The grumpy thread

[New POD]

17 minutes ago, cobblers said:

Finally got "picked" as a preferred applicant on a house we want to rent (4th or 5th try, each time there were 10+ applicants for the property!) and we find out that in 6 months the landlord wants to take the entire garden back and build another house on it. It's hardly a large plot to start with. FFS. Back to rightmove!

Has he got planning permission yet? Object. 

[Jazoli]

3 hours ago, sdkrc said:

This 5 series has driven through 8-10 inches of water and has broken down.

He's just caused £3k+ of damage by trying to shave 30seconds off his journey. There's a Vectra just out of shot which did the exact same thing before this guy and was broken down, bonnet up. Surely that's enough warning not to do this.

Struggling to see why basics like not driving through floods isn't in the driving test. 

That is piss poor and standard form from BMW, a modern car should be able to tackle a foot of water, its a joke really.

[cobblers]

10 minutes ago, New POD said:

Has he got planning permission yet? Object. 

It's all planned and ready apparently. He's been having trouble getting builders in but now has them booked to start in February. Obviously the house is marketed with a lovely big garden and drive etc, but all of that is gone! 

Bit of a swizz really, wasted a morning off work to go and look at it etc etc. 

[New POD]

Just now, cobblers said:

It's all planned and ready apparently. He's been having trouble getting builders in but now has them booked to start in February. Obviously the house is marketed with a lovely big garden and drive etc, but all of that is gone! 

Bit of a swizz really, wasted a morning off work to go and look at it etc etc. 

Sounds like 12 months of living on a building site. 

[cobblers]

Yup, fuck that.

in the ~160 square mile area we have as a search on Rightmove (most of the peak district, from Castleton down to practically Ashbourne ) there are ~12 houses to let. Just three of them have a garden. Two won't take tenants with pets, and the other one is this one where they're building a shitty bungalow on the garden.

It's madness man!

[Noel Tidybeard]

On 05/08/2021 at 21:25, brownnova said:

After once having a blow out on the M5 at 60 mph with an old tyre in a previous Campervan I am wary of old tyres… domestic management even more so. These tyres look like they’ve barely done any miles at all, although in all fairness the van has only done about 2000 miles in the last 8 years… but they are all 2008 or 2009 dated. I’ll drive short distances but SWMBO has put her foot down that I get tyres before this trip. 

Of course the irony being that I can’t take both the littleuns and the wife on board as there aren’t enough seatbelts, and for all my “it’ll be easy to fit extra seatbelts” it really isn’t. So the van may have to go… after just two trips in our ownership unless I can figure out a solution. 

https://www.salopleisure.co.uk/press/articles/touring-caravans/motorhome-seatbelt-laws-in-the-uk/11952

[Fumbler]

6 hours ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

That sense of smug that oleopneumatic Citroën owners get when confronted with a dip.

Indeed I had that sense of smugness- it was fantastic. Then I discovered the petrol station I was wading over to was closed for an emergency.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

47 minutes ago, Fumbler said:

... the petrol station I was wading over to was closed for an emergency.

Fuel contaminated by water?

[Fumbler]

1 minute ago, Tadhg Tiogar said:

Fuel contaminated by water?

Naw, the station was on a hill with the price board conveniently hidden from the road. There was a size 16 font notice taped to the board which you'd have to park next to to actually read. From what I could make out before driving back in a huff, it was closed until further notice for some urgent repairs or something.

[High Jetter]

1 minute ago, Fumbler said:

From what I could make out before driving back in a huff

So the Citroen was a FTP?

[Fumbler]

Just now, High Jetter said:

So the Citroen was a FTP?

Citroen perfomed fine. Other cars, no. I saw at least 1 car that was in trouble after it got over the other side. Petrol station definitely wasn't having a good time as it was closed all week.

[High Jetter]

...but you drove back in a...?

[Fumbler]

21 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

...but you drove back in a...?

No no no no...

Sequence of events went like this:
I'm returning home from work in my BX and I notice I don't have much fuel left. I'm in Peasmarsh and a Jempsons store with petrol station is approaching, so I turn left into the entrance and I'm greeted with a pond for a road. I raise the car up, wade across, bounce around for a bit (because high suspension. Oops), lower the car back down and continue to the carpark. I notice the lit sign that says how much fuel costs is off and the forecourt is dark with cones around it. As I get closer there's an A4 sized sign saying something to the effect of "We're sorry, the petrol station is closed until further notice." Filled with anger and frustration, I make a U turn and go back, setting the suspension to high, wading through, lowering the suspension and driving home to find another petrol station, albeit in a huff this time because nowhere else has cheap fuel, and there wasn't a sign on the road saying there was no fuel to save me from going to the effort. No Citroens were harmed in this epic ordeal. A Vauxhall Zafira was, though, because the prat driving it flooded the engine trying to get through.

[Talbot]

[Bren]

Wasted £110 on a brake master cylinder for the vectra.

