What's made you grumpy today?

[StevenRB45]

My dad is already wanting to get rid of the Mazda they bought in March. It was sold with emphasis on its full Mazda service history, but my parents have had to spend £500 on sorting the aircon out, the brakes have become noisy, the exhaust is blowing, and the engine is sounding tappy. My dad doesn't feel he can trust the car, so he wants to cut his losses.

To be fair if you don't want to spend time and money chasing faults don't buy a 10 year+ used car and expect it to be 100%.

Regardless of make and model, things wear out, corrode or reach the end of expected life.

I wouldn't trust a 10 year old supermini of vaguely unknown history regardless of what badge was on the front. However doesn't sound like any of those issues are more than expected wear and tear. Eg there's a good chance it'll still be on factory exhaust, given they are (low grade) stainless. But time takes it's toll, if anything I suspect my knock is a weak exhaust hanger letting the pipe hit the firewall or floor it doesn't happen in forward gears but does on cold start with the car stationary.

But its an old car that does about 50-100 miles a week so not a show stopper.

If it was a 8 grand car new (which seem to recall the 2 was)...expecting it to be built to last 15-20 years maintenance free is a probably a bit much.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

It was sold with emphasis on its full Mazda service history,

Service history is just that, service, doesn’t mean anyone fixed anything that needed fixing. Change the oil plugs and filters and stamp the book. If the exhaust needs changing then that’s a extra not part of the service. The air-conditioning forms no part of the service. By you’re own account the brakes became squeaky after they bought it. Non of this stuff has anything to do with the previous service history.

£500 is 4 new tyres on a lot of new cars. Or a main dealer service. In motoring terms it’s not a lot theses days. Hell there are people paying more than that a month for their car payment.
Any 10+ year old car is going to need things doing sooner or later. Most dealers selling cars this old have bought them cheap from an auction or a trade in (or the auction cars came from a trade in) most of these cars are being traded in or sold because they have a lot of things that need doing or they will do in the near future.

Hence the 3-4 year finance deals that ensure that most dealers have a steady supply of half decent second hand cars to sell.

 

[StevenRB45]

Service history is just that, service, doesn’t mean anyone fixed anything that needed fixing. Change the oil plugs and filters and stamp the book. If the exhaust needs changing then that’s a extra not part of the service.

I was standing in line for the Suzuki parts department years ago now...they were phoning a customer back with a condition report on a car that had failed it's mot as part of an mot and service.

Wasn't listening at first as none of my business but as he got to item 3 on the list of required repairs the bill was already at 1200 quid..it continued to item 7 and total cost of 2500. Of those items the customer authorised 1 repair which was required for the mot.

Obviously...if it went up for sale...recent MOT with new brake pads fitted and Suzuki main agent service...I'd doubt the other 6 faults would get a mention.

 

[DaveMcT]

People are not buying new cars either because they can't get want get what they want (chip shortages) or they realise their existing car has held its value so no reason to sell. Personally I would sell and buy an older car. Not as old as mine, but old enough to have deprecated so somebody else has taken the hit.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I was standing in line for the Suzuki parts department years ago now...they were phoning a customer back with a condition report on a car that had failed it's mot as part of an mot and service.

Wasn't listening at first as none of my business but as he got to item 3 on the list of required repairs the bill was already at 1200 quid..it continued to item 7 and total cost of 2500. Of those items the customer authorised 1 repair which was required for the mot.

Obviously...if it went up for sale...recent MOT with new brake pads fitted and Suzuki main agent service...I'd doubt the other 6 faults would get a mention.

Exactly, people only tend to get the bare minimum done. Also facing a bill of £2500 for repairs maybe over the next year, the owner will get it through it’s MOT then drive down the road and trade it in at a different dealer, so the next owner can face those repairs with its full main dealer service history….

People are not buying new cars either because they can't get want get what they want (chip shortages) or they realise their existing car has held its value so no reason to sell. Personally I would sell and buy an older car. Not as old as mine, but old enough to have deprecated so somebody else has taken the hit.

People have not been buying new cars because of that global pandemic that shut the dealers for months on end and either left those buyers out of work and filled with uncertainty, or made them realise they didn’t need a new car as they’re now working from home and only using the car once a week to go to tesco.

On the flip side the chip shortage is not making cars unavailable it’s just pushed prices up, a friend of mine just picked up her brand new Range Rover evoke without any delays, custom order.

