The grumpy thread

[Yoss]

What is that symbol under the P? I don't think I've ever seen that. Looks it could be a letter of the Greek alphabet which makes me think itcoykd be alerting you the next variant of covid. 

Edit:

Just went to look at the Greek alphabet and found this. 

It looks like this. I didn't know Lambda was a Greek letter but I'm guessing it's a lambda sensor warning light. Top deduction by me there. 

[vulgalour]

JAYSUS.  That wasn't even main beam.  Range Rover headlights are a blight.

[EML]

9 minutes ago, Yoss said:

What is that symbol under the P? I don't think I've ever seen that. Looks it could be a letter of the Greek alphabet which makes me think itcoykd be alerting you the next variant of covid. 

It a Volvo thing, something to do with the engine management

[artdjones]

10 hours ago, Sir Chocolate Teapot said:

I have been vaccinated abroad, i have had 3 vaccines for covid, i am registered here in uk with a doctor now.

Nhs says now possible to register foreign vaccines on nhs for covid pass.

I queue online diligently and with true British patience to make a booking to physically show my papers and get them registered.

I tell them where i am in the country.

They give me my nearest centre able to deal with foreign vaccines.

Sheffield.

I live in Basingstoke !! 150 miles away.

A 300 mile round trip to show some papers.

 

It's called levelling up.

[Mally]

On 12/13/2021 at 2:44 PM, wuvvum said:

That didn't go well.  Went out to the Mazda at lunchtime to check the coolant level, noticed a drip from under the thermostat housing so removed it to check whether the gasket was seated properly.

Well shit.  That's that car out of action then until I can source a replacement.  Only possibilities I've found so far are a new housing from a site in the Philippines which won't post outside the country, and a rather overpriced used Ford Festiva housing on eBay US. @gricer do you have any hot tips for sourcing bits for these?  I could try JB Weld I suppose but that's unlikely to be a long term solution...

 

As a last resort it is possible to have something similar made that would do the job.

I could have done it at one time, but due to my son's impending job change it's not easy. @JimH may know a man/lady  who can.

[High Jetter]

1 hour ago, Yoss said:

What is that symbol under the P? I don't think I've ever seen that. Looks it could be a letter of the Greek alphabet which makes me think itcoykd be alerting you the next variant of covid. 

Edit:

Just went to look at the Greek alphabet and found this. 

It looks like this. I didn't know Lambda was a Greek letter but I'm guessing it's a lambda sensor warning light. Top deduction by me there. 

Yup, hence lambda sensors on modern stuff with cats. 

[wuvvum]

1 hour ago, Mally said:

As a last resort it is possible to have something similar made that would do the job.

I could have done it at one time, but due to my son's impending job change it's not easy. @JimH may know a man/lady  who can.

It looks like a Mk1 MX5 housing would probably fit on - the pipe exits at the wrong angle but that's not insurmountable.  The main issue is that on the 121 the temp sensor is in the housing, and there's no hole for one on the MX5.

[Mally]

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

It looks like a Mk1 MX5 housing would probably fit on - the pipe exits at the wrong angle but that's not insurmountable.  The main issue is that on the 121 the temp sensor is in the housing, and there's no hole for one on the MX5.

You can/could  get adaptors to insert in the side of the top hose for a temp sensor..

Or a metal tube with sensor housing and cut the top hose in half.

[Lankytim]

2 hours ago, reb said:

Hard acceleration up a hill has yielded this:

Restarting the car didn't clear it, so I suppose I'd better get the obd cable from the unit!

Is that a 940? There’s a heating element in the Lambda sensor which is controlled by the fuel pump relay, the relay often plays up and can put this light on. 

[New POD]

15 hours ago, Pieman said:

What's the weather like up there on that high horse of yours?

Oh, it's lovely. I'm sorry.  Are you just being a bit nasty though. 

But it's dangerous out there. People make mistakes. If you were teaching Your kids to cross a road at a pedestrian crossing wouldn't you teach them, by saying. No wait.  That might be the green man, but is that car going to stop? 

Right it's stopped. We can cross. Keep a look out for cyclists. 

[Mrcento]

On 12/9/2021 at 4:45 PM, cort16 said:

The Vet system seems to be setup to extract as much money from pet insurance as is possible, which means it really hurts when have to pay it out your own pocket.

Taking a pet to the vets gives you a flavour of what it must be like living in America when you need to go to the doctors.

No different to car body shops that do insurance repairs.

Walk in and ask for a quote on something really simple like a cracked bumper and a little dent on a bonnet and be astonished at the number they pluck out the air when you tell them it's not going through insurance.

