The new news 24 thread

[2cvspecial]

9 hours ago, dollywobbler said:

If it has auto wipers, I'd expect the variable control to just be a sensitivity control. Auto wipers are great when they work, but sadly I often find they just don't get it right.

when are you going back to your fleet thread (tat thread)

[dollywobbler]

Not sure I am to be honest. Fleet progress is woeful, mostly broken. The only working car I currently have access to (GSA away for welding) is the Fairmont. So that's pricey...

Storm Arwen ripped a rear wing off the 2CV (not designed for 70mph tailwinds it turns out), Matiz is out of MOT and needs me to remove the injectors, Charade engine rebuild is ridiculously slow in any sort of progress, Fox is STILL just parked up waiting, I wish Storm Arwen had simply blown the Multipla away, Oltcit way down the pecking order, Oltcit 2 and Sana just languishing at the back.

[TheOtherStu]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

Some on the beach have less than a bikini.

Unless they have cough sweets that will shut my wife up or soothe my aching sinuses, quite honestly, I'm not bothered 😂

[Yoss]

So it's getting near Christmas and we've got a few hire vans in ready for packetchaos. Which was handy as I came in yesterday to find my van had a puncture. A proper one, rim on the floor. So I have to phone the workshop because we're not allowed to change wheels, they even take the spare wheels out of our vans. So after reporting it I asked how long they think they might be (the main Royal Mail workshop for our area is in Marchwood,  only about five miles away) all they would say was 'within two hours'.

That's not much use so I go back to the office and ask if they have any spare vans. Have you driven an automatic? was the reply I got. Yes I have I replied, though the last auto I owned was a Wolseley Six. How different could it be? 

I was given this. 

71 plate with 25 miles on the clock. It's a bit different to a Wolseley Six, the gear selector is the size of an indicator stalk. 

It's here on the right, up for reverse, down for drive and press a button on the end for park. I figured that much out but I couldn't release the handfootbrake. I figured you press it down to put it on but couldn't find any way of releasing it. Obviously all this stuff is familiar to a lot of you but it's all new to me. 

So back to the office for advice. Apparently there's a small rectangle with a P on it tucked away under the light switch. 

And you pull it out like an ashtray and the handfootbrake goes twang. So that was it, I was off and it was all very effortless but I do wonder why a van has to have all these gubbins. Vans used to be proper basic, now they have all the same gizmos as modern cars. 

It also had a nice high definition reversing camera. 

Which I suppose you get used to but I've only ever used mirrors so I continued to do so. I just found the screen a distraction. 

But one thing I couldn't figure out was this cup of tea symbol. Seen here alongside the gear selection indicators. 

I could even make it turn red if I put it in neutral. 

But whatever I did  it stayed there all day. What does it mean? Also at the top of this screen is a pictogram of the front of one car and the back of another with an exclamation mark in between. No idea what this was supposed to indicate either. It would sort of suggest that you're too close to the car in front but it too was there all the time, even when parked. 

I'm guessing all you supermarket delivery drivers are used to all this stuff but it's a bit of an eye opener coming from a ten year old Pug Partner. 

 

[stuboy]

over weekend when starting the v6 up the needles spin round and resets the trip meter on the speedo, i did wonder was it because it was 0 degrees few times, but i did nip up the battery terminals, just hope its not the battery going tits up

[dome]

12 minutes ago, Yoss said:

So it's getting near Christmas and we've got a few hire vans in ready for packetchaos. Which was handy as I came in yesterday to find my van had a puncture. A proper one, rim on the floor. So I have to phone the workshop because we're not allowed to change wheels, they even take the spare wheels out of our vans. So after reporting it I asked how long they think they might be (the main Royal Mail workshop for our area is in Marchwood,  only about five miles away) all they would say was 'within two hours'.

That's not much use so I go back to the office and ask if they have any spare vans. Have you driven an automatic? was the reply I got. Yes I have I replied, though the last auto I owned was a Wolseley Six. How different could it be? 

I was given this. 

71 plate with 25 miles on the clock. It's a bit different to a Wolseley Six, the gear selector is the size of an indicator stalk. 

It's here on the right, up for reverse, down for drive and press a button on the end for park. I figured that much out but I couldn't release the handfootbrake. I figured you press it down to put it on but couldn't find any way of releasing it. Obviously all this stuff is familiar to a lot of you but it's all new to me. 

So back to the office for advice. Apparently there's a small rectangle with a P on it tucked away under the light switch. 

And you pull it out like an ashtray and the handfootbrake goes twang. So that was it, I was off and it was all very effortless but I do wonder why a van has to have all these gubbins. Vans used to be proper basic, now they have all the same gizmos as modern cars. 

