The grumpy thread

[dozeydustman]

What happened (and what model is it - I might have bits)

 

 

It's a 2006 93 Vector TiD 150. It's losing electricity somewhere but the alternator is throwing out 14v at the terminal, so thinking bad earth or something electrical is swallowing the juice (New battery in March but need to rule this out first). Also 2 swirl flaps have popped out of exhaust manifold. ABS, ESP & Traction control warnings keep coming up. Loses coolant. Needs washer jets looking at. think the top end is starting to knock as well. I've had it 3 years and done 30k in it, and was sub £1000 when I picked it up.

 

It's got 200k on it, so trying to balance between save or scrap. TBH I think it'd make a good spares or reapers.

 

Trouble is I love driving the old thing.

 

EDIT - 2006 93 Vector 1.9 TiD 150 SportWagon to be precise.

[captain_70s]

Surely better than being the accused?

Not in particular. I imagine they'll be off home with nay a care in the world same as me, only difference being is that I've not done anything to warrant being in court and have lost a day's wages. I could claim my expenses back of course, although obviously I paid towards them via taxes, something the criminals didn't.

 

They also had the case postponed as both of them were inexplicably too ill to attend the last time and then decided they needed two translators for this case despite being heard to have spoken English just fine by witnesses at the scene of the crime. Today they decided it'd be best to just change their plea to guilty, given they'd been caught red handed at the scene of the crime, although they've managed to cause the most inconvenience and expense for as many people as possible along the way.

 

Actually being burgled by them didn't actually anger me as much as them playing the system and wasting hours of my life. The other bloke who was going to be a witness said they should just be deported, I suggested they be deported to the bottom of the Clyde with some cinder blocks tied to their feet.

[Captain Furious]

Oh ey up that last paragraph will trigger some folk...

 

My Grump is that I sat in the car eating my lunch listening to the radio, as I do every day, and after 10 minutes the battery is stone cold dead. 

[Saabnut]

It's a 2006 93 Vector TiD 150. It's losing electricity somewhere but the alternator is throwing out 14v at the terminal, so thinking bad earth or something electrical is swallowing the juice (New battery in March but need to rule this out first). Also 2 swirl flaps have popped out of exhaust manifold. ABS, ESP & Traction control warnings keep coming up. Loses coolant. Needs washer jets looking at. think the top end is starting to knock as well. I've had it 3 years and done 30k in it, and was sub £1000 when I picked it up.

 

It's got 200k on it, so trying to balance between save or scrap. TBH I think it'd make a good spares or reapers.

 

Trouble is I love driving the old thing.

 

EDIT - 2006 93 Vector 1.9 TiD 150 SportWagon to be precise.

 

Aaah, too new for my spares pile I am afraid. I know what you mean, my modern is a 2007 version of the same thing, longest I have ever owned a daily.

[dozeydustman]

I'm thinking given that I get 14v directly from the alternator and only 12.1 at the battery, something is eating the juice quite severely. Trouble is, what? Engine management system seems most likely culprit as EML goes on, sometimes it goes into limp mode, then other times light goes out and it accelerates like a bat out of hell.

[Captain Furious]

Got a colleague to jump start it, it is alive again but the radio has now decided it doesn't work at all.  Fuck this car and its favourite colour.  It obviously does not want to live.

[scaryoldcortina]

I'm thinking given that I get 14v directly from the alternator and only 12.1 at the battery, something is eating the juice quite severely. Trouble is, what? Engine management system seems most likely culprit as EML goes on, sometimes it goes into limp mode, then other times light goes out and it accelerates like a bat out of hell.

The cable between the battery and the alternator, most likely!

[pshome]

I'm thinking given that I get 14v directly from the alternator and only 12.1 at the battery, something is eating the juice quite severely. Trouble is, what? Engine management system seems most likely culprit as EML goes on, sometimes it goes into limp mode, then other times light goes out and it accelerates like a bat out of hell.

Sounds like a cell has a short. Disconnect battery, charge with external charger and then check voltage without charger, Should not drop below 12.8V after 15 minutes.

.

[PhilA]

Me: Hey, honey. Seeing as we are out and about can we go look at that car** I had wanted to buy?

 

SWMBO: No, it's too late, we can do that at the weekend.

 

Me: *eyeroll* If you say so

 

 

Yup, the car was sold to someone whose wife didn't say no, this morning.

 

Phil

 

 

Edit: To top the day off the vet just called to let us know the dog's results came back. The dog has cancer.

Coupled with the wasted day yesterday in court that rolled to a continuance because one of the applicants who needed to be there didn't show up, I'm having a great* week.

 

 

 

**1965 Pontiac Catalina

[chaseracer]

**1965 Pontiac Catalina

 

WOOD.

