Keep car serviced at Caterham or not?

[Se7enBTCC]

Evening all,

My 420R is approaching its first birthday, any thoughts on whether I should keep its annual service at Caterham purely to maintain a full Caterham service history, does it make any difference to resale values? the cheaper alternative being do it myself.

Thanks, Paul

[SM25T]

You will get a thorough job and learn more by doing it yourself. Save a lot of money too

[Geoff Brown]

Do it yourself it is not difficult. If you have tools & are reasonably spanner confident. Retaining all receipts for service items with date & mileage is as good as a CC stamp in the book which for a service from them is probably £200+ for just oils & a filter. That may be an underestimate having never had any of my Sevens serviced 'professionally'.  

https://www.lotus7.club/guides/technical-information/caterham-service-schedule-duratec-specific

The first service is straight forward - Engine oil/filter (don't forget the finger scavenge filter if a dry sump), G Box/Diff oils, primary nut & bolt check. A good look round. Of importance is to strip down & lubricate the front hub bearings as there is a history of front hubs, whether home or factory built, being poorly lubricated on pre assembly.    https://www.lotus7.club/guides/maintenance/front-hub-lack-lubrication

Note: Several members in my area had their cars 'professionally' serviced which included CC & when I taught them how to DIY you would be surprised the number of 'missed' items. The often repeated one is finding less than 1L of oil in the gearbox. With no leaks!

PM me if you want more info or just ask here!

[bjw]

Hi Geoff,

In your technical guide I was surprised by mention of a shim between the inner bearing and the upright. I don't have them in my '98 Caterham, nor had I ever seen one in any Triumph based setup I've come across.

So, had a look on CC parts and it seems it's only present in the later assembly from 2003 onward. I wonder if it might be worth adding a note to that effect in your guide to avoid any confusion to those of us with older cars?

Cheers
Barry

[Alastair B]

I read the guide for cars built 2003 onwards so that appears to cover your observation

[bjw]

Apologies - I skimmed and missed that !

Cheers

[Se7enBTCC]

Thanks all, I think I'll give it a go myself, I once topped up the washer fluid so I think I'll be fine!

[DougBaker]

I would not be confident on track with my car if I was the one doing the servicing.

If Caterham are near you then use them, I used to in the past. If not there are other specialists dotted around the country who can do the work to high standard.

[Se7enBTCC]

Agreed, I'm getting it in to my local specialist. What was I thinking. Although he's just said getting any parts is impossible.

[Drumster]

When I first had my 7, purchased 2nd hand, I knew nothing about cars and was frightened of touching anything, but with the help of friends/club members I began to learn and do little bits myself. It is all pretty simple and just needs confidence which you will gain over time. Sadly getting friends round at the moment is not possible, but then again Caterham, I think, are closed.

I'm now happy to carry out my own service and 'sprint' the car. 

The best learning bit for me was completely rebuilding the 7, with the help of friends, as that taught me an awful lot.

[DJ.]

I'm happy to take my self serviced Seven on track. After all if it isn't safe, it is me and my family who will be in danger, I am much more motivated to keep it safe than any other mechanic. I also take it to an excellent garage for the MOT, the lady there is very thorough, between us it gets a good check every spring

[DougBaker]

No matter how motivated I am to keep my Seven safe I still know less about servicing cars than the least experienced mechanic at Caterham.

Know your own limits, sometimes it is sensible to pay people to do a job they are trained for. There are jobs I do myself on the car, but I still like to know someone who knows what they are doing has looked at the car before I drive it on track.

[ScottR400D]

It’s all about competence. If you’re incompetent you shouldn’t do it. 

I have no reservations about doing everything myself, I built the car, it’s not particularly complex and certainly in terms of routine servicing and maintenance it’s actually very simple. 

Doing it yourself, certainly in my case, means the car gets more care and attention than it would using CC or any other garage too, which is essential if you’re doing track days and I doubt it would affect the value other than positively, as long as evidence of the work being done properly is available.

 

 

 

 

 

[DougBaker]

Absolutely agree, if you know what you are doing and have the time then there is no problem. But I still think when it comes to second hand values a book full of stamps will be better. After all we all know confident people who really don't know what they are doing 

Anyhow now I am going back to sand down the Seven logo on the grill as I do feel qualified to paint that 

[Geoff Brown]

The title of my guide does date 2003> front stub axles but there is a common thread that can be utilised for <2003 'Triumph' stepped stub axles. In fact this type requires TLC as much as the new axle as due to the assymetric size of the bearings a lack of lub will cause the smaller inner bearing to become stressed with dire consequences. No worries!

It is all a matter of confidence in yourself & abilities. If you cannot put a Rawplug in a wall or ensure the shelf to go on it is plumb or identify the correct end of a hammer to use then DO NOT SERVICE YOUR OWN CAR.

Most service functions are straight forward & in some instances messy with very little intervention - just drain plugs but I suppose even that could be a c*ck up for some.

Saying that I have taught an IT specialist & a Solicitor to service their cars with no 'fallout'.  So with time & care any one can do it.........says a retired aircraft engineer of 40 odd years!!!!

[bjw]

 Yes, sorry Geoff, Alastair B put me straight on that but I still think a simple note might be useful, e.g. something like:-

"Note: On pre 2003 hubs there is a protective dust cap which must be removed to access the hub nut, and no shim behind the inner bearing. Otherwise the procedure is very similar."

As an aside, I personally like to rotate the wheel while applying the settling torque. It seems to give a better feel of what's happening. Others may not agree.

By coincidence I've only recently replaced my front bearings. The previous 'repairer' had tightened the hub nuts far too much - and left them like that. They were tight enough that it was awkward to release them with the assembly off the car an on the bench, holding it with one hand and the spanner in the other. The hubs were also packed solid with grease. I expect you can guess what the bearing rollers and tracks looked like...

Of course the person who did this probably imagined themselves to be supremely competent!

As they say:-

Cheers!

 

[Geoff Brown]

bjw - amendments in progress.

Good to have input as although I try I am not perfect....yet 

[DougBaker]

If you can't fix it, you don't own it.

I can fix anything I have a credit card 

[bjw]

>amendments in progress.>

Cheers