The new news 24 thread

[Bren]

PDR guy came out, John, really nice bloke and good at his job (done stuff for me before) and we tried all ways to get access to the back of the dent in the wing. The only way is through the door hinge holes, but with the door open, it is totally covering the dent so he can't see to do it! He doesn't want to take the door off, and neither do I as it looks proper nasty. So bodyshops....

 

Anyone who thinks I'm bashing the trades, stop reading here................................................................

 

Phoned two, and got blanked straight away. Didn't even want to see it as it's 'not the kind of thing we do anymore'. A third said that he can do five 'Smart repairs' in the time it would take to do it right. So I said 'charge me for five Smart repairs then'.... he declined.

 

Finally got a half hearted reply, and told to bring it over. So I did.

 

They guy could not have been less interested in the job if I'd said I was only paying in jelly babies. So, I thought, lets sweeten the deal a bit.... and I asked him to quote for all the bits and pieces it needs doing - full respray if needs be. He said (honestly, no word of a lie) 'If you offered me ten grand to respray it, I'd turn it down, too risky, too much to go wrong'.

 

It's not just garage/bodshops though, a mate of mine had booked a guy to fit a new kitchen and bathroom in his flat, booked before Christmas at that and with the job due to start, the guy has cancelled as he can do a lot more small jobs in the same amount of time.

 

John (the dent guy) said he cannot get anyone to do the mechanical bits for him... and, he wants a patio building at home. There was chap parked on his street with a sign written van, doing patio's so he stopped and had a chat. Even though the bloke was already in his street, he wouldn't go round to Johns house, have a look and give him a price. He said he doesn't mind waiting....

 

Couldn't be bothered, too busy. Turns out this guy lives in Johns road.

 

What the fuck is going on?

 

I don't mind paying, I don't mind paying cash, I'm not in a hurry, I'm a decentish sort of bloke and I don't talk to people like they are cunts. It seems, from talking to people, getting anything done nowadays here is a nightmare.

 

Right, as you were, flame suit is donned and ready so whoever wants to have a pop at me is more than welcome.

Ask yourself this - why are there so many migrant workers in the country?

 

It's because we are a nation of lazy fekkers that's why - our work ethic has completely gone with only a relatively small number of people prepared to pull their tripe out.

 

People cannot even wash a car any more - they take it to the eastern europeans down the road.

 

Costa? Starbucks? Don't you have a fucking kettle at home?

 

Remember the thing called time and motion? I wonder how many people today could cope with stuff like that - so many an hour, every hour, or you can have your cards.

[wuvvum]

Had a bit of a poke around today between sleet showers.  I've ascertained that the CX will definitely need a new strut gaiter thing - although it is leaking from where the top return pipe goes into the gaiter, it's the gaiter itself that has split rather than the pipe leaking.  I was going to do a temporary bodge with sealant, but it wouldn't stop bleeding for long enough for me to get a dry surface.  That's going to be a job for when I get back from holiday - I've dumped it back outside the house for now, with a tray underneath to (hopefully) catch the leaking LHM.

 

I think the Movano might be fucked.  It still starts on the button and pulls as well as it ever did, but it's managed to nom its way through a litre of engine oil in about 40 miles.  It doesn't put out huge plumes of blue smoke - it puffs out a bit when first started, but after a minute or two it turns black.  I can't tell if it's chucking it out into the engine bay as that's still covered with oil from when it was run without the oil cap on (prior to my ownership), but I can't see any dripping onto the ground so it must be burning it somehow.  I'm going to try putting a Wynn's treatment in there to see if that helps at all.  It's a shame because it's a really nice van to drive with plenty of power, but I can't afford to tip oil in it at that sort of rate.

[barefoot]

Fucking fun day out today!

 

Took the fair lady wife out to buy mothers day gifts and all went wrong.

Despite being serviced on Wednesday and manky old fuel pipes replaced, today we had a bit of a rare ftp when crap lodged itself in the new fuel pipes and we came to a gentle rest on a rather awkward bend. It gave us a first chance to test out the super cheap (£40) Auto Aid recovery service.

 

 

Burrows turned up within the hour, checked for spark & fuel & then took us home.

 

 

No drama's, but the fair Lady barefoot was less than impressed with either me, the car or my garage of choice.

