The grumpy thread

[Hendry]

THE FRENCH.

 

After some investigation, I concluded that the blower motor in my Dad's recently bought Clio 3 was dead (we knew something needed sorting before buying the car).

 

They like to eat resistors, but this ones tests OK. As does the switch.

 

The blower motor is £230 from Renault, or £110 from Euro Car Parts.

ECP price isn't horrific and It doesn't make sense to buy a used one, when people are after £70+.

 

I see you. This shouldn't be too hard to change.

 

Ah...

 

After all of that, the cursed thing still needs to be rotated topwise with the middle part updown to somehow fit between the clutch pedal box and a bracket/stud welded to the dash brace bar.

 

All sorted and back together now, without so much as a broken clip or spare fastener.

Even the A/C blows ice cold.

 

SCORE

 

This is one of the most awkard interior jobs I have ever done on a car.

Even the way the airbag removes is stupid, imo.

Clios are actually decent wee cars but the interior quality is crap, my resistor fucked up a few months back and melted the wiring too and the dealer said it was wear and tear. Fucking idiots. Looks like from the picture your dads bought a facelift Dynamique like mine too (stereo & seat trim from facelift plus Dynamique "soft touch plastics/dash/high spec door cards give it away)

 

Ps on the subject of Halfords autocentre, one of their branches did the front brakes on one of my works Fiat Ducato transporters and 5 days later it broke down 100 miles away from depot, abs light on and braking fault message on dash, screeching from brakes and nothing happening when pedal pressed eventually, their mechanic had over tightened some bolts after the brake work, causing something to fail, he got the bullet as he'd made a couple of fuck ups in the past, the same branch serviced a Renault Espace and didn't put any oil in it after draining old oil, renewing filter, and they also cracked/damaged the filter housing on a C3 Picasso after a service. Unfortunately we need to use them for all non recall/warranty/prestige work as there's a company wide contract but you've been warned, avoid.

[Junkman]

The blower motor already packed in after only 19 years in my Piglet 405. Undo two clips to get the underdash cladding out (Mercedes style, same fasteners), undo three phillips screws and you hold the entire motor/module/hamster wheel unit in your hands. Undo two plugs and you can remove the whole unit form the car. Undo two more phillips screws, and you have the actual motor removed from the housing, in your lap. Clean the brushes, spray brake cleaner everywhere, then WD40 and white grease. Put the whole shebang back together and it's good for another 19 years. Time spent: 19 minutes.
 
THE FRENCH.
 

It's your own fucking fault if you buy a car that was designed after 1986.

[Station]

Buy they fit windscreen wipers from £2.99. FROM £2.99!!!! 

[Jim Bell]

I paid halfords to fit headlight bulbs on a jag.

It was during the worst period of rain and storms that Newcastle has on record. The retaining clip/bulb holder were "odd" in that they didn't match each other.

 

Took the spotty yoof about 40 minutes to complete, with one hand desperately trying to stop the bonnet from folding back, as me in the mrs sat in the warm dry jag discussing current events.

 

Well worth the £2 extra.

[HillmanImp]

I paid halfords to fit headlight bulbs on a jag.

It was during the worst period of rain and storms that Newcastle has on record. The retaining clip/bulb holder were "odd" in that they didn't match each other.

 

Took the spotty yoof about 40 minutes to complete, with one hand desperately trying to stop the bonnet from folding back, as me in the mrs sat in the warm dry jag discussing current events.

 

Well worth the £2 extra.

 

Yeah but how much was the bulb? They seem to charge about £10-£15 for the bulb in the first place when any motor factors will charge somewhere up to £3 and probably fit it if you flutter your eyelids at them.

[Jim Bell]

Think it was like £7.99 for two on trade.

 

I don't have a trade card but I looked desheveled and I think the floorwalker was In a good mood because he wasn't out fitting.

[Station]

Found out today I'm paying 26p a day for nothing (on top of my gas). I have those card meters - I put 20 quid in a month, and it's take £16 and leaves me with £4 for actual gas.

So I'm not only paying for gas now, I'm paying 80% on this mystery 'tarriff', that the fella on the phone couldn't even explain where it went. I just want to pay £10 and have £10 worth of gas. (I'm also having the top up meters removed next month.)

This can't be right surely?

[Jim Bell]

It's not right, but it's correct.

Just another "poor" tax.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Standing charges... The section headed 'fair' in this npower leaflet (PDF) claims they're to "cover the fixed costs we have to pay in supplying energy to you, e.g. distribution and metering costs". So it's just like how you have to pay £10 a month to Tesco regardless of how much shopping you buy to cover their costs of keeping the stores open and the lorries running.

 

Oh wait, you don't. Because that bullshit wouldn't happen in any competitive market. Standing charges need to fuck off.

 

Also look at the 'example' page of that leaflet. This is how to calculate your bill? It looks like a page from a maths textbook! Let's get smart meters in every house with a big display in the living room which says "you have spent £X.XX this month on electric/gas". No more estimates, no more being in credit, no more complicated shite. 

[himoverthere]

Are they under tension?  It does seem odd, most of the ones I've seen around have gaffer tape and/or cracks and chips to some degree whereas the same generations of Fiestas, Escorts and Scorpios didn't seem to have this problem.

 

Made of bakelite I think. I had one, which came with a new bumper - not a mark on it when I got it at 11 years old, but in the paperwork there was an invoice for a new bumper.

