The grumpy thread

[cms206]

Four buses on the trot; a swollen airbag on a tag axle on a decker, a bad earth in a tail light, vertical movement in a track rod and a fuel leak from an overflow pipe, and my favourite... exhaust brake missing on a Merc 709D. Except there is nowhere to mount and exhaust brake, it's had a cab floor so there is no switch for it and it's gone through at least four MOTs with no exhaust brake.

[320touring]

Someone has had a new one torn at the testing station methinks...

[alf892]

Fleet inspection?

 

Been naughty in the past of just o licence review?

 

I worked for a firm where the Traffic Commisioner told them to get sorted and gave them 6 months to sort things out.......just after the six months was up we had vosa visits at 30 of the sites in my patch. This was before the traffic light grading system they use now.........

[Bobthebeard]

  On 06/05/2015 at 23:22, vulgalour said:

House hunting again. Can't even get the landlord to answer his phone, let alone fix the problems with this house. Then there's the screaming children in the two houses joined on to us. Had enough.

You have my sympathy!

Whilst our house isn't rented and no wish to move anytime soon, the neighbours with house/garden behind our back fence are a noisy lot. Screaming and shouting at each other randomly and three small yapping squealing dogs that are left out all day in the passageway behind our fence. The noise is almost constant. Occasionally the owner leans out of a window and screams at (her own) dogs to "fucking shut up". Charming. Maybe if she took them out for a walk now and then they wouldn't be so bored and noisy! Theirs is a rented house and proper scruffy. Noisy kids, noisy bored un walked dogs and chavvy parents. Any form of communication with them is pointless as the standard "fuck off" reply ensues. Not that this is any way relevant so will stop rambling on.......

😬

[cms206]

  On 07/05/2015 at 14:48, alf892 said:

Fleet inspection?

 

Been naughty in the past of just o licence review?

 

I worked for a firm where the Traffic Commisioner told them to get sorted and gave them 6 months to sort things out.......just after the six months was up we had vosa visits at 30 of the sites in my patch. This was before the traffic light grading system they use now.........

23 first time test passes on the trot, but we had a prohibition off the same fella about four weeks ago for an exhaust clamp at the tailpipe being "insecure" - our mechanic was hanging off it on the hywemas and it wouldn't budge. Showed up for a fleet inspection this morning... our newest coach is a '96N (Autoshite Bus & Coach) but someone's been upset by us it seems.

[alf892]

Vosa men on crusades are dangerous! Ask him nicely to show you in the book why is a pro no.........some of them think 'because I say so' is enough.

Mind you they never rescind them anyway.

 

Maybe he will find a softer target some time soon

[Inspector Morose]

V.I s on a crusade are a right pain in the arse. Took a public enquiry where he was "star witness" for him to be found out as a vindictive liar. He was demoted to tester and then left not long after.

 

One of the many reasons I don't play buses anymore.

[155V6]

Yodel

 

I ordered some paint from Amazon,it said it would be delivered today.It was only after I'd paid that it said it would be delivered by Yodel.The Yodel van turned up at work,no parcel for me on there.I checked online,it said the parcel was on route,I thought maybe it would be on another van.No parcel by the time I left work,so I checked online again & it said the same thing.Tried ringing the number on the Yodel website,no chance of actually speaking to anyone.I'd given up by now,thinking it would probably be delivered tomorrow.Then,at around 9.00pm I get a text from Amazon saying my parcel has been delivered,so I check the website & it now says it was delivered this morning at 7.30(no-one is there until 8.15).What are my chances of finding it thrown in a corner of the yard tomorrow morning?

[Inspector Morose]

Went the day badly, did today.

 

Off to work so trudged the few hundred yards or so to my car, (no way can I park anywhere near the house as the street seems to be populated by white vans or the owners cars nowadays) started and waited for the creaky rise of the BX to running height. This achieved, I pulled from the space to find that the steering feels incredibly odd, akin to the car trying to climb over itself. This is not good. Stuck in the middle of the road, I try and reverse to the kerb only to find it'll only go back a yard before refusing to go any further. This is not good, not at all.

 

After a struggle and a good number of backward, forward shunts kerbside is reached so I can get out to try and see what the fuck is wrong. Didn't take long as bothe front wheels were pointing in different directions. This is really not good, oh no.