It also had a nice high definition reversing camera. 

Which I suppose you get used to but I've only ever used mirrors so I continued to do so. I just found the screen a distraction. 

But one thing I couldn't figure out was this cup of tea symbol. Seen here alongside the gear selection indicators. 

I could even make it turn red if I put it in neutral. 

But whatever I did  it stayed there all day. What does it mean? Also at the top of this screen is a pictogram of the front of one car and the back of another with an exclamation mark in between. No idea what this was supposed to indicate either. It would sort of suggest that you're too close to the car in front but it too was there all the time, even when parked. 

I'm guessing all you supermarket delivery drivers are used to all this stuff but it's a bit of an eye opener coming from a ten year old Pug Partner. 

 

Did the cup of tea come on after driving for a while? If so it might be a prompt to take a break. I've had cars that do that before

[Yoss]

That would make sense but it was there from the start. I'd like to ring my line manager and tell her the van wants me to have a break. That would go down well. And besides, there were times when I left the van for half an hour or more so how would it know if I spent that time delivering mail (which I was) or sat in a cafe (which I wasn't). 

[stuboy]

12 hours ago, Yoss said:

they even take the spare wheels out of our vans

they do the same with the ambulances

[Yoss]

2 minutes ago, stuboy said:

they do the same with the ambulances

To be fair I'd have thought they would be torqued up rather tighter than your average car so you're unlikely to undo them with a standard wheelbrace but when it happens in our yard it's annoying because they could keep a couple of spare wheels, a breaker bar and a decent jack in the corner of the office and we could be on our way in fifteen minutes max but obviously we can't be trusted. 

[fatharris]

I believe the tea cup tells you to take a rest periodically, or the one I ignored did.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk

[grogee]

The Merc 'cuppa' symbol is/was more sophisticated than just runtime. I remember reading about it on launch material maybe 10 years ago (C? E?). Anyway, it 'measures' input from all the controls (pedals, wheel, buttons etc) and if it 'detects' drowsiness (slow/no input) it will bleep and let you know you should rest.

However I can't square that away with the start-stop work of a delivery driver. I'd assumed it was to prevent falling asleep at the wheel while cruising. 

Alternatively it's displaying the symbol because the system/software is broken and needs 'dealer attention'. Or, another possibility: system disabled by owner.

Who bloody knows these days, it's a miracle any of it works really. 

[stuboy]

14 hours ago, Yoss said:

the gear selector is the size of an indicator stalk. 

our training team had a posh black one and i used it to go out on visit etc etc but they kept moaning i left in Park and not putting the handbrake on.. 

[sdkrc]

And now a word from our sponsor, San Francisco Handbrakes

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, fatharris said:

I believe the tea cup tells you to take a rest periodically, or the one I ignored did.

Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
 

Fucking moderns, telling us what to do. Who's in charge?

[DVee8]

The Mercedes Tea cup symbol. What does it mean? Allow us to explain. The coffee cup icon, when illuminated in the instrument cluster display on your Mercedes-Benz, indicates that the ATTENTION ASSIST® system is turned on. ATTENTION ASSIST® is a vehicle feature that will detect signs of drowsy driving and tell you when it's time to take a break.

 

The coffee cup just means that Attention Assyst is active, there's nothing to reset. If the car detects you are tired, then a big message will come up in the display warning you to stop and have a rest. You can de-activate Attention Assyst fro. The Assyst menu if you don't want it active.

[New POD]

Sounds like a good system.  

[anonymous user]

24 minutes ago, New POD said:

Sounds like a good system.  

Like having your own Mrs Doyle

[Yoss]

3 hours ago, DVee8 said:

The Mercedes Tea cup symbol. What does it mean? Allow us to explain. The coffee cup icon, when illuminated in the instrument cluster display on your Mercedes-Benz, indicates that the ATTENTION ASSIST® system is turned on. ATTENTION ASSIST® is a vehicle feature that will detect signs of drowsy driving and tell you when it's time to take a break.

 

The coffee cup just means that Attention Assyst is active, there's nothing to reset. If the car detects you are tired, then a big message will come up in the display warning you to stop and have a rest. You can de-activate Attention Assyst fro. The Assyst menu if you don't want it active.

Thanks, I'm unlikely to see in it action then as I only cover six or seven miles in four hours. And I've got my Pug back now anyway. 

[SiC]

Did you need to disengage the handbrake manually? Many cars will disengage when driving off and apply it automatically when stopped. 

Stalk for automatic control is something many vehicles have been doing for decades. 