It will be 4 figures. Easily. £1500+ For what should be a 2-300 repair tops.

[New POD]

5 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Oh lovely.  I'm sorry.  Are you being a bit patronising though?

Yes. Almost definately. But if my patronising makes you think, next time you cross a road, and a car* goes straight through a red light, then so be it.  At least you'll be able to think "That patronising bastard, New POD. How dare he save my life" 

*That car was me the other week. I went through a pedestrian crossing on red in my car, by mistake, because for once** in 30 years of driving I wasn't driving up to the required standard. 

** I say once. Cast the first stone if anyone can say they are without sin. I've clearly made a few mistakes over the years. 

 

[Talbot]

4 hours ago, New POD said:

But it's dangerous out there. People make mistakes. If you were teaching Your kids to cross a road at a pedestrian crossing wouldn't you teach them, by saying. No wait.  That might be the green man, but is that car going to stop?   Right it's stopped. We can cross. Keep a look out for cyclists. 

All of this is absolutely correct, true and reasonable.  However, the point I made was that if someone on here, who we can reasonably assume is an adult and has half-a-clue what they are doing crossing the road, has managed to be on the recieving end of some bellend jumping a red light and nearly running them down, it's not exactly helpful for you to suggest that they haven't taken enough care crossing the road, IE victim blaming.

The issue is that someone not paying attention and/or driving like a cunt has gone through a red lamp (IE a criminal offence).  Whilst a pedestrian crossing the road is of course the vulnerable party, and hence it's reasonable for them to need to be vigilant and careful, only one party broke the law and hence needs to up their game when it comes to road safety.

[juular]

13 hours ago, Yoss said:

What is that symbol under the P? I don't think I've ever seen that. Looks it could be a letter of the Greek alphabet which makes me think itcoykd be alerting you the next variant of covid. 

Edit:

Just went to look at the Greek alphabet and found this. 

It looks like this. I didn't know Lambda was a Greek letter but I'm guessing it's a lambda sensor warning light. Top deduction by me there. 

The lambda light on these tends to be the EML. So pretty much anything.

[JimH]

On 12/13/2021 at 2:44 PM, wuvvum said:

That didn't go well.  Went out to the Mazda at lunchtime to check the coolant level, noticed a drip from under the thermostat housing so removed it to check whether the gasket was seated properly.

Well shit.  That's that car out of action then until I can source a replacement.  Only possibilities I've found so far are a new housing from a site in the Philippines which won't post outside the country, and a rather overpriced used Ford Festiva housing on eBay US. @gricer do you have any hot tips for sourcing bits for these?  I could try JB Weld I suppose but that's unlikely to be a long term solution...

 

There are a number of ways you could deal with this. 

It would be fairly painless to fabricate one in steel. It might not look the prettiest thing on God's clean earth but it would be fairly painless and easy to do. You could do the same in aluminium but that would involve ali welding which we can't do yet.

The MX-5 option is probably the easiest and then jury rig/bodge/expertly modify it to take the temperature probe. There are many ways that could be done.

We have had good success with using Belzona of some flavour to rebuild the broken part. You need to take time and effort to make a job of it and Belzona are less than forthcoming when selling their products. However, you can usually pick up part used or surplus stock* on ebay. If you take time getting things cleaner than a clean thing that has had a good wash because it was meeting someone they liked then things often pan out quite successfully. 

[wuvvum]

I have actually found that some versions of the MX5 did have the temp sensor in the housing.  The only issue is the outlet pipe is far too big, so would need to bodge something together with reducers and joiners, but it's probably doable.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

6 hours ago, New POD said:

Yes. Almost definately. But if my patronising makes you think, next time you cross a road, and a car* goes straight through a red light, then so be it.  At least you'll be able to think "That patronising bastard, New POD. How dare he save my life" 

*That car was me the other week. I went through a pedestrian crossing on red in my car, by mistake, because for once** in 30 years of driving I wasn't driving up to the required standard. 

** I say once. Cast the first stone if anyone can say they are without sin. I've clearly made a few mistakes over the years. 

 

No, I won't think of you next time I cross the road because i) I don't know you and ii) I'll be busy trying to cross the road and iii) Nobody likes unsolicited advice because it's patronising and unnecessary.

[chadders]

I'd managed to cross the road numerous times before you posted your advice. I plan on carrying on the same as I always did.

[captain_70s]

I used to think of NewPOD before crossing the road but my girlfriend kept complaining about me throwing myself into oncoming traffic. 

