What makes you grin? Antidote to grumpy thread

[eddyramrod]

I washed my work van today.  Thus inspired, when I got home and had taken the dog out, I proceeded to wash my entire fleet, one by one!  I now have three lovely clean cars, which is a change!  I even, for the first time, detached Huggy's fender skirts so I could do the rear whitewalls with the green side of a sponge-scourer (brings them up a treat).  While I had the skirts off I gave the release mechanisms a blast of 3-in-1.

 

I'm knackered now though, My back hurts and I've spent a lot of the afternoon asleep, in half-hour chunks.  But it's still a grin, because I have three clean cars.  This is the first time I've washed the Rover!

[Mr_Bo11ox]

My tip with ECP is:

 

1. Go in and buy your stuff.
2. Leave the shop with all the parts that you have bought.
3. Walk round the car park whistling a tune or whatever, then go back in and tell them the parts are all wrong.
4. They will give you a load of different parts - take these ones home and attempt to fit them to your car.

Following this procedure will reduce incorrectly supplied parts to an acceptable 30-40% level.

[twosmoke300]

30/40 % if my factors had that hit rate then Parts would be going through windows!

[cobblers]

An acquaintance who runs a garage got a VW T4 autosleeper in with a rattly top end. 

They run a pair of oil pressure sensors, one NO and one NC. He didn't realise this so thought one might be faulty. 

He bought a pair of new sensors from ECP. Fitted them, and they confirmed no oil pressure.

£2000 rebuilt engine arrives. Fits it, buys ANOTHER pair of oil pressure sensors from ECP cos he forgot to take the others out of the old engine when it went it as core.

New engine has no oil pressure also. Heads are scratched, van sits for 6 months while he battles with the shysters who rebuilt the engine and won't have it back.

 

Of course there was nowt wrong with the new engine, or the old engine for that matter. ECP supplied the wrong pressure switches twice.

[Guest Hooli]

None of ours have to go to a main dealer either, cars or the commercials.

 

All ours are owned by Lex, they let you use anywhere that's on their books (which is loads of garages!) and that does include main dealers if that's what you want.

 

My old Sprinter went back to Pentagon Mercedes commercials for a lot of servicing etc. The one I've got now just goes round to the local garage. Even the first warranty services are included wherever the driver wants. As long as it's done I don't think Lex care.

 

Didn't 'block exemption' or something from Brussels mean that any VAT registered place can do it provided they use genuine parts?

[beko1987]

My tip with ECP is:

 

• Go in and buy your stuff.
• Leave the shop with all the parts that you have bought.
• Walk round the car park whistling a tune or whatever, then go back in and tell them the parts are all wrong.
• They will give you a load of different parts - take these ones home and attempt to fit them to your car.

Following this procedure will reduce incorrectly supplied parts to an acceptable 30-40% level.

I open them on the counter now after getting an inner tie rod rather than a track rod end.

 

When I go to fit them I'll start very early in the morning so I can get to aylesbury and back for 10am to start properly...

[Coprolalia]

Engine, new mounts, new(er) gearbox and shafts now in the Scirocco.

Some electrics to go in, then it's MOT time.

[Supernaut]

I get discount codes for at least 55% off GSF's parts emailed to me almost daily, thanks to being on their mailing list.

 

Still cheaper than ECP with 50% off. I'm toying with doing the Mondeo's discs and pads seeing as it'll cost £76, but they seem fine for now. Might wait until warmer weather.

 

 

 

The last thing I bought from ECP (besides fluids and generic parts) was a CV joint for the Audi A4 quattro I used to have. It fitted fine, but when leaving my friend's house in Huntly it let go. Turns out they sold me one for a FWD model which was ever so slightly smaller, so slid out of the splines in the hub. I ended up dumping the car in Huntly for a week while I ordered one from GSF, which turned out to be correct, then fitting it on the street in front of my friend's house. Thankfully it didn't damage the splines in the hub when it slipped out.

[Noel Tidybeard]

Highlight of your day year!

 

efa

[fraser.innes.3]

Grumpy turned into a grin! Company announced yet another round of redundancies, after getting rid of 15% of staff in March. I received the mail last week saying I was in the range for redundancies. As I have only been with them for a year, I was right in the sights. Today I got my higher security clearance approved which means I am immune from redundancy. Sorry to the guy who will be laid off instead of me.

 

Sent from my HUAWEI M2-A01W using Tapatalk

[yellowperil]

I had an interview at work yesterday for an internal vacancy, it went really well and I have been offered and accepted a new position, with a substantial pay increase.

On Monday I was informed that I am undertaking some training that I asked for and also yesterday I was offered some other training that I had previously asked for.

It is really hard to get time off where I work, in fact I lost a weeks holiday this year and two weeks about three years ago...

I put a request in for Xmas off in may this year, but it was rejected as too many people had got there before me, I was asked today that as I start my new position on Monday and the job I will be doing is suspended over xmas would I mind taking xmas week off?

This has been a grin week so far.

[robinmasters]

Made redundant last week, but it means I'm officially employed until the end of the month, then get paid my notice, then get some more on top for being a good boy and agreeing to it without a fight.

 

Time off just before Christmas, and sufficient money to fund starting a business/compensate for changing career and starting from the bottom again/allow me to have an extended period off. WCPGW?

 

It also means the company car goes back, so I can drive something less bland.

[Kiltox]

GSF are only cheaper than ECP in certain cases and are just as capable at supplying completely the wrong part.

 

Nothing worse than waiting all morning for delivery 2 of the day from ECP and finding they’ve fucked it up so you need to go there to sort it anyway because delivery 3 is 3 hours away.

[Hendry]

All these tales about ECP and GSF is why I’ve always paid extra for genuine parts from a dealer, I’m impatient, cba waiting for the right ones, after waiting for the incorrect ones originally too.

 

I had my fingers burnt spending 100quid at ECP buying a 17” TSW alloy wheel to replace a buckled one on a set of wheels I only originally paid £570 for brand new including 4 brand new 17” tyres, needed it in a particular offset ET to match the 3 on the car, wasn’t hard to get right like an actual mechanical part, just needed a 17” TSW Pace alloy wheel, 4x100 stud pattern and this particular ET offset, didn’t discover until the car returned from the bodyshop it had a different ET and sat further in from the other wheels on the car due to higher offset, be a bit like permanently running 3x 15” factory alloys with a 15” steel spare on a car with different offset, mucks up the cars handling. Too late to take it back for a correct one as it had a tyre on by then and had been on the car whilst driven for 1000 Miles until one day I saw the car from behind and noticed one wheel sat further in the arch than the other and whipped them off to check what was stamped, didn’t know ECPs reputation for it back then.

[Kiltox]

Main dealers can be shite and slow too.

 

Having said that. Massively impressed that Dacia/Renault Gloucester could get me roof bars for my Duster in 24h for half the price of Halfords.

[beko1987]

Meh, pay peanuts, take your chances!

[panhard65]

Main dealers can be shite and slow too.

 

Having said that. Massively impressed that Dacia/Renault Gloucester could get me roof bars for my Duster in 24h for half the price of Halfords.

Yeap I had to get a track rod end for a Diahatsu Hijet. All the pattern ones were wrong as it seems they only used this type joint for a year (1994) Amazingly it was available main dealer but at 85 quid plus vat and we had to wait 6 bloody weeks for it.

[fordperv]

50% off brakes at euro car parts until 9pm. Just put the Zafira's front discs and pads, and the rear pads for the gooner through for just over £50 for the lot, with free delivery as I can't be bothered to trek to the store

Will 50% of the parts be right?

[twosmoke300]

Nope

[dollywobbler]

Latest issue of Retro Japanese is making me smile. That's our eighth issue done, and I got given complete free rein. Hirst talks about the Subaru Legacy, Ratdat talks about the surprising number of Nissan N12 Pulsar/Cherry spin-offs and I drive a peach of a Honda Civic second-gen. And a Nissan President. And a Datsun Fairlady 1500 that was sold new in Rhodesia. Happy times! I also compared my Honda with a Nissan Cube. 

 

It's on sale 15th December. If it sells well, despite this motley collection of non-commercial motors, I'll be thrilled. We even had a Daihatsu Sportrak buyer's guide FFS!

[bramz7]

Handed in my notice today due to impending job change. Oddly timed well as my pay was going to be coming down slightly, now not a worry. My new job has something like 8 weeks of training though....yikes.

Exciting stuff.

[andy18s]

Latest issue of Retro Japanese is making me smile. That's our eighth issue done, and I got given complete free rein. Hirst talks about the Subaru Legacy, Ratdat talks about the surprising number of Nissan N12 Pulsar/Cherry spin-offs and I drive a peach of a Honda Civic second-gen. And a Nissan President. And a Datsun Fairlady 1500 that was sold new in Rhodesia. Happy times! I also compared my Honda with a Nissan Cube.

 

It's on sale 15th December. If it sells well, despite this motley collection of non-commercial motors, I'll be thrilled. We even had a Daihatsu Sportrak buyer's guide FFS!

can anyone grab a copy for me and post to a Middlesex address?

[dollywobbler]

Should be possible to order online once that issue is up. We deliver pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm sure even to Bulgaria.

[5speedracer]

People's thought process.

One of the lads at work has a 59plate Range Rover sport.He was complaining about his running costs 22-25 mpg on his 36mile round trip to work and £500 a year road tax plus what ever his insurance is.

So he has spent £4000 in a Vauxhall Corsa.

Took the RRS off the road and into the garage as it is still on finance.

So he has spent £4k savings,still paying finance just to save a couple of quid on fuel and tax.

Didn't he know these things before he bought it?

Is he involved in capital expenditure for (insert large Co here) by any chance?

 

Sent from my Redmi 4 using Tapatalk

[DodgeRover]

People's thought process.

One of the lads at work has a 59plate Range Rover sport.He was complaining about his running costs 22-25 mpg on his 36mile round trip to work and £500 a year road tax plus what ever his insurance is.

So he has spent £4000 in a Vauxhall Corsa.

Took the RRS off the road and into the garage as it is still on finance.

So he has spent £4k savings,still paying finance just to save a couple of quid on fuel and tax.

Sod that! Should have bought a V8 on gas

[Mr A Lawrence]

Huge grin!!!

 

Just paid my last finance payment on my jaguar S type.

 

Now I'm finance free!!!

[andy18s]

Should be possible to order online once that issue is up. We deliver pretty much anywhere in the world. I'm sure even to Bulgaria.

Ah,but you sending it out doesn't mean it actually gets here using the usual post...

In fact,since we moved here 13months ago we've had 2 deliveries by "normal" post

Household deliveries aren't done in the villages,you pop down to the post office to collect

Either there's a sackfull of stuff at the main sorting office,or it's grown legs and err,legged it

[dollywobbler]

Ah! Anyway, can be bought online and delivered where you like.

 

CLICK HERE

[AlabamaShrimp]

That link says a 404, issue not found.

[DeeJay]

Worked for me.