[Yoss]

48 minutes ago, SiC said:

Did you need to disengage the handbrake manually? Many cars will disengage when driving off and apply it automatically when stopped. 

Stalk for automatic control is something many vehicles have been doing for decades. 

No, I tried that, I forced it to do about half a van length with the handbrake firmly on and then reversed back again before I thought I'd better go get help. I even had a look at the handbook first but it had about 300 pages and mentioned hill start assist and stuff, which this didn't need being an auto. It's the first thing I've driven with a handfootbrake so it's no wonder I got confused. It was fine once I knew what to to do but it's no surprise I missed it, it was quite small. 

It's actually not that different from my old automatic Landcrabs. They had a fly off handbrake under the dash and a gear selector on the right hand side though it was cable operated and you could very much feel each gear being selected. 

[MJK 24]

The Vito has a mechanical handbrake.  Apply with your left foot.  Release with your right hand.  Same as a W124

[barefoot]

Interestingly my 75 has a traditional handbrake, apply with hand, release with hand. It's almost instinctive.

Anyhoo, it's gone for an MOT this morning.

'Good luck Billy' shouted an utter twat as he left him at the garage.

[cobblers]

On 11/24/2021 at 10:45 PM, cobblers said:

Theres a garage about 100 yards from where we live now and they have a reasonable reputation. I'm mega busy so rather than piss about taking it to my usual place miles away, I just chucked them the keys to the camper (2017 boxer) and said crack on and give it an MOT,  and a service while you're at it.

It's the first time I've used a garage to do general work for about 15 years - They picked it up off the drive this morning and dropped it off all done at 5:45PM.

It's a class 7 so they had to drive it to Sheffield for the MOT, which it passed but with shit back brakes as an advisory, Can't argue really, they really were shit.

They did all filters, oil, new rear disks and pads plus the MOT.  £520 with the VAT which seemed a bit steep on the face of it, but broken down I can't really knock em too hard. It takes a shitload of oil (7 litres) the parts for the rear brakes were £120+ vat and they had to drive it 35 miles for the test so some dude was tied up all morning.

They've set the handbrake up nice, I'll give them that.

The cost still stings a bit but that's the price I pay, I suppose. I could have got the service bits for £90, the brakes for £110, took it for the test for £55 so I suppose I've paid £250 for what would have been about a day of my time to get all the stuff done myself. I don't really have a spare day and if I did I wouldn't want to use it servicing a modern van.

Great! There's been a strange noise from one of the rear wheels since they did it, I thought it was the pads bedding in but there was a "clonk" noise when I reversed this morning and now the drivers side back wheel is all bound up and will barely turn.

Fuck me, if you want something doing right.....

 

 

 

[stuboy]

16 hours ago, anonymous user said:

Like having your own Mrs Doyle

 

[barefoot]

3 hours ago, barefoot said:

'Good luck Billy' shouted an utter twat as he left him at the garage.

Billy has passed with just a couple of advisories, one of which was coolant leak. I was aware of this and had asked the garage to resolve.

I've told Susie, Oscar, Willy & Yasmine, who are all thrilled for 'him'.

Car enthusiast? I am really nothing more than a complete & utter twat.

[wuvvum]

21 hours ago, Mally said:

Some on the beach have less than a bikini.

[HMC]

3 hours ago, barefoot said:

Billy has passed with just a couple of advisories, one of which was coolant leak. I was aware of this and had asked the garage to resolve.

I've told Susie, Oscar, Willy & Yasmine, who are all thrilled for 'him'.

Car enthusiast? I am really nothing more than a complete & utter twat.

3 cheers for billy !!!!

[cobblers]

4 hours ago, cobblers said:

Great! There's been a strange noise from one of the rear wheels since they did it, I thought it was the pads bedding in but there was a "clonk" noise when I reversed this morning and now the drivers side back wheel is all bound up and will barely turn.

Fuck me, if you want something doing right.....

 

 

 

Well in the garages defence, within half an hour of calling them they had it picked up on a flatbed. Not heard anything yet.

[Liggle]

Starting MOT prep on the Clio, I've never changed this style of anti roll bar link before and it's far fiddlier than it should be! Give me a strut to bar drop link any day

I've still got a few jobs:

ABS ring

Steering rack boot

Airbag ECU/module

Exhaust hanger bracket

Everything has been a sod to get off, I'm halfway through cutting one of the ball joint nuts off as I rounded the bolt head going a bit gung ho 😩

[Ghosty]

4 hours ago, barefoot said:

Billy has passed with just a couple of advisories, one of which was coolant leak.

Cavcraft has a coolant leak? There'll be no works do for him for a while then.