The grumpy thread

[Burnside]

4 hours ago, New POD said:

Look...

On

the

bright

side.

You caught it before it ran dry and you cooked the cylinder head gasket.

My astra did that and i caught it. Just.

It turns out that it's a common thing on them.  On some they have a coolant level indicator. On my SRi it doesn't. But it does have tyre pressure monitoring and front and rear sensors. On my wife's poverty spec astra. It has the sensor. 

True,  funny enough my Cavalier went the same but that had done over 170,000 at that point. (Stilo only done 68,000)

It still got me the 20mins home though, without any problems thankfully.

Had no luck finding one locally today. Did try the local Fiat dealer on the off chance, promised to call me back but didn't! 

Rather buy a new one than used if I can. Looking like a eBay aftermarket brand or Fiat parts specialist is my best bet. 

Which shape is your Astra by the way @New POD ? 

 

[GingerNuttz]

Bloody Beyerdynamic DT 770 sliders broke 😑

No even a year old and they want £20 for a new set that are the same shitty plastic.

These better not break or I'll bin the headphones 😂

[omegod]

4 hours ago, myglaren said:

That sounds outrageous.  Could be some sort of scam, there have been lots of scams involving funeral services.   Funeral Scams

There is a complaints procedure Complaints about pre-paid funeral plans     (Financial Ombudsman Service)

I know of two locally.  One of my daughters works at a funeral directors and tells me of these things.

There's a petition going on at change.org currently about just this.  Be wary of doing any more than sign their petitions as they are a for-profit American organis(z)ation and not all contributions go to the intended recipients.

Thanks but this is the local councils charge 

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Burnside said:

True,  funny enough my Cavalier went the same but that had done over 170,000 at that point. (Stilo only done 68,000)

It still got me the 20mins home though, without any problems thankfully.

Had no luck finding one locally today. Did try the local Fiat dealer on the off chance, promised to call me back but didn't! 

Rather buy a new one than used if I can. Looking like a eBay aftermarket brand or Fiat parts specialist is my best bet. 

Which shape is your Astra by the way @New POD ? 

 

2 complimentary Astra Js. Mines a 1.4T Auto GTC SRi in white, hers is a 1.6 Auto 5 door exclusiv* in piss green.  Very few parts are interchangeable. 

*Meaning giffer spec. 

Tend to do long journeys in the GTC and at weekends use the 5 door for local trips. 

[RoverFolkUs]

5 hours ago, louiepj said:

I am sure someone on here once said whatever your question is? Honda Jazz is that answer.
Question: What car in your family is going to fail its mot every year with brake issues?

3 new calipers, discs, pads and a hose to fit.

"As a full time vehicle mechanic, what is the only car you can recall ever having to replace all 4 calipers in one shot, 6 weeks after the most recent advisory free MOT pass?" 

Answer... 

Honda Jazz! 

[High Jetter]

10 hours ago, myglaren said:

Grandson has started work at Durham University (work, not student).

He had booked a train for this morning but got on the wrong train.

£58 from Newcastle to Durham!

Got on the wrong train??? Understand why he's not UNI material

(sorry MG)

[Metal Guru]

44 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

Got on the wrong train??? Understand why he's not UNI material

(sorry MG)

Went to London and back to get his £58’s worth?

[horriblemercedes]

I need to buy a new washer/dryer. £500 rough budget. I'm absolutely bewildered by the range of stuff on sale and no idea which features I do or don't want, which retailer to choose and which brands are good and bad.

 

This must be what it's like for people to choose a new car if they have no interest in them!

[cobblers]

2 hours ago, horriblemercedes said:

I need to buy a new washer/dryer. £500 rough budget. I'm absolutely bewildered by the range of stuff on sale and no idea which features I do or don't want, which retailer to choose and which brands are good and bad.

 

This must be what it's like for people to choose a new car if they have no interest in them!

Sort by price, scroll down til you see an brand you've heard of. Unless you spend a fortune then they're pretty much all made in the same few factories in turkey anyway. Don't get a Beko dryer with "Anti crease" because the fucking thing will kick on and run for a few seconds every 15 minutes, all day and night after it's finished a load of washing and there's no way to disable it. 

[Burnside]

19 hours ago, New POD said:

2 complimentary Astra Js. Mines a 1.4T Auto GTC SRi in white, hers is a 1.6 Auto 5 door exclusiv* in piss green.  Very few parts are interchangeable. 