 

 

All will be (returned  to the garage and) resolved next week & normal service will hopefully be resolved.

 

 

[richardmorris]

I take back the nasty things I said about Kettering- I went to an auto-electrical place this afternoon for a relay and saw a pair that made me stop in the middle of the road to take these shitty photos. J reg in better shape than the Merc sat on its back, the car's front wheelarch was mostly eaten away.

 

 

transitbeam.jpg

 

transit J.jpg

I moaned about Kettering a few years ago on the ccc forum, following what I thought a poor national meeting there, and someone who lived there made an official complaint about me. I said something along the lines of it not being a desirable place to visit. If I never go back it's still one visit too many.

[richardmorris]

Ask yourself this - why are there so many migrant workers in the country?

It's because we are a nation of lazy fekkers that's why - our work ethic has completely gone with only a relatively small number of people prepared to pull their tripe out.

People cannot even wash a car any more - they take it to the eastern europeans down the road.

Costa? Starbucks? Don't you have a fucking kettle at home?

Remember the thing called time and motion? I wonder how many people today could cope with stuff like that - so many an hour, every hour, or you can have your cards.

It's odd that people turn down work- unless they're so busy that they are working flat out and need to stop extra business. The place I took my merc. To last year are very busy with full restorations but still were happy to do my comparitively small job, although it did need to be booked in three months ahead.

[dollywobbler]

Right is the correct side for RHD cars, the indicator controls should leave your gearstick hand free.

 

Rubbish. On the 2CV/Dyane, you can easily operate the indicator with your thumb while changing gear, which leaves your right hand free for that important steering stuff. 

 

Only partially disagreeing though, as I think I do prefer a right-hand indicator in fact. Nippa and Prelude both so equipped.

[loserone]

Prelude so equipped.

 

Fucksocks.  Conversations will be had tomorrow.

[fordperv]

Ask yourself this - why are there so many migrant workers in the country?

 

It's because we are a nation of lazy fekkers that's why - our work ethic has completely gone with only a relatively small number of people prepared to pull their tripe out.

 

People cannot even wash a car any more - they take it to the eastern europeans down the road.

 

Costa? Starbucks? Don't you have a fucking kettle at home?

 

Remember the thing called time and motion? I wonder how many people today could cope with stuff like that - so many an hour, every hour, or you can have your cards.

Couldn't agree more, the thing that pees me off is the mentality of jobless mouth breathers, who won't apply for a job or fuck up the interview on purpose so they won't get hired because they deem the job beneath them or not paying enough, on another forum I read a guys post saying he was going for a job at Halfords but saw it was £6.80 an hour and working in a shop wasn't worth doing for that, if I was out of work I'd clean shit stained toilets for minimum wage

[beko1987]

Ivr always said that, should I find myself jobless its off to mcdonalds to get the bills paid.

 

But Ill just keep my head down in my middle range, average paying but safe job, especially in these tough times job wise

[MarvinsMom]

when i was on the dole, i tried several times to get in either at MaccyD's or Burger King.

 

i think what put them off was the fact i could read and write......

[AlabamaShrimp]

Had a strange ftp in the Fiesta tonight. Just drove home, turned it off but not five minutes later turned the key to move it and nothing.

 

No sound like the stater clicking but all the red dash lights on. As it was on a hill tried to roll it backwards to jump start but it was having non of it.

 

FFew more key turns and still the red lights then it tried to fire up eventually starting on about the fifth try. Put it on the drive and it was like nothing happened restarted a few time and no battery light on to say the alternator is dead.

 

So what is it a bad earth (although last year I screwed it to new metal) shit battery or alternator?

 

It has done it before but not for over two years and no parts were changed

[D Spares & Tyres]

Maybe the large power cable is breaking up by where it connects to the starter? My Escort was having these symptoms intermittently for ages until it actually broke altogether

[AlabamaShrimp]

If it was how would that have stopped me from jump starting it?

[cobblers]

Got roped into wiring up my mates T5 camper van today - He's building one for himself with the help of another mate I used to work with building campers. I really don't mind "wiring" stuff at all, inside, warm, with plenty of tea supplied. I'll do it for nowt if you buy me a nice lunch and get stuff prepared like I ask.

