The grumpy thread

[Pete-M]

Epi phone.

 

That's like a cheap Gibson innit?

[scaryoldcortina]

I don't know what's more of a problem at the moment, finding an excuse to drive to liverpool or finding a good answer to the ultimate question*.... I suppose I could investigate courier costs (to autofive's house) or even get my sister in Hadfield to "look after" it for a while.

 

 

* the ultimate question is of course "Where the hell did you get that, how did you pay for it and why do you need another one anyway?"**

 

** I realize this is 3 questions, but it is usually delivered by SWMBO in a single breath so counts as one.

[Pete-M]

It's not in the way, so no worries... at some point I'll be in Hartlepool so I'll bring it up then.

[scaryoldcortina]

Bonus. I'll bring the rope, you bring the monkey.

[TimothyClaypole]

Shame not all tattoed women are easy slags then! Same as non tattoed girls

 

+1.

 

Buggeration. That's plan A AND B both up the swanny. Can anyone write me a short guide to which ones are please? Cos I'm knackered, miserable as sin and could do with cheering up by one, on a short-term basis. Should I just buy an MX5 or MGF and have done with it?

 

Get an import...

 

Cheaper insurance and not as weighed down with extras you dont' need.

 

 

[ashmicro]

In my experience, Eastern European models are low-cost, but tend to fall apart with age.

South-East Asian models are generally more reliable, but tend to be quite small.

French and Italian models are very temperamental, Italian models in particular have many "legacy" issues.

British models can be singularly unattractive unless you go REALLY upmarket.

 

 

I am talking about cars, of course.

[Negative Creep]

Desktop PC has just packed up . So I can add that along with the Xbox, headphones, car speakers and tooth that I've broken this month. And we aren't even halfway through......

[HillmanImp]

Desktop PC has just packed up . So I can add that along with the Xbox, headphones, car speakers and tooth that I've broken this month. And we aren't even halfway through......

 

Its will be to do with your avatar.

[Negative Creep]

Desktop PC has just packed up . So I can add that along with the Xbox, headphones, car speakers and tooth that I've broken this month. And we aren't even halfway through......

 

Its will be to do with your avatar.

 

 

Leave my Plenty of Fish profile picture out of this

[HillmanImp]

Leave my Plenty of Fish profile picture out of this

 

[Negative Creep]

Ok, now my speakers are making a buzzing sound. Is someone up there taking the piss out of me?

[AeroNautiCal]

^^ Check 'em for wasps!

 

With the kind of luck you're having...

[Negative Creep]

A fault with the car would round things off quite well....

[wuvvum]

The Rover of Doom appears to have lost most of its doom somewhere between Reading and the M25. Arse. It still got me home OK, but it's well down on power and at one stage it struggled to shake off an aggressively driven Vito van. I'd be tempted to think that the tuning box has packed up, except that it's still holdling the idle speed up when the brake is pressed, and it's still spluttering and farting on a light throttle.

 

I'm going to give it an hour or so to cool down and then I'll have to have a poke about under the bonnet to see if there's anything obvious (split in one of the turbo pipes etc) which is causing the loss of power. I'm also going to treat it to a new MAF sensor - normally a dodgy MAF sensor would show a fault code, which it isn't, but I think the wiring of the tuning box may be such that the MAF is communicating with the box rather than the ECU. If that doesn't cure the running issues I don't know what I'm going to do with it.

[jonathan_dyane]

I'd still try disconnecting the tuning box first and seeing how it runs in case the box has died in some way...

[wuvvum]

Just taken the Rover for a quick drive - now it's had the chance to cool down the part-throttle spluttering has gone, which has allowed me to ascertain that initial responsiveness on a light throttle is just as good as it always was, with the turbo spooling up almost immediately; however, anything over about half throttle makes very little difference to power but does result in a pronounced hissing noise from under the bonnet. So it sounds like it's definitely losing boost pressure from somewhere. No idea where though - I couldn't see anything obviously loose or split from a quick poke around the turbo pipework, and as the hissing noise only manifests itself when the turbo's under full load it's going to be "interesting" trying to find the source - trial and error I think will be the order of the day.

