The grumpy thread

[Datsuncog]

Ouch.

You need to get yourself some...

[Split_Pin]

23 hours ago, NigeT said:

After an effortless 430 miles yesterday the CLK encountered this on the A217, roads in Surrey getting to African levels of shitness these days. Transmission instantly started slipping and (sounded like) drivetrain clunking ensued before I limped back final couple of miles to my olds. After leaving to cool down clunking now seems to have subsided but trans isn't shifting quite right. Bought ATF and new trans filter & gasket arriving tomorrow, fluid is light brown so maybe change will improve things, will be interesting to see in pan. No trans codes at all flagged on obd. Odds of getting compensation from the turnips at Reigate and Banstead council? Imagine extremely low. Replacing a 722.6 on driveway could be up there with Ferrari clutch for pain in the arse factor. 

A long shot but to these boxes have external solenoids? I wonder if one has taken a hit from another nearby part shaking as you hit that pothole? Seems unlikely on a RWD that a shock through the driven wheel would transmit all the way through to the transmission to nacker it?

[NigeT]

47 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

A long shot but to these boxes have external solenoids? I wonder if one has taken a hit from another nearby part shaking as you hit that pothole? Seems unlikely on a RWD that a shock through the driven wheel would transmit all the way through to the transmission to nacker it?

They are part of the valve body that sits above the pan. Anecdotally yesterday I took mum´s Twingo for its MOT and garage was working on a Mercedes that had suffered both collapsed suspension and failed transmission immediately after driving over another glorious Surrey pothole. Solenoids will probably be my next port of call if fluid change doesn´t improve things. Could be that trans had got too hot after 430 mile drive with old ATF, ergo suddenly doing a wobbly. Interior of box has a number of circular clutch plates that wear over time which could also be an issue - tempted to try that Liqui Moly ATF additive which might help on the slippage front. At 174k this trans definitely has more life behind it than ahead but I want the car to at least get to moon mileage before I think of pensioning it off!

[hairnet]

wednesdays can go fuck themselves

and its nothing to do with the ticket in the grin thread

[RoverFolkUs]

Focus has decided that it's wipers want to go on the fritz I think. They've started malfunctioning on the intermittent setting.

This is a lot more annoying than you might think, I can't get them working properly no matter how much I adjust the intermittent speed setting on the stalk

They'll work fine on intermittent, then they'll switch themselves to speed 1 and keep going until they decide to either go back to intermittent, or a few sweeps on speed 2 then back to speed 1

The intermittent setting might then wipe every second, or wipe ever 5 seconds, no matter what I set the scroll wheel to

In a light mist of rain this is annoying because it just drags the blades across a nearly dry screen. 

It will seemingly behave itself if I switch them off and then reselect intermittent, then a minute or two later they start malfunctioning

Since they park ok I'm inclined to think it's not a motor fault. I don't know how I'm supposed to test it when it's so intermittent. Helpfully, the wipers automatically reduce frequency below 5mph or so anyway which is normal behaviour

I'm thinking it must be the switch itself that's playing up, a dodgy contact around the intermittent setting perhaps? But it seems to be absolutely fine when setting 1 or 2 is selected

I'm really hoping it's not the beginning of a BCM fault

[worldofceri]

On 27/02/2024 at 01:24, Spiny Norman said:

UOKHUN?

I'm calling it a day.  Not making ends meet any more, unfortunately.  I did send a message out to all my clients, including many on here that have used me regularly and/or recently - apologies if I missed anyone.  I'll still be on the forum (mostly lurking) and haven't discounted making a comeback at some point, but I just don't know yet - all the balls are very much up in the air at present.

[LightBulbFun]

34 minutes ago, worldofceri said:

I'm calling it a day.  Not making ends meet any more, unfortunately.  I did send a message out to all my clients, including many on here that have used me regularly and/or recently - apologies if I missed anyone.  I'll still be on the forum (mostly lurking) and haven't discounted making a comeback at some point, but I just don't know yet - all the balls are very much up in the air at present.

sorry to hear the business became non-viable like that, I hope you are able get yourself into a better position before not too long  

thank you for your services to the Shite over the years

ill always be most grateful/thankful/appreciative  of how you where able to jump into action to help save the Harper Mk6, I still look back at that and think "fuck me that was manic" 

 

[artdjones]

16 hours ago, RoverFolkUs said:

Focus has decided that it's wipers want to go on the fritz I think. They've started malfunctioning on the intermittent setting.