Matey who always drags me in to wire stuff has a workshop with a cracking log burner (that I made for him!) you can warm the whole place up uncomfortably warm levels in about an hour. 

However he can never be arsed moving his wedding vans outside (cos he'll have to wash them) so whenever I get dragged in to wire stuff up, it's always outside in the freezing fucking rain and they've never run any of the wires I've told them to so it always takes me 3 hours of donkey work before I can even get started.

 

Anyway I digress - His 2.5TDI van has been sat for 2 months in -ve temps with the original 13 year old battery and the ignition and interior lights left on. I chucked my little £40 lithium boost pack on it and it started no problems at all. Wound over for ages cos there's a leaky fuel line too. I'm amazed at how good this thing is!

[phil_lihp]

Came off a busy roundabout this afternoon after treating the XJ40 to a session at the jetwash to find a battered V-reg VW T4 TDi van sat blocking one of the exit lanes with its hazards on.  Everyone was going around it safely enough but it was hardly ideal.  I swung in in front and got out to find the driver was a middle-aged lady driving her daughter's van which had started running badly and then conked out altogether as she was leaving the roundabout, she had AA cover but no mobile phone.  She called them out using my phone and I pushed it a few metres on to the side of the road so it was out of the way.

 

It would turn over fine but wouldn't start, her description to me sounded like air in the fuel or a knackered fuel pump but nothing obvious was wrong and I am no mechanic so I waited with her for 90 minutes for the local firm the AA sent out, fortunately it was a nice day and she was an interesting character to talk to.

 

Recovery truck turns up, driver gets out and his first question is "have you put fuel in it recently?" to which she says yes, she put £20 in yesterday.

 

She got slightly indignant when he asked if she might have put petrol in it, "of course not, just because she's a women doesn't mean she'd do that..."  Recovery bloke then takes the fuel cap off, sniffs it and hands it to her.  Her face dropped as she confirmed she could smell petrol, not diesel.  Then huge embarrassment followed when she dug out yesterday's fuel receipt...£20.04 of Sainsbury's finest unleaded.  It obviously took a while for the diesel at the bottom of the tank to go down so it didn't die for a a good few miles.

 

She was absolutely mortified, though a fresh can of diesel saw it fire up, albeit reluctantly, right away so it could limp to the nearby BP forecourt for a tank of the correct fuel to flush it through.  I had to laugh, the recovery bloke said it was the 3rd one he'd had that day and he knew the symptoms so guessed what it was before he'd even pulled up.  I wish I'd thought to check that, I could have gone and got a can of diesel and had her on her way in a few minutes.  Every day's a school day!

[Cleon-Fonte]

On further investigation it turns out that the creamy coolant in my BX proves, despite my initial optimism, some Peugeot XUDs deserve their reputation for fragile head gaskets.

 

Back to the Sirion as daily driver, then.

[Angrydicky]

Re: garages/bodyshops, those kind of places that turn down your job because it's not an insurance job on a 2012 Corsa, are not worth your time and money. They are not interested in classic/unusual/old/rare cars, only in the mainstream modern stuff that they can get all parts for cheaply should they need them, easy to match paint etc, and if it's an insurance job then they get an inflated price for sorting it. 

 

It's just a matter of finding a place that likes old cars and is willing to work on them, and I'd be asking local classic car owners for bodyshop recommendations if Google doesn't throw up anything. I must admit, though I've found a few classic car-friendly garages and MoT stations over this way, I've never found a decent bodyshop that doesn't have your car sitting outside for weeks while they prioritise the more modern cars, and the insurance jobs.

[HMC]

On further investigation it turns out that the creamy coolant in my BX proves, despite my initial optimism, some Peugeot XUDs deserve their reputation for fragile head gaskets.

 

Back to the Sirion as daily driver, then.

That's a shame, hope you can sort it without too much hassle.

[BavarianRetro]

.......... and if it's an insurance job then they get an inflated price for sorting it.

 

 

To be fair to them, I don't think this part is correct any more.

 

 

It's just a matter of finding a place that likes old cars and is willing to work on them, and I'd be asking local classic car owners for bodyshop recommendations if Google doesn't throw up anything. I must admit, though I've found a few classic car-friendly garages and MoT stations over this way, I've never found a decent bodyshop that doesn't have your car sitting outside for weeks while they prioritise the more modern cars, and the insurance jobs.

