What did you do today?

[PhilA]

Nope, old 45's play just fine on this too.

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But, you know me. I had forgotten to test one part of this when I fixed it years ago.
So, out came the squiggly-amps and they were wired into the back of the machine and...

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...presto! One little red light illuminated.

The quad system for decoding CD-4 records works. Bought myself a copy of The Doors hits and when the new stylus turns up we can see if it'll play the fancy record or not.

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If not, I'll just go back to playing those 45's.

Phill

[paulplom]

Service kit arrived for the van today. All done in twenty minutes including tidying up. Everything is really easy and accessible. Sump plug was a 13mm socket and must have been tightened with an ugga dugga. I thought I was going to strip the threads. The oil filter was really tight too.
Oh, and I never fail to get up to the tits.

[paulplom]

There was the diesel filter supplied too but I've only recently dobe that so I'll save it for next time.

[Split_Pin]

I'm just nae sure about Mannol.

I've been using it in all my cars for a few years now, I know its made in Lithuania by a German company but it has to be cheap for a reason surely?

I filled the A8 with it when I changed the oil a few days ago, but I'm dropping it out again over the weekend in favour of some Fuchs. It can stay in the other cars though.

[paulplom]

Well that's filled me with confidence.

[DodgeRover]

Been using it a few years, seems like oil

[panhard65]

Nowt wrong with Mannol, oil is oil it all has to be made to spec. The expensive stuff isn't really any better and if you change it regular there is no need for anything fancy.

[SiC]

I'm just nae sure about Mannol.

I've been using it in all my cars for a few years now, I know its made in Lithuania by a German company but it has to be cheap for a reason surely?

I filled the A8 with it when I changed the oil a few days ago, but I'm dropping it out again over the weekend in favour of some Fuchs. It can stay in the other cars though.

Flipside, other oils are just extremely overpriced?

I've put Mannol in pretty much all my vehicles except my Civic. Civic gets genuine Honda oil and filter because it should get slightly better fuel economy which is good considering we usually do 15k per annum in it. It's also (depressingly) the most I've ever spent on a car.

So that ranges from turbo cars like the TT 1.8t (which gets very hot) to my Boxster (expensive engine with potential bearing issues) and from my E320 with it's massive sump to my Smart Roadster with it's tiny sump and highly stressed engine. Never ever had any issues with it.

I presume it's cheap as they aren't heavily marketing the oil unlike for example Mobil1/Petronas/etc who sponsor F1, Castrol advertising everywhere, etc. Also they make the oils to manufacturer specs but don't pay for the magic badge to say they're approved by those manufacturers.

Tbh if I was going to change your A8 oil to anything, I'd choose VAG Quantum own brand to have exactly the correct spec oil by the manufacturer.

[Drum]

I took a trailer load of scrap to Scrappy Urquhart in Forfar.

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360kg of 'mixed farm scrap' @ £170/tonne, 3 batteries and an alternator giving me the grand sum of £77.40

The main part of that 360kg was a Rayburn stove. He said I'd get more for the half dozen brake discs but I couldn't be arsed separating it.

Then when I got home I decided to refurb the £60 trailer I bought last year.

It's a right mongrel of a thing with random box section welded here and there, but the most bizarre part are the two different types of suspension.

Rear wheels pivot laterally while the fronts pivot longitudinally.

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[Split_Pin]

I'm just nae sure about Mannol.

I've been using it in all my cars for a few years now, I know its made in Lithuania by a German company but it has to be cheap for a reason surely?

I filled the A8 with it when I changed the oil a few days ago, but I'm dropping it out again over the weekend in favour of some Fuchs. It can stay in the other cars though.

Flipside, other oils are just extremely overpriced?

I've put Mannol in pretty much all my vehicles except my Civic. Civic gets genuine Honda oil and filter because it should get slightly better fuel economy which is good considering we usually do 15k per annum in it. It's also (depressingly) the most I've ever spent on a car.

So that ranges from turbo cars like the TT 1.8t (which gets very hot) to my Boxster (expensive engine with potential bearing issues) and from my E320 with it's massive sump to my Smart Roadster with it's tiny sump and highly stressed engine. Never ever had any issues with it.

I presume it's cheap as they aren't heavily marketing the oil unlike for example Mobil1/Petronas/etc who sponsor F1, Castrol advertising everywhere, etc. Also they make the oils to manufacturer specs but don't pay for the magic badge to say they're approved by those manufacturers.

Tbh if I was going to change your A8 oil to anything, I'd choose VAG Quantum own brand to have exactly the correct spec oil by the manufacturer.

I was given some of that Quantam Cube when I got my TT but its just a bit too dear for me to justify.

I did some digging and it looks as though the recommended C3 and 504/507 is low ash content and required for DPF fitted cars. Otherwise it seems that any A B3/4 5w30 will do which is OK for mine as it has no DPF.

I have read an equal number of good and bad stories about Mannol but I don't know if some of the bad ("my BMW timing chain is now rattling after using Mannol") are bullshit and their engine had pre-existing problems. But when I searched for Fuchs, there were no bad stories. It seems to be the preferred oil for Clio Sport owners, or it was when I had mine anyway.

My main concern is I don't want to fuck up the timing chain set up as its at the back of the engine and would be curtains if a poor quality oil caused it to degrade. Whereas on a conventional engine, a chain swap doesn't necessarily mean the end. It is perfectly quiet at the moment though.

Or maybe I should just stop Googling stuff!