DFB's Garage

Post service sanity wash for the XR6 this morning.

This time, I washed the wheels and paint with the remainder of a bottle of Gtechniq G-Wash. Despite a lovely scent and decent slickness, I never really loved this soap.



Drying Aid was Meguiar's Last Touch, the wheels wiped down with NV Boost v1 and the tyres dressed with Auto Finesse Satin, the only product from the brand that I ever liked. Glass was cleaned with Invisible Glass, the interior wiped over with ONR.

I then retuned the XR6 to storage for a while. Next week, its the Mustang's turn for a service.

And then, onto one of my favorite things to do, filling up spray bottles.

 
Klasse Act said:
https://youtu.be/-1QWQA3Egh4?si=UxlX98t-mf26dXN2

Deyon...BREAKING NEWS!

I FOUND THE S550 replacement!

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The new Vantage looks so much better than the previous model, never really fell for that like I have with previous Aston's.

Old -






New -





I know this is going to come across as deranged, but I really don't love that AMG engine. Aston Martin have done well to make it sound acceptable, but that engine sounds so muffled and synthesized. In fact, I hate turbo V8's in general, they lack the pure tone a naturally aspirated or supercharged V8 possesses. What's even more disappointing, AMG used to make such wonderful sounding V8's. Both of the below do nothing for me.



I think this is why I'm still holding out for another Mustang. It's funny, Ford have kept the Coyote naturally aspirated to save cost developing and manufacturing a twin turbo V8, but its actually a blessing. I love how it sounds and how you have to work it to get the performance, revving out a Coyote is very addictive. If you told me a decade ago Ford would be making a naturally aspirated V8 that revved to 7,500 rpm and made 500 hp, I would have called you crazy. And yet, here we are.


 
The previous Vantage has its grill so low that it looks like a vacuum cleaner

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Klasse Act said:
The previous Vantage has its grill so low that it looks like a vacuum cleaner

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That's putting it very politely. :laughing:
 
My Spec -

Ion Blue
Carbon Lower Package
Body Color Roof
Bright Finish Grill
21" Y-Spoke Forged Wheel
Red Tail Lights
Red Painted Brake Calipers with Carbon Disks


Inspire Light Duotone Interior Scheme
Onyx Black Primary Color
Spicy Red Accent Color
Spicy Red Stitching
Sports Plus Seats
Black Carpet and Seat Belts
Satin Silver and Satin Carbon trims













 
BRG w/red interior, bronze wheels just like in the video

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Ready for it's last service in my care.................



The engine enjoyed sucking in some chilly 17-degree air too! With short gearing and rev happy nature, the engine winds out so quickly. It's such a shame the rev limiter on these gen-2 Coyote's is set at 6800 rpm, it's all too easy to kiss the limiter by accident. Gen-3 and 4 Coyote's rev out to 7500 rpm, which helps make use of the engine's big lungs and inherent appetite for revs.
 
So..... You've had an update on your Mustang order, or are you going a different route?

Or are you going to keep us all in suspense? Which is probably what I'd be doing, I've bought cars in the past without even telling my family, they just wonder why there's a different car in the driveway.

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Big Dave said:
So..... You've had an update on your Mustang order, or are you going a different route?

Or are you going to keep us all in suspense? Which is probably what I'd be doing, I've bought cars in the past without even telling my family, they just wonder why there's a different car in the driveway.

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Ha ha, update on my Mustang order? I've given up waiting for and pursuing updates. So, no suspense, just making the assumption that I would have the new car before its time to service the current one next year. But then again, I assumed that I wouldn't need to service this car again, the new car was due November last year, then Jan-Feb this year, then April this year, apparently its now Aug this year?

This video sums up the situation.....................

 
DFB said:
Ha ha, update on my Mustang order? I've given up waiting for and pursuing updates. So, no suspense, just making the assumption that I would have the new car before its time to service the current one next year. But then again, I assumed that I wouldn't need to service this car again, the new car was due November last year, then Jan-Feb this year, then April this year, apparently its now Aug this year?

This video sums up the situation.....................

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Fair enough, I'm guessing there's a lot of frustration with Ford Australia in the Mustang community at the moment.