 

Once that's sorted I can see if I can sort the spluttering issue - although given that this is intermittent (as in it can disappear completely for a week or more and then come back with a vengeance) it's going to be hard to tell whether unplugging the tuning box cures it or not.

 

It's a good job I like the car or I'd be getting seriously hacked off with it by now. Although to be fair it's done 515 not particularly gentle miles over the weekend, and over 12,000 miles whilst in my ownership, and has yet to suffer from a failure to proceed - the issues it has had have been more annoyances than anything else.

[Negative Creep]

Oh sweet, the battery in my watch has died. That's another one for the list

[Lord Sterling]

My nieghbour has never had any luck with cars. Since I've lived here he has had 4 acrs, 1 Rover 100, 2 Vauxhall Agilas and now a Rover 200.

 

The Metro/100 was sold on or given to a relative as he'd been given a company car. After losing his job he managed to score himself an Agila which he had for a quite a while, that finally went to scrap after he broke down in it when the timing chain broke/jumped or something.

 

He then manage to score himself another Agila this time an X-reg one. As with all his previous cars he never looked after it. When the rear screen got smashed (he fell out with someone) he replaced it with some persplex/plastic sheeting. Recently he scrapped the Agila 'cus it was gonna cost too much to get it through the MOT' So then he bought himself a rather tidy Rover 216 GSi with full leather.

 

Now literally, within a couple of weeks, it went from this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

So far he has had a couple of windows smashed (again, owing to the rather delightful chap he fell out with - Which is also why the tailgate changed from a 200 to a 25) someone smashed into the corner of the car coming the wrong way up a one-way street and then tries to blame him, then to top it off, it died of the dreaded head gasket failure. Such a shame to see a lovely tidy Rover end up like this in such a short time.

 

I think its fair to say he's never had luck with cars.

[willswitchengage]

http://www.radiotimes.com/episode/rfwyk ... --panorama

 

TV-shite: Garages that charge for "environmental tyre disposal" then fly tip them. Something I never really understood anyway, virgin rubber is very expensive these days and I thought tyres would have some inherent scrap value for recycling, apparently not

[Spiny Norman]

I just saw a trailer for that.

 

I'm surprised there's no scrap value in tyres too, wonder why that is, given there is rubber and steel in there. Is it because it's too hard to separate the useful parts from the not-so-useful bits I wonder?

When they were building some new houses round the back of my work a couple of years ago they had to clear what the site foreman described to me as a 'munro of old tyres' before they could do anything.

[myglaren]

RIP Jon Lord.

Oddly enough I turned off Classic FM this afternoon (sick of the adverts - I'm looking at you, 'webuyanycar.twats') and put Deep Purple's "Symphony For Group & Orchestra on the turntable - vinyl album bought in 1970 and not played in 5 years.

When I turned Classic FM back on it was the news and they announced his death and that he will be missed by the classic crowd for his "Durham Concerto"

[autofive]

I'm surprised there's no scrap value in tyres too, wonder why that is, given there is rubber and steel in there. Is it because it's too hard to separate the useful parts from the not-so-useful bits I wonder?

 

There is money in tyres, but they are only worth about 1.40 each, so by the time you add transport and storage costs, (and insurance for your premises is the killer) it just isnt worth it.

 

Unless you are paid 1.20 ish to remove each tyre and have a shredder (costs about 7 or 8 million quid to buy one) and you are processing over 50K tyres a week then your business will quickly fail.

 

it s huge gamble, and in a recession, no one wants to take the risk

[Cavcraft]

I just saw a trailer for that.

 

I'm surprised there's no scrap value in tyres too, wonder why that is, given there is rubber and steel in there. Is it because it's too hard to separate the useful parts from the not-so-useful bits I wonder?

When they were building some new houses round the back of my work a couple of years ago they had to clear what the site foreman described to me as a 'munro of old tyres' before they could do anything.

