The grumpy thread

[320touring]

Paints4u.co.uk ftw

[rml2345]

Paints4u.co.uk ftw

I didn't read that properly and thought it said "Pants4u"...

[Lacquer Peel]

 

 

The wee Escort ran well but the suspension is a bit wheezy. Its developed a nasty groan from the front right over bumps and the back end is a bit bouncy and wobbly. New shocks needed all round, I suspect which stings my pisser a bit as the recent CT was passed with flying colours. I am having real doubts about the CT place I use.... stuff which to me is important seems to get missed - ie worn suspension, but he will happily make life miserable over me running the wrong size of tyres or some other pointless non-fault.

The exhaust is blowing here and there too, which got worse over the course of the trip.

I've only had one car fail an MoT test on shockers, a Primera P10, the front suspension is unusually stiff, with new shocks it was exactly the same.

I think dampers have to be utterly fucked to fail a test here.

[cort16]

Halfords paint match is shit. Never had a good one from there. Pants4 u are much better and their spray nozzle is better than the halfords ones .

[Noel Tidybeard]

Fucking lurgy befell me today biblically, coughing up huge wads of thick greeny crud, one lung feels like it just stopped working, eyes watering, nose watering wheezing like an old mouth organ. Barely get enough air in me to get upstairs. Fucksticks. Everytime I try to lie down I have a coughing fit where I nearly pass out due to lack of oxygen. Bugger ....

your LHM needs changing

[tooSavvy]

[... moved to a more suitable peg!]

 

TWO days not at work... an odyssey  

 

Local skummers have had a 'jump about' on the roof of my works, silver Doblo.

 

..nothing too severe but a fair cleat by the centre, rear doors  

 

Off on holiday for 6 days [from last BHol] so I get a quote from this bodyshop guy - bit '1 man band' - to leave the van for my holiday and agree a collection on my return, yesterday... nice£ / strictly cash!

 

Rolls up Mon 9AM... no work has been done. 'Duff compressor' he says. 'Guarantee it'll be done tomorrow, M8'  

 

Rolls up 9 Tue morning... van is backed into lockup and he looks busy thumping the roof at the back (needs a blow over of paint too!).

 

Rolls up at 2PM [just to check how he's doing....] van is parked outside lockup... no paint/dent removal...  

 

I tell him this is hopeless... he shruggs & hands over my £advance and hands me the keys.....

 

My company has paid me to stay in the house & used a subby for my works... Not Happy  

 

 

So then..... WTF     

 

 

TS

[Station]

I need a can of audi oyster grey paint to sort the scratch on the A6.

 

Guess what? Halfords, holts etc do not do oyster grey.

 

Bollocks.

 

You should try Poundland Silver Wheel spray. I find the colour match will be better than the one you are looking for. Failing that, Rover Apple Green.

 

For more jokes, ask the fella behind the 'parts counter' to mix you some. The colour match is remarkable*, especially on metallics*.

 

[HillmanImp]

They got the match pretty much spot on with the DAF. S'pose it might be a bit hit and miss though. 

[jakebullet]

I had a feeling idiot sister's mot is due, so checked the online thing. Next month, but it also says tax is out.

 

So being caring* I told her. To get a shitload of abuse, and 'well I haven't had a letter'. Fine, feel free to shout that at the bloke when he comes and clamps your kia shitbox. Or pay up. I don't care.

[M'coli]

Got stopped by the fuzz tonight 300 yards from work, having been beliw the speed limit, in the correct lanes and used indicators correctly since exiting the M1. Apparently I had the 106 "on two wheels" going round the corners, and "driving it like Id stolen it". Bollox I was! I was 5mph slower than usual, but I think their problem was it's an old shopping car being driven briskly and correctly, ie to IAM standards. Why can't they fuck off and deal with the international council of pussies and fannies that hog the middle lane on th M1 & don't know what indicators are, or is that too much like shooting fish in a barrel?

