The grumpy thread

[cobblers]

I'm in Macclesfield Adlington Travelodge and it's one of the spookyest bleak places I've ever been. It's clean and tidy enough but it gives me the same vibe as I got when urbanly exploring an abandonded restaurant off the side of a quiet B road in Lincs. Horrible. There's not even a bar.

[davehedgehog31]

I'm in Macclesfield Adlington Travelodge and it's one of the spookyest bleak places I've ever been. It's clean and tidy enough but it gives me the same vibe as I got when urbanly exploring an abandonded restaurant off the side of a quiet B road in Lincs. Horrible. There's not even a bar.

Car kollekshun?

[cobblers]

Immeasurably worse, I'm up here with mrs to go to her mates wedding.

[twosmoke300]

Get on gumtree and do both !

[chaseracer]

...Macclesfield... spooky... bleak...

 

KEY WORDS IDENTIFIED.

 

[Pillock]

I'm in Macclesfield Adlington Travelodge and it's one of the spookyest bleak places I've ever been. It's clean and tidy enough but it gives me the same vibe as I got when urbanly exploring an abandonded restaurant off the side of a quiet B road in Lincs. Horrible. There's not even a bar.

Why does this make me want to book a room?

 

I once stayed at a Best Western "hotel" near Irlam. Clearly it had been an old folks home in a previous life and I reckon it had seen a fair number of residents check out without settling their bill. That place had a really odd vibe....

[xtriple]

 I think I jumped to conclusions the other day: so paranoid about Head gasket failure, I assumed... Thought about it yesterday and realised, the water level was still fine and there was pressure in the expansion tank, so HGF unlikely. I said as much to SPecialist cars and they checked the water level and it is still up so they don't think it;s HGF either. So, what in the hell makes a car misfire then stop and lock up solid? I suggested a faulty injector could have failed open and dumped all the fuel into the cylinder which is why it's locked. It was running really well though it had started 'oddly' a couple of times before in the previous few days but running, was fine apart from a slightly rough idle and higher than normal fuel consumption. The engine remained silent with no nasty noises or other symptoms.

[SiC]

So, what in the hell makes a car misfire then stop and lock up solid?

Bad engine earth? Of course that would mean it's not locked solid but the starter isn't getting enough power to start - making it appear solid. Might be able to get some power though earthing through other bits to allow the solenoid to activate.

[SiC]

This thread has someone with a very similar user name to you which may be of interest.

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&f=162&t=1570687

 

Perhaps they've failed again? Admittedly a year and a bit is quite short given the miles you've done. But could be on the wrong side of the failure curve.

[chaseracer]

[DodgeRover]

I think I jumped to conclusions the other day: so paranoid about Head gasket failure, I assumed... Thought about it yesterday and realised, the water level was still fine and there was pressure in the expansion tank, so HGF unlikely. I said as much to SPecialist cars and they checked the water level and it is still up so they don't think it;s HGF either. So, what in the hell makes a car misfire then stop and lock up solid? I suggested a faulty injector could have failed open and dumped all the fuel into the cylinder which is why it's locked. It was running really well though it had started 'oddly' a couple of times before in the previous few days but running, was fine apart from a slightly rough idle and higher than normal fuel consumption. The engine remained silent with no nasty noises or other symptoms.

Failing starter motor contaminating crank sensor with bits of swarf?

[tooSavvy]

I have just bought an electric toothbrush.  The choice ranged from THIS CLEANS YOUR TEETH PERFECTLY WELL at twenty quid to WOW INTERNET APP SMARTFONE READY FIVE SETTINGS LUXURY MAKES THE TEA!!!!1! at nearly £300.

 

What?  Why...?

.... Tesco had a 'clearance shelf' with Frozen (film themed) kiddies battery toothbrushes @£3.50

 

My teeth are neither ageist nor image conscious.. Now clean though

[GrumpiusMaximus]

The only thing that really makes a difference with an electric toothbrush in my experience is that the cheaper ones need to be kept on a charger.  Mine as a Ni-Mh battery and my older one was a Li-ion.  The latter could hold a decent charge that cleaned properly for about 4 days without being topped up, the new one (Ni-Mh) needs to be kept on the charger and will only decently clean for about 2.  Get one with compatible heads and you're good to go.

 

The rest is just total bollocks.  Laughing out loud at the bluetooth app.  I know how to brush my fucking teeth.

[MarvinsMom]

been buggering about with the hateful shitbox, this little turd continues to try and empty my bank account and give me an ulcer and drive me into an early grave, plus since we came out of the unit, days like today are what we prey for...

 

put the new heater tap on, so now i can have it hot OR cold inside, allegedly.

 

pit a set of seat extenders on. and they have not made a jot of difference as the driving position is stil shit. may have a further fiddle and try another hole, cos i have plenty to choose from

 

also put another interior mirror on, this one i can actually sorts see out of. the original one the silvering had all tarnished on it so it wasn't much cop at doing what it was supposed to do. this one? well you can see somethings in it, just..... its only 6 inches across, that is much smaller than in a newer car, hence you see next to now't in it

 

there was a sunny mark on the paintwork so it got a wipe with some polish. quiet what the mark was, i've no idea. it looked like something had been spitl or thrown on it. on seeing this mark for the first time i was not very happy, not very happy at all. i'm pleased though that what ever it was, it came off of the car.