*Meaning giffer spec. 

Tend to do long journeys in the GTC and at weekends use the 5 door for local trips. 

 That's a shame to hear Vauxhall don't have the interchangeability of previous generations, but then I suppose it's the same with most manufactures now.

Funnily enough though, it turn's out that my Bottle is shared with the Fiat Bravo II, so managed to order one through a Fiat specialist today for £38.09 delivered.  

I was just curious about your Astra, as I saw a rather nice looking Astra J Estate the other week. So thought they might be worth a look next time round?

 

[artdjones]

8 minutes ago, Burnside said:

 That's a shame to hear Vauxhall don't have the interchangeability of previous generations, but then I suppose it's the same with most manufactures now.

Funnily enough though, it turn's out that my Bottle is shared with the Fiat Bravo II, so managed to order one through a Fiat specialist today for £38.09 delivered.  

I was just curious about your Astra, as I saw a rather nice looking Astra J Estate the other week. So thought they might be worth a look next time round?

 

They are inordinately heavy, like 200kg more than a lot of their competitors, so might not appeal to FIAT enthusiasts,as that takes any zip away in the lower powered versions.

[New POD]

Interesting* fact is that the astra J estate is bigger inside than an insignia estate of the same age. 

[sdkrc]

£176 for an off-peak return train ticket to London leaving at 4:30am. 

Took me an hour to get to the station including a 30min walk through Glasgow. No trivial feat at 3:30am with all the pissheads and junkies.

The woman checking the tickets sends me and a Chinese student away for having off-peak tickets 10mins before the train is due to set off. I have to bring up the website on my phone and argue with her that Friday is not peak. She refuses to budge. I even have a seat reservation for this very train...

I have to force her to read her company page which she reads incorrectly and says "no, you'll need to wait for the next train". Her colleague radios in and says we're good to go 3mins before departure. What a donkey. No sign of the Chinese guy who is probably waiting for the 5:33am "off-peak" train.

If your job for the day is checking tickets, make sure you know how to check tickets. 

 

[goosey]

Happy Friday the 13th 

be careful out there…..

[SiC]

On 10/10/2023 at 18:55, Pieman said:

I will admit, in a situation like that I just do 70 along lane 1 and undertake the lot of them.  I'm past caring these days.

Nothing illegal continuing driving along that lane if you were already in it iirc. Thats filtering through traffic rather than undertaking.

Undertaking would be in the middle/outside lane and moving into that lane, then accelerating past all the traffic and pulling in further up. Thats frowned upon/illegal by the police (driving dangerously/without due care iirc).

[horriblemercedes]

2 minutes ago, SiC said:

Nothing illegal continuing driving along that lane if you were already in it iirc. Thats filtering through traffic rather than undertaking.

Undertaking would be in the middle/outside lane and moving into that lane, then accelerating past all the traffic and pulling in further up.

Yep, undertaking and continuing in lane are different things and just as you describe

[Rocket88]

29 minutes ago, SiC said:

Nothing illegal continuing driving along that lane if you were already in it iirc. Thats filtering through traffic rather than undertaking.

Undertaking would be in the middle/outside lane and moving into that lane, then accelerating past all the traffic and pulling in further up. Thats frowned upon/illegal by the police (driving dangerously/without due care iirc).

It would be nice to see plod actually enforcing the law occasionally then….. it never seems to happen 

[Talbot]

Well fuck.

Merc-o-barge has broken down.   Alternator failed on the M54 near Telford.  Went from charging fine to dead in about 20 miles.  Premium paid for emergency breakdown cover, as 99% of the time I don't have it and don't need it.

Called around a load of local motor factors, and nothing on the shelf.  Tomorrow is the soonest they can do.

Couldn't have failed near home could it?  No, of course fucking not.

Cock.

[Talbot]

Don't suppose there is anyone near Telford who can lend me some wheels is there?  Recovery is looking to be bloody expensive.

[Remspoor]

On 12/10/2023 at 12:16, horriblemercedes said:

I need to buy a new washer/dryer. £500 rough budget. I'm absolutely bewildered by the range of stuff on sale and no idea which features I do or don't want, which retailer to choose and which brands are good and bad.

 

This must be what it's like for people to choose a new car if they have no interest in them!

