The grumpy thread

[sierraman]

I seriously think before you are allowed anywhere near engineering or designing a car you should be forced to spend time mending one.

[somewhatfoolish]

5 hours ago, Skut said:

Made a mistake today. I went into a Scottish branch of National Tyres and used the word Delicatessen.  Nuff said really. 

Never heard of that brand; are they a winter tyre?  

[Lankytim]

The Visa had a new starter motor fitted by the guy doing the bodywork in June last year. I due to Covid and other happenings I only got it back a couple of months ago and only got a battery on it today to have a play with it and try  and get it to run. 

I told the fella that these 652cc starters are mega rare and that while 2CV starters look the same, they have a different number of pinion teeth and can't be used. Turns out his local Factors said they could fix the original, then said they couldn't but had managed to find a brand new replacement- £100 which was very cheap considering they're so hard to get.  I asked him to ensure he kept hold of the original, but the factors had already disposed of it for some reason, that boiled my piss on it's own but at least I've got a brand new starter motor. 

Fast forward 8 months and I'm finally able to do some work on the little Citroen. The starter sounds absolutely bloody awful. Remove the starter and you've guessed it. It's a 2CV one. 9 pinion teeth as opposed to 10.  Now I've got an overpriced 2CV item that's absolutely useless to me and as my original starter has been lost/scrapped/used to power the Perseverance Mars rover I can't get it reconditioned.

Is there a time limit for returning incorrectly supplied parts? I'm really rather pissed off with it all tbh. 

 

[anonymous user]

Daft thought, and no doubt a pain to do, but is the flywheel the same size on your Visa as a 2cv to either swap the flywheel or just the ring gear over to match your wrong starter.

Or are you then into wrong clutch, etc. territory 

[Lankytim]

3 minutes ago, anonymous user said:

Daft thought, and no doubt a pain to do, but is the flywheel the same size on your Visa as a 2cv to either swap the flywheel or just the ring gear over to match your wrong starter.

Or are you then into wrong clutch, etc. territory 

A 2CV flywheel won't fit, for a start there's notches for the bellhousing sensors with 2CVs don't have. 

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I seriously think before you are allowed anywhere near engineering or designing a car you should be forced to spend time mending one.

I often thought this about those lot that set the Citroen repair book times. The basterds.

[sierraman]

20 minutes ago, Crispian_J_Hotson said:

I often thought this about those lot that set the Citroen repair book times. The basterds.

I’d just spent 45 minutes bent double taking the pollen filter out of a car, glove box out, foot well trim out, GEM module out, then some retaining plate out to get to the bastard. According to the schedule it’s an annual job. So why is it such a bitch to get out?

[jamescarruthers]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

The Visa had a new starter motor fitted by the guy doing the bodywork in June last year. I due to Covid and other happenings I only got it back a couple of months ago and only got a battery on it today to have a play with it and try  and get it to run. 

I told the fella that these 652cc starters are mega rare and that while 2CV starters look the same, they have a different number of pinion teeth and can't be used. Turns out his local Factors said they could fix the original, then said they couldn't but had managed to find a brand new replacement- £100 which was very cheap considering they're so hard to get.  I asked him to ensure he kept hold of the original, but the factors had already disposed of it for some reason, that boiled my piss on it's own but at least I've got a brand new starter motor. 

Fast forward 8 months and I'm finally able to do some work on the little Citroen. The starter sounds absolutely bloody awful. Remove the starter and you've guessed it. It's a 2CV one. 9 pinion teeth as opposed to 10.  Now I've got an overpriced 2CV item that's absolutely useless to me and as my original starter has been lost/scrapped/used to power the Perseverance Mars rover I can't get it reconditioned.

Is there a time limit for returning incorrectly supplied parts? I'm really rather pissed off with it all tbh. 

 

I wonder if it possible just to change that particular pinion drive to the correct one?  If anyone can do it, Mike Jordan at Just Alternators and Starters can! JASM.co.uk 

 

(can be difficult to get a hold of but he is very very good and has done work for me and friends rebuilding alternators and starters) 

 

[jakebullet]

Had the door bell go while I'm having my tea. This man:

He says "I'm not a pikey, is your capri for sale?"

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!! Always makes me nervous who's been snooping around the back (can't see crapi from road), and under my cat piss tarps.

Add in I've had 2 dreams in 2 days about the capri.

First one I had someone scratching it with an axe, so I hit them in the head with a lump hammer. I was then explaining to the police it's not my fault they have a soft head and brain damage, and can I have my hammer back as I've had it a long time, and a bit of skull stuck to it adds character.

Then the cable guys digging up the pavement moved it with a mini digger, so I was once again being violent. (police had given me back my hammer).

Don't know why i'm so bothered as capri was terminally rusty when parked up 15 years ago. Now it's more rusty with the bonus of not starting. I guess it's a) it's mine! and b) I'll never be able to buy another one. Well I could, but won't as above the limit on what I'd spend on cars.

[busmansholiday]

I think the setees would look better swoped around (as in the rooms they're in) said my Mrs..