[DodgeRover]

Actually being burgled by them didn't actually anger me as much as them playing the system and wasting hours of my life. The other bloke who was going to be a witness said they should just be deported, I suggested they be deported to the bottom of the Clyde with some cinder blocks tied to their feet.

Deported with their dependants then serve their sentances in prison in their home country. All assets in this country to be seized and forfitted as proceeds of crime.

 

Sounds reasonable to me.

[PhilA]

WOOD.

 

Yes. Also why I'm not really that happy.

[drum]

This works a treat, at this time of year put bits of scrap meat in and you will get loads more. Adult wasps eat sweet stuff but the grubs are carnivorous (nope I didn’t know that until fairly recently either). We had a nest in a shed back in the days the council did pest control, a guy came out with a can of smoke making stuff and a big stick. Killed them dead in no time, not sure if you can just buy the stuff if you aren’t a pest controller though. The nest was about as big as football.

  

 

Shame you can't get cymag anymore. Only took a teaspoon to wipe out a massive bike

 

Update my excellent* trip so far.

My bike is in Austria and has been diagnosed by the garage. It's got a failed stator, oddly exactly what I said sat when it broke. Parts take five days to order so it seems I'll get flown home and then back to collect it once fixed.

This trip really hasn't worked out well. I'll have to pay for parts and I know that'll be over £300 as I priced one about four years ago, last time it burnt out.

Thank fuck for the breakdown cover though. It's free from Carole Nash and apart from the Italian office has been excellent.

 

 

Major bummer Hooli, you've been looking forward to that trip for yonks too.

 

 

Not in particular. I imagine they'll be off home with nay a care in the world same as me, only difference being is that I've not done anything to warrant being in court and have lost a day's wages. I could claim my expenses back of course, although obviously I paid towards them via taxes, something the criminals didn't.

 

They also had the case postponed as both of them were inexplicably too ill to attend the last time and then decided they needed two translators for this case despite being heard to have spoken English just fine by witnesses at the scene of the crime. Today they decided it'd be best to just change their plea to guilty, given they'd been caught red handed at the scene of the crime, although they've managed to cause the most inconvenience and expense for as many people as possible along the way.

 

Actually being burgled by them didn't actually anger me as much as them playing the system and wasting hours of my life. The other bloke who was going to be a witness said they should just be deported, I suggested they be deported to the bottom of the Clyde with some cinder blocks tied to their feet.

Shame you can't get cymag anymore...oops, wrong rant. The crims know how to play the system to death. After I was robbed, all the witnesses to the crime had to turn up to court three times while the thief kept doing a no show. While waiting in the witness room on the third occasion, I got on the chat to witnesses of a different case. It was their 12th appearance for the same trial! My thief eventually pleaded guilty and we weren't even needed.

 

How can the accused just not bother turning up and get away with it? Do that a couple of times and that's as good as an admission of guilt, in my book.

[New POD]

my grump is that I have NOTHING to feel grumpy about, but yet I feel grumpy. 

 

Procrastination is my middle name. 

[Mally]

I think the estate agents have a legal obligation to pass on every offer, no matter how ridiculous it is. They have to even pass them on if the house is sold subject to contract.

 

They do, but they don't.

[Stanky]

FMaL

 

I use lastpass because I can only remember three passwords at any given time and work alone requires me to have about fifty, all of which expire at different times. Additionally, I have various things which need 2FA to access too, so i have Google Authenticator.

 

Google authenticator has gone out of sync with Lastpass, so I can't get into lastpass. Because i can't get into lastpass I cannot get into my email except on my phone. I try to disable 2FA on lastpass but the link they send to my phone gives a UID error on click and no further info.

 

F

F

S

 

I suspect I have more problems down the line, because if the 2FA is out of sync for Lastpass, its probably out of sync for everything else too. If this is the case I will have an actual aneurysm because disabling 2FA when you don't have the 2FA token to access the app in question in a monumental ballache. understandably so, but a ballache nonetheless.

 

This is further compounded by the fact that I know for certain i will have to send my phone, which houses the flaky Google authencator app to Virgin Mobile for a 'fix' on the screen very soon, as it has lost touch sensitivity down the right hand side of the screen. It seems to have had a phone version of a stroke and typing messages is really really difficult, especially if they contain the letter P anywhere.

 

So I need to undo 2FA somehow on about a dozen critical apps, send it off for mystery repair, get it back and then re-enable 2FA on everything.

 

There has to be a better way. I'm all for security on devices and apps but everything just became 101% secured, denying me access to any of it. Urgh. FFS

[loserone]

You have a secret backup access code written in a safe somewhere, right?

[Stanky]

Yep, and the combination to the safe is stored in Lastpass

[loserone]

That's one way to do it

[richardmorris]

FMaL

 

I use lastpass because I can only remember three passwords at any given time and work alone requires me to have about fifty, all of which expire at different times. Additionally, I have various things which need 2FA to access too, so i have Google Authenticator.

 

Google authenticator has gone out of sync with Lastpass, so I can't get into lastpass. Because i can't get into lastpass I cannot get into my email except on my phone. I try to disable 2FA on lastpass but the link they send to my phone gives a UID error on click and no further info.

 

F

F

S

 

I suspect I have more problems down the line, because if the 2FA is out of sync for Lastpass, its probably out of sync for everything else too. If this is the case I will have an actual aneurysm because disabling 2FA when you don't have the 2FA token to access the app in question in a monumental ballache. understandably so, but a ballache nonetheless.

 

This is further compounded by the fact that I know for certain i will have to send my phone, which houses the flaky Google authencator app to Virgin Mobile for a 'fix' on the screen very soon, as it has lost touch sensitivity down the right hand side of the screen. It seems to have had a phone version of a stroke and typing messages is really really difficult, especially if they contain the letter P anywhere.

 

So I need to undo 2FA somehow on about a dozen critical apps, send it off for mystery repair, get it back and then re-enable 2FA on everything.

 

There has to be a better way. I'm all for security on devices and apps but everything just became 101% secured, denying me access to any of it. Urgh. FFS

 

And this was exactly my concern when I heard of techies recommending password hosting sites. I use a handwritten notebook.

[Stanky]

And this was exactly my concern when I heard of techies recommending password hosting sites. I use a handwritten notebook.

 

The logic is sound - especially with 2FA on the actual vault. However if you lose the authenticator, it gets out of sync or you have some other issue then all the passwords are locked up safe and sound with you utterly unable to get in. I'm talking to their support bods now who are helpful, but not prompt because I'm on the free tier so it may take a little while...

[Pillock]

I use Authy rather than Google Authenticator, it can back up your TFA tokens (all encrypted, like) but otherwise works identically.

 

Password book isn't too bad, it's certainly more secure than having only a handful of passwords that you reuse.

 

British Gas reported that after the Ashley Madison data leak, they had thousands of accounts logged into, fraudulently but using a working password. Someone had simply downloaded the email addresses and password combos and started trying them on every site they could think of - BG were simply the first to notice the spike. All the affected accounts used the same password on those two - and probably many more - sites.

[Pillock]

Oh and I've accidentally lost my Lastpass TFA token before (factory reset my phone without thinking) - just had to log in and use the option to remove TFA. You'll need access to your email, and your Lastpass password.

[Des]

Deported with their dependants then serve their sentances in prison in their home country. All assets in this country to be seized and forfitted as proceeds of crime.

 

Sounds reasonable to me.

 

And when they get out, Argos bothering.

[Stanky]

Oh and I've accidentally lost my Lastpass TFA token before (factory reset my phone without thinking) - just had to log in and use the option to remove TFA. You'll need access to your email, and your Lastpass password.

 

Tried that and it gave a 'UID Error, contact support' message.

 

Nyphur - Yeah, I need to totally redo it once I get my phone back from VM. To be fair the system has worked faultlessly for about 20 months now. I was looking at those 2FA hardware keys earlier...

[eddyramrod]

Letter arrived today from DVLA asking for my licence.  It's going to be some time before I need the thing again...

[Guest Hooli]

I'm thinking given that I get 14v directly from the alternator and only 12.1 at the battery, something is eating the juice quite severely. Trouble is, what? Engine management system seems most likely culprit as EML goes on, sometimes it goes into limp mode, then other times light goes out and it accelerates like a bat out of hell.

EML ABS lights etc are more likely a symptom of the low voltage than anything else.

I only had a car that didn't charge even with three good alternators because the alternators weren't earthing to the block. They had a tiny earth strap that had stopped working even though it was physically fine to look at.

[Guest Hooli]

I'm officially fucking fucked off to fuck now.

Walked down the road past the dealer that's meant to fixing my bike to find it parked outside with the keys in at gone 9pm!

 

Obviously I rode it back to my hotel so it's secure. But I'm seriously not impressed at all.

 

Now thinking of hiring a van to get it home and taking my breakdown company to court for the costs. They are obviously utterly incapable of organising getting it fixed!

[danthecapriman]

Letter arrived today from DVLA asking for my licence.  It's going to be some time before I need the thing again...

That really sucks. Sorry to hear that Eddy, fingers crossed you’ll have it back soon.

[mrbenn]

Letter arrived today from DVLA asking for my licence. It's going to be some time before I need the thing again...

That’s horrible news. Genuinely sorry, Eddy.

 

Any idea of timescale for getting it back?