This is a lot more annoying than you might think, I can't get them working properly no matter how much I adjust the intermittent speed setting on the stalk

They'll work fine on intermittent, then they'll switch themselves to speed 1 and keep going until they decide to either go back to intermittent, or a few sweeps on speed 2 then back to speed 1

The intermittent setting might then wipe every second, or wipe ever 5 seconds, no matter what I set the scroll wheel to

In a light mist of rain this is annoying because it just drags the blades across a nearly dry screen. 

It will seemingly behave itself if I switch them off and then reselect intermittent, then a minute or two later they start malfunctioning

Since they park ok I'm inclined to think it's not a motor fault. I don't know how I'm supposed to test it when it's so intermittent. Helpfully, the wipers automatically reduce frequency below 5mph or so anyway which is normal behaviour

I'm thinking it must be the switch itself that's playing up, a dodgy contact around the intermittent setting perhaps? But it seems to be absolutely fine when setting 1 or 2 is selected

I'm really hoping it's not the beginning of a BCM fault

It sounds like normal operation of the wipers on a car with auto setting.

[Spiny Norman]

2 hours ago, artdjones said:

It sounds like normal operation of the wipers on a car with auto setting.

The 'rain sensing' wipers on my old Saab were so bad the car basically didn't have an intermittent wipe feature.

 

[beko1987]

There were 2 people in my company who mostly kept me going, who I looked forward to going into the office to see, we're good mates outside work etc. 

Today was one of those people's last day! Was wierd because it was very sad he was leaving but I'm seeing him anyway next week... But now I'm down to only 1 other person 

[SunnySouth]

54 minutes ago, beko1987 said:

There were 2 people in my company who mostly kept me going, who I looked forward to going into the office to see, we're good mates outside work etc. 

Today was one of those people's last day! Was wierd because it was very sad he was leaving but I'm seeing him anyway next week... But now I'm down to only 1 other person 

Any scope to promote someone as his replacement?

[RoverFolkUs]

4 hours ago, artdjones said:

It sounds like normal operation of the wipers on a car with auto setting.

Except it doesn't have auto wipers as far as I know and it used to work perfectly on every 1/2/3 seconds or whatever I set it to

[beko1987]

52 minutes ago, SunnySouth said:

Any scope to promote someone as his replacement?

They've already filled the role, he was in sales, got bored of selling our stuff and moved on after 8 years! Not something I want to do, I test the system is built and working correctly and people like him sell the service using it 😂

The way management have reacted you'd think he'd shit on someone's desk as he stormed out never to return but no, he worked his notice and did all he could to hand over to the team well. 

 

[Popsicle]

12 hours ago, worldofceri said:

I'm calling it a day.  Not making ends meet any more, unfortunately.  I did send a message out to all my clients, including many on here that have used me regularly and/or recently - apologies if I missed anyone.  I'll still be on the forum (mostly lurking) and haven't discounted making a comeback at some point, but I just don't know yet - all the balls are very much up in the air at present.

I know we do different things, but we are both similar in being paid to transport other peoples goods around the country. I admire your balls (and anybody else that takes the plunge) for having a go and deciding when its best to call it a day. I know you've had some rotten luck with your trucks just lately, which puts a massive downer on carrying on with it all.

I've been a self employed courier for 30 odd years, I've called it a day and then gone back to it more than once over the years. If you enjoyed it you'll probably get the itch to do it again - good luck with whatever you decide to do going forwards fellow long distance traveler.

[worldofceri]

Thanks @Popsicle.  I’ll certainly do things a bit differently if I do go back to it. Many an important lesson have been learned over the last few years!

[Popsicle]

1 hour ago, worldofceri said:

Thanks @Popsicle.  I’ll certainly do things a bit differently if I do go back to it. Many an important lesson have been learned over the last few years!

