This is under construction. I have put it up to help some people who are looking to do this sooner rather than later. I will update with better pics and additional info as and when I get the time. thanks to (a very helpful) LeeM on here .... Even if he did empty his engine oil all over his garage
I've service my car tonight, although I did it in bit of a hurry as I also wanted to fit my new exhaust. So I wasn't able to record how long each task took me as I mixed and matched what I did. What I can say was I started at around 6pm and had done the service and stripped off my old exhaust which was a bitch to get off, fitted my new one and taken it for a spin before 10.
Also, I forgot to take my camera with me so had to use my phone until my misses got back with the camera, so up until that point I had to make do with my phone and taking them myself. I will renew these pics when I get a chance as they are shit! By the time the camera and camera'woman' turned up, I had almost finished so please excuse the quality.
Right guys, I thought this might be of use to some users on here. I realise this is just going to be teaching a lot of you to suck eggs, and that a lot of information, (if not all of it) is already available on here. I just thought I’d make a nice little (hopefully idiot proof) guide with all the information you need to carry out a general service on your Saxo. The Guides that are already available on here I have included links to.
I have tried to include accurate service intervals, (conservative) time scales, pictures and prices. Any constructive criticism is much appreciated and I hope that this saves at least one person a little bit of money on their next service.
The collection of bits I had. New oil, New oil filter, New air filter (perfect time to upgrade), New spark plugs, New fuel filter.
A decent quality and amount of tools.
And a Haynes manual.... Just in case
Oil Change (Every 10,000 miles)
A really simple yet extremely effective piece of maintenance is the engine oil renewal. Oil recommendations can be found here (
http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28309) I went for Halfords 5w 40 fully synthetic as I had both my Saxo and the misses’ Ka to do.
Step 1 (optional, although recommended) The first step is simple enough, take your car for a short 10-15 minute drive. Pop down the shop, whatever, I don’t care! This will allow the oil to flow better and will remove more gunk that’s been caught in the sump.
Step 2 (optional) If you like, you can now use an engine flush. Simply add the required amount, as stated with the product, to the oil through the oil filler and follow the instructions. It usually involves leaving your car idle/fast idle for 10/15 minutes. Simples.
Step 3. Now it’s time to drain the old engine oil. This is considerably easier with the front of the car jacked up on axle stands or up on ramps. With the car in the air and the engine not running, remove the oil filler cap.
Now you will require a container of some sort that will fit under the car and comfortably catch 3.5 litres of oil. (I used a washing up bowl) You also need an oil removal plug, these can be purchased from most motor factors or Halfords. There may be some saxos out there that don’t use the square section wrench type plug so apologies.
You now need to loosen the drain plug, this is situated at the back of the sump. If it’s a little tight a breaker bar or a small pipe on the end of your ratchet will make light work of this. Although if the oil is being changed regularly this shouldn’t be too much bother with the correct tools. (I had to use a short bar on the end of my wrench, sadly no pics)
Once loosened you can continue to remove the plug by hand. Be careful! As if you have warmed the engine first this oil will now also be hot, as well as the exhaust, I recommend wearing gloves for this part at least.
Take care not to splash yourself and make sure your container is situated underneath the drain hole so you can catch all the oil. Some rags, newspapers, old cloths might be helpful at this point, just in case
Give yourself a thumbs up....
Step 4. As the oil is draining I tend to change the oil filter to try and let as much of the oil drain as possible. Note though that a small amount of oil will leak from the filter so be prepared to catch it. (another container, or refit the drain plug and use that container)
There are two types of filters fitted to the saxo range. The first being a canister type that is one complete unit and to replace these you need to unscrew the old unit using an oil filter pliers or wrench. These can be seized, so if you encounter one that will not come undone there are options you can use. If you have a look on google there is a very valuable guide on removing stuck on oil filters.
Once removed, dispose of the filter and clean up the threads and surrounding area. Apply a small amount of new engine oil to the new filter to ensure an oil tight seal. For this I use my finger to smear the oil around the seal.
Tighten the filter until it becomes in contact with the engine body and then tighten hand tight (approximatly 3/4 of a turn)
On newer models an element type filter is used. This is contained at the front of the engine by the manifold and can be accessed from the top. You will need to loosen the plastic holder and remove it from the vehicle. Grab the old o-ring from wherever it is aswell. You should receive a new one with the new filter. To renew you need to pull the filter from the holder. These can be quite tight but don’t be worried about giving it a yank. First time I did mine, when it finally released it sprayed oil everywhere.
Clean out the plastic housing with some rags and clean off the threads. Re-fit the new element filter into the housing (it simply pushes in.) Refit the new o-ring seal and to ensure a leak-free seal add a small amount of engine oil to the o-ring. Refit the housing and tighten to 20nm. If you do not have a torque wrench just tighten it until you feel it getting tight and then turn it once more. This does not need to be very tight at all.
*AWAITING PICS ON THESE FILTER TYPES*
Step 5. Collect your drain plug from wherever you put it/dropped it. That means go fishing for it if it fell into your container of oil. Clean up the plug and renew the gasket. Although renewing the gasket isn’t absolutely necessary it is highly recommended, as if you have a leak after refilling your engine oil you will need to drain it all again. They are cheap enough from any motor factors and/or Halfords.
Refit the drain plug and tighten to 30Nm. You can now remove the container and any other tools from under the car. If possible lower the car to the ground at this stage, if not, lower after the next step.
