The grumpy thread

[Cavcraft]

My son's girlfriend's 2010 Audi 2.0 petrol shit it's rings out at quite a low mileage. Common problem it seems and they footed the bill for the couple of grand or so to fix it.

[D Spares & Tyres]

I have just tried to fit a body part at midnight in the dark. It did not go well.

Playing hide the sausage?

[Barry Cade]

My steering lock seems very reluctant to release recently, hope it's not an omen. Is it worth getting another (dumb thankfully) key cut? Problem is it will be cut from the worn key, or would that be ok?

 

Or is jizzing some plusgas/wd40 at the barrel a good idea?

If it's a Vauxhall, change the barrel ASAP, or it will leave you stuck one day.

[beko1987]

It's a citroen. Does that make it worse?

[scaryoldcortina]

On a citroen, it's likely to grab hold of the key and not let you have it back. You can still start and drive it, but so can anyone else....

[beko1987]

Ha, no one would want to do that! Plus I can throw the hidden fuel pump switch...

 

New barrel time, or can I lubricate the barrel? Or break the steering lock but enable it still to work?

[Dave_Q]

Beko,

 

If it's anything like my berlingo (might be the same, might be totally different because French) you can dismantle the barrel and remove the steering lock bit which is a sort of metal bolt thing on a spring. Mine broke recently as described by scary and the key got stuck in. Managed to get the barrel out and dismantle, put it back together without the steering lock and all is fine, except no steering lock.

 

Sorry no pics but once you get it apart you'll see. You will need some small torx bits (T5 and T7 I think) to get the barrel out and split it.

[LC Torana]

You should be able to buy graphite lock lubricant in a spray can at a well-stocked ironmongers.

[beko1987]

I've got tiny torx bits, don't mind loosing the steering lock, I imagine the last time a scrote tried to break one to steal a ZX was last millenium...

 

Has been fine today, so will leave it until it happens again, if the whole thing is dismantable enough to clean, lubricate and re-assemble that might be a plan also, and I'll get some of that graphite lubricant.

 

I'll study the HBOL and see what the job entails

[stephen01]

We've got a Mexican standoff on the fence right now. One panel blew out last year, then another just before Christmas. Now there's two more gone and that totals about half the garden, the rest is looking suspect too.

 

The deeds say it's their fence. I had an chat last year and he clearly wasn't keep on footing the whole bill himself, but our fence on the other side will need doing and I'm not sorting both.

 

The other problem is that three out of five houses in a row are owned by his family so they think they're some sort of local celebrities.

 

If it's his fence then you can start to play the twat about him doing it, but the minimum he must do is something stupid like 3 pieces of wire x feet high marking the boundary.

 

My neighbour who we sort of get on with, ie we say hello, he is a right old grump, our fence between the two houses was rotten, so much so I refused to waste my time and money painting the bloody stuff. I knocked his door and we agreed to go 50/50 on the cost of new fence, legally it was his responsibility to do it but i'd rather keep the peace and have new fence for half the money. our saving grace is the fact that our fence is just slotted into concrete posts so it literally took me a couple of hours to remove the old ones and slot the new ones in, I even smashed the old ones up and tipped them. there are 10 panels in total, I think it was approx. 15 quid a panel so all in all I think we both come off the deal ok.

[Bren]

Peter Best insurance.

 

In 2016, why can they not provide online quotes - they say coming soon on their webpage- it said this the last time I tried to get in touch last year.

 

You have to queue - just for a quote.

 

Sorry but my business will be greatfully accepted elsewhere.

[Station]

Left the Astra in for MOT last week. The tester goes to drive it into the station - the fucker won't start - talk about timing. Spent three hours outside in the pissing rain, troubleshooting everything, to no avail. time would've been better spent rolling around in the middle of the road trying to dodge rush hour traffic.

Ended up getting it towed to my garage by the AA (after he diagnosed a) the fuel pump, the HT leads, c) etc). Put it in the garage. It starts. For fuck's sake, I think. Checked it numerous times through the night while I go over every connector and relay - it won't repeat the non-starting issue. Book it in for another MOT, if it's OK now, it'll be fine in the morning. Come back to garage in the morning - the fucker won't start, and has since refused to start. The ECU light isn't on, so I can't do a diagnostic (which means the ECU isn't sending a signal to any of the sensors). I have NO IDEA what it could be - apart from replacing the loom, of which one I purchase.

 

In the meantime, I am selling shite on ebay, mostly off my Starion haul - I've so far made £1,600 from all that shite - stuff I was going to bin makes about £50!

The Astra one pissed me off, but this one REALLY got me. Send two Euro number plate mounts to Texas. Quote £25 for postage 'just as a quote'. The p&p eventually comes to £45, which I say to buyer 'you will have to cover the extra', which is £20. The items don't arrive within a couple of days, naturally, as we are 5000 fuckings miles apart, so he opens a case. I say 'I've sent them already, calm down, you'll get the number plates.' 'Ariba' he replies, as he has a mexican name (Jose).

