The grumpy thread

[mintwth]

Saab has rewarded me for replacing the spark plugs and ignition cassette (coil packs) by snapping a rear spring..... 🙁

[Andyrew]

8 hours ago, Spurious said:

The Jimny did its best 2cv impression tonight. Sudden loss of power going up a steep and narrow street. Actually no way of moving under it's own steam. Was very close to calling the AA for recovery

Annoyingly and amazingly it didn't throw a code either so it's a bit of parts roulette. 

It did sound like it was running on 2 cylinders, and one coil pack powers two plugs so that's number one culprit at the moment. 

It fixed itself about ten minutes later after leaving it off for a while. Thankfully I'd not made it onto the m62 at the time, would have been zero fun breaking down on the hard shoulder. 

 

My other halfs jimny coil pack died in a similar fashion. The spark plug hole was full of oil from a weeping rocker seal and killed it that maybe worth checking too.

 

 

[grogee]

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

[TataBobu]

Wagon induced grump number two this year: after having to replace the 4x4 gearbox with a 4x2 one, today I can only shift it into 3rd, 4th and reverse. The lateral movement cable snapped. It's the most expensive gearshift cable I've ever seen, at 640 RON (that's more than 110 pounds). 

[wuvvum]

4 hours ago, mintwth said:

Saab has rewarded me for replacing the spark plugs and ignition cassette (coil packs) by snapping a rear spring..... 🙁

Coil springs do seem to be service items these days.

[cobblers]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

As a pair of antisocial bastards with no kids, me and the wife now point blank refuse to go round the houses at Christmas. Neither of us have a lot of family anyway and it's so nice to not have to be held hostage in an unfamiliar house surrounded by people we're not that keen on. 

[grogee]

1 minute ago, cobblers said:

As a pair of antisocial bastards with no kids, me and the wife now point blank refuse to go round the houses at Christmas. Neither of us have a lot of family anyway and it's so nice to not have to be held hostage in an unfamiliar house surrounded by people we're not that keen on. 

"Held hostage" is very apt. We agreed to stay one night then have lunch and leave. Lunch has turned into dinner (roast potatoes were put in at 4pm) so we'll be eating about 5.30 with a 2 hour drive home afterwards. 

It's fine as we've nothing better to do but it would be nice to be on the road by now. 

 

[MikeR]

3 minutes ago, grogee said:

"Held hostage" is very apt. We agreed to stay one night then have lunch and leave. Lunch has turned into dinner (roast potatoes were put in at 4pm) so we'll be eating about 5.30 with a 2 hour drive home afterwards. 

It's fine as we've nothing better to do but it would be nice to be on the road by now. 

 

I now like to be on the road before light fails , it helps a lot when loading up and finding the worst part of the way home ..

I see our driving life is being made easier by the latest AI devices so the legal coffers can be filled ..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10355673/New-spy-sky-camera-catch-eating-drinking-wheel-makers-say.html

when it says it "addresses all forms of distraction "   all forms ????

including the back seat driver ? 

[Wack]

Live for today 

Just found out a guy I used to work with died just before Christmas , 45 ish , walked down to the shop , didn't come back.

Make the most of your life, you never know when it's going to end. 

RIP Kev 

[junkyarddog]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts.

Oh yes,I've got one of those too.🙄

Thankfully it's in self isolation at the moment,this pandemic isn't all bad.🤣

[somewhatfoolish]

6 hours ago, grogee said:

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

Blimey, unless he's 7' tall he must have his own postcode.

[MikeR]

saw a pink fire engine today ... pink wtf

I am not going into why it was pink  ...

but something big and pink does not register the same as something big and red heading in your direction ....  even if it has bells and whistles on it ...

[myglaren]

6 hours ago, grogee said:

I don't know if it's lockdown, old age or grumpy old man syndrome - but fuck me, family gatherings are boring. Been at stepmum's for 24hrs, I keep making tea and washing up just to have something to do. 

Kids are having fun though and it's not all about me. 

BiL to be is a fat useless bore. He thinks he knows about cars too, which is annoying. 23 stone of anti-facts. 

I think it is GOM with me, I have an aversion to family gatherings, everyone talking at once and I am unable to follow a conversation, or TV on and yackking in competition.  Crap on the TV too.

[Markeh]

Today on my way home from visiting family in West Sussex I decided to take a detour and visit a farm shop made famous by a certain Amazon series. Viewers of said series may note the episode where the shop opened and cars were being towed out of horrific amounts of mud by tractors. The shop website also points out that it's in a field and suitable footwear should be worn.

