Dicky

My dealer quoted £229 but won't be changing plugs or filter only oil and filter as they don't need doing.The more I think on it the more stupid I feel for not looking into this earlier. Like GMballistic I'm not going to sell it so will follow suit and like him do what I fancy doing myself and pay for the other stuff. There may be some milage in main dealer service if you intend selling after a couple of years of ownership but other than that i think it's a waste of money.

My cars 10yrs old now and as I've mentioned in earlier posts it's due a P2 service. I've had main dealer servicing from new, mainly to get the dealer stamp in case of resale. Anyway I've looked at the P2 action list and most of it is made up of look see and lubrication actions. Changing the oil and filter is a doddle, my air filter's a washable type and greasing actions are a joke. I'm thinking of ditching main dealer servicing now and doing it myself other than the more difficult jobs when I'll pay for just those actions. What are you all doing with your older cars?

Good stuff chaps, thanks

Changed 2011 so have done approx 24K. think I might do the change at 30K cos it sounds about right. Thanks for yours and everyone' else's input.

Cheers Grundy225 that's useful info. Do you think the iridium plugs should be that in the same way as standard plugs? I understand they are a harder material so was wondering if this extends their life

Just a thought but when should you change these plugs. I understand it depends on different factors but for a car doing about 8k/yr and driven sensibly would you recon 30k is fair ?

Red & black for clarity...well these Japs think of everything! Also good info from everyone, thanks. Think I will follow your lead and have them changed. Suppose the garage will know how much molyslip to add?

Been reading some old threads ref changing Diff and Gearbox oils. My cars now at 65K and is going in for a P2 this week. Been looking at the Service checklist (p18 & 9 of service record) and if I'm reading it right it states to only inspect the Gearbox and Diff oils (although they do state to change the "LSD gear oil"..what ever that is?replace at P3 ) ( and why are some items in red and others in black type?). Asked the garage service coordinator what he recommends and he suggested to leave alone if ok. Are guys just changing because they are just fastidious or because experience has shown it to be worth while. What do you think, ask to have it done or leave alone?

Mines currently at 65k and clutch still feels fine. It's down to how you drive.

My suspiciousness says tread carefully! Not all mechanics are competent. Does he see many Z's and has changed the diff oil regularly. Is he an older guy or did they have an apprentice do that job. Did you see the debris yourself. If it was me I'd want to investigate more if possible before committing to big bucks.

No but sounds like a damed good idea. Me thinks me will look into that. Thanks for the idea Pete!

Bloody hell it gets worse!

SOOOOBERING ! I promise not to speed. If someone pulls up along side I promise not to be drawn. I promise not to respond to being cut up by prats,. I promise not to be pushed into speeding up when someone's right up my arse end. I promise. I promise Problem is I always promise these things when confronted by shocks like this or when I'm out of the car and thinking clearly. But when I'm behind the wheel it all seems to make perfect sense, Ive become a Jekyll and Hyde character. Anyone else suffer from this. I NEED HELP!

I did this on mine recently and without the alarm activated and engine off the current drain was 0.4A. I assume this drain would be keeping the computers active. With the alarm activated the drain was 0.7A. Assuming the batt was fully charged for it to be at 8 v when the engine is off seems to indicate some high current is being demanded from somewhere, hence dropping the voltage. But to drop the voltage by 4v would take a lot of current being drawn and if into a faulty component to would get quite hot and smelly, unless something like a heated rear screen. The battery could be iffy but seems unlikely given it's only 6 wk old. I would have a load test done on the battery to confirm its ok. They put a resistance across the batt terminals and it should maintain the voltage at some level for it to be considered ok. Hope any of this helps.

The Silver looks nice! the rest look yuk

I hate working when the BOSS is watching!

Let's face it, if your 21 then yes you may well believe that. But as you get older you come to realise that the vast majority of women have little interest in cars and don't even see them. Those who do admire the car look only at the car but not the guy driving it. It's a male fantasy just like in the days before cars, when men believed a particular breed of horse did it for women. Most men drive a nice car as a statement of who they think they are and probably to stick it up other men. I used to feel like that but now I'm fully cooked my only pleasure is in driving a nice looking, well engineered car that brings with that warm feeling in your gut when you drive it Were a sad lot really and it's taken me years to realise it. What a waste of effort!

Take your point about the batt charger but not the couple of weeks. Mind you I would have thought the same thinking the current drain would have been a lot less than it is. As I said above its a 52A/hr batt so if the car's taking 0.7 A then it only lasts 52/0.7 ie 72hrs and then it's flat. The trickle charger sounds like a fix but Not sure how the insurance company would view it if it caught fire and burnt the house down?

Went on hol for 2wks leaving the alarm system on. Came back to a flat battery. As it happens I totally forgot about disconnecting the negative before I left. I know the battery drain when standing with the alarm on is approx 0.7A which means on a new batt (which is a 52A/Hr) it would only last for about 3days. But it's got me wondering how should you prepare the Z when going on hol. Anyone looked into this?

Roads look dry today and battery should be charged by now, hold on, yep it's charged. Neutral back onto the terminal and tightened, that's done. I'll just back her out the garage and off I go. I'll just open the garage door. Hold on though it's bloody raining again, sod it..........................I'm bored (wish I was driving in Lanzaroti, hold on though they drive on the wrong side, sod that) .....................I'm still bored!

Back home now so not bored cos the Z is waiting to be driven on such nice sunny day. But hold up a minute the bloody thing won't start! The battery's flat, sod it!..................................I'm bored

I'm so bored can't even post in the right place. Ho hum, so how many was it now? Oh yes it was 3 balls of fluff I found in my belly button. Onward and downward.

Waiting for my flight home fromTenerife. Can't believe how lucky I've been with the weather, missing the last two weeks of UK misery, hitting two weeks of sunshine here and leaving on the day the weather's turned for the worse with high winds and rain. Never mind all that though cos I can get back to the Z and go for a drive. Sad I know but I still enjoy it even after 10 yrs of ownership. Just over 4 hrs to flight time so back to the forum

Oooops should have read the whole thread. Well done! It's a bugger loosing your job after such a long time (same for me first time) but that's how it goes sometimes. So the Z still has a good home.

I don't know anything about the circuitry involved so the relay could be a 12v or 5v if operated directly by the the control ecu. The voltage and internal connections may be indicated on the relay case. If so, and if a 12v relay remove it and connect a couple of wires to the coil contacts then connect these to a 12v car battery. You should hear the relay clicking each time you touch the connections to the battery. This only verifies the if the coil itself is ok. if a 5v relay coil then you need a multimeter set to resistance range (you can also use the multimeter to check the 12v relay in the same way). Connect it to the relay coil connections and you should get a reading. The resistance reading is dependant on a couple of things but so long as you get a resistance reading of around 100 ohms or above ( but not thousands of ohms) it would indicate the coil is ok. If you want to check the contacts thats easy as well and you will need a multi meter again, but check the coil first as it's the most likely cause of relay failure. But as said above the fault could also be due to the connections in the circuit to/ from the relay.