Combo Instrument: Why Service Matters?

Hello everyone,

When I started the engine at work today, the display showed a blinking "Service" message, which means the car needs some kind of maintenance.

Nur... WHY?

Oil changes are recommended every 15,000 miles, or every 12 months, whichever comes first. The same applies to inspections.

The current mileage is 9550 km, and I've owned the car for 8 months. According to the VIN, it's a 2002 model, so it was manufactured after 8/01. Therefore, even if it was sitting at the dealership, it shouldn't have been for 12 months.

As far as I know, variable maintenance intervals are not available for the Ibiza with the ASV engine, at least there is no mention of it anywhere in the manuals.

"Does anyone have any idea what this could mean? The preheating LED and the climate control error indicator are both off, the car is running normally, there are no oil warnings, brake warnings, or ABS/ASR/EDC warnings, and the oil level is fine."

*looking around with a questioning expression*

Best regards,

Jan.

Hello Jan,

Please check the service booklet to see if you can find a "QG1" or a "QG2" listed (it's under the optional equipment section, below the engine code).
This indicates whether your engine has a fixed or a flexible service interval.
My AHF (also the 81 kW model) from the year 2000 already has the flexible service interval.

Hi Michael II,

Okay, I'll check it out tomorrow and then post about it!

Is it normal for them to appear "so early"? What parameters are involved?

I actually drive quite a lot of short distances (unfortunately), could that be a factor?

Best regards,

Jan.

Hello Jan,

As far as I remember, the car is a re-import. Could it be that the car was "put into service" four months earlier, and the seller forgot to clear the annual mileage interval?

Just a thought.

Hi Bertil,

That about the re-import is correct, but:

I consider this explanation to be excluded for the reasons mentioned above.

According to the vehicle identification number (and the purchase agreement), the car is a 2002 model, meaning it was manufactured after 08/01. Therefore, it cannot be more than 12 months old, even if it was sitting at the dealership for some time.

Or what?

Best regards,

Jan.

Hi Jan,

You're right, I didn't think it through properly.
However, I've already encountered vehicles of the new model year that were registered in June (my father drives one like that, with a chassis number starting with "T," which indicates 1996, and a first registration date of June 5, 1995, but with the side turn signals from the 1995 model).

Hmm...

I'll check the variable intervals later, but otherwise, it's possible that something like that is happening.

@everyone: Does anyone know if there's a way to find out the production date of a car using the serial number?

It should actually start at 00000 in the new model year, right? Mine is around 024000, and while I don't know how many 6Ks are produced each year, this number at least suggests that it wasn't one of the first cars of the model year.

Best regards,

Jan.

The vehicle identification number (VIN) is always sequential. It only resets to zero when a completely new vehicle type is introduced.

Sure?

"They started producing the 6K model in 1993 or 1994, so it must have been significantly more than 24,000 units produced, right?"

Best regards,

Jan.

Hmm, that's actually true. Maybe it's different with Seat. At least it's like that with Mercedes. My Seat Ibiza from 2000 has a production number ending in 126553, so it's much higher.

What model year is your car (does it start in August or September, I think?), and when was it manufactured/purchased? Mine was manufactured in November, so if yours was manufactured around April-June, that would be great.

Best regards,

Jan.

'Mine is from July 17, 2000. I've only had the car for just over a month. Can you tell me how fast yours goes? I'm curious because I want to know if someone might have installed a chip in mine. It actually performs better than my Golf III TDI with 90 horsepower and a chip. According to the speedometer, the Ibiza goes 210 km/h. Is that the original speed? My Golf only managed just under 200 km/h with a chip.'

Jan6K wrote:

Because they started producing the 6K model in 1993 or 1994, that number must be significantly more than 24,000, right?

Hi Jan,

The 6K model has been around for quite some time, but the facelift of our version was, as far as I know, introduced in 1999. So, it's essentially a different car with the old model designation.
Perhaps they then started counting from zero again?

Hi everyone,

@Ulf: It's very unlikely because the one Schroederliese has was built BEFORE mine (but after the facelift, which was in 9/99), yet it has a higher number. An "overflow" is also not probable; they would have had to build over a million cars from 07/00 to 11/01, and Seat doesn't sell that many. What is the approximate production number/registration date of your wife's car?

@Schroederliese:

Mine has now covered 9500 km, and under favorable conditions on the highway, it can also reach 210 km/h on the speedometer, but it's hard to say exactly what the wind conditions are like in those situations.

He always manages to reach 200 km/h, even when going slightly uphill.

I've verified this using a very accurate GPS. According to my speedometer, 200 km/h actually translates to 193 km/h in real-world conditions, which is pretty much exactly the manufacturer's stated top speed. Under more favorable conditions (wind, incline), it can reach the aforementioned 210 km/h, which is a real-world speed of 202 km/h. In still air and on a flat surface, I believe the actual speed, according to GPS, is around 195-197 km/h.

I also verified the GPS accuracy on the highway using a stopwatch, and the error is less than 1 km/h.

However, a more meaningful test for these kinds of estimations is the "Ulf-Test," which is often described in this forum, and there's an Excel spreadsheet available for download. Simply put it in 3rd gear, give it full throttle at 1000-1300 RPM, and then use a stopwatch to measure the time it takes to reach 2000-4000 RPM, which corresponds to approximately 50-100 km/h. Mine consistently takes around 6.2 seconds, with a weight of approximately 1240 kilograms.

Best regards,

Jan.

Okay, I'll try that.

Hi Jan,

My wife's Audi A3 has the VIN 6KZ1R231869.
The car was first registered on April 1st and was likely manufactured around February 2001. We know this because no cars were available in the desired color and configuration.


Do you also experience such significant summer-winter differences in the 2000-4000 test? (assuming the same tires, of course - as is well known, even slight variations in rolling circumference can make a difference).
For me, with "tire-cleaned" data, the difference is approximately 0.3 seconds between temperatures of around 0°C and 30°C.