The new news 24 thread

[Fat_Pirate]

It's 40 years to the day since I got fired from my first job, working in the service department of Mann Egerton in King's Lynn. I was sent to collect the days-old Maestro Automatic of some old boy who was unhappy about the position of the wipers when parked - it had a lot more wrong with it after I understeered it into a building sideways, 'cos I was driving like an absolute bell-end.  I remember the door mirror folding in, ballooning, then exploding, like it was in slow motion.  This followed 2 previous 'incidents' so it came as no great surprise to me. 

[artdjones]

Retirement beckons from Monday on.

[Split_Pin]

13 hours ago, artdjones said:

Retirement beckons from Monday on.

Superb, congrats!

[chadders]

13 hours ago, artdjones said:

Retirement beckons from Monday on.

Enjoy it, it's wonderful.

[Dan29]

15 hours ago, artdjones said:

Retirement beckons from Monday on.

Congratulations! I agree with what @chadders said. How did your last day of work go? 🙂

[ruffgeezer]

Compare and contrast:-

Before:

 

And after:-

 

Someone had thoughtfully left a stich on steering wheel cover in the ZX so today I finished the job, it's far from perfect but definitely better that it was before.

The original stereo is dead, so it could do with a fascia adapter really.

[Fat_Pirate]

You may remember I tried to offload a hot tub last year, but nobody volunteered.  So this week...

My little Ryobi reciprocating saw did most of this, until the motor became clogged with debris.  I tried spraying some contact cleaner into it... whilst it was running, and there was fire, so much fire.  Like the hot tub, he's wiv da angles now.

 

[richardmorris]

https://www.playcardle.com

[High Jetter]

20 minutes ago, richardmorris said:

https://www.playcardle.com

Cardle 1/5
Streak 1🔥
Total Score 15
🟢 🟢 🟢
https://www.playcardle.com

How do you go to the next pic?

[richardmorris]

1 hour ago, High Jetter said:

Cardle 1/5
Streak 1🔥
Total Score 15
🟢 🟢 🟢
https://www.playcardle.com

How do you go to the next pic?

Tomorrow. It’s one a day like wordle.

[High Jetter]

1 minute ago, richardmorris said:

Tomorrow. It’s one a day like wordle.

I am indebted, etc...

[artdjones]

5 hours ago, Dan29 said:

Congratulations! I agree with what @chadders said. How did your last day of work go? 🙂

I sold my largest lump of work to a friend who just turned 60, and wanted a stable supplement to the work he already does, until he retires. It's all my window cleaning jobs in one town. So I  met up with him, cleaned the shop windows that were due, and spent the rest of the day introducing him to various customers. Then I took the first installment of the payment and went home. We had a great day, as he's fun to be with.

The free* money starts rolling in on Monday, but I'm still going to do 4 or 5 days a month of work.

The Irish state pension got sorted in two days, the UK one hasn't yet, even after weeks. The only reason I know they have the application is receiving back my birth certificate, which I had to enclose with the form.

[Dan29]

4 minutes ago, artdjones said:

I sold my largest lump of work to a friend who just turned 60, and wanted a stable supplement to the work he already does, until he retires. It's all my window cleaning jobs in one town. So I  met up with him, cleaned the shop windows that were due, and spent the rest of the day introducing him to various customers. Then I took the first installment of the payment and went home. We had a great day, as he's fun to be with.

The free* money starts rolling in on Monday, but I'm still going to do 4 or 5 days a month of work.

The Irish state pension got sorted in two days, the UK one hasn't yet, even after weeks. The only reason I know they have the application is receiving back my birth certificate, which I had to enclose with the form.

Sounds great. I retired early about six years ago and did take a while to adjust to my identity not being tied to work, and to not having a regular pay cheque. Of course if you retire at the "normal" age and get the state pensions (hopefully your UK one will get sorted soon) then that would probably make the transition easier due to the free* money. Hope you enjoy your newfound freedom - you've earned it!

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, Dan29 said:

Hope you enjoy your newfound freedom - you've earned it!

