The grumpy thread

[meggersdog]

Me too, Vulgalour.Didn't smell alcohol on him but an eye test is for sure.

It's on business use so might get a nice new van until his insurance company assess it.

[EssDeeWon]

Good job you caught him because he would have buggered off, I guarantee you.

 

Infact 99.754% of people do nowadays.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

The school is pretty Dickensian about this stuff so I expect to be ordered in for a chat in the next few days which will impact my pay.

This drives me crackers and i haven't even got kids. Are you going to get 'fined' by the school for your lads non-appearance?

[Parky]

Probably not but I have heard of some extreme cases where the parents have to sign a contract and face a £1000 fine or three months in the big house if truancy is persistent. Question is do I do the stretch or does Mrs P??

 

Parky Jnr has had the riot act read to him (calmly - I was like Blofeld, had the cat and everything) and is suitably chastened. I have left his final punishment hanging over him like the sword of Damocles as I'll drop that bomb later

[Bren]

Prior to buying my A6 I had been looking for an S4 but all the decent ones were outside my budget - I was'nt going to pay £4/5 k for a car with issues.

 

I hav'nt really gelled with my A6 and started looking at S4's again.

 

However I will have to take a big hit on my car if I decide to get rid.

[Bren]

Unbelievable, some knobjockey has just reversed (hard) into my Discovery smashing the headlight,bending the bumper,bending the wing,the bonnet and looks like the inner wing too. He's got a scuffed bumper and broken light lens.

 

Got home today and there is a Rover 75 parked half on the path opposite two driveways.I parked a good ten feet behind locked up and went into the house.Unknown to me matey whose drive the Rover is parked opposite can't get on the drive so parks infront of the Rover.20 minutes after going inside there is an almighty crash I look out and the Rover is half imbedded in my hedge and half into my car. Thought he was about to F..off so I rushed outside. "Oh, I must've hit it falling off the kerb" Eh, I heard the revving before the crunch.I told him he's written my car off and actually this bit of tarmac we are standing on and his car was on is called a foot-path.It is for pedestrians.The part of tarmac my car is parked on is called a road and that is where you should park your car not half on a foot-path. So the nearside rear wing of this Rover has caused all that damage to the offside front on my car. He didn't know his insurance company but I've just checked MID and the car is insured.

 

Couldn't believe the damage.That almost iron girder of a front bumper is flat to the front valance.

Did you get photographs? Are there any independent witnesses? The reason I ask is that if he tries to be a twat and deny it you don't want it to come down to your word against his.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I booked the day off today a while back so I could maybe get some stuff done on the cars, but with the weather being like it is I've done sod all. Yeah a weather whinge is pretty much a non-starter I'd agree if it wasn't the THIRD TIME IN A ROW I've specifically booked a day off for this reason. The time before it was a monsoon-style rainstorm and the time before that it was pretty much a wall of high-speed sleet. I might as well not book days off and do something more productive like shoot myself in the face.

It's wintertime.....

 

Were you expecting a heatwave?

[MrDuke]

After a visit to the GP today, it turns out Mrs_Duke has a(nother) gigantic cyst wedged in her guts, which will need chopping out in the near future. The last one was 5 years ago, and was unbelievably traumatic for her. This one may not be as bad, as 1) she noticed the symptoms far earlier, and won't have to go through all the A&E visits etc again, and 2) as the first one turned out to be benign, there's a good chance this one will be as well.

On the down side, while she got away with just losing an ovary last time, I'm pretty sure they'll want to rip everything out this time round. Recovery from the last op was absolutely agonising for her (not nice watching her constantly mashing the button on the morphine drip, barely able to speak through the pain) so I can't imagine what the next one will be like. The last one measured 20cm in length, and the doc reckons this one isn't much smaller (Mrs_Duke is a size 8 at most) - joy.

 

 

Also, the wind can FRO. It's not really damaging anything, but the noise is really starting to do my head in.

[D Spares & Tyres]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear (I think I did), but I'm not a fucking moron. I'm not expecting to go and work on the car in my flip-flops whilst drinking a Pina Colada. I'm needing a day where there's maybe a two hour window where it isn't gale force winds or a rain/snow storm. Hopefully this clears this up for you.

Sorry

 

Shouldn't you be wanking yourself into a sleepy but tearful stupor by this late hour anyway?

[D Spares & Tyres]

It's OK thank you I HAZ WOMAN ☺

[D Spares & Tyres]

Well, I'm sure she's great.

A keeper ☺

[jonathan_dyane]

Girlfriends KA has a borked engine, thankfully I hadn't got round to replacing the clutch yet...

 

Don't suppose anyone has a duratec (OHC) 1.3 KA engine and box lying around?

[garbaldy]

Haha Hirst has flip flops.

[strangeangel]

I booked the day off today a while back so I could maybe get some stuff done on the cars, but with the weather being like it is I've done sod all. Yeah a weather whinge is pretty much a non-starter I'd agree if it wasn't the THIRD TIME IN A ROW I've specifically booked a day off for this reason.

 

 

Maybe wait until a promising looking day crops up and then phone in sick?

[wuvvum]

'Offers' seems to mean 'half the asking price' at the moment.

 

W00t.

 

Then the whinging starts. Well, you weren't expecting a response in the affirmative, were you?

 

Oh.......you were.

This.  I've got both the LDV and the Rover 25 on Gumtree at the moment, and some of the offers I've been getting I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[wuvvum]

My finances are making me grumpy (again).  Last month I ended up having to nick 200 quid from my holiday fund just to finish off the month.  It was a bloody long month though, and it had Christmas in it, so not wholly unexpected.  Just had a look at my online banking for this month, for which I've only had a couple of small out-of-the-ordinary expenses (so far), and once I've paid all the bills and the petrol to get to work and back, I've got naff all left.  So the groceries are going to have to go on the credit card again.  And that's already with having taken two vehicles off the road this month (the 200 VI and the LDV) - even with that my VED bill for the month was still into 3 figures. 