 

On 12/10/2023 at 14:56, cobblers said:

Sort by price, scroll down til you see an brand you've heard of. Unless you spend a fortune then they're pretty much all made in the same few factories in turkey anyway. Don't get a Beko dryer with "Anti crease" because the fucking thing will kick on and run for a few seconds every 15 minutes, all day and night after it's finished a load of washing and there's no way to disable it. 

Under the cover of Covid when we could not really get out we purchased a Candy drier via the junglesite.  It was on ultra special low price offer. so lack of shops open and this price meant we bought it. The Drier does the job, just. Sometimes the water tank needs emptying halfway through a cycle. Or the filter gets blocked and need cleaning. Avoid.

[Metal Guru]

55 minutes ago, horriblemercedes said:

Yep, undertaking and continuing in lane are different things and just as you describe

TBH I can’t be arsed with lane 1 and 2. Too many HGV swerving out without warning and the 65mph middle lane hoggers. I tend to keep in lane 3. @80-85 mph , move over if anything faster comes up behind. I actually have time to check my mirrors because I’m not avoiding Lithuanian lorry drivers trying to kill me.

Never hold anyone up or get in the way of anyone wanting to go faster though no doubt people will criticise me for driving like that.

[Fumbler]

Big patch of lacquer just peeled off. Arse.

[Zelandeth]

To the guy I was just following for several miles watching YouTube on his phone in the middle of the windscreen in busy traffic, I hate you and hope karma catches up with you soon.

Edited October 13, 2023 by Zelandeth
Edited to be slightly less provocatively worded.

[Floatylight]

2 hours ago, Talbot said:

Don't suppose there is anyone near Telford who can lend me some wheels is there?  Recovery is looking to be bloody expensive.

How far you got to go?

Try az in stafford

[Fumbler]

1 hour ago, Fumbler said:

Big patch of lacquer just peeled off. Arse.

Ope, it looks like the bootlid's been resprayed in the past. That might explain why it's all suddenly bubbling off.

[adw1977]

On 12/10/2023 at 11:16, horriblemercedes said:

I need to buy a new washer/dryer. £500 rough budget. I'm absolutely bewildered by the range of stuff on sale and no idea which features I do or don't want, which retailer to choose and which brands are good and bad.

 

This must be what it's like for people to choose a new car if they have no interest in them!

If you want to avoid a company that sold dangerous appliances and then refused to refund owners, instead making them wait months for a repair or replacement, avoid Whirlpool!

They also make Hotpoint and Indesit branded products. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/01/whirlpool-condemned-for-silencing-customers-over-tumble-dryer-fires

[Zelandeth]

33 minutes ago, adw1977 said:

If you want to avoid a company that sold dangerous appliances and then refused to refund owners, instead making them wait months for a repair or replacement, avoid Whirlpool!

They also make Hotpoint and Indesit branded products. 

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/01/whirlpool-condemned-for-silencing-customers-over-tumble-dryer-fires

We had one of the affected units replaced under the recall.

The only way I could see for lint to get into the hot area on the drier was if the drum bearings failed, allowing it to drop and compromise the front seal.  Otherwise there's no reason for it to happen...it pulls cool air in from out the back, blows it through a heater and into the drum. 

When the bearing fails, the front of the drum drops, opening up a gap around it which will let air exiting the drum vent into the case rather than going out the exhaust duct.

This theory was supported by the fact that the drum bearing design was biblically cheap and nasty, and I'd already replaced it twice.  When I looked inside our machine (as they were estimating several months to get a replacement to us under the recall) it was near spotless, despite being seven ot eight years old.

New machine was identical to the old one.  What had they done to "address the issue?"

Changed the load rating down by 1kg.  That's it...the machine was otherwise identical inside and out, and the same poxy bearing failed again after less than two years in exactly the same way.

[Aston Martin]

These wanks who break on eBay and never get back to you.

[Talbot]

Well, the premium paid for AA turned out to be worse than useless, the lady selling me the product essentially lied on the phone.  Utter cretins.

So got a hire car instead.  A petrol focus estate.  About 1/8th the cost I was quoted to get home!

Now I have to go and recover the car.  Bollocks.

[Floatylight]

13 minutes ago, Talbot said:

Well, the premium paid for AA turned out to be worse than useless, the lady selling me the product essentially lied on the phone.  Utter cretins.

So got a hire car instead.  A petrol focus estate.  About 1/8th the cost I was quoted to get home!

Now I have to go and recover the car.  Bollocks.

If I can help shout up, I'm fairly local, welcome to fix it here if you want, I'll be driving up from Crawley Tue PM