The new news 24 thread

[lesapandre]

 The Daily Northerner reports:

"Renault in experimental 'run flat' tyre test fiasco - driver turns to drink in disappointment."

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/02/alleged-drink-driver-arrested-on-motorway-had-no-front-tyres

[Wingz123]

1 hour ago, chadders said:

Probably not:

The cost of NHS dental treatment

People in certain groups are entitled to free NHS dental treatment, including those under 18, those under 19 still receiving full-time education, pregnant women or those who have had a baby in the last 12 months, and those on qualifying low-income benefits.

Otherwise, there are three standard NHS price bands. You should only pay once for each course of dental treatment. 

The bands cover:

Band 1 is £22.70  Examination, diagnosis (eg x-rays), preventive advice, a scale and polish if needed, application of fluoride varnish or fissure sealant. Urgent care, even if your appointment needs more than one appointment to complete.

Band 2 is £62.10  Everything listed in Band 1, plus further treatment such as fillings, root-canal work and extractions.

Band 3 is £269.30  Everything listed in Bands 1 and 2, plus crowns, dentures and bridges.

These costs apply from 1 April 2019 and are part of the Department of Health uplift in dental charges, which started in April 2016.

This is peanuts compared with going private.

Checkup alone is £35

[anonymous user]

Finally on last leg of rail journey, I am unsure if my legs will recover enough to drive home.

[vulgalour]

Internet connected today, woohoo!  New house is proving a lot of work, in a good way.  In addition to the electrical tape waste pipe in the kitchen, the one under the bathroom basin is 'repaired' with brown parcel tape which also, astonishingly, doesn't leak.  House move went surprisingly smoothly, except for a puncture on the hire van a few miles after setting off.  Happily, the hire company replaced the flat tyre free of charge and the rest of the drive was uneventful.  In fact, of all the house moves I've done over the years this was by far the smoothest of the lot, and not just because I was wafting along in a BX.

Interestingly, the starting problem the BX had vanished after the long run.  The starting issue was bad again a couple of days ago but has once again vanished, so I really don't know what's causing it.  Either way, 300 miles of motorway slog seems to have mostly sorted it. Scariness of trying out a new MoT garage - I've got a good shortlist of recommendations thanks to a post elsewhere on the forum - later this month though, realistically, I can't imagine what would cause issues at test since I've not done that many miles since the last one and honestly, the car has been really well behaved.

So yeah, I'm now in Kent and it feels weirdly like being on holiday.  Princess will be arriving later this month, I hope, all depends on cost and who I can get to bring it down here for that one.

[lanciamatt]

It's bloody annoying when simple jobs go pear shaped. I've had new front discs and pads to fit on my thema for a month now. Attempted to fit them and the lower caliper carrier slider on both sides was siezed solid. Borrowed a small blow torch and managed to free them off.so a 40 min job turned into hour and half. But sorted now, pedal feels much better. 

[Skizzer]

Took the Accord Aerodeck for its MOT today.

Aw, poor Honda.

Still, it’s not a big job — there’s already a patch on one side, which needs re-doing, and the other side needs one too.  

Helpfully my regular local MOT man likes the car a lot so is happy to do the work, and for me to leave it with him while I’m away working so it gets done within the free retest period.  

Looking forward to getting this back in regular service. I’ve given up waiting for an insurance policy to come free so will just stick it on the FJ account and then enjoy its airy executive charms. 

[anonymous user]

Now on my way home, it's going to be a long day. It's very noisy with the hood up (stupid exhaust)

[tommotech]

After the 9N Polo had a new timing chain fitted last year it’s mainly been sitting around and doing the odd learner trip for younger T. That has stepped up over the last month and I’ve been using it for shorter journeys, quite a nice car to drive. However, last evening there was an FTP. It would crank, start and cut out straight away but no dash lights on at all. 
Main live supplies checked and fuses / relays with no obvious signs. Lives at engine management and instruments fuses meant getting the clocks out to check there. 
On removal the main connector didn’t feel quite right, outside of the connector was loose and pushing it home bought the panel to life. 
Further investigation showed the connector block pushes into the PCB, so I glued the plastic in place and soldered the pins back on the PCB, happy days a free repair!
 