I get a delivery confirmation - everything has gone to plan. Then ebay says they have decided in the buyer's favour (obviously), and have refunded him the £60. WTF! I'm £60 out of pocket now, and £20 extra spaffed away like a proper twat.

I 'appeal' this with a note promising an apology to the person I have to deal with on the helpline if this doesn't get resolved. I'm fucking livid (at ebay).

 

I cheer myself up by fitting a new wiring loom to the Astra. Which changes nothing - it still won't start. ECU next.

[gm]

I went to the dentist today...with a hangover.

I cannot explain just how bad an idea that turned out to be

[The Moog]

Fucking students*.  You would expect final year degree students to have some common sense and not expect people to go around sorting their lives out for them. But no... .

 

The lack of ownership is quite shocking. JFDI, not give 101 reasons why you havent. Very quick to complain that you have spent £8k a year coming here, but not so happy when pointed out that you need to do more than just pay fees to get a degree. 

 

Its going to get worse as the government is telling them all about their consumer rights for the payments and how it is effectively a contract. This will lead to litigation when they dont get the grade they want. 

 

*a minority like everything in life.... but the annoying ones.. 

[Bobthebeard]

Left the Astra in for MOT last week. The tester goes to drive it into the station - the fucker won't start - talk about timing. Spent three hours outside in the pissing rain, troubleshooting everything, to no avail. time would've been better spent rolling around in the middle of the road trying to dodge rush hour traffic.

Ended up getting it towed to my garage by the AA (after he diagnosed a) the fuel pump, the HT leads, c) etc). Put it in the garage. It starts. For fuck's sake, I think. Checked it numerous times through the night while I go over every connector and relay - it won't repeat the non-starting issue. Book it in for another MOT, if it's OK now, it'll be fine in the morning. Come back to garage in the morning - the fucker won't start, and has since refused to start. The ECU light isn't on, so I can't do a diagnostic (which means the ECU isn't sending a signal to any of the sensors). I have NO IDEA what it could be - apart from replacing the loom, of which one I purchase.

 

In the meantime, I am selling shite on ebay, mostly off my Starion haul - I've so far made £1,600 from all that shite - stuff I was going to bin makes about £50!

The Astra one pissed me off, but this one REALLY got me. Send two Euro number plate mounts to Texas. Quote £25 for postage 'just as a quote'. The p&p eventually comes to £45, which I say to buyer 'you will have to cover the extra', which is £20. The items don't arrive within a couple of days, naturally, as we are 5000 fuckings miles apart, so he opens a case. I say 'I've sent them already, calm down, you'll get the number plates.' 'Ariba' he replies, as he has a mexican name (Jose).

I get a delivery confirmation - everything has gone to plan. Then ebay says they have decided in the buyer's favour (obviously), and have refunded him the £60. WTF! I'm £60 out of pocket now, and £20 extra spaffed away like a proper twat.

I 'appeal' this with a note promising an apology to the person I have to deal with on the helpline if this doesn't get resolved. I'm fucking livid (at ebay).

 

I cheer myself up by fitting a new wiring loom to the Astra. Which changes nothing - it still won't start. ECU next.

Oddly I had a similar problem with the Mercury last weekend. EML light not coming on with ignition and no start. Cutting a long story short it was a corroded earth connection from fuel pump to pump relay, and I assume to the ecu.

Whatever. Cleaning the connectors resulted in the EML back on with ignition, starting fine and EML extinguishing as it should.

[Station]

I know it'll be an earth somewhere, but I've checked them all.

When you switch they key on, the ECU powers the control relay which powers the fuel pump and all of the sensors (AFM, injectors), and it controls them by earthing through the ECU back to an earth (through a brown wire). The engine light on the dashboard doubles as a diagnostic flashing light (paper clip in plug), but if it doesn't come on at all, that means trouble. As such, no electronics are working in the engine.

[Bobthebeard]

I too had checked all the relevent earth connections with a multimeter. All seemingly good. However when I removed the screw holding the earth wires to the slam panel it was clear that someone had re drilled the hole twice. Three holes. Hmmmm. Clearly a problem in the past.

Although the meter suggested continuity it turned out to be a high resistance problem in a push in connector upstream. Cleaning the pins/sockets with emery sorted it eventually. The EML didn't come on at all before this either.

[mercedade]

My version of that ended up being a dodgy spade connector on my starter. Rover 820 Vitesse, notorious for ropey soldered connections, would occasionally just do nothing when turning the key. All lights as normal, dash as normal, but I convinced myself it was the immobiliser not de-activating properly.

[vulgalour]

I'd like to just place an order for a part and be done with it.  Quick, easy transaction.  How hard is that?  Instead, the act of ordering takes at least twice as long as it ought because you have to 'log in' to the website by submitting all your personal details for them to send the item out to you or, as has happened a couple of times, to be told the item isn't in stock.  Also, what's wrong with telling the customer what the postage on an item is going to be BEFORE having to log in for all this bollocks?

