Jargon Buster: Translating You Gear Oil Bottle

Gear oil isn't necessarily something that the everyday motorist is in the know about and when you take a bottle of it off the shelf you are confronted with jargon which, unless you are up on the terms, will probably mean very little to you. So let's break it down term by term and make some sense of it all.

Gear Oil Type
One of the first things you should notice on a bottle of Granville Gear Oil is this piece of information explaining which type of gear train the oil is suitable for:

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5 Things Most People Forget When Spring Cleaning the Car

Spring has sprung!

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Sorry... I couldn't resist.

So the weather is finally starting to look up and if you haven’t thought about it already, then it’s time to start prepping your vehicle for the warmer months ahead. Your car took a beating over winter. Freezing temperatures, mud, salt and bad weather all take their toll on your paintwork and interior.

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It’s standard practice to reach for the chammy, bucket and vacuum around this time of the year to bring some life back into your vehicle, but there are some key steps to the vehicle spring clean that most people neglect that are really easy to address. Are you guilty of these top 5 Spring Cleaning sins?

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Is commercial screenwash better than water and home-brewed alternatives?

The short answer? Yes. Absolutely. It can be tempting to settle for plain water in your windscreen washer system or to attempt to make your own with household detergent or alcohol but whilst you will make cost savings in the short term and its effects are kinder to the environment, the risks involved to your vehicle in the long term just aren't worth the short term savings. Here are the top reasons you should be sticking the screenwash in your system:

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Cleaning Power

When it comes to getting rid of traffic film, grease and insect residue, screenwash has plain water beaten hands down. The alcohol and detergent in screenwash cuts through dirt quickly and effectively, getting rid of visibility obstructions which plain water could end up smearing across the glass. Home-brews with alcohol or household detergent, washing up liquid for example, would help to remove the dirt but depending on the substance used, it could leave residue behind on the glass or cause damage to rubber and paintwork.

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How healthy is your transmission fluid?

Ask the average motorist and it’s likely they will know how and where to check their oil and coolant level but ask about transmission fluid and they might not be so savvy.

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It’s not always immediately obvious how to check the health of your transmission fluid and indeed in recent years manufacturers have made it increasingly difficult for the end user to interact with the transmission at all unless you have the correct tools to get at the undercarriage of the vehicle. Should this be the case then we highly recommend that you allow your professional mechanic to perform any maintenance checks on your transmission fluid as you could risk voiding your warranty. If, however, you have a vehicle equipped with a dipstick under the bonnet for checking the transmission fluid then here are some things to look out for which may signal it’s time to book in for a fluid change or top-up.

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8 Autumn Car Care Fixes You Need To Know

October's marching on. Unbelievable isn't it? Suddenly the mornings are characterized by either a commute through thick fog or dazzling sun on wet roads, the leaves seem to have leapt off the trees and are single-mindedly set on blanketing the bonnets and roofs of our motors, and is it just me that's had to have the heating on first thing when starting the car in the morning?

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As with all the changes in the seasons, they affect our cars in different ways and some steps need to be taken to prepare, protect and remedy against the new conditions you will be faced with as we plod on towards winter. So here's my top tips for making sure you and your motor are Autumn ready.

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8 easy car wash tips everyone needs to know

Cleaning your car to perfection is a fine art, but you don't need to be a professional detailer to achieve that showroom shine. Here's some top tips which will help you improve your car wash routine with minimum effort and maximum results.

1. Start with a clean bucket

It may seem like common sense but if you store your car wash bucket in the garage or the garden shed chances are that it's going to have collected a layer of dust and dirt by the time you dig it out again. Give your bucket a good rinse before you get started and you won't have lost before you've started.

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How to look after your genuine chamois leather

Chammy or Microfibre? It's a question which splits the room when it comes to drying off your vehicle. Many people reach for the microfibre cloth simply because Chamois Leathers seem like too much hassle and anyway they fall apart dead quickly right? Well, you might be surprised to know that if you look after your Chammy, you could get plenty of service out of it. In fact, plenty of people swear by the Chamois' durability and ability to absorb around six times its weight in water.

Think your Chamois is doomed to this?

The best way to get the most out of your genuine chamois leather is to take good care of it. Treat it right and you will get the results! Here's my quick guide on how to look after your chamois leather so that you can get the best value from it.

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Rust Repair Tutorial

This week sees the launch of Granville's new Rust Repair Liquid. Now this stuff is the bee's knees, what can I say? It's easy to use, takes only 15mins to work its magic and also comes in a gel formulation for easy application on hard to reach and horizontal surfaces.

So let's take a look at how to use Granville Rust Repair Liquid and Gel...

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Antifreeze and Coolant 101

Antifreeze and coolant. They cause quite a bit of confusion for motorists who aren't in the know. In fact it's one of the most frequently asked topics put to the Tech Team here at Granville HQ. And it's no wonder that it causes folk to scratch their heads over it because they are essentially the same product - just with different functions.

Call it coolant and you're referring to, you guessed it, the stuff that keeps your engine cool and operating at the correct temperature. When you think about it, your engine is basically powered by a series of controlled explosion so it's bound to get hot under that hood!

The job of Antifreeze is to keep things just right - src: funnyjunk.com

Now, technically speaking, coolant can be just plain water but this alone wouldn't protect against extremes of temperature or corrosion. Add Antifreeze to this water and you solve this issue, protecting against corrosion, aiding heat transfer, preventing scale build up, and raising the boiling point and lowering the freezing point of the liquid.

Generally speaking the ratio to make coolant is 50:50 Antifreeze to water but you must check your User Manual for the specific dilution for your vehicle.

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Jargon Buster: Translating your Oil Bottle

Grab your average bottle of motor oil off the shelf in your local retailer and you're confronted with a whole lot of jargon, acronyms and random numbers which will probably mean very little to you unless you're in the know. And let's face it, your owner's manual isn't much more help either. Sure it might give you a list of numbers and letters that translate into an oil spec that's suitable for your vehicle, but wouldn't you like to know what it all really means?

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Do you know your 0w/20 from your 5w/40? What's the real difference between mineral and synthetic oil? ACEA? API? Well here's my jargon busting guide to translating your oil bottle.