The grumpy thread

[dozeydustman]

Sounds like one not to book again in future. Can't offer any other ideas, hopefully you just crash out and their TVs go off soon.

[wuvvum]

  On 23/09/2018 at 10:24, RobT said:

Is anyone else having trouble with eBay? Trying to buy stuff but my phone says 'too many redirects'. It's also showing the desktop site for some reason, which is making it even more faff.

 

I want to give you money ffs. Work dammit!

I had that on my phone for a while recently.  Since I updated Chrome it seems to be working OK.

[dollywobbler]

  On 23/09/2018 at 21:39, dozeydustman said:

Sounds like one not to book again in future. Can't offer any other ideas, hopefully you just crash out and their TVs go off soon.

FFS. They're having a blazing row now. AND I've managed to delete my original post. Oh well. I've had shit nights in actual hotels as well to be fair. Many of them.

[Ghosty]

sitting at the computer in my room.

 

*chime* 

 

?!

 

"Please be aware, the battery in the smoke alarm [uPSTAIRS] is very low. Please change the battery immediately"

 

 

FUCK OFF YOU FUCKING "SMART" SMOKE ALARM IT'S 4AM IF YOU'RE SO SMART WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME AT A REASONABLE TIME INSTEAD OF WAKING MY WHOLE FAMILY UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?????????????

[New POD]

  On 24/09/2018 at 03:06, Ghosty said:

sitting at the computer in my room.

 

*chime*

 

?!

 

"Please be aware, the battery in the smoke alarm [uPSTAIRS] is very low. Please change the battery immediately"

 

 

FUCK OFF YOU FUCKING "SMART" SMOKE ALARM IT'S 4AM IF YOU'RE SO SMART WHY CAN'T YOU TELL ME AT A REASONABLE TIME INSTEAD OF WAKING MY WHOLE FAMILY UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?????????????

Go to bed.

 

Says the man whose body clock just woke him to tell him. "You only have 20 mins left before you have to get up"

 

We got back from Wales to find the CO metre beeping every 1 minute.

 

I tried new batteries. I tried hovering it out.

 

It has a "replace by 11/2018" sticker. I wonder if it's got a counter and it knows the date ( without any accuracy ).

 

I put up my spare one.

[Ghosty]

  On 23/09/2018 at 10:53, 3VOM said:

I can't check or reset things without the full VAGCOM software which would probably cost more than the car is worth.

 

I think I have a VAGCOM-friendly Chinese code reader my dad used on his A4, and possibly my mum's old Polo, if it's any help I can bring it to the next Northern Powerhouse?

[PhilA]

Didn't get anything done on the car today.

 

Got woken up by neighbors child hammering on the doorbell early, then ended up burning up my morning taking apart the ramp I built ten years ago for the father in law because it had gone rotten and wasn't really useable any more.

 

Spent $40 in parts for the lawn mower (PTO switch- bad design, can't take it apart to fix) and parking brake latch handle (heck only knows how that got broken, it's sturdy).

 

A bit upset at the price of rusty engine parts for the Pontiac ($104 all in for air cleaner) but that's old junk for you. Rust costs more!

 

Roll on wintertime.

 

Phil

[Zelandeth]

Bah!

 

Just fuelled up the Lada. First full tank since I sorted out the vacuum leak. It's driving well now, and idle CO is down to 0.03%.

 

21.3mpg. Balls. She should be managing low 30s really - at the very least *high* 20s, so something is still amiss. Think timing has to be the next port of call. Only fault logged is the usual code 24 for the vehicle speed sensor because it's not wired in properly - this doesn't affect anything really in the real world. In theory it does optimise the fuel map slightly under some circumstances - but real world experimentation across several cars has shown it to make little difference (the wiring to the sensor often gets shredded on the Niva when they're used off road due to the routing). Reckon it must be something like the timing being slightly out that's losing us some efficiency as things are obviously spot on at idle now...hmmm...

 

Wish I had a Ladascan tool. Being able to view the real-time data would make this easier...sadly I've not been able to get the software to play ball with the home made ALDL interface yet for that purpose...so keeping eyes open for the proper tool instead, as they do surface now and then.

 

Downside of it running massively better than it was (economy aside), that it's making me even more reluctant to sell it of course as it's actually enjoyable to drive now. It had got quite tiresome for a while.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Argh! A weekend full of rain destroying any hope of working on the car! Back to work and look at the glorious sunshine... This country...

[cort16]

On a flight to Birmingham for meetings I don’t want to attend and my flight is cancelled . Could be worse I was speaking to a women who’s flight out of Edinburgh was cancelled last night. They taxi’d her to Glasgow so she could get the this flight and that was cancelled !

 

I can’t wait for driverless cars. I’ll just jump in my mobile lounge and sleep until I get there. No more airports for poxy in country flying. I could get the train of course but they’re worse .

[AMC Rebel]

  On 24/09/2018 at 07:35, cort16 said:

I can’t wait for driverless cars. I’ll just jump in my mobile lounge and sleep until I get there. No more airports for poxy in country flying. I could get the train of course but they’re worse .

 

Me too - I fucking hate airports (although like planes and flying).

[DodgeRover]

Mega grump about schools again, we are maybe moving, it's about 35 miles away from where we are. Rung the admissions people, no chance of getting into a nearby school you will have to take and collect them to the school they are in now - 140miles a day, fuck that, will see what happens but it looks like we will be seeing what occurs when one of them gets put down as not in education.

[rainagain]

I bought these to fit to my car as the boot light is a bit poor:

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5X-Car-Interior-Panel-Lights-48-SMD-COB-LED-T10-BA9S-4W-12V-Dome-Lamp-Adapter-UK/183420769632?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

 

I hooked one up to a power supply set to 13V to check them, it drew over an amp (over 13 watts!) before settling down to 600mA, that's almost 8 watts. Naturally it gets so hot you can't hold it, I checked another one in case the first one was faulty and it was exactly the same. Thank god I didn't just hook it up, it could have set fire to my car. How can they sell stuff like this without getting complaints?

