Greasy bastards !

[Bill Bentley]

When you get your car serviced do you just go to the garage then pay the bill ?

Being tight, and a former Tankie, l tend to do the simple stuff myself. Oil change, no problem ... you think. It's a fucking science discovering the right oil for any engine these days !

Her Range Rover needs Castrol 0W-30, my Minibus needs 5W-30 my generator needs 10W-40 and l recently bought a mini digger, a cheap Chinese thing, they recommend 10W-30 better than grade C ! What the fuck is that ?

I'm there with the 10W (Winter) -30 maximum ambient temperature, although l could do with 10W-40 here, even if this is not recommended by the manufacturer ... but what is better than C ? It seems that in addition to the SAE and the API the EU have classifications ABC&E each with the suffix grades 1 to 5.

I seem to remember we ran Tanks, for years, on three grades of OMD.

ls this really a better world that we live in ?

Don't get me started on grades of grease ...
and all this stuff is highly toxic synthetic crap.
Don't get it on your hands, in your eyes, or scratch your arse with dirty fingers, you'll be dead in a week, though your piles may have schrivled away before you go !
And don't let the wild rabbits drink it or drip it on your spuds, you'll be dead before the pie comes out of the oven ... HELP !

Fucking Russians and Arabs don't frighten me any more, l'm scared shitless of what lands on the table these days ... and that's the home grown stuff !

[Pinky]

Howdy,
I remember buying engine oil in Hohne for my car, I just bought the cheapest - never did any harm! In Berlin we had civvy Shell for the tanks and because it was civvy Shell we put that in too.........never did any harm!! They don't make them like they used too! Challenger 1 gear box oil (OX165) and the oil for the Thermal Observation sight was carcinogenic (OX26) so we were pretty careful around that stuff.

Pinky

[Bill Bentley]

Parky Taylor used to fry chips in OX13, haven't heard from him for years
Comming off the tanks we used to bath in Swarfiga ... a green slimy gel to remove oil and grease. That vanished from the market, l wonder why .

l guess l'm a mug for actually reading the user handbook and trying to follow the instructions. Silly me

[Pinky]

Hi Bill,
Since I wised up I now read handbooks and use the correct oil!
Gotta get it right in our winter wonderland of a climate.........

PInky

[Bill Bentley]

Pinky,
l guess ones attention is more required when the vehicle costs a small fortune.

My first car, actually Jeff Ellison and l each chipped in 15 quid and bought it from Dave Whip for 30 quid. It was a 2¼ liter monster that got us from Tidworth to Manchester a couple of times before blowing up. It was rumoured that Dave had been using OMD 110 and sawdust to quieten the big ends knocking down before selling it to us.
We live and learn !

Having been a D&M & B1 Gunner l'm well aware of the need for specific oils for specific uses, but like everything else in this modern world things have gone insane !
So much so that those of us, once in the know, are now also in the dark.
And l thought it was just computers that were beyond my understanding.

Modern cars with their electric doors that also turn on the lights, inside and out, switch on the radio & satnav as well as the dashcam etc. etc. regularly have battery problems. So much so that the best option is to manually turn everything off ... so what is the point of all of this crap in the first place ?

These days a half decent car costs 50k and you'd be very lucky to get 10 years from it. Add to that the cost of servicing, tax, insurance and fuel and you are close to €1000 per month. Electric cars are even more expensive over 10 years, because they don't last that long !
Everything has built in obsolescence, planned self destruction ... is it any wonder that things are how they are ?

Honestly, it's difficult not to hate those that deliberately design and build such rubbish. We can only hope that they themselves get a pacemaker with a dicky battery ...

[john kerwin]

Anyone remember, Joe (Abdul) Fine. He used engine oil, from the tank park as sun cream ?. It worked, thats how he got the name abdul, he was black as the ace of spades. . benghazi did something to the brain
And I saw him a few years ago, It did him no harm. He looked good.

[Bill Bentley]

Hi John,
l remember the name Black Joe Fine, but can't put a face to the name. Glad to hear that he is looking well, but is he still black ? lf not then
Wacko Jacko should have tried that oil instead of bleech. What people do to themselves just to be fashionable ...

[Arnie]

Hi Yall,
I too remember my first car, it was a brand-new Fiat 600. Singe Powell organised, I think several people getting a Fiat of some sort from the local dealer in Benghazi. He had a Fiat 500, the Topolino (I think Italian for 'mighty mouse'). My first wife and I saw much of the North Coast of Libya in it. Petrol, compliments of, and syphoned from the vehicles in the tank park (tongue in cheek). Never had any bother with it till we were on our way to Tripoli for the last time. The vehicle was serviced before departure but although the Dealership assured me that it was 'good to go' he had no new air filters and none at all from any source in Benghazi. With his assurance, we set off.
Don't know if anyone did that journey by road but this particular time produced a disaster. At the halfway milestone I decided to celebrate by having a leak. When I was stopping the oil light came on. Gave it a few minutes before checking the dipstick. It registered about 1/8th of an inch. Panic set in as we were about 85km from Sirte, with absolutely nothing in between.
Apparently, at the Eastern end of the Gulf of Sirte a fierce wind comes in off the Med. It brings with it a large-grained white sand and forms what looks like at night snow-drifts across the road. My engine had been taking this in for some time and my piston rings were ruined and consequently, the engine was happily guzzling oil. What to do? The first and only vehicle coming down the road was a truck carrying explosives. In true Hollywood style I stood in the road and waved him down. He was a Greek guy and quite jolly. He gave me a 10-litre can of diesel oil. Needs must and we made it to Sirte. Had he only had margarine I would have used it. The car was a heavy smoker till I had the piston rings replaced after I had it flown back to the UK by the RAF, which cost 5 pounds.

Stay oily and happy.

[john kerwin]

Hi Bill. yep Joe is pale again. GTX don't seem to have the same effect in the tropics of Barrow