varesecrazy said:

Tricky isnt it...
I am at a similar Crossroads (other soaps were available..)

Money doesnt always compensate for the hassle

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Yep, exactly I've turned down jobs that would pay more than this but involved commuting to town 5 days a week. So by the time you pick up another car payment and spend some time commuting no point.

But...this would not involve that at all.

Further spanners thrown by current gaffer as well who obviously knows my background and was said "well...you know we're looking at bringing in additional pay".

Gonna have a word with bloke who would be new boss, we've worked together before he's canny, see how he sees it going this time around.

Got home earlier, pressed the remote to lock the Panda, no response. Little light on the fob flashes, but no response from car. Locked using key.
Later, went out, car unlocked with fob, drove to bowls club, locked using fob.
To come home, unlocked with fob, but once home, won't respond again.
Recently replaced the battery in the fob, perhaps that was not the issue. Or perhaps, the replacement battery is poor, been on the shelf a while.
Busy for a few days, will get my head around diagnositcs at the weekend. Meanwhile central locking working fine with key in the lock.

Or maybe RF interference around your home

Eklipze3k said:

Or maybe RF interference around your home

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Quite possible, I think more and more smart home devices are moving into the same frequencies that car remotes use

Eklipze3k said:

Or maybe RF interference around your home

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AndyRKett said:

Quite possible, I think more and more smart home devices are moving into the same frequencies that car remotes use

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There's certainly nothing 'smart' in my home, but the car is parked across the street. But it is about the same distance away from all the surrounding houses. Next time I move it, I'll park in a different place, see if it'cures' itself.

Out to it again today, opened fine, and has behaved everywhere I've been. Parked a little higher up the road on return, locked fine.
I'm thinking the 'interference' theory may have legs.
After a few uses without issue, I'll park it back down the road again, see if it 'breaks' again.

A product ordered a month ago, failed to arrive. Evri just showed it as 'with our depot'. Supplier sent another via Royal Mail.
Today, exactly a month after Evri received it, it arrived at my door.
Despite having been mislaid for a month, the package appeared to be in perfect condition.
I rejected it, to be returned to supplier. Hopefully they'll see it before Christmas.

MOT time..
The car is 10 years old..and low mileage.. seeing no use for 18 months around Covid

I thought I would change all 4 tyres 'in the summer'

I had rotated them a few months ago

Anyway.. it failed on tyres

Not on tread but a major nick in a rear tyre..

It could be on a 3 week old tyre.. thankfully its on a virtually worn out one

Small win


Less wonderful it has a broken front spring

Thats pretty much standard now.. acording to the garage..

I had only changed ONE before in @500,000 miles

This will be my 4 th this year ..

varesecrazy said:

MOT time..
The car is 10 years old..and low mileage.. seeing no use for 18 months around Covid

I thought I would change all 4 tyres 'in the summer'

I had rotated them a few months ago

Anyway.. it failed on tyres

Not on tread but a major nick in a rear tyre..

It could be on a 3 week old tyre.. thankfully its on a virtually worn out one

Small win


Less wonderful it has a broken front spring

Thats pretty much standard now.. acording to the garage..

I had only changed ONE before in @500,000 miles

This will be my 4 th this year ..

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When I still had my MiTo, I had to replace the front springs I think 3 times in the 5 years of me owning it, they kept breaking and the last set I received had an odd marking in the spring, in the exact place the previous ones had failed, almost looking like a built in failure point!

StevenRB45 said:

Yep, exactly I've turned down jobs that would pay more than this but involved commuting to town 5 days a week. So by the time you pick up another car payment and spend some time commuting no point.

But...this would not involve that at all.

Further spanners thrown by current gaffer as well who obviously knows my background and was said "well...you know we're looking at bringing in additional pay".

Gonna have a word with bloke who would be new boss, we've worked together before he's canny, see how he sees it going this time around.

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Well...this word has occurred.

It's pretty much as expected, some opportunities for it to be less horrible due to structure changes and certain immense pains in the backside seeking new pastures.

Quite an amusing moment when being giving a tour of how things stand/have apparently changed over the previous year since I left.

I'd either been present for, prototyped or introduced all the changes mentioned...so at least I wouldn't have much to catch up on

Quote for my new heating system arrived..

