they are confident it won’t cause a problem within the warranty period of the vehicle. A common example of this is sealed for life transmissions. Supposedly these components never need the oil changing, but there is growing evidence suggesting that this is wrong and a good service shop will advise when they think these fluids should be changed.
What about independent workshops like Packard Automotive? Unlike the dealers we won’t hesitate in identifying any faults that should be rectified by the vehicle’s manufacturer. We rely on your loyalty and as such there is a strong incentive for us to look after all our customers. However, there are still bad independent operators out there, some of them are blatant criminals. So how do you know you have a good shop?
In the end it is the customer who decides what maintenance is performed on their vehicle. A good workshop will perform all of the manufacturer’s maintenance requirements. Furthermore, a good workshop will examine individual components of a vehicle and advise what additional maintenance may be required, if any. But most of all a good workshop will be transparent and spend the time required to explain and even show you why a certain maintenance item is required.
- Engine Air Filter – inspected for blockages, perishing and discoloration
- Cabin Air Filter – inspected for blockages, perishing and discoloration, and although it has no bearing on the reliability of your vehicle, we’ll let you know when you need a replacement in order to keep your vehicle interior smelling fresh.
- Engine Oil: We inspect the colour and level. The colour is only really useful as an indicator on petrol engines as diesel engine oil always tends to be black. The oil level is an indicator of the condition of other components in the engine or a sign of an external leak.
- Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF) – transmission oil is inspected for changes in colour which is a sign of worn components as well as the presence of water is a sign of problems with the oil cooler
- Transmission and driveline oils – inspected for changes in colour. Darkening is an indicator of general wear while a silver colour indicates that more serious wear may be occurring
- Brake fluid – a hydroscopic fluid which means is readily absorbs water out of the atmosphere. High moisture content decreases the boiling point of brake fluid and can cause the brakes to fail in an emergency stop situation. Additionally, high moisture content accelerates corrosion in the brake system leading to early failures of components. We always check the moisture content of the brake fluid as part of a standard service and advise when it should be changed.
- Coolant – it has two roles, the first is to protect your engine from corrosion and the second is to prevent water boiling or freezing. Over time both of these properties diminish. As a part of a standard service we check the glycol levels and the corrosion inhibitor levels and advise you accordingly.
- Spark Plugs – they not only affect how the engine runs, but can also indicate the presence of other issues with the engine. As a part of a standard service we check the spark plugs to determine if they need replacing or if they are indicating another fault with the vehicle such as high oil consumption.
At Packard Automotive we go above and beyond the minimum maintenance requirements and in addition to observing the vehicle manufacturers recommendations we perform numerous other inspections including: