simon said:
I'm told 'part of the N010 service message service action was to replace oil & filter if the IPK said oil service after completing the initial software update'.
So it looks like the engine management tests the oil again and it isn't reset blindly. If the DS subsequently shows oil service after the software update of N010 then LR replace oil and filter under warranty.
Almost right, but it doesn't "test" the oil. In fact, to repeat a point made several times, at no point is the oil ever analysed by the car. What it does when installed is to access the stored information on the regen cycles performed from day 1 and run the algorithm for the first time to bring the diesel dilution estimate up to date (based on a sample of 1, the estimate is slightly conservative). Then, if the threshold is crossed (not sure of the actual value for the 2.0 litre Ingenium but somewhere between 6.1% and 7.0%), the Service Warning light indicates that the car is overdue for a service. Actually it's not asking for a service as such, i.e. as OSH knows it, but just an interim oil change. Now, until another campaign is completed (July for Range Rover, RR Sport and All-new Discovery, "mid-August" for us mere mortals with 16MY/17MY 2.0 Disco Sport & Evoque), our PCM software can't manage the job of just resetting the dilution counter so currently, after the oil change, all the counters have to be reset en masse (like mine) and we'll be told to ignore the miles and days to run and to come back again either at 21K/2 years or if the light illuminates again before then. In the latter case there is then going to be an issue because some will qualify for a second, and possibly tertiary, complimentary service but others will be told they have to pay the second time (exceptionally even the first) because their mileage is close to 21K. Or click off one of your 2 free services if you are on the 5 year plan. After this further software update, the dealers will be able to perform the oil change and reset the dilution counter without interfering with the 21K/2 year counters. Then a new can of worms will open up because, as it stands, OSH can only record 21K/42K services so it, too, needs an update - otherwise none of these additional oil changes can ever be properly recorded electronically. Next, no dealer I've spoken to has been prepared to talk about "parting out" the oil change part of a service. So, assuming you get to a point where the flow chart precludes you from having a free oil change for one reason or another when the car demands one, as it stands you'll either have to go 3rd party, DIY, or lay out anything up to £550 just to get the oil changed at a main dealer. If they pay, by the way, it isn't "under warranty", the lawyers presumably having told them that that word would imply acceptance of liability, so instead they'll call it a "goodwill contribution" to the cost of the work. When you see in writing that thay propose to make a contribution of 100% "towards" the work, you really have to scratch your head and wonder...
And even after all this hoo-ha, remember that the car isn't going to be asking for the oil change until the dilution level has reached a level that triggers the service warning. But if my vehicle is anything to go by (there is one more oil analysis post recorded on the Evoque web site that corroborates my lab findings but I do hope there will soon be some others) the tell-tale signature of high levels of wear metals showing up prematurely in the oil at much lower dilution levels than 6.1% indicates that the Warning light threshold is set way too high. This starts to look as if it's all about money, as usual, and I'm determined it isn't going to be mine.