 

Oh, and don't call them on the telephone, it's usually even worse.

[Bobthebeard]

I'd like to just place an order for a part and be done with it. Quick, easy transaction. How hard is that? Instead, the act of ordering takes at least twice as long as it ought because you have to 'log in' to the website by submitting all your personal details for them to send the item out to you or, as has happened a couple of times, to be told the item isn't in stock. Also, what's wrong with telling the customer what the postage on an item is going to be BEFORE having to log in for all this bollocks?

 

Oh, and don't call them on the telephone, it's usually even worse.

Buy an old American car instead. None o that rubbish from RockAuto!

[Aston Martin]

I'm selling the Panda, so I took him for a full service. 

 

 

oh he needs front discs and pads    ....... and tyres. 

 

I'm not getting change from £500-600. 

[trigger]

You never did say why you hated the car so much.

[cort1977]

Fucking students*.  You would expect final year degree students to have some common sense and not expect people to go around sorting their lives out for them. But no... .

 

The lack of ownership is quite shocking. JFDI, not give 101 reasons why you havent. Very quick to complain that you have spent £8k a year coming here, but not so happy when pointed out that you need to do more than just pay fees to get a degree. 

 

Its going to get worse as the government is telling them all about their consumer rights for the payments and how it is effectively a contract. This will lead to litigation when they dont get the grade they want. 

 

*a minority like everything in life.... but the annoying ones.. 

There was a bit in the Graunidad about this recently.   http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/dec/18/my-students-have-paid-9000-and-now-they-think-they-own-me

 

Obviously I agree that you can't sue if you don't get the grade and you do have to do some work.   On the other hand thinking back to when I was an undergrad some of the teaching was terrible and I would have been pretty pissed if I was paying the tuition fees.

[Parky]

Long old interview. Guy 1 was great, guy two lovely but guy 3 has rendered me unable to conjure up a profanity large enough to do justice to him. Doubt I will be offered it but doubt I would accept it anyway. What a waste of time

[The Moog]

There was a bit in the Graunidad about this recently.   http://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/2015/dec/18/my-students-have-paid-9000-and-now-they-think-they-own-me

 

Obviously I agree that you can't sue if you don't get the grade and you do have to do some work.   On the other hand thinking back to when I was an undergrad some of the teaching was terrible and I would have been pretty pissed if I was paying the tuition fees.

 

Totally agree that some of the old warhorses dont give value for money, but 90% of the time it is down to students doing zero work outside of class then getting angry about not getting grades. They have been so spoonfed and not allowed to fail that having adult conversations can be a challenge  

[Aston Martin]

You never did say why you hated the car so much.

 

 

I live in a scumbag area, speedbumps are a fucking nightmare in 100hps.

 

....

 

 

I went to the garage to chat, he suggested some homemade tyres.

 

"I don't want budget tyres"

 

"Evergreen are one-up from cheap"

 

"no, I need Rainsport 3's"

 

"We can't get em... not pushing you, but you're selling the car. No-one notices the tyres."

 

"I'm not spending all this money, to put cokwang tyres on" *Not the actual words spoken, sadly.

 

....

 

I went to tyre place on way home...

 

"Ah, rainsport 3's... nope, special order fuck you."

 

 

 

 

So, i'm ordering tyres online (Cheaper than the goldunsuncuntz) 

[trigger]

I really quite fancy a 100hp as my next run about although they are still a bit rich for me. I've only ever read good things about them online.

[myglaren]

Fucking students*.  You would expect final year degree students to have some common sense and not expect people to go around sorting their lives out for them. But no... .

 

The lack of ownership is quite shocking. JFDI, not give 101 reasons why you havent. Very quick to complain that you have spent £8k a year coming here, but not so happy when pointed out that you need to do more than just pay fees to get a degree. 

 

Its going to get worse as the government is telling them all about their consumer rights for the payments and how it is effectively a contract. This will lead to litigation when they dont get the grade they want. 

 

*a minority like everything in life.... but the annoying ones.. 

My eldest daughter works in a university and is appalled by the lack of application and responsibility displayed by the British students* whereas the majority of foreign students tend to be very diligent and hard working and don't expect the university staff to do their work for them.

 

*especially when we remember the effort she put into gaining her degree.

[mrbenn]

Dear anxiety,

 

Please go away. I'm begging you....

 

Thank you.

[cobblers]

"but you're selling the car. No-one notices the tyres."

 

I'm in the market for a fairly expensive sporty car at the moment (£8-10k) and one of the first things I look at is the tyres, they're such an easy way to tell the attitude of the previous owner.

If all 4 are mismatched budget tyres then I would absolutely walk away from it unless there was a really good reason and the rest of the car was amazing. Fuck that - If someone can't afford £120 for a pair of Pirellis or even £80 for a matching pair of Nankangs then the rest of the car will have definitely been maintained on a tightwad budget with the cheapest ECP bushes and exhaust and the rest of it.