 

A raise of the suspension to see what had broken revealed the inner balljoint still attached to the track rod but not the steering rack itself. Now this balljoint had recently (just under two months) been replaced by a Citroen specialist in Birmingham for its MoT as I didn't have the time at the, era, time to do the work. Had it snapped? Oh no. It had unscrewed from the rack. Interesting as the locking device on the rear of the balljoint prevents this from happening in a very effective manner, rather akin to a minature ratchet and pawl so preventing the unscrewing of the, rather safety critical, component. That is to say it would work if the thing had been assembled correctly that is as lo and behold sittin inside the rack gaiter is washer part of the locking device looking suspiciously shiny and unused.

 

Due to the extra clearance afforded to me by an adjustable suspension, I had enough space to refit the balljoint properly and tightly (I also suspect that it was only done up hand tight, if that) and get it to work to go through the rest of the "work" that the "specialist" had invoiced me for. Steering rack gaiter? I call bollocks to that as the one side is grimy suggesting that it's been there for well over a year or two. To do the other side means taking the rack down and there's no signs on the nuts and unions that they've been disturbed for a long time. Better check the other balljoint. Surprise, it's loose as well. Duly replaced with a fresh one from stock.

 

What galls me is that this is a specialist who has been in the trade for over 25 years to my knowledge so I'd assume they know what they're doing by now. As the balljoint said are covered by gaiters, I'd have no way of knowing that this was in store.

 

What has put the shits up me is that last week I drove to Scotland and back. If the balljoint had chosen then to detach there is no way that I'd be typing this now. I'd be being scraped up from one or the other side of the M6 or M74. Sobering. And scary.

 

I do apologise for the lack of pictures but I really wasn't in the mood to at the time.

[cort1977]

I'm grumpy about the election result. Bloody democracy.

[twosmoke300]

Fpb ,that's not good .

Modern cars don't even have a locking tab / device at all . No loctite either ! Just done up tight . It worries me when I change them so I always use a bit of 243 just in case and do em up damn tight .

Did a pair today actually

[trigger]

FPB7 no wonder you were shook up, I think anybody would. Will you be contacting the garage about it?

[Inspector Morose]

No point, I'm sure they'd find some way of denying all knowledge. Cash? They'd just put it on someone else's bill anyway. Nah, just steer well clear of Citroen specialists of 1495 Pershore Road, Birmingham. Not saying that they're dodgy but they certainly didn't do a reasonable job on my Citroen. To the point of potentially life threatening errors.

[Lord Sterling]

Shit man! Sorry to hear that Andy, really isn't nice knowing what might have been.

 

Anyway, onto my minor, irrevalant grump; I hate getting attached to cars. Despite my general disliking of the Coupe, I have, rather unfortunately become rather attached to the old tub, it just does things without complaint, it's had a hard life recently and really is only asking for a bit of fettling. I just find it frustrating that I am almost being forced to do sell it due to circumstances. The only comfort I have really is knowing that it is going to a good, sympathetic home with a Rover enthusiast.

 

[Sloth in a bowl]

  On 08/05/2015 at 18:33, FPB7 said:

No point, I'm sure they'd find some way of denying all knowledge. Cash? They'd just put it on someone else's bill anyway. Nah, just steer well clear of Citroen specialists of 1495 Pershore Road, Birmingham. Not saying that they're dodgy but they certainly didn't do a reasonable job on my Citroen. To the point of potentially life threatening errors.

 

 

Given that the address puts them in the Stirchley zone I'm not surprised they are shite.

I had the gearbox on the 260Z replaced at a place near there and when I went to pick it up the car was on the ramp, box in place and the propshaft dangling down. The muppet had forgotten to put both ends of propshaft in the appropriate hole before bolting it all back together. The old box jumped out of 5th, the replacement had a knackered syncro in 2nd. bah humbug.

[xtriple]

Stayed up all night watching the election (no idea why as I have zero interest in politics!) finally tried to sleep at 6:00 a.m. When I woke up I'd lost half the channels on freeview and can't get them back.... is this karma?

[michael1703]

Joey Essex

 

Russel brand

[Matt]

Cheap car pops up on Gumtree, not much info in the advert so I email them and ask if they know of anything that it would need for an MOT and if the last MOT had any advisories. I think they read that email and thought 'Hmm, MOT, let's think, ah yes!' "Not had it mot since April last year 2014.".

 

"Any questions please contact"

Why? You didn't answer either of my questions. I could swear they were wanting to sell the car but maybe I'm being daft thinking that.

[dave21478]

IMO always sack off text/email and phone when buying (assuming there is a contact number) - you will learn more in 2 minutes of conversation than via 50 exchanges of text. Also gives you a good measure of the person selling and not just the car.....ie are they a dribbling caveman or do they sound coherent and interested in the car they are selling.

 

Which is pretty hypocritical of me as when I sell I never, ever put a contact number down so that I can filter out the turds via email before passing my number on to those who sound reasonable.

[TimothyClaypole]

"I collected that on Thursday" - is that difficult to understand? 

 

(Auction company guy emailing me about collecting a lot I won...)

[Matt]

  On 08/05/2015 at 21:24, dave21478 said:

IMO always sack off text/email and phone when buying (assuming there is a contact number) - you will learn more in 2 minutes of conversation than via 50 exchanges of text. Also gives you a good measure of the person selling and not just the car.....ie are they a dribbling caveman or do they sound coherent and interested in the car they are selling.

 

Which is pretty hypocritical of me as when I sell I never, ever put a contact number down so that I can filter out the turds via email before passing my number on to those who sound reasonable.

 

But that involves talking on the phone which I fuuuuucking haaaaate. Yeah I don't give my number out willy nilly, I was enquiring about some alloys from a breaker on ebay and they kept trying to get my number which just wasn't happening. In the number of emails they sent trying to get my number we could have arranged for me to buy them so they lost my business.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I sell loads on ebay and other sites

 

Generally speaking, texters are timewasting mouth breathers

 

Emailers 50 / 50

 

People who actually ring and aren`t afraid to talk to a real person are usually the most genuine.

[fred]

  On 08/05/2015 at 21:46, dodgytom said:

I sell loads on ebay and other sites

 

Generally speaking, texters are timewasting mouth breathers

 

Emailers 50 / 50

 

People who actually ring and aren`t afraid to talk to a real person are usually the most genuine.

Pretty much bang on there

[michael1703]

I've got a truck on eBay, got email asking for number, Guy rang,we talked for 5 minutes,gave me a day and time and......no show

 

Phone skill not conclusive

[AlabamaShrimp]

There's been a whoop whoop noise from the Fiesta ST for a bit from the back. I said it must be a bearing as one has already been changed.

 

Take it to college, up on ramp, spin wheels, rag them about, nothing. Get the tutor to check he can't find anything either.

 

WWife still not happy (she's obsessed her car makes no weird noises) took it to the garage we always use just to check.

 

That'll be £240 for a back bearing and 2 new tyres please... Should have been 3 but I saved one. NSR tyre was deformed and the tracking was off scuffing the front. Although it's really nice to drive the very hard suspension and shitty roads don't go well together

[cort16]

Fanny's bumping old for sale threads from 6 years ago on retro rides? "Is this still for sale I'm very interested (advert dated 2009)"

What the fuck do you think it was advertised in a different decade?

[EssDeeWon]

Popped out for a cycle ride this morning (ok, tat spotting) and I was riding down a side road not especially fast when a white new shape white goods focus drives round me and pulls across the front of me like I wasn't even there, bit inconsiderate but it was an oldish woman driving so I didn't make much of it, just rode past and pointed to my eyes (as if to say did you not see me?), well fuck me, the silly old tart just sat there in her car sticking two fingers up at me? Unbelievable Jeff !!! 

 

Loopy old cow, some poor fuckers probably married to that.

[philibusmo]

I have not had a single speeding ticket for all the 5 years I have been driving in the UK. Come to Western Australia for 4 months and I have two tickets in the space of a week totalling $400 (about £200).

 

Why are the speed limits here so unreasonably low when there is so much distance to cover, along with such draconian enforcement when drink drivers, really bad drivers and road rage incidents get completely ignored?

[dugong]

  On 09/05/2015 at 09:25, cort16 said:

Fanny's bumping old for sale threads from 6 years ago on retro rides? "Is this still for sale I'm very interested (advert dated 2009)"

What the fuck do you think it was advertised in a different decade?

Ha ha, that Piazza's long been recycled - I should know, I sold the bleeding thing.

[purplebargeken]

Communicate people. It isn't hard and makes for good manners.