Why? Because the utterly fucking useless haynes manual rates replacement as 3 stars. However on beginning to tackle the job you realise that the servo needs to be removed from the car - haynes manual just states remove nuts which is incorrect. Problem is the servo cannot be removed with the engine in place.

When I see manuals for the death star and millenium falcon you realise cars are no longer their core.

[Angrydicky]

I’m confused. I can’t see why you need to touch the servo to remove the master cylinder. Just undo the pipes and mounting nuts and pull the master out of the servo.

[Bren]

Haynes says undo nuts. You have to undo the torx screws in the centre first. You can loosen them but they don't come out - they are captive. So it would appear servo and master cylinder need to be removed as a complete unit.

I had the fear before starting because there is no info on the procedure any where on the internet - on the vec forums lots appear to blame potential issues on the car being diesel - it's certainly easier than replacing the master cylinder.

[Mr Pastry]

56 minutes ago, Bren said:

Haynes says undo nuts. You have to undo the torx screws in the centre first. You can loosen them but they don't come out - they are captive. So it would appear servo and master cylinder need to be removed as a complete unit.

I am also confused. It's not usually done like that.  If the screws are captive, how was it assembled in the first place?  Even if you remove it as a complete unit, surely there won't be any access to the inner end of the screws.   

[Bren]

The torx screws go through this. However they are not threaded - they do not screw into the nut. There is something on the other side.

Haynes offers little or no info and nobody on tinterweb appears to have ever done the job - probably cos' its engine out time. My mate offered to look on autodata but told me car is too old.

I absolutely concur.

[Mr Pastry]

27 minutes ago, Bren said:

The torx screws go through this. However they are not threaded - they do not screw into the nut. There is something on the other side.

Haynes offers little or no info and nobody on tinterweb appears to have ever done the job - probably cos' its engine out time. My mate offered to look on autodata but told me car is too old.

I absolutely concur.

Not very helpful I know, you have probably looked at more pics than I have,  but the thing that seems logical (ish) from first glance is that the cylinder locates on hollow studs on the servo, the nut screws onto an external thread and the torx is a locking device that picks up an internal thread.   So - are the studs crimped/riveted into the servo, and turning when they shouldn't be?  Apologies if you've been there already.

[Bren]

I can only summise that the nuts with the new cylinder are different than fitted - when I undid the torx screws and tried to pull them out I could'nt see any threads.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

On 8/9/2021 at 12:20 PM, sdkrc said:

This 5 series has driven through 8-10 inches of water and has broken down.

He's just caused £3k+ of damage by trying to shave 30seconds off his journey. There's a Vectra just out of shot which did the exact same thing before this guy and was broken down, bonnet up. Surely that's enough warning not to do this.

Struggling to see why basics like not driving through floods isn't in the driving test. 

If you ever need further evidence of humanity's stupidity:

 

 

[Kiltox]

Fuck houses, fuck housing developers, fuck estate agents and fuck mortgage lenders

That is all. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Just now, Kiltox said:

Fuck houses, fuck housing developers, fuck estate agents and fuck mortgage lenders

That is all. 

You forgot conveyencing.

[Kiltox]

Just now, GrumpiusMaximus said:

You forgot conveyencing.

Urrrrghhh especially fuck conveyancing although I’m not at that fucking stage yet

Autocorrect changed stage to rage, appropriate. 

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Yurt.  Scottish Loch, the further towards the North West Coast the better.  Go and live with the animals.

[mintwth]

Can you yeet a yurt?

[sierraman]

6 hours ago, Bren said:

Wasted £110 on a brake master cylinder for the vectra.

Why? Because the utterly fucking useless haynes manual rates replacement as 3 stars. However on beginning to tackle the job you realise that the servo needs to be removed from the car - haynes manual just states remove nuts which is incorrect. Problem is the servo cannot be removed with the engine in place.

When I see manuals for the death star and millenium falcon you realise cars are no longer their core.

£110 you could have the pick of MOT failed Vectras. Have you tried loosening the mounts and jacking the engine up/down a fraction to ease it out?

[Fumbler]

I feel awkward, because I was stupid yesterday and didn't understand An Joke. Oops, at least I'm forgiven.

Genuine grump is at holidaymaker tourist types who seem to forget driving law. For example I had a woman in a Chrysler Voyager box on wheels cut my nose off on a mini roundabout because she didn't bother looking right to see I was going round to turn right. She proceeds to go 30 absolutely everywhere. OK, I can understand that if you're unfamiliar, to a point, but I don't understand braking when going uphill and slowing to 15, even when the road is empty, wide and with no-one coming the other way. She then proceeded to turn towards Maidstone and block the road in the process. Double points for that one. As a passenger I wouldn't mind but it gets tiring seeing constand flashing red lights, having to slow myself down and change through the gears constantly as I'm not fast enough for one or slow enough for another. Still, at least I didn't go home in a huff (haw haw).

[Mrcento]

3 hours ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

If you ever need further evidence of humanity's stupidity:

 

 

The amount of times Penske trucks are involved makes me think it's the same driver just seeing how many times he can wreck trucks before they fire him 😂