You could buy a nice used car for it..but I was expecting that and it's in budget.

It really should have been done years ago but wife was always "we'll just move there's no point doing it" but of course house prices and interest rates are mad, this house is subject to a nice 10 year fixed rate mortgage at well below current market rate so about time we settled in.

Of course last winter the Baxi Bermuda was fiercely expensive to run hitting 600 quid a month at points. Also there's no sign gas is about to drop.

So yeah, time to sort it..in theory yes we could be looking at heat pumps in practice it's a 100 year old brick house, if you insulate it to the level required damp is going to be an issue. However going from our current boiler which basically needs it's own gas field to an A rated modern one will make a decent difference.

Even if it only drops the bill by a third it'll pay for itself in two or three years. But to be honest main benefit for me is not having the fear it's gonna break and the part be unobtainable (it's 25 years old if it's a day) that and actually being able to get a gas safety certificate.

Not that it's terrible wife's dad is an ex-gasfitter...he was corgi registered when working but technically that's lapsed so not great in terms of if we come to sell the house on now it's not opposite a derelict club.

So yes, possibly expensive times but been on about getting this done for years so to be making progress is nice.

Not being able to undo this. Any suggestions?

I was expecting a small bolt / screw with a torx head and have this. Access is less than 1/4 in Its mt Macallister multi tool centrifugal clutch. I think someone may have been here before.....

varesecrazy said:

Less wonderful it has a broken front spring

Thats pretty much standard now.. acording to the garage..

I had only changed ONE before in @500,000 miles

This will be my 4 th this year ..

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back in the days when my friend had the factoring business you could go through into the warehousing section and be lucky to see one or two road springs sitting on the floor in a corner because they were a special order. Now a days you can stand at the door and see shelves full of the things!

The Panda Nut said:

Not being able to undo this. Any suggestions?

I was expecting a small bolt / screw with a torx head and have this. Access is less than 1/4 in Its mt Macallister multi tool centrifugal clutch. I think someone may have been here before.....

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OK Im going to attack this with a drill as Im 95% sure this will get the clutch drum off. If it them needs a new clutch I will face thgat afterwards.

The Panda Nut said:

OK Im going to attack this with a drill as Im 95% sure this will get the clutch drum off. If it them needs a new clutch I will face thgat afterwards.

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Have you checked parts are available? Often on "cheaper" machines like this it's a real nightmare.

From the angle that the pull start is lying, it looks like it rotates anticlockwise looking at these pictures. Could it be a left hand thread?

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Have you checked parts are available? Often on "cheaper" machines like this it's a real nightmare.

From the angle that the pull start is lying, it looks like it rotates anticlockwise looking at these pictures. Could it be a left hand thread?

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I have a set of sump plug tools, which include a couple of square drives, not the same size as sockets. Might be worth having a look at your local accessory or tool shop. Measure the size of the square hole. If not sure, stuff it with blu-tac or plasticine, and make a mould.

portland_bill said:

I have a set of sump plug tools, which include a couple of square drives, not the same size as sockets. Might be worth having a look at your local accessory or tool shop. Measure the size of the square hole. If not sure, stuff it with blu-tac or plasticine, and make a mould.

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Or just make one from an old bolt. Here's a few I've made over the years:



The one on the far right was made to undo the female plug on the old Cordoba's transmission. Guess what? It fits the Ibiza exactly! The threaded gismo to it's left was so i could use a slide hammer on the Cordoba's injectors (1.9 VE TDI).

Pugglt Auld Jock said:

Have you checked parts are available? Often on "cheaper" machines like this it's a real nightmare.

From the angle that the pull start is lying, it looks like it rotates anticlockwise looking at these pictures. Could it be a left hand thread?

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Thanks for that thought. Its not the square but that needs to be undone in hact but a screw at its base in the end of the crank shaft. From examination of the photos I think it was a torx screw but that the drive shaft has been rubbing on the head and more or less worn it away. There seems no alternative to drilling the srew head off and extracting the stub afterwards, so Im planning to drill it out to get the clutch off but there will still be the threaded end to remove after and I shall have to refit a new screw to the clutch drum which looks like fun. I dont like being beaten by a screw! I do appreciate the thought and moral support! I was thinking if it was a square drive I might grind down a 6" nail.