I did play the video, even though I knew what it was going to be, the dogs looked up, wondering where the cricket was.

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Big Dave said:
Fair enough, I'm guessing there's a lot of frustration with Ford Australia in the Mustang community at the moment.

I did play the video, even though I knew what it was going to be, the dogs looked up, wondering where the cricket was.

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I'm at the point where the whole thing has me quite depressed, it's now something I'm dreading rather than looking forward to.
 
Service day for the Mustang....................







With only 10,559 km on the clock, it was given the 120,000 km / 96-month service...............again. With greasy fingerprints all over the car :cry:, and $540 later, it's good for another 12 months of sitting in the garage. :doh:

They did have the car on display in the service reception, which was a nice touch, nor did they wash it! :dblthumb2: But, I had to go back in to have the book stamped because the service tech apparently couldn't find it. :dunno:

I have a habit of removing the service book from the glovebox and leaving it on the passenger seat...............you know, so they don't forget. I do this for Mustang especially as the service books are hidden in a special compartment of the glovebox, which considering this is a country dealer, they mostly service Ranger's and could be forgiven not knowing where to look.









The service tech told me that he couldn't find it, that he "looked everywhere" for it. I then pointed to the books in their black Ford branded cover sitting on the passenger seat and mentioned that I put them there because they are usually hidden in the above compartment. Let's just hope that's the only thing he didn't pay attention to.

Other than the page long list of "checks" that they carry out, the only physical thing they did was change the oil and oil filter, install a new pollen filter and road test. I'm at the point where I'm now seriously considering doing my own oil changes, I just don't like the prospect of laying on my back. Even though I would still need to get under the car to change the filter, are pneumatic oil extractors effective?
 
DFB said:
Other than the page long list of "checks" that they carry out, the only physical thing they did was change the oil and oil filter, install a new pollen filter and road test.
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Emphasis on the quotation marks around "checks" - depending on the tech you're lucky if they do much more than change the oil. As a former dealer tech, I've seen some things...

DFB said:
I'm at the point where I'm now seriously considering doing my own oil changes, I just don't like the prospect of laying on my back. Even though I would still need to get under the car to change the filter, are pneumatic oil extractors effective?
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Effective enough that it's been official Audi repair procedure to use them for oil changes since around 2010. I ran my last car from 102,000 miles to 299,500 and only dropped the drain plug a couple times. Make sure the engine's up to temp, it makes for a much more effective extraction. Also, since your filter's not top side, do your filter change first so that circuit drains back into the pan.

One suggestion I would make would be to see if you can find a picture of one of those engines to make sure the dipstick tube drops into the oil pan in a way where it could pull it all out. First change you do see how the volume extracted compares to capacity.

I would also thing an extractor would be sweet for all your small engine work you do - no more tipping engines on their side to drain unless you want to. Much tidier than dealing with open drain pans.

At work we have a Mityvac that works off compressed air - it's loud. For doing them at home I got the Mityvac version with the ol TNT style pump handle. Super quiet, and honestly works just as well. A little tricky to keep pumping while you move the straw around making sure you got the last of it, but not bad.
Another tip I'd offer - since the extraction hose is just plastic, with the hot oil it just wants to relax back into a circle. After extracting the oil, I flex and hold the hose perfectly straight before spraying brake cleaner in to flush it out. That dose of aerosol basically flash freezes it in a straight line again. If you leave it curved, sometimes you have to fight it wanting to curl back up when it hits the bottom of the oil pan, raising itself out of the oil you're trying to extract.
 
oneheadlite said:
Emphasis on the quotation marks around "checks" - depending on the tech you're lucky if they do much more than change the oil. As a former dealer tech, I've seen some things...



Effective enough that it's been official Audi repair procedure to use them for oil changes since around 2010. I ran my last car from 102,000 miles to 299,500 and only dropped the drain plug a couple times. Make sure the engine's up to temp, it makes for a much more effective extraction. Also, since your filter's not top side, do your filter change first so that circuit drains back into the pan.

One suggestion I would make would be to see if you can find a picture of one of those engines to make sure the dipstick tube drops into the oil pan in a way where it could pull it all out. First change you do see how the volume extracted compares to capacity.