Very true - I'm still learning things, making mistakes and generally fucking things up on a regular basis! But on the odd good day when the sun is shining, cool tunes on the radio, no traffic and a jobs going well I still love it. To be honest I think I'm pretty much unemployable now, so I've little choice other than to keep plodding along.

You'll hopefully get your mojo back and put in to place the things you've learnt and make more money/enjoy it more if you have another go at it down the road.

[BorniteIdentity]

1 hour ago, worldofceri said:

I’ll certainly do things a bit differently if I do go back to it.

 

[richardmorris]

On 27/02/2024 at 16:33, jakebullet said:

Just got back from taking Ma to 6 monthly eye check at hospital. Man is now describing her as having advanced glaucoma, and says she has macular degeneration. (Didn't have last time).

Sounds like fucking fucked, big time. 

Sorry to hear this, have you made contact with RNIB? My grandmother had some help from them - she had wet macular degeneration and we think couldn’t see anything towards her end of life - she tried to hide it though.

[Talbot]

15 hours ago, worldofceri said:

I'm calling it a day.  Not making ends meet any more, unfortunately.  I did send a message out to all my clients, including many on here that have used me regularly and/or recently - apologies if I missed anyone.  I'll still be on the forum (mostly lurking) and haven't discounted making a comeback at some point, but I just don't know yet - all the balls are very much up in the air at present.

This is a real shame.  I've had more interest at work to use you for some of our smaller equipment movements, but it's just so sporadic, we never know what needs moving or when.

It does strike me that you needed to be able to promote yourself more.  The service you provided for non-vehicle-movement was genuinely very useful to us.

[jakebullet]

1 hour ago, richardmorris said:

Sorry to hear this, have you made contact with RNIB? My grandmother had some help from them - she had wet macular degeneration and we think couldn’t see anything towards her end of life - she tried to hide it though.

I don't think there's anything they can do for her. She's been registered blind since 1991, but it feels now we're going towards nothing left. She has dry macular which in theory is 10 years on average to knacker you up, but I'm assuming that's 10 years starting from normal eyesight. I've been rereading letters from previous visits and the one from 2 years ago says 'normal & healthy', then they start saying a bit pale, so maybe 1.5 years down the slope already. 

She has a low vision converted phone & tablet and uses Alexa for a lot of things, Maybe I could smart home things a bit more to make things easier. 

Half the terror from my viewpoint is she's too independent. Takes herself for a walk to asda which is suicidal even when you can see. I dragged a 2 person lift box idiot sister sent here to the front of the house, and told her don't do anything while I get the disco round the front. Got there to find she'd dragged it out the gate, and wonders why her back's knackered. Idiot sister is the anti - help. She's busy* so mum is often walking idiot's dog / doing her washing / general slave duties, while at the same time Idiot is trying to upset her constantly. Yes, I keep telling mum to tell her to fuck right off, but it's not happening.

[Pieman]

I'm getting very close to asking you to DM me your sister's address so I can go round and give her the biggest bollocking ever which you should have done years ago.

[cort1977]

11 hours ago, richardmorris said:

Sorry to hear this, have you made contact with RNIB? My grandmother had some help from them - she had wet macular degeneration and we think couldn’t see anything towards her end of life - she tried to hide it though.

Just to echo this,my dad has similar and the rnib are very good with audio books etc.

[JB77]

Royal bloody mail, need I say more! It's getting to be a toss up who's the worst parcel carrier. Paid for next day delivery and get a notification that the delivery has been rescheduled for later in the day up to 7.30pm. At 5pm I get another notification that they couldn't deliver as I wasn't home despite altering the delivery details to deliver to next door. There was also a note on the door to deliver to next door. Asked the neighbours and they reckoned no royal mail van or person was seen. I do believe them as the wife is the nosiest bint this side of the Severn bridge and lives in the window! Spent half an hour on the phone waiting to get through to their customer service line and the call get dropped and then a bloody survey on how we'll they did! I don't need the blood pressure up this high on a Friday!

[jakebullet]

10 hours ago, Pieman said:

I'm getting very close to asking you to DM me your sister's address so I can go round and give her the biggest bollocking ever which you should have done years ago.