 

One winter at the tip I got boxed in, as you do at the tip, but I reckoned I could get out. I knew I'd have to reverse very close to a bollard, which I couldn't see because it was so low - so I decided that I'd maximise my chance of getting out by reversing very slowly until I just felt the car nudge the bollard. I touched it at less than 1mph I reckon. Shattered the b*stard.

[himoverthere]

Found out today I'm paying 26p a day for nothing (on top of my gas). I have those card meters - I put 20 quid in a month, and it's take £16 and leaves me with £4 for actual gas.

So I'm not only paying for gas now, I'm paying 80% on this mystery 'tarriff', that the fella on the phone couldn't even explain where it went. I just want to pay £10 and have £10 worth of gas. (I'm also having the top up meters removed next month.)

This can't be right surely?

 

A house I used to live in had one of those. The service charge we paid counted for naff all when the battery in it packed up and we had no gas all weekend.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

 

Place your bets, what will Three call themselves in their next text message? That one Vodafone message leads to several months of texts, but Three (or 3, they can't decide) have taken the much more creative approach of never using the same name twice. Really gives a good first impression, keep it up!

[cobblers]

Three are (from my experience) an unprofessional set of ballbags that make the other dickhead networks look good in comparison. I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

[HillmanImp]

But they're three and do what they want, any old time. 

[SambaS]

Station I thought I was reading my own post about gas meters what a joke they are

[cms206]

My own fault so I shouldn't really grump; just had three lots of roadtax up today, all pre-2001, all more than 1549cc.

My ringpiece is stinging like a motherfucker.

[Conrad D. Conelrad]

Three are (from my experience) an unprofessional set of ballbags that make the other dickhead networks look good in comparison. I hope you have better luck with them than I did.

 

Everyone's told me that I'm only on PAYG so if they piss me off I can just chuck the SIM card down a drain. 

[vulgalour]

I'm still on an Orange PAYG sim card that's over a decade old. Interestingly, I no longer get cold calls offering me contracts with other providers, in fact I rarely even get any spam these days so perhaps the number has fallen out of circulation or something.  No idea.  Still can't plug the landline phone in unless I want to call out because of the excessive amount of phone calls from people I don't know trying to sell me things I don't want.

 

Could the gas meter thing be worth a call to the ombudsman or Watchdog or something?  They were doing that weird poor tax thing 15 years ago to me and wouldn't remove the meters because, amazingly, my income was considered too low and there was something like an £80 removal fee and then a further reconnection fee to switch to a direct debit or something.  Madness.

 

Current grump is that I shan't have my car on the road in time for the next RR meet which just happens to be on my birthday.  I'm also really narked with myself for failing utterly to sort this suspension out on my own, but I knew the risks when I bought the car, I just foolishly thought it would never happen to me.

[ShiteRider]

Fuckin' trick or treaters are a pain in the arse. I don't mind the little ones, up to about 7 or 8 years old, but sadly they're a minority.

The majority are gobshitey teenagers, the girls dressed like whores and the lads like satans' shoplifters. I know from experience i'm going to be awake all night as these dicks set fireworks off all night........

[Angrydicky]

I always turn all the lights off and spend the evening in front of a nice film, with my headphones in. Just finished watching Die Hard with a Vengeance, and now I'm listening to Judas Priest while perusing Autoshite. GR8.

[Wilko220]

I embraced the authentic Hallowe'en tradition by turning all the lights off and pretending I was out.

 

[skattrd]

I'm off work at the moment and am slowly getting some stuff done around the house. This week I've had a new boiler fitted which is gr9, that's not a grump though. It would appear that the plumber had knocked a pipe under the kitchen sink when turning the stop-cock off and caused a very minor leak. 2 days later I notice water seeping through the laminate floor in the kitchen (say what you like but I like laminate floor). I now have a chunk of the floor lifted and am trying to dry the floor out. I do not want to have to remove the sink, cooker and everything else to lift the rest of the floor to dry it out .... Bollocks, it feels like every-time I take one step forward there's another backwards.

I was supposed to be finishing off decorating the bathroom today and smoothing off the wall where the old boiler was. I just can't be arsed with any of it now.

[cort16]

There's something up with my Merc. It's down on power and doesn't feel like it's getting enough if any boost. Ghaa, No EML light on or smoke and it idles okay.

Off to the dealer next week and get it checked out. I need to bring the 520 back from the bowling club to fill in.

New cars are shit etc

[cort16]

the eml is on now. balls

[beko1987]

I'd fucking love that. Our last Bill was £125 combined. Next quarter it will probably top £350, but I won't know until they throw a dart at a board and multiply the answer by cheese

[ruffgeezer]

Viewing arranged on the Ax tonight, so yesterday I prep'd it, got all the paperwork together and made sure it ran up ok.

 

Viewing arranged for tonight a no show.

 

What the fuck is wrong with people these days? Is it no longer common courtesy to let people know that you aren't going to show up!

[Lankytim]

Ring the bastard up and ask where they are!

[Wilko220]

Viewing arranged on the Ax tonight, so yesterday I prep'd it, got all the paperwork together and made sure it ran up ok.

 

Viewing arranged for tonight a no show.

 

What the fuck is wrong with people these days? Is it no longer common courtesy to let people know that you aren't going to show up!

 

Where are you advertising it, just out of interest?

[Negative Creep]

Supposed to have someone come and view the Merc tomorrow. Place your bets now........

[ruffgeezer]

Where are you advertising it, just out of interest?

It's been on axoc, 106moaners, saxperience, the local Facebook sites, RR and here.