[maxpower]

Twat had 1& half parking bay space to park into yet still leaves his fkin paint scraped on mrs maxpowers rear bumper  then before being confronted denies hitting the car!!... then he says in a broken east european accent he has a friend that can respray it...yes mate and so do we...its called the fkin insurance company... askmid says it was insured...but if he has a licence to drive then im lord lucan....

[Semi-C]

I'm so sorry for your loss Dan.

[Cavcraft]

My grump is, the explosion of clickbait non-threads on here lately.

 

May I politely draw people's attention to the News 24, Grin, Grump, Stupid Question Amnesty, Lazy Spotters and pinned Communal For Sale threads for things that are just posts rather than major points of conversation.

 

At the risk of sounding like Milford Cubicle/Leonard Hatred, all the dross just makes this site look like a beige version of Twitter or Facebook, while the real threads vanish on to page 4 in half a day.

 

 

Agree with all of that, except for the items for sale thread. A lot of the beauty of this place for me is stumbling across random vehicles for sale, sometimes you don't spot them until they're a day or two old, then you frantically pray someone hasn't bought it as you excitedly trawl through all the replies. 

[chaseracer]

Just as well there is no precedent of alienating recent arrivals to this electronic parish with such messages.  In the same way that there's never anyone at the head of a lane 3 queue holding everyone else to 38mph through dormant roadworks.

[oldcars]

You may remember a few weeks back the transfer box went on the santa fe.. It had new seals fitted, went again. Then i got a second had one from a scrappies, and yes you guessed it now that s gone too  . I think something must be causing these units to fail. Its a full time 4x4 60/40 split. Any ideas what i should look for and what may cause all these to fail, its already cost a fortune.

[chaseracer]

...santa fe... any ideas...

 

There's always the Freelander-stylee 'permanent FWD' approach, followed by the option of a swift pass in front of an auctioneer...

[panhard65]

You may remember a few weeks back the transfer box went on the santa fe.. It had new seals fitted, went again. Then i got a second had one from a scrappies, and yes you guessed it now that s gone too  . I think something must be causing these units to fail. Its a full time 4x4 60/40 split. Any ideas what i should look for and what may cause all these to fail, its already cost a fortune.

 

I don't know much about the Santa Fe but it sounds like it has a viscous coupling either in the prop like the freelander or on the rear diff like the Renault Quadra. I would of thought that the people fitting the box would of checked it though. If it is hard to push on full lock is usually a sign.

[oldcars]

I don't know much about the Santa Fe but it sounds like it has a viscous coupling either in the prop like the freelander or on the rear diff like the Renault Quadra. I would of thought that the people fitting the box would of checked it though. If it is hard to push on full lock is usually a sign.

Thanks, just to make sure i understand, if the viscous coupling was to fail would this cause wind up and make the transfer box fail? It has felt stiff to drive on full lock for a while to be fare. How would you check it before fitting the box, what would you look for? This is starting to sound like £££ bill which i just don't have 

[panhard65]

That sounds like the viscous coupling alright. If I remember rightly these are a transverse engine using a front wheel drive type gearbox with the transfer driving the rear wheels. Try it with the rear prop off first to make sure it rolls freely. The prop might have the coupling in it. If you google freeland viscous coupling you will have an idea what it looks like. With the prop off you should be able to jack one side up and turn the wheel. It might be tight due to any limited slip diff that it may have. If that all works with it back on all 4 wheels try turning the rear propshaft flange. It should be possible to turn it without turning the wheels. It will be very stiff though. Hope that gives you a bit of an idea. There will be plenty on the net about freelanders doing this and the symptoms.

[oldcars]

Thanks, just had a google and know what to look for. Will let you know the result, cheers for the info much appreciated.

[beko1987]

We get some childcare voucher scheme at work, so thought I'd have a gander. The dosh is deducted tax free so it must be good...

 

The current scheme ends at the end of august, my daughter starts nursery in september (had to be september so she was eligible for so much of it free). I realised thsi when the voucher scheme website has 'childcare providor' as a mandatory field. 