The offending connector / pins  

 

Front row soldered, back row of pins were also ‘blobbed’ 

All good after deleting error codes for missing comms to Gateway (Airbag lamp was on)

Happy New Year All

[holbeck]

A2 dead, hgf. 

Decided I'm going to sack it off as I've found something more me. Collection next week. 

[anonymous user]

And finally home. Very few niggles. It has a noisy twin pipe exhaust, the stereo is an aftermarket Sony in demo mode which is very irritating when it's flashing away, passenger window doesn't work. It seemed a lot further journey home than I wanted, I doubt I'll be driving it that far in one go ever again. Unfortunately I have coffee'd up to stay awake, so probably won't sleep now.

[New POD]

10 hours ago, chadders said:

Probably not:

The cost of NHS dental treatment

People in certain groups are entitled to free NHS dental treatment, including those under 18, those under 19 still receiving full-time education, pregnant women or those who have had a baby in the last 12 months, and those on qualifying low-income benefits.

Otherwise, there are three standard NHS price bands. You should only pay once for each course of dental treatment. 

The bands cover:

Band 1 is £22.70  Examination, diagnosis (eg x-rays), preventive advice, a scale and polish if needed, application of fluoride varnish or fissure sealant. Urgent care, even if your appointment needs more than one appointment to complete.

Band 2 is £62.10  Everything listed in Band 1, plus further treatment such as fillings, root-canal work and extractions.

Band 3 is £269.30  Everything listed in Bands 1 and 2, plus crowns, dentures and bridges.

These costs apply from 1 April 2019 and are part of the Department of Health uplift in dental charges, which started in April 2016.

I broke my tooth earlier in 2019 and I had an emergency appointment under the NHS and IIRC the cost was standard at 36 quid. 

She pretty much replaced a triangular corner about 4 mm x 4 mm or 1/6 th of the surface area of the whole tooth. 

 

[brownnova]

12 hours ago, anonymous user said:

And finally home. Very few niggles. It has a noisy twin pipe exhaust, the stereo is an aftermarket Sony in demo mode which is very irritating when it's flashing away, passenger window doesn't work. It seemed a lot further journey home than I wanted, I doubt I'll be driving it that far in one go ever again. Unfortunately I have coffee'd up to stay awake, so probably won't sleep now.

Having done some long journeys in mine with the hood up and the noisy exhaust I can agree it can become very tiresome!! With the roof down however it’s excellent fun! 
Well purchased. They’re excellent cars... even if I’m thinking of selling mine! 

[Tenmil Socket]

6 minutes ago, brownnova said:

Having done some long journeys in mine with the hood up and the noisy exhaust I can agree it can become very tiresome!! With the roof down however it’s excellent fun! 
Well purchased. They’re excellent cars... even if I’m thinking of selling mine! 

I've been thinking of selling mine too...

[xtriple]

To anyone with an MX5 and thinking of selling, ust don't!

The little buggers are addictive and as soon as it's gone, you;ll be looking for another. I have had three and sold them all for valid reasons at the time, but I still want another. Even a sporty Merc doesn't fill the gap completely even though the SLK feels like a 'grown up' version with more toys, it is still not an MX5...

[brownnova]

Sadly mine just isn’t getting the use currently, and with baby_brownnnova on the way in June I can’t see that improving! 

My step son will probably disown me if I do sell though... 

[Skizzer]

I’m on a mission again.
 

Not a new car, just bringing home an old forum favourite.  Update later on at some point.

[HillmanImp]

8 minutes ago, Skizzer said:

I’m on a mission again. Not a new car, just bringing home an old forum favourite.  Update later on at some point.

? 

[MikeR]

thats 13 months MOT on the C1

 

it did 3.6K miles last year !!

[M'coli]

I like a palindromic odometer reading! For bonus points, why should I have re-set the trip meter 654 miles ago?

[chodweaver]

So the trip would read 0550?

That would definitely have put my aspi brain at ease.

[Skizzer]

3 hours ago, HillmanImp said:

 

? 