[Wack]

Heard a crunch in the car park yesterday ,a woman in her 80s backed out of a space into a 15 plate VW , she got out of the car, looked at hers then got back in and drove off , scrape and paint loss on the VW bumper

 

I took her reg but as I didn't actually witness her hit it I thought that's the best I can do, luckily the guy next to her saw her do it but didn't have anything to write the number down so I gave it to him , he left a note with his number on saying he saw her hit it.

 

At the very least she needs an eye test , she hit it with a crump I could hear 30m away

[New POD]

  On 24/09/2018 at 10:03, DodgeRover said:

Mega grump about schools again, we are maybe moving, it's about 35 miles away from where we are. Rung the admissions people, no chance of getting into a nearby school you will have to take and collect them to the school they are in now - 140miles a day, fuck that, will see what happens but it looks like we will be seeing what occurs when one of them gets put down as not in education.

I suspect that over 3 miles the LEA has to pay for transport.

[rainagain]

  On 21/09/2018 at 20:38, HarmonicCheeseburger said:

https://www.privacyfly.com/articles/ncix_breach/

 

Massive Canadian Data breach.

That’s pretty scary, it’s about time that prision sentences were brought in for mismanagement of person data of this sort of scale.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

CX is just after having major FTP - lost all drive near Staples Corner. As luck* would have it, managed to somehow get it to an auto transmission workshop there. The boss pulled out the dipstick, took a big sniff of the contents, passed the dipstick over and asked "Can you smell burning?"

 

It's very burnt, which I think means the clutch packs are fecked. Workshop boss admitted to having a CX many years ago, and thought the burning was down to the filter (apparently there is one inside) not doing its job because blocked, so fluid not circulating properly, leading to burning clutches.

 

Looks like a rebuild / recondition job, so engine and box have to come out. Great*. Workshop can't take the job on for a few weeks at least. Feckitty feck feck feck     

[Guest Hooli]

Guess it'll solve the missing fluid problem at least.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

  On 24/09/2018 at 12:15, Hooli said:

Guess it'll solve the missing fluid problem at least.

 

It's going to cost at least a grand to rebuild - I can see the bill effortlessly going that far, and it's mostly labour. At least there are no electronics involved in something this old. I was shown some of the multispeed auto innards, and to be fair those look like a complete nightmare with all those built-in ECUs.

 

Workshop boss thought it wasn't worth finding a spare gearbox, as that might have all the same latent problems or worse; he thought it better to work with a known quantity. Parts to rebuild are apparently still available, with the exception of the overhaul kit which isn't produced anymore.

 

Still, going direct to an autobox specialist saves me the problem of deciding which CX-capable workshop (Friern Barnet or Welwyn Garden City or Hitchin) to seek help from.

[Guest Hooli]

Aye I can imagine it's a lot of labour involved. I've done a manual box once & that had enough bits to put back afterwards.

[Tadhg Tiogar]

  On 24/09/2018 at 12:27, Hooli said:

Aye I can imagine it's a lot of labour involved. I've done a manual box once & that had enough bits to put back afterwards.

 

I'd rather just let the workshop take it in when they can and get on with it, and not think of the cost. At least it's very near to where I live.

 

Even when parked, I had two passers-by asking whether I was interested* in selling it.

[Bobthebeard]

Car related grump........ Bear with me....

 

Took my visiting for the weekend 82 year old mum to the local beach cafe yesterday for breakfast. (She likes a fry up.)

We were taking the dog on the beach afterwards so left the dog in the back of the Saab 9-5 estate with all four windows half way open. A breezy day and 12 degrees C.

Dog sat waiting for her share of the brekky on our return.

Ten minutes later a woman enters the cafe shouting 'Anyone here left a dog in a silver car... It's suffering'

Here we go.....

Yes, replied I. She is called Kiera and she is fine. Come on and I will show you....

Woman then gets her phone out, shows me a photo of my dog in the car with the registration plate visible and carries on berating me.

Getting angry due to the attention of the other customers I again invited her to come out and have a look. Kiera was fine, just sat looking out at us. Woman refused and kept harping on about the sun through the window etc etc.

Pretty angry by now I walked out to the car and she followed, put on a baseball cap and started shouting into her phone 'It's ok, I have found the owner, the dog is safe now'!

FFS.

Who are you talking to?

The police.

Why you lunatic? Can't you see the dog is fine. Been there ten minutes and all the windows are open.

I have reported you.

Err, who are you again?

 

Sufficient to say I was absolutely raging by then. Fine if a dog is in distress, but this woman was clearly not even interested in the fact that mine was just looking out of an open window waiting for a sausage barm....

 

Spoiled my day no end.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

^ BUSY...

[Guest Hooli]

I hate busybodies like that who have no idea what they are ranting about. I'd have told her to fuck off & die in a slow & painful manner as I have very little patience with morons.

[Bobthebeard]

  On 24/09/2018 at 13:28, Hooli said:

I hate busybodies like that who have no idea what they are ranting about. I'd have told her to fuck off & die in a slow & painful manner as I have very little patience with morons.

I did swear a lot eventually. She was just so 'In my face' and aggressive. She had blocked my car in with her Freelander and was behaving like someone from an American cop show. Mad.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Did this freelander have a husky spare wheel cover???

[Des]

Pop dog into the boot in future, saves grief.

[Guest Hooli]

Take dog in the cafe, solved.

[Crispian_J_Hotson]

Tie dog to nearest freelander.

[Bobthebeard]

Dogs not allowed in the cafe sadly...