Unable to track down the tb but have had a response from vaillant. The grease is to stop creaking and clicking noise which isn't the problem but the spec for tightening the nuts is only 6nm which I guess he overtightened with the water pump pliers he used. I noticed he also didn't replace the nuts with the new ones supplied with the flue collector. Not sure if that's important enough to get him to change when he loosens them.
Many thanks for your help. I'll post the outcome.