Warning light/diagnostic tool/offspring/training "rant"

[New POD]

So my wife and daughter share a BINI 2001 (me and the boy are also insured).

 

Now previously I have ranted about how the tyre pressure warning light came on and they refused to do anything like a) check the pressures, pump up the tyres, c) drive the car.

 

Now I get into the BIni to go to the shops last night. And the air bag warning light is on.

 

Okay. How long ? 4 days. Okay. I get the diagnostic tool, and say to daughter and son "which one of you wants to see how to turn it off"

 

Nah. Not prepared to move off the sofa.

 

So I go and plug it in. It's the Passenger seat belt tensioner. I erase the fault code. It comes back on. I move the seat and move the mat from the back seat floor, so it's not pushing in the leads. I erase the code. It stays off. I move the seat back and forward. It stays off. I go in. I put my "tool" away.

 

I say "Just saved you £40"

 

The response : "When is tea?"

 

FFS

 

Then I go out to the garage and the Cable on one side of the door snaps. Fixed that with an 30 Amp Chocolotate block connector.

 

But does nobody want to learn anything these days ?

[fordperv]

No people don't want to learn anything they are lazy because of the throwaway society we live in. Oh and the thinking of why bother, someone else will come along and do it for them

[garethj]

Who cares?  And when is tea?

 

I agree, I'm hoping the younger generation hurry up a bit, wasn't that what the Raspberry Pi was supposed to encourage, dunno if it worked though?

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Why not chuck the fuckers out onto the street. Problem solved.

 

To be honest it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that your wife & daughter are not interested in learning how to use your automotive diagnostic tool. That's the way of the world. Just take some satisfaction from the fact that you have one and are able to save your family finances 40 quid.

[gordonbennet]

No need to do anything, some geezer in the gaff has a yard brush wedged firmly up his arse and is doing the floors as he rushes about doing all the other jobs for them.

 

Only way to cure this is stop doing it, but let them know that they will be paying the bill when it comes round to getting it MOT'd, or when it breaks down, or for the next neglected pile when this bugger conks out.

 

I have every sympathy, it came to a head a couple of years ago.

I'd been asking all summer during the nice weather for me daughter to bring her car over so i could service it etc...no fuckin chance, too busy enjoying hersen and threashing the poor bloody car to death.

Eventually, twat here is doing the necessary work on a freezing cold bloody wet morning in the winter...the penny eventually dropped and it finally dawned on me that they can see TWAT clearly stamped on my forehead....i now ask for the car, if it don't come they can pay the garage several £hundred instead and i spend more time on my own cars instead.

 

Allow 'em to get hit in the pocket, it's the only way they learn.

[Bren]

The young have been brainwashed into handing over ££££ or going to bank of mum and dad for everything.

 

Sadly, there are a generation of young people who will aspire to very little - unless it is done for them it will simply not get done.

 

Everything will be on the never never - cars, houses ( they will have to rent because they will never have the nous to save a deposit - too busy pissing money up the wall on car repairs, starbucks etc.)

 

I seem to be spending a lot of time ranting - maybe I need to lie down.

 

Or emigrate.

[Richard]

( they will have to rent because they will never have the nous to save a deposit - too busy pissing money up the wall on car repairs, starbucks etc.)

 

I don't see how anybody could buy a house now without either a very high income or some kind of windfall. I bought a house in 1998 for £43000. If I wanted to buy the same house today it would be closer to £120000, but my income has barely increased in that time.

[fordperv]

Who cares? And when is tea?

 

I agree, I'm hoping the younger generation hurry up a bit, wasn't that what the Raspberry Pi was supposed to encourage, dunno if it worked though?

Is a raspberry pi something to have with custard after you've eaten your tea?

[lisbon_road]

I have two cars I have maintained for friends for a while.

 

One now far away uses rather a lot of oil.  Everytime I see it, I put a litre in - they pay fine.  I haven't seen it for a while, I think I'm going to give up.  It will be better for the air round here if it gets weighed in after all.

 

The other I have fixed for years.  It keeps getting through MOTs somehow.  It has just gone through an MOT and the front shocks just are not doing anything.  I give up there too really - I feel I am totally on my own trying to sort it out. 

 

Just have to give up sometimes.

 

I have been through the same experiences as Newpod, but I must admit that the idea that the family aren't interested in the automotive diagnostic tool does have a funny side.

 

As another side though, I have had a career of sorts in Engineering, have been made redundant and find it hard to get work now.  Actually, I really don't want the kids to do anything like what I have done - at all.  So maybe it isn't all so bad.  I am going to keep my hobby quietly to myself - and enjoy it more!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Thin reminds me of a time our lass was showing me how to set up the sewing machine so i could repair the hole in the pocket lining of my work trousers. She got it threaded and was setting up the foot or whatever it is, and she turned round to see me looking at a youtube clip of a dancing gerbil on my phone and went ape shit. WTF? Women man.

[mouseflakes]

I don't see how anybody could buy a house now without either a very high income or some kind of windfall. I bought a house in 1998 for £43000. If I wanted to buy the same house today it would be closer to £120000, but my income has barely increased in that time.

 

Too right. I think this article neatly sums up how we've got to this state...

 

Housing crisis? What housing crisis?

 

The UK economy has been utterly ruined through it's reliance on house prices being artificially pushed ever higher to support a massive Ponzi scheme.

 

Hence most young folks have difficulty seeing a situation where they'll ever be financially independent or not handing over all their hard-earned to fund a Buy To Let landlord's retirement.