 

This is spot on, though.

[Pillock]

 

 

People cannot even wash a car any more - they take it to the eastern europeans down the road.

 

Costa? Starbucks? Don't you have a fucking kettle at home?

You still pay farmers to grow/raise your food, you still pay a furniture store for a sofa, you still pay a garage for fuel. In this life you pay for stuff you can't or won't do yourself - I've got a garden, I could raise a cow and grow some carrots but it's easier to buy them.

 

Similarly, I'm not wasting energy washing a car when the chaps down the road will do it in a fifth of the time, without me buying the equipment.

 

And Costa make good coffee, without me taking a thermos with me when I go shopping

 

 

 

when i was on the dole, i tried several times to get in either at MaccyD's or Burger King.

 

i think what put them off was the fact i could read and write......

McD's are one of the largest educators in the country. They have bespoke training for their business, plus they'll help get their employees basic skills such as Maths and English GCSEs if needed.

[daveb47]

Couldn't agree more, the thing that pees me off is the mentality of jobless mouth breathers, who won't apply for a job or fuck up the interview on purpose so they won't get hired because they deem the job beneath them or not paying enough, on another forum I read a guys post saying he was going for a job at Halfords but saw it was £6.80 an hour and working in a shop wasn't worth doing for that, if I was out of work I'd clean shit stained toilets for minimum wage

You will find that most of them dont want to work cos they are making money dealing drugs & thieving or begging.

And they get benefits & housing benefit while doing so.

[stuboy]

are renaults wanting the title of mpv bonfire back from zafira owners..

 

http://www.kentonline.co.uk/deal/news/midday-car-fire-in-town-92142/

[Lacquer Peel]

I couldn't work in a customer facing role because I hate people.

[anonymous user]

^ Sadly I have to, not for much longer though. To be fair it's not that I hate other people, it's just that I don't understand how they think and have to keep biting my tongue to stop saying the bloody obvious, in such a way that it comes over as sarcastic/condescending.

[xtriple]

Re: garages/bodyshops, those kind of places that turn down your job because it's not an insurance job on a 2012 Corsa, are not worth your time and money. They are not interested in classic/unusual/old/rare cars, only in the mainstream modern stuff that they can get all parts for cheaply should they need them, easy to match paint etc, and if it's an insurance job then they get an inflated price for sorting it. 

 

It's just a matter of finding a place that likes old cars and is willing to work on them, and I'd be asking local classic car owners for bodyshop recommendations if Google doesn't throw up anything. I must admit, though I've found a few classic car-friendly garages and MoT stations over this way, I've never found a decent bodyshop that doesn't have your car sitting outside for weeks while they prioritise the more modern cars, and the insurance jobs.

I 'think' hope I've found one. Car Cosmetics Torquay. Sounds like a decent bloke, keen on old stuff, in fact, as far as I could make out, he only works on old classic stuff. His website is full of old Jaguars, Fords etc. He quoted (over the phone for the little bits) £259 but that fucking dent and if he does the bonnet it's going to get pricey really fast!

I hate going outside now 'cos all I see id that fucking dent  - cannot see the rest of the car at all. Obsessive?  Me?

 

Yeah, a tiny bit....

[plasticvandan]

1156 posts,and I don't even own a car!

[Lacquer Peel]

I don't hate people really but would find dealing with hundreds in a day overbearing.

[Asimo]

1156 posts,and I don't even own a car!

There's loads of folk on here with cars, tell us more about the bikes! Especially the Cub, the Moultons, MZ etc etc

[plasticvandan]

There's loads of folk on here with cars, tell us more about the bikes! Especially the Cub, the Moultons, MZ etc etc

I've had over 40 cares,every one of them shite,and none built in this century! I may start a shite transport thread as it may prove interesting to some

[Kiltox]

Been trying to sort out the cause of FTP on my shitty Kangoo van from the other day - clutch pedal link rod has worn out (as they also do on Clio and Twingo - same shite part)

 

Can I get the replacement in place? Can I fuck! Kneeling on the ground and twisting my arms around the pedal box assembly to get to the stupid rod and just can't get enough force on it to click the ball joint into place

 

Very rare that I need to give up and call in assistance but I think I need to find a mobile mechanic that's done this before - such a stupid little job too!