Step 6. It’s now time to refill your engine oil. Firstly wipe the area around your filler cap clean.
Slowly add (with a funnel if necessary) 3 litres of engine oil to the engine.
This can be estimated by checking the gauge on the oil caontainer.
Refit the filler cap and start the car. Depending on the condition of your old oil you will already be able to notice a huge difference in the way the car sounds.
I now take the car for a short, steady drive at LOW revs to help warm and circulate the oil.
Once you have run the car and the oil has been distributed around the block you need to wait 2 to 3 minutes before taking the engine oil level via the dipstick. This should be second nature to any car driver but if you do not know how to check the level of oil in your engine then it’s simple.
Remove dipstick,
Wipe dipstick clean,
FULLY insert dipstick.
Remove dipstick again and check where the engine oil level has settled. There will be a max and min notch on the stick or a plastic gauge.
Now you simply continue to add oil, a small amount at a time, whilst rechecking the level after 2-3 mins until you reach the maximum mark. Do not overfill the engine with oil as you could cause serious damage to internal components.
If for any reason you have overfilled, DO NOT start the car, simply drain the oil and refill to the necessary mark
Spark Plugs (Every 40,000 Miles)
As both my cars have multipoint injection I have no specific photos of single point injection engines. The general procedure of removing and refitting plugs is the same, however, instead of removal of the coil pack you simply unplug the HT leads from each plug, making sure you number them accordingly and refit them to the same plug
First step is to remove the coil pack.
On the 8v engines this is a case of undoing the two nuts either side (10mm iirc.) Be careful when you remove these as the threads have a tendency to spin as well which can damage the radio suppresser on the one side.
Then unplug the coil pack and release the cable from the winding. Then you can pull the coil pack upwards revealing the plugs
On the VTS, you first have to remove the coil pack cover before the coil pack. These are screwed on and lift out easily.
Next is to remove the coil pack itself. This needs to be removed using standard torx bits.
Then lift the coil pack and unplug it at the same time.
The spark plugs are now easily(ish) accessible. Remove as much dirt/debri from around the spark plugs as possible to stop anything unpleasant falling into the cylinder.
You can now use a spark plug wrench to remove the old plugs. I prefer to use a 16mm deep socket for this but it’s entirely up to you.
To remove the plugs from the housing I use a needle nose pliers.
Inserting the new plugs is fairly straight forward, one thing to be careful of is not to cross thread the new plugs as you insert them. Many people recommend a small piece of hose on the end of the plug to help you insert them.
I always drop the plug into their hole, Then rotate the plug anti-clockwise 2/3 turns before rotating them clockwise and tightening them. This helps prevent them cross threading.
Tighten the new plugs to 25nm if you have a torque wrench.
Then refit everything in the reverse of removal. Jobs a good un.
Fuel Filter (Every 40,000 Miles)
Thanks to Mark there is already a detailed guide outlining how to change your fuel filter.
http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85297
Air Filter (Every 40,000 Miles)
As the induction systems on the Saxo range vary significantly this should be interpreted accordingly and used as a rough guide to carrying out your own.
Remove the cover to your airbox. The cover is usually held on with a number of screws. Remove these and then see what else is holding it on.
Usually removal of one or two jubilee clips will also be required to completely remove the cover,
It may also be necessary to unplug any breather pipes you have flowing into your airbox. This is done by firmly squeezing the taps on the end of the pipe and pulling. You should now be able to remove the air box cover.
Remove the piping from the throttle body.
Then pull up the cover.
With the cover off, you can pull the old filter from the housing.
Using a clean dry rag wipe the interior of the air box to remove any dirt/oil or even the odd leaf.
Re insert the new filter into the housing and refit the cover in the reverse order you removed it.
If you have an aftermarket filter, whether it be a panel filter or part of an aftermarket induction kit. These can be cleaned and re-oiled as opposed to renewing. Specific manufacturer’s instructions should be followed during the cleaning and re-oiling process.
Manual Transmission Oil Level Check (Every 40,000 Miles)
A very simple procedure. The car should be on the ground for this which makes it a slight nuisance. Looking at your gearbox from the passenger side there are two plugs. One drain plug and one fill plug. To check the oil level, remove the highest of the two (the fill plug) and the oil level in the gearbox should sit flush with the bottom of the hole that is left. You will get a trickle of oil when you remove this plug, wait until this has stopped and then check the oil level.
Add any oil as necessary (75W/80) until the level is flush with the bottom of the plug. It is advisable that you renew the gasket on the plug before refitting and tightening to 25nm.
If you wish to renew your gearbox oil then there is an excellent guide available for this in the premium guide section
Engine coolant renewal (Every 80,000)
This has been covered several times already, so thanks to Adam for this particular guide. There are others available although this one seems to have more photos and be more idiot proof
http://www.saxperience.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98877
Resetting the Service Spanner Indicator (MK2’s)
Thanks to Mark again for this
Quote:
With the ignition off hold down your tachometer reset button (the one that resets your mileage to 0, left side) and turn the ignition key to the second stop.
The display will count down from 10 to 0. Keep holding until it passes 0 -
All done!
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Thanks for reading guys and as I said. This is far from complete. There are more sections and plenty of step by step photos I want to add to it. Simple things that can help extend the life of your vehicle. I have covered the majority of the major tasks that are fairly simple for the home mechanic. Hopefully in time this will become a very detailed yet easy to follow guide that will be helpful to more and more users of the forum.
General Service Guide
Linear Mode
