The grumpy thread

[MikeR]

my Focus light switch  will only let me put the fogs on once the side or dip are on ... then all is off when the switch is at off .... quite a nice set up ...

[Cheezey]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=D-wSRYbWJvU

[Wack]

Adrian flux insured my 2003 Range Rover as a classic for £230 fully comp with 0% NCB on it so it might be worth a call

Not enough, unfortunately.

 

 

Soz Neil, I am yet to meet a 3 series BMW that I would want to drive, let alone own.

 

I got all excited about various cars today only to discover that Footman James don't consider them 'classics'. How can my '94 AX and 900 both be 'classics' whereas a '93 Calibra, an '88 Senator, several 4/7/900 Volvos and various other things that fancy my tickle are not 'classics'.

Adrian flux insured my 2003 Range Rover as a classic for £230 fully comp with 0% NCB on it so it might be worth a call

 

Oddly though it was only after I added my wife as a named driver that these companies became available

[Craig the Princess]

Not enough, unfortunately.

 

Soz Neil, I am yet to meet a 3 series BMW that I would want to drive, let alone own.

 

I got all excited about various cars today only to discover that Footman James don't consider them 'classics'. How can my '94 AX and 900 both be 'classics' whereas a '93 Calibra, an '88 Senator, several 4/7/900 Volvos and various other things that fancy my tickle are not 'classics'.

Very odd, our Volvo 940 is on a Footman James classic policy.

[cort16]

I got quite a cool little drone thing for Christmas . On its maiden voyage it took off, went about 6 ft in the air then flew straight into the sink that was full of water. Total flight time until death - 7 seconds .

 

I took this little drone apart and let it dry out for a day or so. I managed to get it take off while in the kitchen but fearing another dunk in sink I took it into the living room where I flew it into Mrs C's head, got it tangled in her hair and had to to be cut out with scissors. Probably best I just put it away now.

[Bucketeer]

What year is your 940 CtP?

FJ were having none of an 'R' reg 940 estate.

[mat_the_cat]

In really thick fog at night, switching headlights off and running with side+fog was there only way to be able to make progress.

 

That is my experience too - the only time front fogs have made a significant difference is on the rare occasions the fog is so thick that even dipped beam is being reflected back at you. But some cars force you to turn on the fronts before you can turn on the rears, removing the choice!

[beko1987]

I took this little drone apart and let it dry out for a day or so. I managed to get it take off while in the kitchen but fearing another dunk in sink I took it into the living room where I flew it into Mrs C's head, got it tangled in her hair and had to to be cut out with scissors. Probably best I just put it away now.

Smooth!

[Guest Hooli]

I don't know if the rear fogs on the Saab stay on when you switch the lights/car off & on again as I've never used them. The fronts do though & they can be handy in thick mist/fog down back roads by picking out the verges better than the headlights.

[cort16]

Aye I'm like the Fonz

[DeeJay]

She'll never believe you didn't do it on purpose and it will be brought up against for the rest of your born days.

[Wack]

She'll never believe you didn't do it on purpose and it will be brought up against for the rest of your born days.

Isn't that amazing , something that happened 15 years ago comes out in a fit of Tourette's when you're having an argument , even if she didn't mean to say it it's there stored away in the "you bastard" area of the brain

[Datsuncog]

I swear I should take up knitting or something. Much less stressful.

Um... am I to guess you have limited experience around knitters? Mrs DC knits. She knits and crochets wonderous, complex garments using specialist yarns and implements. She also has a swearing vocabulary that would put most dockers to shame, and most evenings are spent in a heated battle with ill-proofed patterns, uncooperative yarn and miscounted rows with unwanted stitches requiring a total rip-back of the night's work.

 

As I write this, half a shawl is being torn out amidst furious snarls and colourful imprecations against the designer and their progeny, unto the seventh generation. I've begun to wonder whether I should try to get her onto crack in a quest for a quieter life for us both. It may prove slightly cheaper than gin, the knitters' friend, in the long run.

 

If you love it, it will hurt you. That goes for needlecraft as much as ropey old motors. PHACT.

 

 

ETA: ^^ From her knitting forum: a thread entitled "How to fuck up a sweater"

 

And the half-shawl has now gone into the hearth to its fiery doom.

[dollywobbler]

Fer fecks sake. I don't know why I bother doing owt on my cars.

 

The screenwash on the jag stopped coming out after I put in some fancy shit. I press the button and the wipers move but no screenwash. I checked the fuse and it was okay (well, it still didn't work with a different fuse from something else) so assumed it must be gunked up with crud, maybe something the new screenwash reacted with. 

