Parts advice

QI intend to keep my car long-term. The 2019 Vauxhall Corsa 1.4 has been dealer serviced to this point in time and after the end of the warranty period I wish to carry-out servicing myself.

My question is, are the service intervals too far apart, ie. 20,000 miles or yearly as I want to prevent the onset of black death?

Having bought the oil filter, air filter and oil for the next service, the Bosch oil filter and Mann air filter were made in China – are these genuine parts or counterfeit? These parts were obtained from a well-known website.

A Reeve

AThe oil change interval given by the manufacturer is, as you say, 20,000 miles or twelve months. Whilst I would agree changing the oil annually is acceptable, I would rather change it at 12,000-mile intervals than 20,000-mile intervals. Even though modern oils are more robust than their earlier counterparts, they will still have to deal with contaminates that will degrade the oil.

20,000 miles per year would be above average for many motorists and if you are covering that type of mileage then I would certainly agree that

I would change the oil more frequently and would treat 12,000 miles as the maximum interval.

It is difficult to say if the parts you have purchased are genuine, but Bosch does have a manufacturing plant in China. You have not mentioned the website that you purchased the items from but if it is a major parts supplier then I would be quite happy.

If the parts are from the well-known online auction site, then it would depend on the actual seller of the parts. Whilst there are many genuine sellers, there are also some who do not fall into this category. Often what may look like a bargain could cost far more in the longterm and I would advise that parts are obtained from reputable UK sellers such as www.gsfcarparts.com

I would expect that if the filters were counterfeit, they would have been produced with authentic looking markings and the made in China markings may not be relevant.