Disco 3 (LR3) Engine oil

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My issue with all this oil spec bollox is that if you have a second hand car with a good few thou on the clock, who knows what oil has been in it. Also if a garage services your car, I doubt very much that they refer to the car makers recommendations for each car they service. They will just stick in their cheap generic oil, albeit fully synthetic if you're lucky. Personally, I think people fret too much over what oil to use and often to change it. As long as it has got enough in and it doesn't stink of carbon, you're good to go. Only my opinion, you are of course free to waste as much money as you like.

Col
 
My issue with all this oil spec bollox is that if you have a second hand car with a good few thou on the clock, who knows what oil has been in it. Also if a garage services your car, I doubt very much that they refer to the car makers recommendations for each car they service. They will just stick in their cheap generic oil, albeit fully synthetic if you're lucky. Personally, I think people fret too much over what oil to use and often to change it. As long as it has got enough in and it doesn't stink of carbon, you're good to go. Only my opinion, you are of course free to waste as much money as you like.

Col
True I'm led to believe.
And my fiesta just gets whatever is in the garage at the time. All this 12 month stuff I dont get, I've always done mine every 6ish, a couple of weeks before I go on holiday in summer so I'm not doing 3k on old oil, then when I break up for Christmas so it's not going through winter on it either. I've also been buying it in France for just over 10 years because one of the supermarkets always has an offer on either elf or shell, where you get a 4 or 5 litre bottle plus a free 1 or 2 litre bottle for top ups. I always buy enough to see me through a year and 7 litres would just about do my old scenic for the year, it only had a capacity of about 3.5 litres. Even a 5+2 is cheaper than buying it here. Now my CRV is out of warranty and not receiving Honda servicing it too will be getting a half-way change on the driveway.
 
My issue with all this oil spec bollox is that if you have a second hand car with a good few thou on the clock, who knows what oil has been in it. Also if a garage services your car, I doubt very much that they refer to the car makers recommendations for each car they service. They will just stick in their cheap generic oil, albeit fully synthetic if you're lucky. Personally, I think people fret too much over what oil to use and often to change it. As long as it has got enough in and it doesn't stink of carbon, you're good to go. Only my opinion, you are of course free to waste as much money as you like.

Col


I would bet most garages actually have the correct spec oil because if using the wrong stuff and the engine went tits up and owner got oil analysed then they are going to come after the garage for money, plus its the car owner thats paying for the oil so the garage wont care what it costs.

Just recently read a story where a guy was talking to a garage owner on how many different spec oils he kept on the shelf for servicing, he checked and there were 27 different types.

Old adage goes, oil cheap engines expensive and nowadays it should be oil expensive engines bank breaking:D
 
My issue with all this oil spec bollox is that if you have a second hand car with a good few thou on the clock, who knows what oil has been in it. Also if a garage services your car, I doubt very much that they refer to the car makers recommendations for each car they service. They will just stick in their cheap generic oil, albeit fully synthetic if you're lucky. Personally, I think people fret too much over what oil to use and often to change it. As long as it has got enough in and it doesn't stink of carbon, you're good to go. Only my opinion, you are of course free to waste as much money as you like.

Col

from what i’ve been reading on spec i think it’s very important on modern engines , alas thinking why would they specify them if they weren’t important

know u was just talking about engines , but ref , gearbox, if the put the wrong oil into these ZF automatic gearboxes it’s goodnight

alas i’ve only covered a few thousand miles but the way i look at it would rather spend £100 on all the oils and filters, instead , of trying to find 5k for a new engine or 2k for another gearbox
 
from what i’ve been reading on spec i think it’s very important on modern engines , alas thinking why would they specify them if they weren’t important

know u was just talking about engines , but ref , gearbox, if the put the wrong oil into these ZF automatic gearboxes it’s goodnight

alas i’ve only covered a few thousand miles but the way i look at it would rather spend £100 on all the oils and filters, instead , of trying to find 5k for a new engine or 2k for another gearbox


I would cry if it cost me 100 quid for an oil change.
Cant be 50 quid tops for oil and the genuine oil filter?
 
Apart from a few years driving company cars, I've had old, high mileage cars all my motoring life. I've never worried about what oil goes in and often don't change it until it's about 20,000 old. Never had an engine go bang, had quite a few that rusted to pieces though and ended up in the scrap yard. I know modern engines need better lube but I think manufacturers are paid by oil companies to promote their stuff and that s the only reason they specify it.

Col
 
I would cry if it cost me 100 quid for an oil change.
Cant be 50 quid tops for oil and the genuine oil filter?

aplogises , that’s for everything , inc transfer, gearbox, axle , engine and genuine engine oil filter

but believe the gearbox only needs the oil changing every 50,000 miles ??

wont bother doing the gearbox pan and filter as from what i’ve read the filters come out virtually spotless when they’ve been removed and cut open

fuel filter was done last year and see that needs changing every 2 x years

so next year i won’t have to do everything again
 
Apart from a few years driving company cars, I've had old, high mileage cars all my motoring life. I've never worried about what oil goes in and often don't change it until it's about 20,000 old. Never had an engine go bang, had quite a few that rusted to pieces though and ended up in the scrap yard. I know modern engines need better lube but I think manufacturers are paid by oil companies to promote their stuff and that s the only reason they specify it.