 

Do I fill it out based on what it might be? I probably couldnt afford to loose £50 a month anyway so will jsut start putting £20 here and there into her piggybank...

[The Moog]

Can you live in a v12 jag? Probably be cheaper than my house.

 

Had sparky check fuseboard today. Needed a few bits doing to it, which is fair enough.

 

Then he checked out the garage (which leaks like a sieve). This apparently is live

 

Fed by a small wire from the house through a metal cover which had rusted through. They are coming back next week to take it apart and run it to a double outside plug socket. More ££££

 

On way out, they helpfully pointed out the downstairs bathroom is single brick and so doesn't meet building code.

[Skizzer]

Most houses don't meet the current building code, which keeps changing.  I wouldn't worry too much about that, unless you've just had the bathroom built and need the work signing off. 

 

The electrickery does look like it might benefit from fixing, on the other hand.

[The Moog]

Only reason they mentioned it is that in winter just got to be careful the water doesn't freeze. Whole bathroom is damp and really cold.

[dave21478]

Re the Santa-fe, I changed a clutch on one a year or so back and iirc the viscous coupling is inside the gearbox/transfer box assembly somewhere. Its certainly not on the propshaft like a feelander.

 

If your car feels tight when reversing on full lock the viscous coupling is not slipping enough, which will wind up and eventually break the next weakest component, which is usally the transfer box.

 

Check your tyres if you fit another. I dont know about the santa fe, but the freelander needs all 4 tyres to be same make, model and within 5mm rolling radius front to rear. Non-similar tyres make the front and rear axles rotate at different speeds which works the viscous coupling too hard, over heats it and it seizes up. The handbook will likely tell you about tyre specs....ie do they need to be replaced all 4 at once or can they be changed in pairs and fit the new ones to the rear or something like that.

 

I found there to be a distinct lack of info about the santa fe online when I looked into that one I worked on.

Best I could find was this....

 

most googling turns up USA stuff which is a different beast.

[AlabamaShrimp]

5 fucking hours trying to fill in a jsa climate form in on the Internet. Asked fuck all questions about me just mega overly concerned about my wife badly paid jobs.

 

After crashing 4 times I still aren't done as it wants some unknown number from my bank account I don't have and won't take no for an answer. All I'm trying to do is get back some of the money I paid in

[xtriple]

Since I got the lurgy at the weekend I cannot stop drinking! Water, coke, coffee, tea nothing quenches my thirst!  Feel fractionally better now but  have just had a couple of hours kip... Didn't sleep at all last night!

[MarvinsMom]

5 fucking hours trying to fill in a jsa climate form in on the Internet. Asked fuck all questions about me just mega overly concerned about my wife badly paid jobs.

 

After crashing 4 times I still aren't done as it wants some unknown number from my bank account I don't have and won't take no for an answer. All I'm trying to do is get back some of the money I paid in

 

good look with that..... the system now is rigged to make it as difficult as humanly possible to claim and receive what you are entitled too, unless you are some *********/******/feckless waste of space in which case they will fall over themselves to give you cast-monies.

 

i was on the dole when cameron and his lot came in, i had been all over the fuckin' country for interviews looking for work. from whitehaven, glasgow, portsmouth, nottingham, lincoln and others too, before i had been able to get some travel expenses out of the DHSS or whatever its called, as soon as they got in, it became harder to get help like that. and they said it was on orders from up on high that they were to not approve claims even when the person was entitled to the money.

 

plus i'm pleased to see that the sooper dooper computer thing installed at great expense and well behind schedule is working* just as well as expected.

[dugong]

Right. I can't be arsed sifting through umpteen pages of rambling guff about Shitefest. 

When are people supposed to get to the Llangollen MM on the Saturday? Is the museum open? When does the convoy leave?
I need the answers to these extremely basic questions. Why hasn't there been a sticky put up about it? 

[Inspector Morose]

Morning, yes and early/mid afternoon.