 

Hard and expensive to seperate, the machines cost huge amounts and need (expensive) new blades on a regular basis. Hundreds of thousands of scrap tyres and a relatively low amount of recycling channels for the rubber, landfilling has long since stop being permitted so incineration into at least one waste stream (chem fuel) I think is the biggest outlet for them.

[Guest]

 

It appears people really do hate this thing, or me, or both.

 

As Andy and me share the car, it lives on a street near his house. After Santa Pod, I parked it up and buggered off on holiday for nearly two weeks.

 

On Saturday the police turn up on my folks' doorstep saying that the car's blocking access to a drive in Sale and that the ANPR led them here.

 

The main problem is that where the car ended up (i.e. slightly in front of a communal drive) sure as hell isn't where I left it. If you look closely at the bottom right of the photograph you'll see some white scratch marks on the pavement. Yes, that's right - someone has pushed the car five or six feet forward from where it was sat, leaving it well aft of the painted boundary line and slightly over the entrance to the aforementioned drive. With the handbrake being on, the stones stuck between the sipes of the tyre tread traced a line on the road when the car was pushed.

 

By what, you ask? There's plenty of things out there powerful enough to push it. My money's on a small lorry delivering a skip. I realise that's rather specific, so allow me to explain.

 

Directly across from where I left the car is a house with a skip set back deep on the driveway. It's a one way street and the truck will have needed to reverse in to unload it. After looking more closely with Andy, we reckon the skip driver shoved the Volvo forward to leave himself with enough room to swing in and out.

 

He's mashed the bumper up. Not only am I pissed off with this, I'm surprised the police haven't got anything better to do, to be honest. Yes, it was over the boundary line, and yes, the access to the drive was slightly restricted, but what exactly was wrong with asking a few people who the car belonged to? Andy would have moved it had he been asked to.

 

Why get the police involved? Yes, they were courteous and professional, but it was embarrassing and WATANABE_MOTHER was rather upset.

 

I didn't tell the police the whole story about how the car got shunted forward, because I'd have had a hell of a job proving it and they wouldn't have believed me anyway.

Andy wants me to leave it in the same spot and see what happens in the meantime.

 

I'd rather just forget about it. I wish people would talk to one another before getting the police involved. Hey, perhaps if you didn't have a massive 4 by 4, lived on a tiny one way street and didn't have incredibly selfish neighbours, we wouldn't be in this mess, eh?

 

[Spiny Norman]

RIP Jon Lord.

 

+1

 

Deep Purple were the first proper rock band I ever listened to. "Burn" blasting out of my crappy Bush record player really annoyed my folks, but that's rock'n'roll for you.

[whitevanman]

RIP Jon Lord.

 

Aye a sad day for music, doesn't normally bother me much when folk die, but sometines it just get to me.....

[sporty-shite]

Stuff about the Volvo getting pushed

 

Jon, is the skip still there? I'd be getting the number off it and playing merry hell with them. It seems obvious that they have moved the car. I'd be starting the conversation with the point that the police had been round to yours, and taking it from there. Also, I would tell the police that the car has been pushed, and who you think has done it. They should be able to link it with the report from the other day, and at least they will know about it for when you call the skip co. Some wankers think they can get away with whatever they like.

[trigger]

^ This, It must be worth a phone call, it's not like your the shy, retiring type that wouldn't have anything to say is it!

[RedSparrow]

At work, a gay bloke in his 40s constantly makes racist comments and says obcene things to younger male members of staff, some as young as 16. Everyone laughs it off and he gets away with it because he's gay.

How would it be with a straight male in his 40s being racist and saying these things to young females? A little different I think.

 

Horrible example of positive discrimination.

My gay friends were of course equally disgusted when I told them about this chap.

 

I know this is a bit of a can of worms but he really pissed me off today.

[Cavcraft]

My legs and body reminding me I was 18 some thirty years ago now, so running round an astroturf court for a couple of hours playing football wasn't that clever really.