[Pillock]

If you can get 'em interested, fine.

I had to service the Touran a couple of weeks ago - quite prepared to do it myself but I asked The Boy if he wanted to help, and he jumped at the chance. He replaced the air filter, undid and fastened the bolts in the fuel filter, fetched and carried, pumped the oil extractor and learned. He was a star at doing the pollen filter since it's in a stupid place I simply could not get to (without opening the passenger door, which was onto a main road). He now knows why filters need replacing, and how tight things should be. He's only 11 so that'll do for a start.

 

I actually reckon the reason is he's addicted to Forza and Gran Turismo - yes, he likes the racing but actually he likes doing all the car mods too, and he either reads up what the parts are or asks me. In GT5 for example, you can have three levels of air filter and now he knows what the difference is.

 

If you can't get 'em interested, enjoy your tinkering time on your own and the money saved. Not everybody will like everything ever. My GF makes lovely cakes which I happily eat, but if I want a cake and she's not baking I'll buy one. I can't be arsed to bake one usually.

[Micrashed]

Spend the £40 on charlie and hookers.

 

Admittedly that might get you a hand job and a small rock of Crack but you know, the thought is there

[Pillock]

Or a hooker called Charlie.

[Bren]

Spend the £40 on charlie and hookers.

 

Admittedly that might get you a hand job and a small rock of Crack but you know, the thought is there

And I like the way you are thinking.

[HH-R]

I like to be able to do stuff myself and will happily read up about it/give it a go but unfortunately I'm totally kack handed and most things end up looking so amateur I have to have pay someone else to do it or I bugger it up totally. Annoying as my Dad can do anything around the house and do a good job while making it look so easy. Last time I changed the crank sensor on my car (jack driver's side front up, take wheel off, take off liner, replace sensor and refit liner/wheel), I managed to thread the wheel studs and it cost me the thick end of £300 quid to replace a £30 sensor. Nearly ruined the engine too when an oil change went wrong... I don't do anything with the car now.

[PhilA]

I think part of it is down to indifference driven by an artificial shift in the cheap availability of high technology.

Anything else lends to boredom. It's always been the case, but I think this has amplified it because it brings it home.

There's always been a want for the latest and greatest, but I remember back in the day if you got, say, a computer then there was an extra outlay in the form of easy entertainment. i.e. you had to go and buy the games. Today the entertainment comes for free so long as you're willing to tolerate the advertisements.

The kids are capable of shutting that out and ignoring it as normalcy, so why would they have interest in anything else?

Also, following the same theme- buy an iPhone at a ridiculously artificially low price and purchase time on the network for a ridiculously artificially high price; value for money there because when the handset breaks, what do we do? Either go to the store and bitch and moan that the thing has broken and why would it cost £300 to fix when you only "paid" £20 for it in the first place? Especially considering that you can call up for free and have someone spend time with you too try and troubleshoot the problem.

 

TIME IS MONEY.

 

The eighties turned everything on its head and it's become progressively worse from there on in. This is the world I've grown up with. I saw the remnants of the country pulling itself back onto its feet, grew up with little money. If it broke and you wanted to use it again, you fixed it. That went for everything. Car, house, computers.. everything. Obviously some things are beyond the scope of fixing it yourself, but that was something you paid somebody else to do- if the vcr stopped working you took it to the tv place and... Oh, the car has become so much an appliance it gets treated the same way? No user serviceable parts inside? Why bother?

 

Phil

[mat_the_cat]

Now I get into the BIni to go to the shops last night. And the air bag warning light is on.

 

Okay. How long ? 4 days. Okay. I get the diagnostic tool, and say to daughter and son "which one of you wants to see how to turn it off"

 

Out of interest, which tool do you use? I was of the understanding that the generic diagnostic tools didn't work on these. SWMBO's has the same fault recently, and she paid £30 a year or so ago to get it cleared. Less the cost, but more the hassle of taking it somewhere, and also the unwillingness to pay someone else for the time probably required to find the root cause!

[New POD]

Out of interest, which tool do you use? I was of the understanding that the generic diagnostic tools didn't work on these. SWMBO's has the same fault recently, and she paid £30 a year or so ago to get it cleared. Less the cost, but more the hassle of taking it somewhere, and also the unwillingness to pay someone else for the time probably required to find the root cause!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-MINI-Diagnostic-Handheld-Code-Reader-Scanner-Tool-Engine-Airbag-ABS-Gearbox-/200936060099?pt=UK_Diagnostic_Tools_Equipment&hash=item2ec8b8f4c3

 

This one, was more expensive than the 'engine only' readers ( £15 for a blue tooth connector that plugs into OBDII port and connects to PC) but I've used it twice in 12 months, so I'm thinking it's almost paid for.

[Tetleysmooth]

Well, the EML is now off on my V70. It went off on its own after I fixed the broken vacuum pipe, but my service light stays on for about a minute or so after I start up. I'll be changing the oil in the next week or so. Will this light go off on its own too? If not, how do I get rid of it?

'97 Volvo V70 2.5 20 valve.

[Richard]

The Service light will continue to come on every time you start until it is reset. You can reset it using diagnostic software through the OBDII connector or there might be a way to do it by pressing buttons on the trip computer. You can also buy a tool that does nothing but turn the light off. If you do a search on the VOC forum you will find various instructions.

[The Moog]

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&t=714162&mid=0&nmt=V70+service+light+reset+

[Tetleysmooth]

Good info - ta.