So of course I tried to visit in my ratty old trainers with no grip. You can guess where this is going... flat on my arse in the mud about 2 minutes after arrival. Managed to slide back to the car after scrounging some loo roll to help clear up. Thankfully I had a change of clothes in the car, which given the only thing not covered in mud was my hat was quite fortunate. Turns out the new Qashqai is not very easy to get changed in the back of if you're 6ft 4 and trying desperately not to make a mess of the inside or get done for indecent exposure. On the bright side, who should come barrelling past in his Range Rover as I was trying to get to my spare clothes but Jezza himself! Thankfully I didn't get spotted as I'm sure I'd have had the piss taken out of me.

Side note - I've driven from the north side of Nottingham all the way to Horsham and back with a day trip to Brighton in the middle over the past two days. In that time I've had to move out of the way of people and use my horn 4 times. I'm not saying the people of Nottingham have forgotten how to drive over Christmas, but every single one of these occasions was north of Trowell services.

Another side note - £17.50 to park in Brighton for 3 hours can get in the fucking sea.

[High Jetter]

5 minutes ago, Markeh said:

Today on my way home from visiting family in West Sussex I decided to take a detour and visit a farm shop made famous by a certain Amazon series. Viewers of said series may note the episode where the shop opened and cars were being towed out of horrific amounts of mud by tractors. The shop website also points out that it's in a field and suitable footwear should be worn.

So of course I tried to visit in my ratty old trainers with no grip. You can guess where this is going... flat on my arse in the mud about 2 minutes after arrival. Managed to slide back to the car after scrounging some loo roll to help clear up. Thankfully I had a change of clothes in the car, which given the only thing not covered in mud was my hat was quite fortunate. Turns out the new Qashqai is not very easy to get changed in the back of if you're 6ft 4 and trying desperately not to make a mess of the inside or get done for indecent exposure. On the bright side, who should come barrelling past in his Range Rover as I was trying to get to my spare clothes but Jezza himself! Thankfully I didn't get spotted as I'm sure I'd have had the piss taken out of me.

Side note - I've driven from the north side of Nottingham all the way to Horsham and back with a day trip to Brighton in the middle over the past two days. In that time I've had to move out of the way of people and use my horn 4 times. I'm not saying the people of Nottingham have forgotten how to drive over Christmas, but every single one of these occasions was north of Trowell services.

Another side note - £17.50 to park in Brighton for 3 hours can get in the fucking sea.

Ah. You found the cheep par cark. That sea is best visited by train.

[Metal Guru]

3 hours ago, Markeh said:

Today on my way home from visiting family in West Sussex I decided to take a detour and visit a farm shop made famous by a certain Amazon series. Viewers of said series may note the episode where the shop opened and cars were being towed out of horrific amounts of mud by tractors. The shop website also points out that it's in a field and suitable footwear should be worn.

So of course I tried to visit in my ratty old trainers with no grip. You can guess where this is going... flat on my arse in the mud about 2 minutes after arrival. Managed to slide back to the car after scrounging some loo roll to help clear up. Thankfully I had a change of clothes in the car, which given the only thing not covered in mud was my hat was quite fortunate. Turns out the new Qashqai is not very easy to get changed in the back of if you're 6ft 4 and trying desperately not to make a mess of the inside or get done for indecent exposure. On the bright side, who should come barrelling past in his Range Rover as I was trying to get to my spare clothes but Jezza himself! Thankfully I didn't get spotted as I'm sure I'd have had the piss taken out of me.

Side note - I've driven from the north side of Nottingham all the way to Horsham and back with a day trip to Brighton in the middle over the past two days. In that time I've had to move out of the way of people and use my horn 4 times. I'm not saying the people of Nottingham have forgotten how to drive over Christmas, but every single one of these occasions was north of Trowell services.

Another side note - £17.50 to park in Brighton for 3 hours can get in the fucking sea.

I thought Edinburgh was bad at £4.60 / hr.

[Soundwave]

Feeling like absolute fucking garbage after my booster yesterday. Everything aches, including the shoulder where it was done, I feel too nauseous to eat, and I feel simultaneously too hot and too cold. Had a horrible, restless night's sleep with exhausting fever dreams. Never had this with the first two.

[cobblers]

2 hours ago, Soundwave said:

Feeling like absolute fucking garbage after my booster yesterday. Everything aches, including the shoulder where it was done, I feel too nauseous to eat, and I feel simultaneously too hot and too cold. Had a horrible, restless night's sleep with exhausting fever dreams. Never had this with the first two.

I had the same experience. First two I was good as gold, but the booster made my arm ache like I'd been hit by a car and I felt rough as arseholes for a day or two.

The way I see it is there's no way the jab can be as bad as the Covid it's protecting you from, and at this stage it's not a case of "if" you'll get it, but "when"

[ruffgeezer]

Bought a new bigger toolbox for the garage at home to transplant my work kit into. Its bigger so why the fuck can't I get it all in properly? 

Having looked again, it's got fewer but deeper drawers than the old one. 

Fucksticks, I might have to have a rethink! 