I have found a Hyundai multi tool of the same type, new on the internet and may just buy that if this proves unrepairable, as its only £175 which seems cheap for a multi tool with a 3 year warranty. It has its recpoil starter in a sensible place so you dont need to strip the thing down to replace the string either.

The Panda Nut said:

Thanks for that thought. Its not the square but that needs to be undone in hact but a screw at its base in the end of the crank shaft. From examination of the photos I think it was a torx screw but that the drive shaft has been rubbing on the head and more or less worn it away. There seems no alternative to drilling the srew head off and extracting the stub afterwards, so Im planning to drill it out to get the clutch off but there will still be the threaded end to remove after and I shall have to refit a new screw to the clutch drum which looks like fun. I dont like being beaten by a screw! I do appreciate the thought and moral support! I was thinking if it was a square drive I might grind down a 6" nail.

I have found a Hyundai multi tool of the same type, new on the internet and may just buy that if this proves unrepairable, as its only £175 which seems cheap for a multi tool with a 3 year warranty. It has its recpoil starter in a sensible place so you dont need to strip the thing down to replace the string either.

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Ah, I understand now. Think you'll find drilling something like a Torx or Allen screw difficult as they are usually drill bluntingly hard?

Appologies if I'm telling you something you already know, but. judging from the position of the pull start, that's a "half crank" engine - a design which aero model makers will be familiar with. Take a look at this:
The first engine you see has a "full" crankshaft with a main either side of the big end however from about half way through it shows a "half crank" design which only has one main bearing. You'll notice the first engine has it's starter pull on the back end of the engine whereas the half crank can't do this so has to have it's pull on the "front end" of the crank which, as you're discovering, usually makes the pull cord more difficult to renew. For this and other reasons I'm not so keen on half crank engines. Of course they are cheaper to manufacture so often found in cheaper machines.

Not at all I didnt know and now understand the reason for the silly starter position. Thankyou. Now I know to avoid tools with starter isn odd places. I was an Grounds Management for 20 years and bought thousands of these sort of things and learned that yoiu get exctly what you pay for. Eventually I used to insist on deals that were one year and return for stirmmers and the like. We wrecked a few but probably got 30% back overall. The accountants used to want these things to be bought and paid for over 10 years and it took a lot of insistence to put a stop to that mentality, The bigger ride ion machines I used to return on a similar basis every three years much to their angst. However I worked out that you get one year with warranty and replacement machine on down time, a second year when the machine had settled and bedded in that was nearly trouble free and a third year when things started to wear and go wrong. If you keot the machines beyond this they were trouble. When you need them working 50 hours a week continuous dowtime is extortionately expensive and overall we saved a huge amount of money this way. Three year old mowers were refurbed and sold on to sports clubs and the likes where useage was much lighter and it seemed to work well.

On this tool, iIf the screw head was still there I could change the cord easily enough. I shall see if I can fix the multi tool just so I can say it didnt beat me, but I have more or less decided to buy a battery mower and get a hedge cutter thrown in. There are so many deals I think this is possible. Electric mowers are wildly expensive the eGo one I like best is £700 which is an outrage for a big elctric drill and a mower blade. Its a really nice tool though you can drive it along with the blade off which is good for crossing gravel drives etc. It also has variable speed control and is nicely made. My boy has a set of their kit in New York and its now about 5 years old. His garden has some steeply soped bits and is pretty big so its had a thorough test, no issues and the same batteries still going. Hes got hedge trimmer, strimmer, pole saw, and snow blower and is happy with all of them. But £700 is a HELL of a lot for a mower.

Hyundai are doing an 80v mower with self propulsion for £400 which looks like a good deal and it has a 3 year warranty thats better than most of these things. Most cheap makes are under 36v and cannot have the capacity or power that the 80v should offer. No middle men either as you can buy direct from Hyundai. They have a central parts department too which bodes well. (Unlike Lawnflite who I would never buy from again) I like the idea of a lighter weight mower too as my health is going south and Im thinking of things Mrs could use if I cant or am not here any more. Thats a bit salutory but also pragmatic.