[BarryCambs]

And therein lies the problem. People are quick to say things are 'sealed for life', but no one has ever told me how long that life is? If it's 100k, then fair enough. My other car is 89 years old and still alive - though with gearbox oil changed specified every 5,000 and they recommend flushing with paraffin first.

I've changed the oil in a couple of manual boxes at around 100k and in both cases, the oil came out as clean as it went in. However, the box was transformed by the new oil, so clearly it has degraded. The VW Golf had started to stick in gear when it was really hot after a motorway run and I assumed it was the clutch dragging, but after the oil change, the symptoms were gone.

I remember checking out of interest on the shelf life of oil from one of the big manufacturers and it was I think 5 years. Not sure how putting it in a gearbox and driving around for 100k would extend this