Not that one.

This one:

[beko1987]

It's still around, excellent! 

[xtriple]

I have done something today I haven't done for years.... serviced my own car.

I only went out to play with the pump thing and after discovering that two hoses would fit into each other and one of them was already down the dipstick hole, it seemed rude not to! My car holds 8 litres of oil and the pump gt out about 8 and a 1/4 litres which is impressive. The oil filter was the easiest to change ever once I dug out my old Honda bike oil filter tool to get the cover off. Opie included all the 'O' rings for the filter (3 of) and the ones for the drain plug which I didn't use obviously.

While the oil was draining (slow man...) I decided to change the plugs.  Again, easy peasy once I found a 30 point thingy and got my Teng tiny socket set into the space. It was on the second coil pack that my left arm/hand had a fairly major spasm/shaking fit and I dropped the bloody Teng extension, socket and 30 point into the bowels of the engine bay! Bugger....

I did have a dig around for it but all  I achieved was slicing my right arm to shreds so fucked it off and went and found another 30 and  relevant bits.  After that, I ust used my right arm/hand (I know my left hand is useless but having been left handed since birth, I forget sometimes/often) and got all the plugs changed, coil acks back on, new oil in and much to my amazement, it started straight up and sounded fine. I was expecting dramas as the coil packs were a bugger to get off but dead easy to put back... Back on with the airbox and the covers and al done in two hours. It would have been closer to one if I had been organised/knew where the tools were and what was needed and if I hadn't wasted time looking for that bloody bit (I'm assuming it will drop out of the undertray at some point) and most importantly, if I'd warmed the oil first. It was the slow drain that really dictated how long the job took.

I have to say I am massively impressed with the drain pump way of doing it, I have never got all the oil out before but I reckon the old girl was sat there devoid of lube or as close as 'fuck it' is to swearing.

[M'coli]

18 minutes ago, chodweaver said:

So the trip would read 0550?

That would definitely have put my aspi brain at ease.

Not quite - but close. I need to reset in 35.2 miles or so to get the next best thing, roughly 98 miles later.

[Floatylight]

Not that one.
This one:

Wowsers, not seen this before, Dad had three of these when I was a kid, many memories..

Sent from my Moto G (5) using Tapatalk

[danthecapriman]

1 hour ago, Skizzer said:

Not that one.

This one:

Yay, my old Granny!

How is it nowadays? Didn’t it have a few engine issues? It still looks fine.

I still really miss it too.

[skattrd]

Looks good Mr_skizzer.
I mustardmitt to a little trailer envy, one is on my shopping list for later this year (along with doing a trailer test).

[xtriple]

Love the Granny pig, very nice. Never had an estate but several saloons of all marks - MK2 was my fave, had a lovely 2.8 Ghia X auto injection with electric seats, air con, sunroof (electric) and all sorts. I felt like Lord Muck swanning around in it  

In other news (not really) whenever I checked the oil in the car it looked clean and new, when I drained it, it looked like black shit though it wasn't that old and when it was looked at properly, it was nice and clean. However, I 'think' (rarely) that the pump thing has got all the shit out fro the bottom of the sump that using the sump plug misses. I know it's very odd, but MB actually recommend using these pumps as you get more out! Certainly seems like it.

[Skizzer]

2 hours ago, danthecapriman said:

Yay, my old Granny!

How is it nowadays? Didn’t it have a few engine issues? It still looks fine.

I still really miss it too.

I’ve missed it too!

It still has engine issues: the heads have been removed after it massively overheated when Junkman delivered it to Breadvan about 18 months ago.  Unfortunately the mechanic who was fixing it had a drastic career change, so the engine is still in bits. They’re all there though, and won’t be hard to reassemble.

Body-wise it needs a NSR wheel arch (more than ever) and a patch on the rear valence but   it’s solid underneath:

The boot lid is rough by the latch; I’ll look out for a replacement tailgate, but might just get away with Vactan and some body filler:

The interior is fine, the seats are actually better than I remembered.

I’ve got to shift a couple of other cars first then I’ll give it some love.

 

[Eyersey1234]

That's a lovely looking Granny there