[Pieman]

On 12/29/2021 at 7:47 PM, MikeR said:

in that case my Focus is well fucked ....   arnt you Nancy  ! ( derived from number plate letters ! )

My Focus is unofficially called Podge for the same reason, christened that by a friend because its number plate ends in POJ.

I tend to call it a few other names when it gives such frustrations as recalcitrant acceleration!

[Missy Charm]

52 minutes ago, Pieman said:

My Focus is unofficially called Podge for the same reason, christened that by a friend because its number plate ends in POJ.

I tend to call it a few other names when it gives such frustrations as recalcitrant acceleration!

Mine is called 'Electra' for the fact of the number plate ending 'OVO'.  Shall we start a named Focus support group?  @MikeR can join.

[Zelandeth]

Well that was fun...apparently walking into the city centre branch of a major high street bank (having eventually successfully circumnavigated their appointment system to get there as you need to book a slot) to take out more than £100 cash is a big deal today.  They "don't keep available" enough funds for me to pull out £1100 to buy a car with.  Most they could offer me was £300.  £50 less than I could pull out of a cashpoint.

God help any business trying to operate out of there...

Guess we are doing a bank transfer then!  I could piss around taking out the max amount daily from cash points and *just* get there in time...but finding one with anything in around here the last couple of times I needed it proved to be a massive hassle...so I'm just not going to bother this time.

 

I know it's more than you'd tend to wander around with in your wallet, but a grand isn't a lot of money from the perspective of a bank you'd think.  I guess they really are pushing to do away with physical currency. 

[chaseracer]

1 hour ago, ruffgeezer said:

Bought a new bigger toolbox for the garage at home to transplant my work kit into. Its bigger so why the fuck can't I get it all in properly? 

Having looked again, it's got fewer but deeper drawers than the old one. 

Fucksticks, I might have to have a rethink! 

If you need to move it on, Tim... 😉

[ruffgeezer]

24 minutes ago, chaseracer said:

If you need to move it on, Tim... 😉

I know one of them will be going as soon as I have it all sorted out. 

[Dan the van]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Well that was fun...apparently walking into the city centre branch of a major high street bank (having eventually successfully circumnavigated their appointment system to get there as you need to book a slot) to take out more than £100 cash is a big deal today.  They "don't keep available" enough funds for me to pull out £1100 to buy a car with.  Most they could offer me was £300.  £50 less than I could pull out of a cashpoint.

God help any business trying to operate out of there...

Guess we are doing a bank transfer then!  I could piss around taking out the max amount daily from cash points and *just* get there in time...but finding one with anything in around here the last couple of times I needed it proved to be a massive hassle...so I'm just not going to bother this time.

 

I know it's more than you'd tend to wander around with in your wallet, but a grand isn't a lot of money from the perspective of a bank you'd think.  I guess they really are pushing to do away with physical currency. 

Nothing new TBH.Halifax needed two days notice for more than a bag 15 odd years ago.🙄

[omegod]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

Well that was fun...apparently walking into the city centre branch of a major high street bank (having eventually successfully circumnavigated their appointment system to get there as you need to book a slot) to take out more than £100 cash is a big deal today.  They "don't keep available" enough funds for me to pull out £1100 to buy a car with.  Most they could offer me was £300.  £50 less than I could pull out of a cashpoint.

God help any business trying to operate out of there...

Guess we are doing a bank transfer then!  I could piss around taking out the max amount daily from cash points and *just* get there in time...but finding one with anything in around here the last couple of times I needed it proved to be a massive hassle...so I'm just not going to bother this time.

 

I know it's more than you'd tend to wander around with in your wallet, but a grand isn't a lot of money from the perspective of a bank you'd think.  I guess they really are pushing to do away with physical currency. 

I had a similar issue but asked for my daily cash machine limit be raised to 1500 

[barefoot]

On 12/29/2021 at 5:58 PM, cobblers said:

100% guarantee that any car with a name is absolutely shagged in on way or another. If somebody is mental enough to call their scruffy motorhome "betsy" they're definitely not going to do anything proper about the galloping rot in the sills and frame, and will just "drive around" the fact that it takes eight minutes to get it into reverse because the engine is falling out 

I may have mentioned this before, but it is my firm belief that anyone who names their car is an utter twat. 

Hippy new year to the fucking lot of you.

[Bren]

Tony Blair. Knighted.

FFS......

[Zelandeth]

That's the third firework of the evening landed on our roof.  Someone is letting them off in one of the postage stamp sized gardens that backs on to our back garden and is upwind of us.

They have been on and off since about 1800.

[Rocket88]

19 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

That's the third firework of the evening landed on our roof.  Someone is letting them off in one of the postage stamp sized gardens that backs on to our back garden and is upwind of us.

They have been on and off since about 1800.

220 years of suffering…….