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Service Indicator

Posted: Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:17 am
by marc_vaf
Hi,

I am wondering if anyone can help...I have had my car serviced last july at 5300 miles at VW and now its at 8k miles (dont do many miles since in town). A few weeks ago it came up on the dash that 7000 miles to service, as the more i drove its reduced 6900,6800...etc but turned on the ignition this morning and sounding an alarm with 'INSP' flashing as i was expecting this to go 0 then flash with INSP

Do you think there is something faulty or is there such a thing that the car detects that something needs servicing before hand?

Also has anyone had similar problems?

thanks

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:39 am
by Running Monkey
Exactly the same thing has happened to me! Car was serviced in October at 7k miles, it started flashing that there were 11000 to service, then rapidly diminishing ... and yesterday the INSP flashed up in the service indicator.

It sounds stupid - but I wonder if VW just forgot to reset the service indicator, or is this a common fault?

RM

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 1:42 pm
by brad mole
i bought my car with 8300ish miles ont he clock and the insp light has been on since i bought it :( it has 14500 miles on now

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 2:49 pm
by Tim_GTi
Running Monkey wrote: It sounds stupid - but I wonder if VW just forgot to reset the service indicator, or is this a common fault?
yep it's definitely a common error. With the mark 5 this happens at timed intervals, and a simple procedure of pressing the milage button in combination with click of the key resets this. Surely it's the same for the 9N3 also?

Try this (this is the method used on the 6N2):

OIL-Oil service

Press and hold button (A) (the button you press to reset your milage trip counter)
Switch ignition ON
Keep button (A) depressed until "---" appears in display
Release button (A)
Switch ignition OFF

INSP- Inspection service

Press and hold button (A)
Switch ignition ON
Keep button (A) depressed until "---" appears in display
Release button (A)
Switch ignition OFF
If required clear the "OIL" indicator from the display as previously described

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 8:06 pm
by ihpj
marc_vaf wrote:...I have had my car serviced last july at 5300 miles at VW and now its at 8k miles (dont do many miles since in town). A few weeks ago it came up on the dash that 7000 miles to service, as the more i drove its reduced 6900,6800...etc but turned on the ignition this morning and sounding an alarm with 'INSP' flashing as i was expecting this to go 0 then flash with INSP...
Just to offer another explanation on this...

Your car may, on account of you doing very little mileage, be on fixed servicing schedule (time and/or distance). Since your car was last serviced in July last year, it is now June and thus the counter has reached the 'time' limit for the next service. So it wont count down if the time limit has been reached.

Just my 2p worth!

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sat Jun 06, 2009 10:58 pm
by RITCHAT
Your car may, on account of you doing very little mileage, be on fixed servicing schedule (time and/or distance). Since your car was last serviced in July last year, it is now June and thus the counter has reached the 'time' limit for the next service. So it wont count down if the time limit has been reached.

this is the most probable cause for this howevr if you follow the instructions above you will be able to reset the indicator other than that get it serviced seeing as a year is nearly up and it will be due at least an oil change.

Re: Service Indicator

Posted: Sun Jun 07, 2009 6:09 pm
by Running Monkey
Thanks for all the responses. Yes, I think this is the answer ... and just to clarify, the way you reset the service indicator on a 9n Polo is to depress the trip reset button with the ignition off, keep pressed and turn ignition on then turn to the right. This is as per the service manual and has worked for my car.

RM