 

The problem is that I took on a number of financial commitments when I was earning a decent wedge, but now that my income has dropped I'm struggling to keep up.  I'm going to have to have a major rethink, which will involve either getting a better-paid job (LOLZ) or having a large-scale chod sell-off to a) reduce the tax bill and b ) clear the credit card balance.  I might have to give up the garage as well - the Renner Six needs to go back on the road this year come what may (and it'll probably only cost me a couple of months' garage rent to get it through the test) and the boat and motorbikes can overwinter in the back of the van if need be.  Giving up my trader's insurance would save me a fair bit more, of course, but I'm not sure that's a path I really want to go down.

[fred]

Sodding shed roof blew off today. Bugger and flanges - landed in the last place I wished to venture, two doors down. habited by a huge tattooed oaf with 3 huge bloody German Shepherds roaming the garden - Sod !

 

He was asleep pissed as usually is the case, so unlatched the gate and threw some hot dog sausages as far away from my roof as possible.

 

It kinda worked - the barking woke said oaf up, and he complained about me having my roof in his garden - ''Im moving it now''

 

''Fucking hope so leaving your shit in my manor''

 

''Ohhh go back to sleep you illiterate twat''

 

''Dont call me a fucking twat''

 

''Sorry, go back to bed you illiterate''

 

''Fuck you''

 

''You'll be lucky puppy dog''

 

Bloody neighbours bah !

[beko1987]

Uh Oh

The ZX is misbehaving.

 

It's been running like crap for the last few days tbh, lost a fair bit of power. OK once going though

 

This morning however, it took ages to start, and idled really lumpily. Head off to work. Going round a fairly large corner it stalled when I changed down a gear. Without meaning to I bump started it and carried on.

 

On the m40, it was surging slightly. Every so often I could feel a little surge. Stayed at 50 behind a lorry.

 

Coming off at handy x it stalled at the lights, and took a long while to restart. Get around and off handy x. It stalls again when coming to a halt off the bypass. Again, takes ages to restart. Battery is reading 13.6v now with all the cranking.

 

Get to work with keeping the revs up, and when coming into the car park and reverse parking it didn't stall.

 

I think the revs drop down too far when lifting off and it stalls, and then wont hot start.Keeping the revs up keeps it going. It started again not too badly when I got to work, and I adjusted the accelerator cable out a bit so it idles at 1400rpm now.

 

Hope I get home, anyone got any idea what the cause is? Does it suddenly not like veg, or is it something else. I'm wondering if the broken battery live terminal could not be helping, but it's still on there, just a bit loose

[andy18s]

When was the fuel filter last done? If you are running veg it will block quicker,and possibly get waxed up when the temps drop

 

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

[skattrd]

Beko, when did you last change the fuel filter?

 

Beaten to it by Andy ...

[beko1987]

Fuel filter done a month ago. I'll check it though, incase it has gummed up quickly. Plus it's not been what I would call cold, 7 degrees this morning, hasn't really dropped below 4 for the past week

[beko1987]

Also, don't know if it's relevant but the steering has felt heavier yesterday and today (especially fucking heavy when it's stalled!)

[skattrd]

Heavy steering, check tyre pressures and PAS belt/pump ... or you're getting weaker.

[UmBongo]

A keeper ☺

 

 

Well, I'm sure she's great.

 

She must be deaf, dumb, blind and have no sense of smell to put up with old dodgyT...

[UmBongo]

Girlfriends KA has a borked engine, thankfully I hadn't got round to replacing the clutch yet...

 

Don't suppose anyone has a duratec (OHC) 1.3 KA engine and box lying around?

 

Does it have a rusty fuel cap too?

[UmBongo]

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear (I think I did), but I'm not a fucking moron. I'm not expecting to go and work on the car in my flip-flops whilst drinking a Pina Colada. I'm needing a day where there's maybe a two hour window where it isn't gale force winds or a rain/snow storm. Hopefully this clears this up for you.

 

I cleaned my car in between sleet showers the other day. I had to do it because it had four weeks of crap attached to the panels.

 

I wasn't wearing flip flops, though.

[D Spares & Tyres]

She must be deaf, dumb, blind and have no sense of smell to put up with old dodgyT...

Have we met?

[The Moog]

Fuel filter done a month ago. I'll check it though, incase it has gummed up quickly. Plus it's not been what I would call cold, 7 degrees this morning, hasn't really dropped below 4 for the past week

 

What are you running? Is it a mix? Bit of pez helps. 

 

Also think about tank strainer. That is what caused my issues. 

[Louise2cv]

Didn't you put petrol in it last week beko? Someone was saying it might be a touch too much?

 

I have no idea how it all works mind you...

[beko1987]

I was just thinking that Louise! Bastard hot starting being mentioned specifically... But I ran it down to 1/2 a tank last week then brimmed it back up with just veg. Wondering if it may be an idea to drain out the veg and put £20 derv in. But, how do I drain a full fuel tank?

 

Been doing lots of googling, and can find lots of scenarios where it happens when the engine is cold, but it happens to me when the engine is hot. I'm hoping the high idle at least gets me home. There's only 3 places on the way back that I could possibly run into trouble, but I want it to run enough for the battery to at least charge up a bit incase I need to crank it lots.

 

Also, is it better to crack and push the accelerator or just crank and wait for it to fire?