Sam - Auto Infatuation

3.30am start, 2pm finish. 285 miles, London Heathrow Airport, Peterborough Train Station and a Construction site 🦺 visit makes for a rather dirty BMW X7 😬

After spending a few days in the Land Rover Defender 130 P400x I am back in the BMW X7 40d again until Thursday, every time I get back in this car I am reminded just how much I love it 🥰 Been an expensive day (For the Business at least). Just under half a tank of Shell Diesel to brim it, £76.24 ⛽️ and 12 months ‘Road Fund License’ £640 🥲 it’s actually £200pa but they add a £440pa surcharge on for the first 5 years! I also taxed the A8L 4.2 FSI today but we do not need to talk about that as that comes directly out of my pocket at £790 for the year 😆😭

Spent a couple more hours on the D3 A8 today. The rear inner lights on these models are notoriously bad for cracking across the reversing light strip. Basically a design flaw due to the halogen bulb being located too close to the plastic of the light and the heat causing it to crack over time. Happened on my last one too. They need replacing with LED bulbs which run a lot cooler. The problem is they are about £400 each to replace, if you can find them so for now I’ve set sanded them down, polished and clear coated them. They definitely do look a bit better at least. Also finished the rear of the car from a Valet stand point and it looks great but I am now trying to decide what one of my private plates I have left to put on it when the V5 comes back. I just hate having a standard plate on my own cars for some reason 🤷‍♂️ Have also made a list of everything to do and of which is priority 👀

Baring the awfully spaced number plate this is absolutely lovely 🥰

This is my Dads 325,000 mile Vito 113 Taxi that he has owned for 2 years, he’s 73 and still goes out a few days/evenings doing a job he’s done essentially for the past 30+ years. Friday evenings are one of the best earners, naturally. Last night a lad engaged in a Police chase came down the South Brink on the wrong side of the road (on a corner), in an uninsured Nissan Qashqai and essentially crashed head-on into my Dad. He then got out and ran, I don’t know yet if they have found him or even know who he is. Thankfully Dad (reluctantly) went to the hospital to get checked out and all is ok baring a bit of pain where the seat belt did its job. Either way that’s a good, reliable car and a way of him earning money now gone because some dickhead decided to drive in a ridiculous way through a fairly busy town.

Started to change the battery over in the A8L this afternoon when Land Rover phoned, went to pick a fully serviced & MOT’d Defender up (£817.00 later), dropped into Greggs to get my weekly free hot drink thanks to @monzo and then got back just as the sun was going down. Decided to still change the battery over but now cannot code it to the car until tomorrow as I cannot see the serial number properly even with a torch as it’s etched into the battery (my fault for rushing around) 🤦‍♂️ The Audi has gone straight onto trickle charge but I haven’t started the car yet. But you can see the NAPA battery that was installed wasn’t even the correct length, let alone the correct power!

Courtesy car roulette was another Discovery Sport this morning, this time a 2.0D Mild Hybrid, a lot more agricultural than the petrol plug in hybrid they gave me last week but also a lot more economical. Also has the only @Pirelli tyres fitted I’ve ever gotten on with on - Scorpions (I had Verdes on something 4x4 in the past 🤦‍♂️) Moved the A8L into a slightly different position before I switch the new battery over and the parking sensors are now working…..sort of 🤷‍♂️. Rears still aren’t happy but it’s mad what a low battery can do to a car, this has been on trickle charge now for several days.

Quick fuel up at the BP en-route on what is a very foggy morning in Cambridgeshire & Lincolnshire then dropped the P400x Defender off at @DuckworthLR for a service and MOT.

Land Rover Defender 130 (or LWB) vs a LWB Audi A8 and a fairly standard sized 4 Bed detached house 😳 None of the other SUV’s I drive feel thier size but this most definitely does. This one has the 394bhp 3.0 Petrol Mild Hybrid under the bonnet and does feel quite quick.

