[david@a8parts]

Decided it was time to give the old girl a major service as she is coming up to 72k. Duly ordered all the necesary from TPS - oil, filters, spark plugs and I also decided to do a gearbox drain and replace the filter cartridge in there as well. Interestingly there is a lot of discussion about the right gearbox oil to use for the W12 as it is different from the other A8's - the right stuff is blue in colour and costs about 3 times as much as the usual 'gold' coloured oil. I also ordered some K+N air filters as they were just the same cost as the Audi Genuine ones, but sadly they didnt fit so I had to stick with genuine ones.

Starting at 8am Saturday morning the engine service went smootly. Fitting the spark plugs is a bit of a faff as you have to take off half of the inlet manifold to get at the plugs, but not as awkward as I thought. Engine service was done by about 11.

When I drained the oil from the gearbox it was very brown and smelled awful and certainly wasnt blue by any stretch of the imagination. Getting the sump off the gearbox was probably the hardest part as both sides of the exhaust had to come off - one side was easy as I had replaced that earlier this year but the nearside was in a poor state and the bolts had rounded off, additionally when I put any pressure on the flexy at all to move it it just fell off in my hand - not good!. Anyway, finally with the pan off the gearbox removing the old filter and its oil seal was dead easy, and the new one just slipped into place. There was very little swarf on the magnets so a quick clean and a new gasket and after much dripping and draining it went back together.

Thats about as far as I have got at the moment as I am waiting for the nearside exhaust section to be delivered from TPS (sadly on back order so who knows when.... ) as I cant re-oil the gearbox properly without starting the engine and I dont fancy standing next to the manifold down pipes while the whole thing comes up to temparature, I'd like to keep my hair for a few more years !

Once I get it back together and test drive it I will let you know if this fancy expensive blue fluid is worth it or not.....

I did also get around to fitting the carpeted spare wheel well liner (ooh, the luxury) - DAB and illuminated sills are still pending....