Mum doesn't want trouble*, which leads to constant appeasement. Idiot sister constantly sends parcels here despite working from home, which is why we got a huge box containing flat pack table & chairs. Mum, tell her to stop sending parcels. No, she'll be angry, you could ask her. So I send a subtle text saying "Stop sending fucking huge heavy parcels here".

Next thing I know I've got Mum blowing up how could I be so rude, and she can't believe I said that, and basically I'm in the wrong for days. Until I show her my phone. Idiot had been telling Mum I've been calling her a fucking cunt and I'm going to smash her face in if she sends any more parcels. On the bright side there hasn't been a single parcel since.

Idiot wants to paint her shitbox horsebox, and is constantly harassing that she's been to the wholesale place, and they have cans of spray paint, get me to go look at them and tell her if she can use to paint shitbox. Fuck right off, they sell loads of different paint, haven't got a clue which you was looking at. N you're just setting up for me to paint it and/or to blame me when it looks like a dog's dick.

Instead of telling her to read the can and make her own judgement, mum is constantly suggesting* I could just have a drive there and do what idiot wants. With a side order of "she's piggy in the middle" and suffering sister's abuse. No, you're not in the middle you're encouraging her behaviour. Tell her to contact me directly if she wants me to do things, and then you're not involved. Then I can tell her to fuck off.

[barefoot]

Blimey

[Pieman]

1 hour ago, jakebullet said:

Mum doesn't want trouble*, which leads to constant appeasement. Idiot sister constantly sends parcels here despite working from home, which is why we got a huge box containing flat pack table & chairs. Mum, tell her to stop sending parcels. No, she'll be angry, you could ask her. So I send a subtle text saying "Stop sending fucking huge heavy parcels here".

Next thing I know I've got Mum blowing up how could I be so rude, and she can't believe I said that, and basically I'm in the wrong for days. Until I show her my phone. Idiot had been telling Mum I've been calling her a fucking cunt and I'm going to smash her face in if she sends any more parcels. On the bright side there hasn't been a single parcel since.

Idiot wants to paint her shitbox horsebox, and is constantly harassing that she's been to the wholesale place, and they have cans of spray paint, get me to go look at them and tell her if she can use to paint shitbox. Fuck right off, they sell loads of different paint, haven't got a clue which you was looking at. N you're just setting up for me to paint it and/or to blame me when it looks like a dog's dick.

Instead of telling her to read the can and make her own judgement, mum is constantly suggesting* I could just have a drive there and do what idiot wants. With a side order of "she's piggy in the middle" and suffering sister's abuse. No, you're not in the middle you're encouraging her behaviour. Tell her to contact me directly if she wants me to do things, and then you're not involved. Then I can tell her to fuck off.

For god's sake, instead of telling all of us this, tell it to THEM.  Or fucking let me do it, which they will certainly know about!

(As an aside, when my sister was between residences she lived back with me and my parents for a year, and the entire household HAD to revolve around her all the time, and our mum always took her side in everything - it was like living with a new baby at times.  After several months I had had enough of it and properly blew my top at both of them, and it worked.  I think doing the same will work for you.)

[Supernaut]

Just had a tooth extracted a couple of hours ago.

Harrumph.

My first ever tooth extraction at the grand old age of 36 so not that bad, in some respects. Also a very very back one so no obvious gap left.

Still. I can feel the anaesthetic wearing off, and despite taking paracetamol earlier it feels like a storm is brewing...

[gm]

the replacement carpet for the green mx5 has been hanging up in the garage to dry for a couple of days but isn’t quite there yet.

i know, i’ll hang it outside in the breeze, that will finish the job

one hour later….

fucking snow !

 

[Saabnut]

We have had a couple of lovely sunny days and things are just starting to dry out a bit.....

More rain forecast though

[Noel Tidybeard]

23 hours ago, worldofceri said:

Thanks @Popsicle.  I’ll certainly do things a bit differently if I do go back to it. Many an important lesson have been learned over the last few years!

what shall you do next? will i bump into you at UHCW?😁