Col

indeed maybe they do, but unfortunately i haven’t got the luxury of taking a gamble , lol
 
I had a friend who worked in the testing lab of one of the big oil companies, I can't remember which one. His job was to test the engine oil from cars whose engines had prematurely failed. The car manufacturer or warranty company mostly sent the oil samples for testing. He reckoned that in every case he looked at, all the failures were due to the failure of an internal engine component or severe oil contamination usually by coolant. By analysing the oil sample in a mass spectrometer he could tell how many miles the oil had covered. The age of the oil in terms of its mileage had no difference on the rate of component failure. If changing your oil every 6k and using the manufacturers recommended brand gives you piece of mind then fair enough but you'll not convince me that it is the economical thing to do.

Col
 
aplogises , that’s for everything , inc transfer, gearbox, axle , engine and genuine engine oil filter

but believe the gearbox only needs the oil changing every 50,000 miles ??

wont bother doing the gearbox pan and filter as from what i’ve read the filters come out virtually spotless when they’ve been removed and cut open

fuel filter was done last year and see that needs changing every 2 x years

so next year i won’t have to do everything again

In that case 100 quid isnt enough
Gbox oil 50 quid if just doing a straight drop and refill
diff oil 20 quid
tfer box oil 56 quid
engine oil 35 quid
oil filter 15 quid
fuel filter 25 quid
air filter 10 quid
pollen filter 10 quid
sump plug 3 quid
 
One of the things I do for my living is oil and filter changes lot of them!
I can say hand on heart truck oils at 60k on Euro6 engines are still good for more, but 100k and the filter starts to suck in showing how much muck is in the oil itself
Euro4 which is 2006 and Euro 5 which is 2008 onwards at 45k the filter has just about had enough, obviously these are also high mileage machines.

So yes old dogs will run on any old carp but they still need oils changes much more frequently than the newer stuff.

My 2x200tdi run on 20/50 in a big tub, spec I never even checked as its not that kind of engine.
My D3 runs on exactly the right spec or better oil every 5k, they can be delicate and almost impossible to recondition, in the last year or so parts are only now just becoming available.

Also dont forget some of the fords now have their cambelt running in the engine oil itself and some are 5/20 or even 0/20 oils.
 
In that case 100 quid isnt enough
Gbox oil 50 quid if just doing a straight drop and refill
diff oil 20 quid
tfer box oil 56 quid
engine oil 35 quid
oil filter 15 quid
fuel filter 25 quid
air filter 10 quid
pollen filter 10 quid
sump plug 3 quid

will quickly add a A & B Service up but know ur right ;);):D:D
 
@lynall


Gbox oil 50 quid if just doing a straight drop and refill. mannol 8 x litres £45

diff oil 20 quid. ravenol £28

tfer box oil 56 quid. ravenol £36

engine oil 35 quid. mannol £42

oil filter 15 quid. genuine 12.26

fuel filter 25 quid. Delphi £35.10

air filter 10 quid. mahle £8.33

pollen filter 10 quid. denso £11.52

sump plug 3 quid. £1.74

just goes to prove how skilled u are in pricing things up :D:D

just worked it all out

£140 excluding the gearbox oil and fuel filter ,

gearbox oil and fuel filter £80

total £220 , still worth every penny :):)[/QUOTE]
 
I would go for genuine tfer box oil, its only every 100 odd k so why chance it?
Dont forget theres some sort of electric locking/slipping/power transferring diff in there.
 
I would go for genuine tfer box oil, its only every 100 odd k so why chance it?
Dont forget theres some sort of electric locking/slipping/power transferring diff in there.

many thks, reminds me i must find a service schedule sheet

see it always pays off the shop around , i think actually flack put the same diff 75-90 in the transfer box

thks for the heads up and will get the genuine transfer oil,

nearly forgot how’s the adaptive software now in ur box please , assume it’s better to add that when i’ve replaced oils in gearbox and transfer together

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When I changed the oil the first time I reset the values and it drove terrible for a few days/miles then calmed down, when I did the Filo flush I reset the values again plus uploaded the California shunt software from Gap and its been good so far, the odd time I feel a slight clunk, but before it was every time I rolled of and on the throttle
So its not perfect but Im happy with it and Im sure most people wouldnt even know its not quiet right
 
When I changed the oil the first time I reset the values and it drove terrible for a few days/miles then calmed down, when I did the Filo flush I reset the values again plus uploaded the California shunt software from Gap and its been good so far, the odd time I feel a slight clunk, but before it was every time I rolled of and on the throttle
So its not perfect but Im happy with it and Im sure most people wouldnt even know its not quiet right

ah that’s good to know and many thks about when it should be done

alas i’ve left mine alone and indeed is annoying as i take my foot off and back on again, got useto it if i’m honest but will indeed get the update flash from Pat

still find it fascinating how software takes that california stop out and imagine its even nicer to to drive and more silky smooth

did read somewhere that some try and reteach the computer a new adaptive setting s, going back forth, speed, slot etc etc , it hen only lasts 500 x miles

was also taking to the tyre guy today about low profiles on D3 , inc how rough they must ride

inc the fatal mistake where someone tries and fits range rover sport tyres on to D3 s, the realising they won’t take the weight ;):rolleyes:
 
I hate low profile tyres with a passion, follow most modern cars wearing low profile tyres and they play dodgems with the pot holes and they do that because they must have all bust a wheel/spring in the past.

Wifes Audi A6 is like riding in a go kart and it weighs 2.3 tons, crash bang wollop and she reckons it rides nice!
 
Sounds like my Dagenham dustbin, good fun on smooth country roads but awful around town, dodging every manhole cover. Tyres are 205 40 17. I miss my disco.
 
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