Oil and filter change

[mattylondon]

Is this relativity a straightforward DIY job to do on a driveway? I'm competent enough but time poor, so garage or DIY?

[daviesbike]

Garage really to do it properly ive just done 3 plus my own and i get the parts direct trade from zf genuine filters washers gaskets ect and ZF life guard 6

If you want me to do it for you drop me a pm it will be under £300 parts and labour

[mattylondon]

thanks for the reply. This question was related to an engine oil change, which I did successfully do myself a few weeks ago. It was a pretty easy task in the end. I used Edge 5-30 which was in previous. Best price I found was Euro Car parts about £65 for two 4 litre bottles.

I think doing the ZF gearbox oil change is beyond me. My '8 is 2004 and now at 85k miles, should it have a gearbox service?

[M-A8]

Yes Matt, ZF says to do the service after 100,000miles or 7 years of ownership.
I would strongly recommend my guys in Harrow, they are seriously best Indy in London. Audi VW Service Center in Harrow
http://audivwsc.co.uk/

[Conquistador]

A word of warning about Euro Car Parts lately.

I don't know if I've been very unlucky or their system has errors, but when I changed my oil and filter on my A8 before the Scotland meet last year, they sent the wrong filter. I used their number plate car finder to find the part. Luckily I found a small car shop locally which had the correct size.

2 or 3 weeks ago when I changed the oil on my BMW, again, I ordered an oil filter from ECP. I was at the most critical stage of putting the new oil filter in, when I noticed it was clearly was the wrong one. Had to borrow a friend's car and race to Halfords at 4:50pm on a Sunday afternoon to get the correct filter.

I emailed ECP to tell them this and their answer was, in future I should cross reference ALL parts from ECP with the vehicle's manufacturer before ordering!

[M-A8]

Hi Ollie
Well, even guy from my local ECP branch said to not order the stuff from web or even the phone strangely enough. Best way is to pop in to branch and talk to the guy over the counter, but not all guys over the counter are good, some are preeeetty useless.
Oil filter is especially tricky coz you just can't undo it, measure the size or whatever and put it back on......or can you

Not everyone prefer to service their car with garage, but I found life stressful enough and I just don't need that additional stress of wrong parts while having oil drained while all the shops are closed already.
I always go to my Indy guys, not only you get a stamp, but everything is there and parts are correct, plus car always gets a full and proper check coz they really do care a lot.
Yes, it costs more, but its only once a year.

You could alwasy check if your local TPS sells to public, but even they can get it wrong from time to time

[snapdragon]

ECP prices have gone up a lot since it got sold off to the US investment co. and their parts do need cross referencing. They gave me the incorrect glow plugs.
What is more, they charge even steeper prices in the shop compared to online or click and collect. It is cheaper to stand in the shop and order them on your mobile and then give the order reference. Their offers are also as fake as TESCOS.

[M-A8]

Can't remember now who recommended them to me some time ago, but I do like Mister Auto now, very good prices, often promo codes ( I got a set of front and read TRW pads delivered in two day for 83pounds) and they are good in my opinion, but they don't have branches so it's all online based

[Adrian E]

ecp are like my local bed retailer - there's always a 'sale' on althouhh the prices never seem to change. Occasionally there's a 'closing down sale' or in ECP language 'special promotional offer' that strangely enough isn't as good as the 25% off discount code they attempt to prevent you using most of the time now!

TPS offer me minimum 10% discount for genuine stuff so unless there's a high quality alternative I wont risk ECP

[gninnam]

For the beemer service I usec my local motor factors. The oil filter and spark plugs were a little cheaper than ECP, GSF etc.
They didnt have the plugs in but told me to come back at dinner. I did and the had them in

Oil was a little dearer but alk in all better than doing it on line and getting the wrong stuff.