Suspension sinks on Sundays! C5 X7 that works hard + 206 GTi HDi (and 406 Coupe and 306 HDi). - MattBLancs

[MattBLancs]

20 l of adblue picked up from my local motor factors. £21.62. includes a spout but have to say looks pretty unwieldy to dispense with out chucking it everywhere!

As a comparison, just looking on Autodoc as have a voucher to spend.
They've got 20 litre Mannol brand Adblue currently up for £18.79

Hey, check out MANNOL Urea in the AUTODOC app https://m.autodoc.co.uk/mannol/16134013

Postage to factor in (unless over the threshold where it is free) but otherwise pretty cheap

[CitroJim]

I use a funnel to top up my AdBlue tank Matt... Those flexi spouts, I find, have a nasty habit of developing a devilish life of their own

[MattBLancs]

I use a funnel to top up my AdBlue tank Matt... Those flexi spouts, I find, have a nasty habit of developing a devilish life of their own

Oh yes, quite a few rude words were muttered when I had an initial go.

• spout's plastic stiff enough that having been set in a 180° bend for months, it's not keen on any other shape?
• Not very effective seal between tub and spout no matter how tight (or less tight) you try?
• No route for air to get in easily so a tendance to GLUG?
• Big unwieldy 20 litre tub to manhandle
• Filling point at low level on the boot floor

Fuming!

I've that 2 litre jug with a long spout, decant to there and rest of the job is easy

[CitroJim]

GLUG - what a perfectly lovely descriptive word

[Huskyxantia]

Mannol is pretty good gear , there oils are very nice i use it all the time now and to be honest the oil changes are as you would expect black but not as black as other brands I've used and no gritty feeling when you do the finger thumb rub too , as for price it's cheap enough for 2 changes a year.

[CitroJim]

Mannol is pretty good gear

I'm fan of it too... I bought some of their 10W40 in bulk for my AXs and it sems to be good. Also very well priced too.

[bobins]

........ the oil changes are as you would expect black but not as black as other brands I've used and no gritty feeling when you do the finger thumb rub too , as for price it's cheap enough for 2 changes a year.

Hmmmmm..... Now, is the 'not as black' thing good or bad ? Does it show that the oil doesn't have as much detergent in it and it's not as good at removing and holding contaminants as previous brands, or is it a good thing ? Discuss !
As for 'cheap enough for 2 changes....', well that is a good thing

[CitroJim]

........ the oil changes are as you would expect black but not as black as other brands I've used and no gritty feeling when you do the finger thumb rub too , as for price it's cheap enough for 2 changes a year.

Hmmmmm..... Now, is the 'not as black' thing good or bad ?

Good point...

I've noticed the Mannol I have in my most regularly used AX still looks very clean... On the other hand, the really good (pricey) oil I use in the Picasso goes pitch-black very quickly...

When I next do an oil change in the AX I'll look critically...

[mickthemaverick]

I've noticed the Mannol I have in my most regularly used AX still looks very clean... On the other hand, the really good (pricey) oil I use in the Picasso goes pitch-black very quickly...

I'm not sure that would be a valid comparison Jim, you'll be looking at diesel blow by versus petrol blow by?

[CitroJim]

I've noticed the Mannol I have in my most regularly used AX still looks very clean... On the other hand, the really good (pricey) oil I use in the Picasso goes pitch-black very quickly...

I'm not sure that would be a valid comparison Jim, you'll be looking at diesel blow by versus petrol blow by?

Indeed, diesels do blacken their oil very quickly after so agreed it's not a direct comparison. Although having said that and given my AX engines run very cleanly, the current oil has been in there almost a year now - I do annual changes due to low mileage - and it does look surprisingly clean on the dipstick. I'll get a better idea when I next change it.

That'll be fairly soon and it's such an easy job now I have my sump sucker

A DV6 diesel will blacken it even more quickly than most if it has an 'innie' sump plug as not all can be drained unless a sucker is used so the new oil will be immediately contaminated/coloured by what's left behind...

[CitroJim]

There is a very easy way to do a rough test of the detergent qualities of an oil: soak a bit of light-coloured cloth or towelling in very well-used engine oil. Let it sit for a while and then soak the cloth in the new, fresh clean oil you wish to test. The detergent in the new oil should lift a lot of the staining from the old oil and leave the cloth or towelling quite clean - albeit a bit oily... A side-by-side comparison test could be done.

I discovered this by accident after I spilt some fresh LT71141 ATF onto a very heavily oil-stained carpet tile on my workshop...

[Gibbo2286]

I recall when detergent oils first came on the market a lot of motorists regretted using it because it washed out all the sludge that was holding their clanky old motors together.
I used BP Visco-static for all my servicing for years, one neighbour had a new Austin A55 which I serviced from new, the 24.000 miles service was scheduled to have the sump removed an cleaned out, it was spotless inside, needed no cleaning just a wipe out with a clean cloth.

[mickthemaverick]

I have been running all my cars on Shell petrol and oils for longer than I can remember, before the Shell oils I used Castrol GTX or R in the competition cars but Shell took over when GTX became hard to find. Both my current cars have mild discolouration when oil change time comes around but they also run on Vpower for rubber protection reasons and it is reputed to clean the engine too!!

[Huskyxantia]

Knowing me its frequent changes thats why the oil looks pretty good still

[bobins]

When it comes to oils, I do prefer the well known brands and the correct spec. I do tend to keep an eye on special offers for oils and buy the right ones in and have them in stock on the shelf here. I look after 6 cars and a motorbike here so I've got quite a bit of oil on the shelf I figure that oils are (relatively) cheap, whilst engines are expensive