The grumpy thread

[Wibble]

Just as things are going so well*, the fucking washing machine has packed up. Fuck everything!

[kevins]

On 02/03/2025 at 16:38, New POD said:

I take it that mx5 is a Eunos ? Did UK spec cars have Aircon ? 

yes it is and you can't get a condensor etc , hence modifying it to take off the shelf parts.

[High Jetter]

2 hours ago, Wibble said:

Just as things are going so well*, the fucking washing machine has packed up. Fuck everything!

It's not a conspiracy. Break it down, individual issues. What's gone awry with it?

[Wibble]

58 minutes ago, High Jetter said:

It's not a conspiracy. Break it down, individual issues. What's gone awry with it?

I know, I’m just fucked off with everything. It won’t spin, so everything is saturated. It will drain but won’t spin when you put it on drain and spin.

[EyesWeldedShut]

Read this on the Beeb just now:

So I'm grumpy for one of two reasons:
1) I'm so out of touch that I do not know the hip expression 'clapped back' or
2) More US English creeping in?

I thinks it is (2)

[High Jetter]

8 hours ago, Wibble said:

I know, I’m just fucked off with everything. It won’t spin, so everything is saturated. It will drain but won’t spin when you put it on drain and spin.

Might be worth googling the make & model No. of the machine followed by 'won't spin'. Could be that whatever sensor tells the 'brain' that it's drained enough isn't doing it's job, or maybe it isn't draining enough to lower the water level sufficiently, perhaps due to a blockage. Otherwise it's a motor or motor control issue I guess.

[Surface Rust]

8 hours ago, Wibble said:

I know, I’m just fucked off with everything. It won’t spin, so everything is saturated. It will drain but won’t spin when you put it on drain and spin.

If the drums not turning at all it might be the motor brushes. I had exactly this fault a few weeks ago and one of the brushes was worn right down. I was able to stretch out the spring to get the machine running temporarily before fitting some £6 brushes.

I consulted the hive mind on here and it's apparently not that uncommon.

[chadders]

1 hour ago, EyesWeldedShut said:

Read this on the Beeb just now:

So I'm grumpy for one of two reasons:
1) I'm so out of touch that I do not know the hip expression 'clapped back' or
2) More US English creeping in?

I thinks it is (2)

So much for RP and the days of them using English English.

[Wibble]

8 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

If the drums not turning at all it might be the motor brushes. I had exactly this fault a few weeks ago and one of the brushes was worn right down. I was able to stretch out the spring to get the machine running temporarily before fitting some £6 brushes.

I consulted the hive mind on here and it's apparently not that uncommon.

Thanks and @High Jetter. It’s not the brushes, unfortunately, they are in good shape. Found out how to put it in test mode and it’s throwing a code for motor issue, which could also be the pcb. Having see the cost of a motor, it’s going to the tip and I’ll have to buy a new machine.

[artdjones]

2 minutes ago, Wibble said:

Thanks and @High Jetter. It’s not the brushes, unfortunately, they are in good shape. Found out how to put it in test mode and it’s throwing a code for motor issue, which could also be the pcb. Having see the cost of a motor, it’s going to the tip and I’ll have to buy a new machine.

Sounds like a day I had a couple of years ago. I found out some building work I'd been expecting to have done was to be put off for several months. Then, I took some friends who were moving country to the bus for Dublin airport. Unfortunately there was a huge traffic jam on the way meaning we missed it by 5 minutes. I got home, where my wife told me that some water was leaking from the C/H boiler. That turned out to be terminal corrosion in the boiler itself. Finally, an hour later the kettle expired.

[andyberg]

Managed to get my son his driving test booked, in August, in Newport!!!! FFS😡😡

We live south of Bristol!! We both went online at 6am on Monday, the time and day the DVLA release new dates. We joined 18000 and 16000 in the queue! By the time we got to the front over an hour later all tests in Bristol had gone. This is every week we have been trying. Bloody country is broken. 

[Cookiesouwest]

37 minutes ago, andyberg said:

Managed to get my son his driving test booked, in August, in Newport!!!! FFS😡😡

We live south of Bristol!! We both went online at 6am on Monday, the time and day the DVLA release new dates. We joined 18000 and 16000 in the queue! By the time we got to the front over an hour later all tests in Bristol had gone. This is every week we have been trying. Bloody country is broken. 

But at least he has a test booked now. Makes it easier to get a cancellation.

[Sunny Jim]

Fiddlesticks, that's sub-optimal.

OSF spring on the C15 has let go.

[andyberg]

8 minutes ago, Cookiesouwest said:

But at least he has a test booked now. Makes it easier to get a cancellation.

True

[Metal Guru]

7 hours ago, andyberg said:

Managed to get my son his driving test booked, in August, in Newport!!!! FFS😡😡

We live south of Bristol!! We both went online at 6am on Monday, the time and day the DVLA release new dates. We joined 18000 and 16000 in the queue! By the time we got to the front over an hour later all tests in Bristol had gone. This is every week we have been trying. Bloody country is broken. 

6 months? Roughly the same as when I was learning in 1979. Driving school told us to book a test after the first lesson.

[gm]

11 hours ago, Wibble said:

Thanks and @High Jetter. It’s not the brushes, unfortunately, they are in good shape. Found out how to put it in test mode and it’s throwing a code for motor issue, which could also be the pcb. Having see the cost of a motor, it’s going to the tip and I’ll have to buy a new machine.

what make of washer is it ? when my hotpoint went tits up, i kept the motor (you know, for a project or some such nonsense)

 

[Wibble]

3 hours ago, gm said:

what make of washer is it ? when my hotpoint went tits up, i kept the motor (you know, for a project or some such nonsense)

 

It’s a Beko and I’m picking up a new machine this evening.  Not looking forward to swapping them over.