I have plans. Off to Lisbon for four days in a fortnight to chill.

[robt100]

So youve sold the round completely @artdjones or just renting it out? Congrats on the retirement though, wish I could🤣

[EyesWeldedShut]

3 hours ago, Fat_Pirate said:

You may remember I tried to offload a hot tub last year, but nobody volunteered.  So this week...

 

 

Y tho?

[artdjones]

10 minutes ago, robt100 said:

So youve sold the round completely @artdjones or just renting it out? Congrats on the retirement though, wish I could🤣

I had a lot of work in one town, so I sold it  for around 3 months turnover. I still have some other work dotted about that I will carry on doing while I can be bothered. 

I've always stayed a sole trader, as I never wanted to complicate the business. And especially not have employees. Renting out work would add complication just when I want things to become even simpler 

[puddlethumper]

On 04/02/2026 at 21:43, puddlethumper said:

As I shall be going to Scotland on Friday, Daventry to Findhorn, near Forres helping a mate move up there, I've done a bit on my Mazda. Oil and filter, new brake pads and sliders all greased up, drop links and new belts for alternator and power steering. Eight and a half hours, according to Google, in a 33 year old Mazda. WCPGW. I'm betting nothing but who knows.

Met a guy in Screwfix today who was in a red BX. Turns out he has three of them plus a DS 21. 

Further to this I  went up Friday, 10 hours. Back Saturday, 8 hours. No problems at all, which is how I thought it would be. The first part from Forres is the A940 which is a brilliant  driving road especially on a Saturday morning at 9 when there is next to no traffic. Good sight lines to take the racing line. I would think for bikers it would be maybe a bit better. 

The only thing I'm not keen on is the seats. I need a lot more squidge. French maybe. It will sit happily at 85, on a private road, of course and corners better than I expected. I can't remember if any member has a 323 but I would be interested in there take on one. 

[beko1987]

We have a teaspoon shortage in the house. I'm 96% sure the kids are throwing them in the bin whilst scraping plates or eating them but either way we're down to 3 and their shit ones.

After a beer or 2 I went onto ebay and found the perfect replacement set

Should last for a while, their all different places in the uk apparently (seller has tons of listing for different countries of spoon in job lots too. I assume someone's undiagnosed adhd gran sadly passed not long ago...)

[cort1977]

My neighbour, who's very nice but not mechanically minded, drove in to a flood yesterday that was a little deeper than thought.

3-year-old petrol BMW. It stopped but he managed to get it going again and brought it home with 'lots of white smoke from the exhaust'.

What's the drill here, dry out, change the oil and crank with the spark plugs removed?

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, cort1977 said:

My neighbour, who's very nice but not mechanically minded, drove in to a flood yesterday that was a little deeper than thought.

3-year-old petrol BMW. It stopped but he managed to get it going again and brought it home with 'lots of white smoke from the exhaust'.

What's the drill here, dry out, change the oil and crank with the spark plugs removed?

The drill is to get rid of it ASAP before the slightly bent conrod comes out of the side of the block. That thing is now a £25k liability.

[Mr Pastry]

36 minutes ago, cort1977 said:

My neighbour, who's very nice but not mechanically minded, drove in to a flood yesterday that was a little deeper than thought.

3-year-old petrol BMW. It stopped but he managed to get it going again and brought it home with 'lots of white smoke from the exhaust'.

What's the drill here, dry out, change the oil and crank with the spark plugs removed?

I have been doing floody things here, that's another story.   But from that experience I would have thought:

If he actually got it going again, then it stopped because water getting into exhaust pipe, and the white smoke is just steam from everything drying out.  If so, and it still starts, and runs alright, just drive it around and get it good and hot, no further action required.

To get water in the sump it would have to get in through a breather or dipstick hole and I doubt if a 3 yr old BMW would have anything so primitive.  Even then it would have to be very low down, to allow water in.    What does the oil look like, if you can see it - has it got a dipstick or a drain plug, or can you pop the filter off?

It it got enough water into the engine air intake to stop it, I doubt if it would start again so easily.  And is the air intake low enough to have been under water?