Two seaters weren't too bad but the two three seaters......

Obviously at two minutes past three I didn't* twat the clock off the wall in the hallway, smashing the glass, or damage the ceiling light. I did remove the bfo mirror from the wall and of cause I can* get it back on it's brackets now.

, 

[Talbot]

7 hours ago, iainrcz said:

A couple of £200 water bills made us wonder what has broken. So...

 

.

Sent from my VFD 710 using Tapatalk
 

Most water companies, if you push them, will offer a revised bill based on the fact that you have an obvious leak.  They will look at your previous bills and your next bill after the repair is done and charge you an appropriate amount for the bills that clearly have leakage measured on them.

I've done this before now.  They don't advertise that they will do it, and you have to make the point that you pay for water you use, not what has leaked out. 

[PhilA]

1 hour ago, Crispian_J_Hotson said:

I often thought this about those lot that set the Citroen repair book times. The basterds.

Zees bolt under ere, ees for Watter-loo

Zees clamp down ere, she ees for black poo-ding.

 

Designers are vindictive.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, Lankytim said:

The Visa had a new starter motor fitted by the guy doing the bodywork in June last year. I due to Covid and other happenings I only got it back a couple of months ago and only got a battery on it today to have a play with it and try  and get it to run. 

I told the fella that these 652cc starters are mega rare and that while 2CV starters look the same, they have a different number of pinion teeth and can't be used. Turns out his local Factors said they could fix the original, then said they couldn't but had managed to find a brand new replacement- £100 which was very cheap considering they're so hard to get.  I asked him to ensure he kept hold of the original, but the factors had already disposed of it for some reason, that boiled my piss on it's own but at least I've got a brand new starter motor. 

Fast forward 8 months and I'm finally able to do some work on the little Citroen. The starter sounds absolutely bloody awful. Remove the starter and you've guessed it. It's a 2CV one. 9 pinion teeth as opposed to 10.  Now I've got an overpriced 2CV item that's absolutely useless to me and as my original starter has been lost/scrapped/used to power the Perseverance Mars rover I can't get it reconditioned.

Is there a time limit for returning incorrectly supplied parts? I'm really rather pissed off with it all tbh. 

 

I'd say as it's less than a year you have comeback against the guy who fitted it. 

[PhilA]

12 minutes ago, Talbot said:

not what has leaked out. 

Water company here looks at it this way. It's after the meter, that pipe belongs to you and if it's leaking, well, you used it.

They will send you a notice that says "We think you might have a leak based upon your water usage", if it suddenly spikes.

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

I’d just spent 45 minutes bent double taking the pollen filter out of a car, glove box out, foot well trim out, GEM module out, then some retaining plate out to get to the bastard. According to the schedule it’s an annual job. So why is it such a bitch to get out?

What make of car? I often think that the French makers, much as I love their cars, only provide rhd cars under duress.

I did a service on a car I've never worked on before last week, a Mitsubishi Outlander phev, of course designed for rhd. It took 2 minutes and now I've done one it would be less than 1. On the other hand it did have the usual Japanese feature of the belly pan being held on with rusty M6 screws straight into captive nuts inside the front cross member.

[somewhatfoolish]

4 minutes ago, PhilA said:

Water company here looks at it this way. It's after the meter, that pipe belongs to you and if it's leaking, well, you used it.

They will send you a notice that says "We think you might have a leak based upon your water usage", if it suddenly spikes.

The same principle has power companies charging Texans usurious rates for electricity, even when it isn't available. Because FREEDUM!

[artdjones]

1 minute ago, somewhatfoolish said:

The same principle has power companies charging Texans usurious rates for electricity, even when it isn't available. Because FREEDUM!

Don't Texans have electricity meters then?

[Stanky]

1 hour ago, jamescarruthers said:

I wonder if it possible just to change that particular pinion drive to the correct one?  If anyone can do it, Mike Jordan at Just Alternators and Starters can! JASM.co.uk 

 

(can be difficult to get a hold of but he is very very good and has done work for me and friends rebuilding alternators and starters) 

 

I'm going to be there next week, would you like me to ask him in person @Lankytim?

[omegod]

4 hours ago, MikeR said:

FFS , Another item to make my day...

Just had the clutch peddle on the focus clicking , when i looked it was the push rod slipping along the pin on the peddle in a bid for freedom  ... Nothing holds it captive  !!! 

A cable tie does now pending a better fix ..

There will be a spring washer on the floor somewhere, same happened to my fiesta 15 yrs ago and I think i may have bodged/cable tied that too...inadvertent long term repair as I'd completely forgotten about it till now   !! 

[strangeangel]

On 2/23/2021 at 5:58 PM, twosmoke300 said:

I’ll say it again but why do people bother with ECP ? Boggles my mind 

 

They used to have good offers on LHM, which when you had a car that got through it faster than Father Jack does a bottle of floor polish is no small consideration.

 

[PhilA]

55 minutes ago, artdjones said:

Don't Texans have electricity meters then?

It would appear at the beginning of the month you pull this handle...