I would also thing an extractor would be sweet for all your small engine work you do - no more tipping engines on their side to drain unless you want to. Much tidier than dealing with open drain pans.

At work we have a Mityvac that works off compressed air - it's loud. For doing them at home I got the Mityvac version with the ol TNT style pump handle. Super quiet, and honestly works just as well. A little tricky to keep pumping while you move the straw around making sure you got the last of it, but not bad.
Another tip I'd offer - since the extraction hose is just plastic, with the hot oil it just wants to relax back into a circle. After extracting the oil, I flex and hold the hose perfectly straight before spraying brake cleaner in to flush it out. That dose of aerosol basically flash freezes it in a straight line again. If you leave it curved, sometimes you have to fight it wanting to curl back up when it hits the bottom of the oil pan, raising itself out of the oil you're trying to extract.
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This is why I love forums! Many thanks for the detailed reply, it's certainly given me much to think about!

If you look at the photos of the Mustang and Falcon on the lift, there is an oil extractor in the background, so I assume this is how they have been changing oil for a long time now. When I think about it, I used to get charged for replacement sump plug and washer, which not something I have seen on the invoice for a while now.

It seems some question if an extractor is as thorough as letting the oil drain from the pan. Considering these vehicles do very few miles and the fact I change the oil once a year regardless of distance, the oil coming out of the engine is not black and gloopy so I don't an issue here.
 
DFB said:
It seems some question if an extractor is as thorough as letting the oil drain from the pan. Considering these vehicles do very few miles and the fact I change the oil once a year regardless of distance, the oil coming out of the engine is not black and gloopy so I don't an issue here.
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Generally being a doubting curmudgeon, when Audi switch to extraction I did a few where I'd do the oil extraction then drop the drain plug to see how much came out; the result was basically nothing. Again, the big caveat is your oil pan shape and where the dipstick tube feeds into the pan.

I did one oil change on a Shelby Mustang of your bodystyle; I wish I had looked closer at what the pan setup was like. The hardest part on your engine is the filter location for trying to not make a mess. Especially on the Shelby where they have 5,000 fasteners for the belly pan. They do make those foldable oil guides that must be silicone coated aluminum sheets or something so you can put it under the filter to guide the oil where you want it - might be worth looking into if you start doing your own oil changes. (PS: You're clearly capable, don't let your head get in the way. :D :dblthumb2: )

Had another in recently where I had the belly pans off to put the suspension back to stock and I had to do a bunch of clean up on the pan because previous oil change person had left a mess.
 
oneheadlite said:
Generally being a doubting curmudgeon, when Audi switch to extraction I did a few where I'd do the oil extraction then drop the drain plug to see how much came out; the result was basically nothing. Again, the big caveat is your oil pan shape and where the dipstick tube feeds into the pan.

I did one oil change on a Shelby Mustang of your bodystyle; I wish I had looked closer at what the pan setup was like. The hardest part on your engine is the filter location for trying to not make a mess. Especially on the Shelby where they have 5,000 fasteners for the belly pan. They do make those foldable oil guides that must be silicone coated aluminum sheets or something so you can put it under the filter to guide the oil where you want it - might be worth looking into if you start doing your own oil changes. (PS: You're clearly capable, don't let your head get in the way. :D :dblthumb2: )

Had another in recently where I had the belly pans off to put the suspension back to stock and I had to do a bunch of clean up on the pan because previous oil change person had left a mess.
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Well aware of the S550 oil filter location, I often get the car back with oil dripping off the subframe. One of the GT350 guys designed a 3D printed guide that slips into place and directs the oil away from the subframe. I've also looked at the Ryco flexible funnel.






Thanks again for the pep talk, I'm actually excited by the prospect of doing this myself.
 
And since yours is a car we have stateside, if you ever need service/repair info just let me know and I can look it up through our program at work. Goes for any car you might touch as long as you can find a parallel car here.
 
Why don't you like the idea of laying on your back to drop the oil,
If you suffer from back pain i can understand but with decent jack stands or even a mini lift you will be safe.
 
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