[comfortablynumb]

5 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

6 months? Roughly the same as when I was learning in 1979. Driving school told us to book a test after the first lesson.

MK2 daughter is learning currently, I've said should she be looking at booking a test, her instructor reckons the waiting list is 8 months for Norwich!

[dean36014]

12 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Fiddlesticks, that's sub-optimal.

OSF spring on the C15 has let go.

Wonder if that's the one I replaced a couple of years back.  At least they are easy enough to change  mate.

Edit: just checked and it was!

[Metal Guru]

1 hour ago, comfortablynumb said:

MK2 daughter is learning currently, I've said should she be looking at booking a test, her instructor reckons the waiting list is 8 months for Norwich!

For what they charge, (£85 for both tests), there should be enough to make a profit (their overheads aren’t that high, grotty little office in shit part of town usually), so you’d think they’d have an incentive to employ more examiners and conduct more tests.

[Dyslexic Viking]

The Hyundai hasn't been washed since October so since it was warm today I washed it and 30km later and that was pointless. 

Can't wait until the road salting is over.

[myglaren]

8 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

6 months? Roughly the same as when I was learning in 1979. Driving school told us to book a test after the first lesson.

I booked my test after my first lesson, on my 17th birthday. passed a fortnight later.

My youngest grandson's is in April, having been shunted forward several times, should have been last month.

[barefoot]

57 minutes ago, myglaren said:

I booked my test after my first lesson, on my 17th birthday. passed a fortnight later.

Ha, a whole fortnight. You total dragging your feet style, lightweight.

I passed my test (probably in a Ferrari or similar), less than a week after I saw a car for the very first time on my 17th birthday. etc. etc.

And you try telling that to the kids of today...

[New POD]

2 hours ago, Metal Guru said:

For what they charge, (£85 for both tests), there should be enough to make a profit (their overheads aren’t that high, grotty little office in shit part of town usually), so you’d think they’d have an incentive to employ more examiners and conduct more tests.

And fail more people so they can get a repeat fee.....are they on commission? The more you fail the bigger your bonus? 

[New POD]

16 hours ago, andyberg said:

Managed to get my son his driving test booked, in August, in Newport!!!! FFS😡😡

We live south of Bristol!! We both went online at 6am on Monday, the time and day the DVLA release new dates. We joined 18000 and 16000 in the queue! By the time we got to the front over an hour later all tests in Bristol had gone. This is every week we have been trying. Bloody country is broken. 

Computersation hasn't helped. If it were a paper based system, your application would be on a pile and they'd get to it eventually. 

 

[Spiny Norman]

It used to be an unspoken bit of common knowledge that BSM would clog up the system and pre book tests for imaginary clients so they could offer their seven day courses with a test on the last day, whether they still do that now I don't know.
Driving tests are one of those areas that never fully recovered after Covid, which created a massive backlog with typical civil service bureaucracy and inefficiency not helping. 

Although the hours are OK and you get the usual working for the government holiday & pension benefits the actual wages are shite and it can't be a very pleasant job most of the time. And no, they're not on commission for every one they fail...

It's all down to Breggzit mate.

[artdjones]

9 minutes ago, Spiny Norman said:

It used to be an unspoken bit of common knowledge that BSM would clog up the system and pre book tests for imaginary clients so they could offer their seven day courses with a test on the last day, whether they still do that now I don't know.
Driving tests are one of those areas that never fully recovered after Covid, which created a massive backlog with typical civil service bureaucracy and inefficiency not helping. 

Although the hours are OK and you get the usual working for the government holiday & pension benefits the actual wages are shite and it can't be a very pleasant job most of the time. And no, they're not on commission for every one they fail...

It's all down to Breggzit mate.

Most "public service" organisations don't mind having a huge backlog, it makes them immune to cutbacks.

[Sunny Jim]

17 hours ago, Sunny Jim said:

Fiddlesticks, that's sub-optimal.

OSF spring on the C15 has let go.

Fortunately it happened on the drive and not at 70mph on the A55 on the journey I had planned for this morning.. Careful cutting with the grinder and precision hammering got the cut spring back into the cup so I can drive it down the lane for recovery.

@yes oui si approved? Not going to chance it on the road though.

[Metal Guru]

2 hours ago, Spiny Norman said:

It used to be an unspoken bit of common knowledge that BSM would clog up the system and pre book tests for imaginary clients so they could offer their seven day courses with a test on the last day, whether they still do that now I don't know.
Driving tests are one of those areas that never fully recovered after Covid, which created a massive backlog with typical civil service bureaucracy and inefficiency not helping. 

Although the hours are OK and you get the usual working for the government holiday & pension benefits the actual wages are shite and it can't be a very pleasant job most of the time. And no, they're not on commission for every one they fail...

It's all down to Breggzit mate.

There are many companies on t’internet offering tests at short notice for a fee,£250 upwards seems to be the going rate.

They’re just ticket tours really , although , I think “resellers “ is the preferred term these days. Leeches watch ever they’re called.

[yes oui si]

40 minutes ago, Sunny Jim said:

Fortunately it happened on the drive and not at 70mph on the A55 on the journey I had planned for this morning.. Careful cutting with the grinder and precision hammering got the cut spring back into the cup so I can drive it down the lane for recovery.

@yes oui si approved? Not going to chance it on the road though.

It'll be reet. Cut the same amount off the rest of them and drive it.