Gave my car its first service at the weekend.

A couple of gumption traps - first was the retaining bar for the undertray - the bolts at one side were so badly rusted up that they chewed up a heavy duty socket when I used a breaker bar. And this from a car with main dealer history. I couldn't get the car jacked up high enough to get a lump hammer and impact screwdriver in the bolts. Anybody any ideas how to solve this short of using a hoist?

With the bolts off one side it is possible to break off a couple of clips connecting the undertray to the bar and slide out to the side a bit. Suffice to say when I eventually managed to get the undertray out the oil was like treacle.

Second bit of joy was somebody, somewhere had 'borrowed' my 36mm socket which made replacing the oil filter slow going. I think I'm going to have to change the lock combination on the workshop door.

Apart from that the service was plain sailing. Next stop new discs and pads.

 

I had the same problem with my bar, I took it to a friend who works In a tyre bay and cheekily used his lift even then I must of used a can of wd 40 before it would come off with an impact driver, but at least it allowed me to stand under the vehicle whilst working

 

Don't worry too much about the dirty oil. We had a car when I was at work which had not had an oil or filter change in nearly 100,000 miles. Topped up yes but never changed. Oil was just a blob on the end of the dipstick. Good service and flush and it ran like a bird.
Rep had had his wife's car serviced on the firms bill instead of his company car for years.