 

So today I spend about 2 friggin' hours removing the screenwash reservoir. First the plastic undertray wouldn't come off as the torx screws were all rusty and rounded like a bunch of bastards. Finally got most of it off, so that I could fold it back and hold it there with a wheel off the Visa and get access to the washer bottle. Result.

 

Now onto getting the bottle out. Removed the pump and the screenwash and give the filter a blowie and it seems fine. Undid the 4 bolts holding the reservoir in place, couple gave a struggle but they came out okay eventually.

 

Now to get the bottle out......oh hang on there is a plastic cover that was obviously fitted after the washer bottle thats stopping me taking it out. 20 minutes of moving the thing around at every conceivable angle is followed by a moment of rage where i smash it past the obstruction successfully. Result.

 

Then puzzlement ensues as the top of the bottle is too big for the hole. I look at it again, and the filler neck is about a foot longer. Nice design feature to be able to lift up the neck whilst filling it. Wish I had known that before instead of hunting for a funnel each time. Noted for next time.

 

With the extending head removed it came out quite easily. Had a look in there. There is no filter (is that part of the pump?) but there is a fair bit of crud, including a leaf. I have no idea how that got in there as there is a small plastic filter on the top to stop that ever happening . I can only assume I removed it for some reason and let the leaf get in as I am a friggin idiot. Still don't think there is owt to block it though but give it a clean and get the rouge leaf out.

 

Refitting is the reverse of the sequence above with similar rage to get the bottle back past the plastic cover. Put the pump back in place, fill it with some water and its crunch time. 

 

Nothing works. The windscreen wipers work as they should but when I press the screenwash button, they don't move as expected. A bit of screenwash came out (YAY - for a moment) but then stopped (Booo - for a prolonged period).

 

Am starting to think it might be a problem with the stalk now, or I have a problem with both the stalk and an intermittent washer motor.

 

Plus now I can't get the undertray back on. Because of the knackered screws I can't get it properly off either so it's just hanging under the car. Its too cold and I'm too pissed off to look at it today so will get drunk and worry about it tomorrow as I won't be able to use the car when I'm pissed anyway so its doing nothing that it would have been otherwise.

 

I swear I should take up knitting or something. Much less stressful.

 

I'm a bit late to this party but on the XJS I had last year, the wipers didn't operate with a screenwash prod if the level was low. Sensible when you think about it. I wish all cars did that, so you didn't just end up smearing shit all over the windscreen.

[beko1987]

Bloody hell, if my gooner ever did that I'd assume it was broken forever, rather than a feature...

 

(it does make sense though). Infact thinking about it the old one didn't pop the headlight washers up if the level was low. Guess when during mot test prep I found that out, and how many minutes I worried about it for as its a fail because xnenons

[SiC]

Bloody hell, if my gooner ever did that I'd assume it was broken forever, rather than a feature...

 

(it does make sense though). Infact thinking about it the old one didn't pop the headlight washers up if the level was low. Guess when during mot test prep I found that out, and how many minutes I worried about it for as its a fail because xnenons

Don't worry, it does just as stupid things with the wipers when the motor packs up. If it doesn't get the park switch triggering after so long, it decided that your wipers aren't broken completely and refuses to ever attempt to operate them until the ignition is cycled.

 

So if, like what happened to me and your wipers no longer work on speed position 1, you can't use position 2 as a backup. If you try, it'll wipe when on position 2 but once you move to off it will use the position 1 speed to park. However as position 1 speed doesn't work the wipers stop moving. Unless you get it exactly the correct park position, the Body Computer assumes that the park switch is broken and so disabled the wipers completely.

 

Even German cars aren't immune either. Our Aldi A4 won't wipe the windscreen if the bonnet is open. Good idea to prevent it catching the bonnet if you knock the stalk. Not so a good idea if your bonnet switch has just packed up and so it thinks the bonnet is open, it's pissing it down and you just want to get home... (Luckily not happened to me yet)

 

The headlight washer pumps inlets are usually higher than the windscreen washer pump inlets. This is so if you're low on washer fluid, you still have enough for the windscreen without wasting it on the lights. Our Civic, the Laguna and even the Aldi all do that. I think the Laguna just detected low fluid and didn't bother. The Aldi doesn't trigger the low fluid sensor until after the level is below the headlamp pump.

[wuvvum]

Don't Gooner headlight washers pop out under water pressure?  That'd explain why they don't appear when the fluid level is below the pump.

[SiC]

Don't Gooner headlight washers pop out under water pressure? That'd explain why they don't appear when the fluid level is below the pump.

Depends on the year. Phase 1 headlight washers were fixed on the bumper. Phase 2 popped out of the bumper under pressure.

[Austin-Rover]

Not enough, unfortunately.

 

Soz Neil, I am yet to meet a 3 series BMW that I would want to drive, let alone own.

