Originally Posted By: dparm
The old-school way of thinking that German cars will breakdown if you don't let the dealer do the work is totally false. The dealers love scaring you into thinking it's true, however. While some aspects of the cars are more complex, they are not hard to work on at all and rarely need some bizarre technique or procedure. I always did my own maintenance on my Audis and they ran without complaint. I've taken the same approach on my BMW.
Basic stuff like fluid changes, brakes, belts, etc. are no different than any other car.
Honestly, people who think German cars must go to the dealer are misinformed. I would encourage them to look at a service manual and you will see that there is nothing weird about 95% of the work.
That's funny, when I bought my TDi the word was to NEVER go to the dealer, or the work would be done wrong. I found that out quickly, when I wanted to buy a single quart of oil, "just in case" it used some. They were content to sell me the wrong one (that whole 505.00 vs 505.01 debacle--I wanted 505.01, and at the time it was required). Later on I had EGR repair at a different dealer, and the first time it lasted one month before the intake manifold fell off. The second time made it a year, then when a good independent repaired it he showed me the hack job that was done.
Looking at a Bentley about half the bolts indicate they are one-time use fasteners. Less than half appear to be stretch though. But some of the critical ones (engine mount, which is touched on every timing belt job) certainly are. And a number of people have had serious damage result from bolt reuse.