[Lankytim]

2 hours ago, jamescarruthers said:

I wonder if it possible just to change that particular pinion drive to the correct one?  If anyone can do it, Mike Jordan at Just Alternators and Starters can! JASM.co.uk 

 

(can be difficult to get a hold of but he is very very good and has done work for me and friends rebuilding alternators and starters) 

 

Unfortunately my original pinion was binned along with the original starter motor. 

[jamescarruthers]

2 minutes ago, Lankytim said:

Unfortunately my original pinion was binned along with the original starter motor. 

I was thinking maybe Mike might be able to lay his hands on said pinion if you are lucky. Fingers crossed!

[New POD]

2 hours ago, sierraman said:

I’d just spent 45 minutes bent double taking the pollen filter out of a car, glove box out, foot well trim out, GEM module out, then some retaining plate out to get to the bastard. According to the schedule it’s an annual job. So why is it such a bitch to get out?

When you say annual job.  It takes a year ? 

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

Don't Texans have electricity meters then?

They do, but because of a particularly virulent strain of libertarian fruitloopery they aren't connected to the rest of the US grid, such as it exists, and there's little regulation of the power network as we understand it in the UK; when ~36 gigawatts(a bit less than 1/3rd of total capacity) of generating capacity FTPed in the recent cold snap the supply/demand equilibrium stopped being in equilibrium and those that weren't simply cut off and were on a floating tariff learnt the down side of demand management when 5c/kWh became $10/kWh. The loss of supply to such frivolous customers as hospitals and warehouses in the grocery supply chain is just another delightful detail. Texas was briefly a demonstration of the truism that you're only 3 meals away from chaos, at least if you have an unregulated electricity supply and distribution system that isn't ready to deal with bad but within precedent weather.

[sierraman]

43 minutes ago, New POD said:

When you say annual job.  It takes a year ? 

Unless you’ve the hands of a child then yes, it taking a year is a possibility. 

[artdjones]

1 hour ago, somewhatfoolish said:

They do, but because of a particularly virulent strain of libertarian fruitloopery they aren't connected to the rest of the US grid, such as it exists, and there's little regulation of the power network as we understand it in the UK; when ~36 gigawatts(a bit less than 1/3rd of total capacity) of generating capacity FTPed in the recent cold snap the supply/demand equilibrium stopped being in equilibrium and those that weren't simply cut off and were on a floating tariff learnt the down side of demand management when 5c/kWh became $10/kWh. The loss of supply to such frivolous customers as hospitals and warehouses in the grocery supply chain is just another delightful detail. Texas was briefly a demonstration of the truism that you're only 3 meals away from chaos, at least if you have an unregulated electricity supply and distribution system that isn't ready to deal with bad but within precedent weather.

Any hospital that signs up to that are not acting very responsibly. 

Strangely, contrary to what you might assume, Texas gets more power from renewables than any other state, which didn't help, as solar doesn't work very well with snow on top of it. I think the wind farms had problems, too.

[Stanky]

2 hours ago, Lankytim said:

Unfortunately my original pinion was binned along with the original starter motor. 

Sorry if I'm being stupid here, can a 10-tooth pinion from somethign else be made to fit with appropriate tools? e.g

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARTER-PINION-BARREL-M35G-10-TOOTH-LUCAS-54240294/143945467602?hash=item2183d186d2:g:KacAAOSw-iFgJUpc

By someone knowledgable about such matters? I will ask if Mike thingy happens to have, or know about a source of 10-tooth pinions for Visa 652cc, is there any more info i can give him to help/narrow it down?

[artdjones]

51 minutes ago, Stanky said:

Sorry if I'm being stupid here, can a 10-tooth pinion from somethign else be made to fit with appropriate tools? e.g

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/STARTER-PINION-BARREL-M35G-10-TOOTH-LUCAS-54240294/143945467602?hash=item2183d186d2:g:KacAAOSw-iFgJUpc

By someone knowledgable about such matters? I will ask if Mike thingy happens to have, or know about a source of 10-tooth pinions for Visa 652cc, is there any more info i can give him to help/narrow it down?

I don't even know who made the 652cc starter motor, although I could find out.(Got 2 Visa manuals upstairs). But parts like that are usually used across a wide variety of cars. There's no need to design a different 10 tooth pinion for every car that needs one that you supply for.

I should ask the garage whether they have anything to suggest, as it's their careless attitude that got you into this mess.

[somewhatfoolish]

1 hour ago, artdjones said:

Any hospital that signs up to that are not acting very responsibly. 

Strangely, contrary to what you might assume, Texas gets more power from renewables than any other state, which didn't help, as solar doesn't work very well with snow on top of it. I think the wind farms had problems, too.

50% of their WTG capacity FTPed due to the cold, it's not clear whether that was blade icing or whatever; regardless that only represents ~10% of gross capacity or about 12GW, the majority of the FTP was good old-fashioned thermal generation from gas, coal and nuclear. ERCOT is a delinquent organisation with a board packed with loony ideologues, they're the reason the generators and the grid are not fit for purpose.