 

I got all excited about various cars today only to discover that Footman James don't consider them 'classics'. How can my '94 AX and 900 both be 'classics' whereas a '93 Calibra, an '88 Senator, several 4/7/900 Volvos and various other things that fancy my tickle are not 'classics'.

 

 

I am sure FJ have been pissing about with their policies recently. I've had one with them for years for £notmuch which covers a 1983 Maestro, 1986 Montego, 1991 Rover 820 and a 1995 Corsa. Would they put a 1995 Volvo 960 on it last month? No.

 

They'd be happy to insure it on a stand alone policy for 2 grand though.

[Wack]

Little fuckers

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-sussex-42507197/man-caught-cutting-hole-in-car-roof-in-st-leonards

 

I've never been a victim of car crime , closest I came was one winter morning about 10 years ago , I used to drive a iveco towing a 3.5t trailer

 

Set off, got to the bottom of the street then realised I hadn't set the satnav, it was about 4am and dark , I noticed a car stop behind me but there's a postbox there so didn't think anything of it

 

Next minute there's a vectra alongside me, woman in the passenger seat , guy driving, both about 25-30

 

She motions me to wind the window down so I think they're lost , she asks me if I'm lost , Irish accent

 

No I'm just setting my satnav , she tries to start talking to me so I just wind the window up and start to move off , as I do I see the driver say fuck

 

They follow me to a set of lights which fortunately change as I approach them , I go right ,next junction is the motorway , they go left

 

I think they dropped somebody behind me with the intention of getting me out of the truck but I drove off before they got the chance

 

As for the fuckers above , prison and payments for the rest of their lives if need be until they've paid for the damage but it'll never happen

 

In the 80s my sister got her door mirror kicked off, guy was caught on cctv , found,convicted and ordered to pay her the cost of repair , she never saw a penny , last time she contacted the court they said he'd moved and they didn't know where , you can bet the solicitor defending him and everybody else got paid though

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Both of mine were phase 1 and had poppy-uppy washers

[HMC]

I am sure FJ have been pissing about with their policies recently. I've had one with them for years for £notmuch which covers a 1983 Maestro, 1986 Montego, 1991 Rover 820 and a 1995 Corsa. Would they put a 1995 Volvo 960 on it last month? No.

 

They'd be happy to insure it on a stand alone policy for 2 grand though.

They've definitely been " re evaluating" their criteria. Why on earth would a 1988 senator not be a "classic"? I get the notion that some people would look to buy and insure an older car on the cheap with that being the only motivator but a 30 year old luxobarge? Seems a bit like badge snobbery to me. A similar aged merc would be covered and yet be less rare, would be a better choice as a daily with regard to parts availability etc for instance.

[HMC]

It's also arguably aimed at all the stuff that "modern" car people would turn their nose up at and isn't for instance an "established" classic MGB. Basically prime shite fodder. An attack on us and what we stand for etc.

[dollywobbler]

From what I understand, there's now a list of 'acceptable' classic cars, and an awful lot of 1980s and 1990s cars are not on it. Especially Japanese stuff. An absolute joke.

[bramz7]

See also any Renault. Which is odd, as they'll happily accept any Citroen or Peugeot.

I've been declined quotes for 19s, early Clios and my Safrane. Oh well.

[MorrisItalSLX]

I suppose a cars “classic-ness” is in the eye of the beholder

[SiC]

Apt article popped up on my Google Now feed:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-5217811/Cars-90s-brink-extinction.html

 

(WARNING: DAILY SNAIL AND HONESTJOHN CONTENT)

 

There are less Cavaliers and Saxos on the road now than MGBs.

[bramz7]

Apt article popped up on my Google Now feed:

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-5217811/Cars-90s-brink-extinction.html

 

(WARNING: DAILY SNAIL AND HONESTJOHN CONTENT)

 

There are less Cavaliers and Saxos on the road now than MGBs.

Really bad maths in that article.

'25% a year scrapped meaning they'll all be gone in 4 years'

 

That's definitely not how that works!

[HMC]

It's badge snobbery really. Presumably there are some people in a meeting somewhere that decide what is it isn't acceptable to go on a policy. Sadly it often the makes and models that need the most support from enthusiasts due to dwindling numbers that are affected- because as we see time and again on the forum getting It on a classic policy when your Ncb is on your main car is often a deal breaker for a prospective purchase when it's a cheapie that has limited mainstream interest. A bit ott but they are arguably complicit in making these fringe interest vehicles harder to run and less likely to be kept as a second/third vehicle.

[Craig the Princess]

What year is your 940 CtP?

FJ were having none of an 'R' reg 940 estate.

It's a K-reg estate. Both that and the MGF that was on the policy before doubled the price of the policy but was still substantially cheaper than a stand alone policy.