[New POD]

21 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

No, I won't think of you next time I cross the road because i) I don't know you and ii) I'll be busy trying to cross the road and iii) Nobody likes unsolicited advice because it's patronising and unnecessary.

Fair. 

On 13/12/2021 at 18:58, Pieman said:

To the bloke in the bright blue BMW who nearly ran me down by ignoring the red light on the pelican crossing I was using earlier today, I hope you catch Omicron and snuff it, you fucking blind cunt.

(It's not the first time I've nearly been hit by an ignorant twat on that crossing either.)

What about you pieman? Given that it was not the first time it nearly happened ? 

[New POD]

5 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

I used to think of NewPOD before crossing the road but my girlfriend kept complaining about me throwing myself into oncoming traffic. 

😂😂🤣🤣🤗🎅

[Mally]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I have actually found that some versions of the MX5 did have the temp sensor in the housing.  The only issue is the outlet pipe is far too big, so would need to bodge something together with reducers and joiners, but it's probably doable.

You called sir?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252222008497?hash=item3ab99a6cb1:g:koEAAOSwPIhhYDDu

[MikeR]

once I hit 70 I will have an excuse .....and a loophole

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/driving-law/over-70s-should-not-be-penalised-for-running-red-lights-experts-say/

thats if I make 70 .....

 

[High Jetter]

18 minutes ago, MikeR said:

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/driving-law/over-70s-should-not-be-penalised-for-running-red-lights-experts-say/

I can not believe that. They should be penalised the same as anyone else, and face an assessment IMHO.

[captain_70s]

Seems like more of a way to remove licenses without coming under fire for being ageist than anything else. 

Any old duffer can get away with paying a fine and then go straight back to driving despite having lost the ability a decade ago.

[wuvvum]

I refitted the thermostat housing to the Mazda at lunchtime and to nobody's great surprise the JB Weld repair didn't hold.  

Looking at the underbonnet layout again I don't think the MX5 solution is going to work either - the pipe on the MX5 housing exits at 90° rather than straight out (because longitudinal engine), if I have it pointing backwards it'll foul the distributor and if I have it pointing forwards I won't have enough clearance between the pipe and the radiator to get the radiator top hose on - unless I remove the radiator fan assembly, which probably isn't a very good idea.

So it looks like I might have to bite the bullet and buy an overpriced American Festiva housing...

[Mally]

4 hours ago, MikeR said:

once I hit 70 I will have an excuse .....and a loophole

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/news/driving-law/over-70s-should-not-be-penalised-for-running-red-lights-experts-say/

thats if I make 70 .....

 

Good idea.

I think I should be exempt from car park charges too. because I can't see the signs can I?

Same with speeding. How do I know if it says 40 or 60?

[New POD]

24 minutes ago, Mally said:

Good idea.

I think I should be exempt from car park charges too. because I can't see the signs can I?

Same with speeding. How do I know if it says 40 or 60?

Do What @MikeRdoes already. Drive at 45 mph everywhere except on the motorway when he goes 2 mph faster than the car in front. 🤗🎅😇🙈🙉🙊🤶🤶🤶🤶🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️🧛‍♂️🧚‍♂️🧚‍♀️🧚‍♂️🛌🛌🛌🛌

Sorry Mike. Your secret is out now. 

[Crackers]

Spent most of my day sending shittograms to a university lecturer who just does. not. get. it. when I could have been working on the 4 assignment deadlines he helpfully* moved from January and March to tonight with less than 24 hours' notice.

The level of organisation at this uni is embarrassing, to the point where it's genuinely funny. Absolutely horrific, if I was an external assessor looking at this place, I'd be having some serious words. 

[Fumbler]

3 minutes ago, Crackers said:

Spent most of my day sending shittograms to a university lecturer who just does. not. get. it. when I could have been working on the 4 assignment deadlines he helpfully* moved from January and March to tonight with less than 24 hours' notice.

The level of organisation at this uni is embarrassing, to the point where it's genuinely funny. Absolutely horrific, if I was an external assessor looking at this place, I'd be having some serious words. 

Are you on a sponsored degree/degree apprenticeship?  If you are, at least this isn't coming out of your own pocket. I've been having the same sort of issues with the lovely management at BTC, but for different things:

"So, to make myself useful as an electrical apprentice and gather evidence you require from me, I need to become a qualified electrician otherwise my work is limited. My company would like to know if you'll set up the courses necessary to become qualified and certified."

"Lolnope, that's the company's responsibility."

"Arse."