Rain stopped me for an hour but I went back out for a bit, door card off and realised the lower foldout pocket is completely knackered both via the weird glue and the lower plastic hinges being broken it turns out. So I’ll need to find a used door card off EBay or something to replace it with 🤦‍♂️ Amazon man then turned up with my fishing line to de-badge the A8 that’s been placed in the wrong position so did that and went over it with Tar remover. Then made a very brief start on an interior detail just in the back: Hoovered, leather cleaned, plastics wiped over, headliner had a mark on it that came straight off too. I use mostly Autoglym products which I have a list of here if interested - linktr.ee/Autoinfatuation Oh and my new Battery is coming tomorrow, £111 from Tayna Batteries eBay shop, next day delivery if ordered before 4.30pm. OEM spec Varta 020 Silver Dynamic, same as I have in my other V8 TDI A8 🔋 ebay.io/m/Sa37rh

Second and possibly strangest job, work out why the door pocket on the driver’s door is stuck open. It looks like someone has sprayed some kind of glue in the crevices, I’ve had ago with a blade to get some of it out but there is a lot of it in there 😬 door card off job regardless 🤷‍♂️

There is my battery issue I’d say. Car just doesn’t feel like it has the right amount of electrical power at times, thought it was because it’s been sitting around for weeks with the previous owners but it needed investigation. Many of you had noticed my car had a NAPA battery fitted yesterday (came with the car). I’d never heard of that brand before and everyone seems to agree it’s a crap battery despite being stupidly expensive to buy at £170+. 24hrs on charge 🪫🔋 Picture 1: As I connected my new @OptimateUK charger yesterday. Picture 2: 24 hrs later, battery is seemingly charging and holding fine. Picture 3: After just one start of the car the charger drops into Ampmatic mode as it’s detected a drop in charge of up to 25% from fully charged, its 14°c where I am FYI so not cold. Picture 4: Move some wires etc about to gain access to the battery info - battery is a fair bit under Audi’s OEM spec for the car. They suggest 020 - 920CCa - 110Ah batteries 😬 OEM Varta Battery here I come @TaynaBatteries 😉

Any Audi/VAG boffins on here that can decode the paint code on my A8L? Also interior suggests Satin Leather N3Y/NK? I’ve had a good search, asked AI etc bla bla bla and it seems like it’s ‘Phantom Black Metallic Pearl’ which is a cool colour but it looks grey-ish to me 😂 Admittedly it needs a good clean but still 🤷‍♂️ also see first cold start video 🔊

Totally random one - Need to buy a stud finder, ideally with laser level capabilities but they seem to range so much in price. Is it a case of going with the well known brands or are they all generally the same?

Before I begin changing parts or giving this A8L a proper detail, I think I need to check if the battery is ok. The car had more or less stood for 6 weeks prior to me buying it and it is doing classic big barge, low battery things. So this afternoon I have fitted my quick connect lead so that I can finally use my new Optimate 6 Battery Charger easily from @ProBikeUK 😊

Out and about this morning in the big A8L, picked up my MasterPlug IP54 outdoor extension lead and was chauffeured around briefly whilst Dad took my new car for a spin 🇩🇪 Then installed my new extension lead ready for this car to go on trickle charge later 🔌

Big A8L bought and collected then driven the 200ish miles home. It has a FULLY STAMPED service book up to date and 4 matching Falken Tyres! 🛞 Filled it with 81L of Esso Supreme+ E5 Petrol not long after buying it and done 28.2mpg over the final 181.3 miles home using 1/4 of a tank, in crap weather and sitting at *Cough* 70mph where I could⛽️ It rides beautifully and the 4.2 N/A V8 seems sweet as a nut but there’s a few niggles to sort out. One thing of note I wasn’t told about was the parking sensors being inoperative but things I knew about are the drivers door lower fold out section is stuck open and the boot lock seems confused but also on the way back I had a ABS and parking brake warning light constantly illuminating and beeping as Audis do, that was until the outside temp rose and the roads dried out - then it all disappeared for the next 80 miles home 🤷‍♂️ Will chuck Diagnostics on it tomorrow. Making a list of things to gradually get done already but this was a cheap car to say the least and I think it’ll be nice once spruced up a bit 🤞

3 trains from Cambridgeshire to Durham this morning originally cost me £74.30 which was the cheapest split ticket price for the time I wanted to arrive. The first two Trains were so busy it felt like a tin of sardines so I decided to get an upgrade for the final leg that was with @TPExpressTrains. Only cost £11! Having a quiet carriage, my own seat, cup of coffee and the Eggs Benedict for breakfast, not to mention the friendly cabin crew was worth way above that easily even if it is only an hour 🚆