Some good

advice.

Here is some advice on getting the most out of your Abbot...

ABOUT THE OILS : You will notice that the engine, gearbox and steering box all take the same oil. This is right and it states OMD110. ( Oil, mineral, Detergent 110.) Do not go looking for this as it has been replaced with OMD 80. This is a 10/30 multigrade. I know Abbots that have been run on normal garage diesel oil for years. OEP 220 is the hub oil and is EP90. ( OEP stands for Oil, Extra Pressure.)

DO NOT PAY A PENNY FOR FUEL : Get the authorities to deliver it free. I have always run my Abbot on petrol/diesel mix. This is recovered daily from all around the country by the AA or RAC etc. from people silly enough to put the wrong fuel in their car. To dispose of this lawfully cost them £10 a gallon. So if you provide them with the containers marked "MIX" then they will fill them up. Use those opaque white containers if you can because you can see if the fuel is dirty or has water floating on it. Recovery firms are best. Put the fuel through the filter stowed on the turret. Watch for water as some recovery firms leave the lids off your containers. If you do get water in the fuel take a screw out of the "out" side of the fuel filter in the engine compartment and run the pump until the fountain of water changes to fuel. Do this with a completely cold engine. The water and fuel will clean out the bottom of the engine bay too. Do not start the engine again until any fuel has evaporated.

CHECK THE BATTERIES : Abbot batteries drink distilled water and the terminals fur up faster than car ones. It is easy to forget the ones under the locked hatch on the front and remember you can lift the footplate under the commanders setup to fill the turret batteries but a torch is nescessary. It is a good idea to see if these have their breather tubes fixed on as normally the back is enclosed most of the time and a build up of hydrogen is likely. When starting your Abbot switch the turret batteries on after the engine has warmed up a bit. If the engine note goes down as you switch these on it means they needed charging. Do switch them on as if you do not they will not charge. Also, another point someone raised, if your main batteries fail, use an inter vehicle starting lead from the socket on the Commanders cradle and run it to the driving compartment socket. This should give you another chance. The manual says you should do this when the weather is cold also to give you more cranking power. If you have no batteries or ones that do not take charge in the back then leave the turret switch off until you replace them. Owners have had alternators catch fire and it was thought that they were trying to charge something that would not take it and therefore overheated. This is also the case for the main batteries if you have jump started your Abbot. The alternators are trying to charge something that will not charge and get hot.