 

 

[beko1987]

I had white smoke from my diesel xantia when the cambelt slipped and threw the pump timing off...

I'd certainly start by dumping the oil and cranking with no plugs, zero harm in doing so. Got a boroscope to check the cylinders?

If it was going to lock up and be fucked it would hopefully have done so by now 🤞 Can you drive the front up onto ramps to drain any water from the exhaust?

[artdjones]

2 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

I have been doing floody things here, that's another story.   But from that experience I would have thought:

If he actually got it going again, then it stopped because water getting into exhaust pipe, and the white smoke is just steam from everything drying out.  If so, and it still starts, and runs alright, just drive it around and get it good and hot, no further action required.

To get water in the sump it would have to get in through a breather or dipstick hole and I doubt if a 3 yr old BMW would have anything so primitive.  Even then it would have to be very low down, to allow water in.    What does the oil look like, if you can see it - has it got a dipstick or a drain plug, or can you pop the filter off?

It it got enough water into the engine air intake to stop it, I doubt if it would start again so easily.  And is the air intake low enough to have been under water?

 

 

It's probably got water into the back box.

[Tayne]

3 hours ago, cobblers said:

The drill is to get rid of it ASAP before the slightly bent conrod comes out of the side of the block. That thing is now a £25k liability.

This.

My older diesel BMW was never quite the same after coming to a halt in about 150mm of water.

[Split_Pin]

My wife's manager has been off work for a wee while as her father passed away a short time ago. She returned to work today and brought these for me:

The book on the right has a few service stamps from MacRae & Dick in 1970 who seemed omnipresent in the Highlands even when I lived there in '05. I guessed it could only be a Land Rover and not a Range Rover.

Then after lunch, 2 pictures of her late fathers LRs came through which brings the documentation to life 🙂

There was some other interesting documentation from 1993 about replacement chassis and 2 articles about a Mazda diesel engine conversion which I'll enjoy looking through.

[richardmorris]

3rd mot on the tipo this morning.  Pass.

[cort1977]

4 hours ago, Mr Pastry said:

I have been doing floody things here, that's another story.   But from that experience I would have thought:

If he actually got it going again, then it stopped because water getting into exhaust pipe, and the white smoke is just steam from everything drying out.  If so, and it still starts, and runs alright, just drive it around and get it good and hot, no further action required.

To get water in the sump it would have to get in through a breather or dipstick hole and I doubt if a 3 yr old BMW would have anything so primitive.  Even then it would have to be very low down, to allow water in.    What does the oil look like, if you can see it - has it got a dipstick or a drain plug, or can you pop the filter off?

It it got enough water into the engine air intake to stop it, I doubt if it would start again so easily.  And is the air intake low enough to have been under water?

 

 

OK, thanks. Some things to think about there.

Spoke to him earlier and he said it runs fine at town speeds, when putting your foot down there is a bit of white smoke which maybe lends credence to some water left in the exhaust? Maybe? clutching at straws...

Anyway, I'll go and have a look after work and see if we can see anything in the oil.

[Split_Pin]

1 minute ago, cort1977 said:

OK, thanks. Some things to think about there.

Spoke to him earlier and he said it runs fine at town speeds, when putting your foot down there is a bit of white smoke which maybe lends credence to some water left in the exhaust? Maybe? clutching at straws...

Anyway, I'll go and have a look after work and see if we can see anything in the oil.

If it had ingested water and bent a rod it would be clattering its balls off or not running at all. It would sound painfully bad. 

I reckon get some miles on it, kick fuck out of it a few times and see if it clears.

[Mac69400]

On 08/02/2026 at 13:15, ruffgeezer said:

Compare and contrast:-

Before:

 

And after:-

 

Someone had thoughtfully left a stich on steering wheel cover in the ZX so today I finished the job, it's far from perfect but definitely better that it was before.

The original stereo is dead, so it could do with a fascia adapter really.

The stereo was working when I had it. The code is on the front of the manual, although there are two four digit numbers written on there, and I can't remember which one it is!