 

put the spare wheel on, now with hubcap on, for some, reason best known to itself, i had taken to frizbee-ing the o/s/f hubcap at any opportunity. i am hoping that changing the wheel will stop this.

 

a quick run round the block, what does it drive like? HORRIBLE!! there is it seems no bite on the clutch, and i've worked out why i cannot se a friggin' thing out of the n/s mirror. instead of putting it on where it should have gone, the local garage have drilled two more holes in my fuckin' door and stuck it on further back on the door.

 

FFS!! if i wanted a shit, half arsed pointless ting like that doing, i would have done that myself. why can no one, and i mean NO ONE do a proper job at anything anymore? have iq's fallen that fucking low?

 

well that mirror WILL be getting binned. there are a some paint chips and scratches that i'll have to get blown over, then i'll get ALL FOUR HOLES in the passenger door welded  and painted.

 

too say I'M FUCKIN' FUMING about how that mirror has been mounted doesn't come close. frankly having seen that, i just wanted to kick the twatting mirror back off the car.

 

at that point it was hometime...... oh and the clutch change is pencilled in for monday.

 

i really REALLY HATE this fuckin'shitbox car.

[AlabamaShrimp]

Sell it?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

For fuck's sake.  I'm parked in a hospital waiting for my other half to visit a relative.  It's a fraught situation, so I don't want to go in.

 

It's a hot day, so I'm sat in my car with the fan on.  Suddenly it flashes up 'Airbag Fault'.  Fine.  Ok.  I'll look into that.  Try starting the engine to see if that clears the fault.

 

Nope.  Flat battery.  Bugger.

 

Definitely flat.  I have a battery tester and everything.

[clayts450]

Can you ask the A&E staff for a jump start off a defibrillator ?

 

Sorry, that probably doesn't help.

 

Slopes off, stage right...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Can you ask the A&E staff for a jump start off a defibrillator ?

 

Sorry, that probably doesn't help.

 

Slopes off, stage right...

‘Jumpstart my Golf’ by the Muttley Crue doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, I’m afraid.

 

Partner’s sister is parked somewhere. She has an S-Reg Seicento. I wonder if that can jumpstart a VAG 1.9 PD. Might be fun to try.

[anonymous user]

That little black mini may be horrible to drive and have annoying little problems, but it just looks so right.

[twosmoke300]

‘Jumpstart my Golf’ by the Muttley Crue doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, I’m afraid.

 

Partner’s sister is parked somewhere. She has an S-Reg Seicento. I wonder if that can jumpstart a VAG 1.9 PD. Might be fun to try.

You could jump off a gmc v8 diesel with an aygo given enough time and decent jump leads . Just leave the little car running with the leads connected for 5/10 mins and this will charge the battery on the dead one . Even a small car will have a 40amp alternator at least . When you compare this to an average battery charger at 6/10 amps it’s no problem

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Cheers! I’ve jumped plenty in the past but never had to jump a diesel!

[twosmoke300]

Diesels just pull more current so you need to put more into the battery to start with . Decent jump leads are the key

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Diesels just pull more current so you need to put more into the battery to start with . Decent jump leads are the key

Fortunately I invested in decent jump leads when I played battery roulette on my old Fiesta!

 

Just waiting for Lady Grumpius and her sister. Don’t want to ask a stranger in a hospital car park...

 

In an exciting* twist, Sister of Lady Grumpius is not here as I suspected but Father of Lady Grumpius will soon be here in his Alfa 156. Getting jump started by an Alfa will be new...

 

The battery is a couple of years old, so it should be fine.

[wuvvum]

In my experience (Mk4 Golf), 1.9 TDI engines can be a bit of a twat to jump start.  Admittedly mine had a knackered battery, but I had to connect two diesel Rovers with two sets of jump leads and add my little jump pack on for good measure to get it started from cold.

[beko1987]

When we had to jump Gareths dead Mazda after 10 months of abandonment and with a dead battery it took 10 minutes of idling, then me bringing the gooner up to about 3000 revs whilst he fired it up, so if it doesn't start when you think it should Rev the donor car a bit

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Thanks guys. I’m not worried. If I can’t get it going then I’ll just call The AA. Just a bit of an arse.

[twosmoke300]

The main starting problems I have the pd engines is when they are hot . The ecu has to see 150 or 200 rpm on cranking before it switches the injectors on . After 10/15 secs it fires them anyway but ten secs of cranking feels like a lifetime . It has a different map when it’s cold so I’ve had loads of them in that start instantly when cold but crank for ages hot . Usually the battery but had a few slow starter motors too

[GrumpiusMaximus]

The things you learn! That’s really, really interesting. Need to learn more about this sort of thing.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Jumped easily. Winner.

[purplebargeken]

Swap the horrid little black shitbox Mini for a lovely large green V6 MG ZT! I happen to know of one that would be available.....