We are also in the middle of a generational change where people are holding on to the cars they have waiting to see what happens with the electric car market, many people are now of the thinking their next car will be electric, but ‘not yet’ so they’re just waiting for prices to come down or infrastructure to improve, multiple things they’re waiting for multiple uncertainties, causing the market to stall

 

[StevenRB45]

Exactly, people only tend to get the bare minimum done. Also facing a bill of £2500 for repairs maybe over the next year, the owner will get it through it’s MOT then drive down the road and trade it in at a different dealer, so the next owner can face those repairs with its full main dealer service history….

I was always amused by the advert for the Swift when it re-emerged having been traded in.

Now I'd cleared my service history file out into the owners manual and it had what could only be described as inches of bills.

In used car land this was and I quote "amazing service history" in my brain it was a more a thorough accounting of just how knackered this car was after 65k miles of me battering into the ground like a tent peg.

There were also some wonderful little red flags in their as well..eg one shock absorber replaced. A bill for a diagnosis on an aircon fault but not one for a fix, welding on the exhaust due to hanger rotting off which would mean the rest of the system ain't good either. If you actually took the time to read it you'd see that the majority of the bills were from the preceeding 24 months and that the frequency was growing.

But hey as a thing to wave under a buyers nose it seemed to do the trick as it sold quickly...and then had a comically bad mot history afterwards.

If you looked at the car and drove it with any sort of knowing eye it was shagged...but it had bills with it so can't be that bad.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

I was always amused by the advert for the Swift when it re-emerged having been traded in.

Now I'd cleared my service history file out into the owners manual and it had what could only be described as inches of bills.

In used car land this was and I quote "amazing service history" in my brain it was a more a thorough accounting of just how knackered this car was after 65k miles of me battering into the ground like a tent peg.

There were also some wonderful little red flags in their as well..eg one shock absorber replaced. A bill for a diagnosis on an aircon fault but not one for a fix, welding on the exhaust due to hanger rotting off which would mean the rest of the system ain't good either. If you actually took the time to read it you'd see that the majority of the bills were from the preceeding 24 months and that the frequency was growing.

But hey as a thing to wave under a buyers nose it seemed to do the trick as it sold quickly...and then had a comically bad mot history afterwards.

If you looked at the car and drove it with any sort of knowing eye it was shagged...but it had bills with it so can't be that bad.

People don’t seem to care too much anymore about cars or the history of a car, lots of paperwork must be good but non of those words mean anything to these people. They just expect to go out and buy a “quality” used car at an “affordable” price and as long as the sales man tells them everything is good then it must be.

That why we have these new used car places popping up all over, advertised by a Z-list reality Tv celebrity who will deliver you new car to your door and take the old one away and at no point before you commit to buying the car do you actually see it.

The Tv ad that springs to mind is with a rather nice looking landrover that’s apparently broken down and a rather cheap looking mini to replace it, the landrover probably being worth twice a much

 

[StevenRB45]

That why we have these new used car places popping up all over, advertised by a Z-list reality Tv celebrity who will deliver you new car to your door and take the old one away and at no point before you commit to buying the car do you actually see it.

In some ways I see the appeal, the whole dance with the dealer is just painful.

In others it's one thing buying a new car "on a promise" that it'll be like one you test drove. But when it comes to buying something that's probably ex-lease and flogged like a mule er no I'll be going over that properly thank you. There's things you'd notice in person you'll never think of until you see them. Eg. if you were turn up to view mine, it's not low miles...but there's only one bit of wear on the any of the controls and that's resume button for the cruise control is worn smooth. Speaks of a different kind of use to say, a gearknob worn to an 8 ball finish.

That and photos rarely highlight bad paint or panel gaps unless they are terrible.

Cazoo especially seems to get a lot of identical spec cars with similar reg plates, suggesting de-fleeted cars.

 

[PuntoHowTo]

In some ways I see the appeal, the whole dance with the dealer is just painful.

In others it's one thing buying a new car "on a promise" that it'll be like one you test drove. But when it comes to buying something that's probably ex-lease and flogged like a mule er no I'll be going over that properly thank you. There's things you'd notice in person you'll never think of until you see them. Eg. if you were turn up to view mine, it's not low miles...but there's only one bit of wear on the any of the controls and that's resume button for the cruise control is worn smooth. Speaks of a different kind of use to say, a gearknob worn to an 8 ball finish.

That and photos rarely highlight bad paint or panel gaps unless they are terrible.

Cazoo especially seems to get a lot of identical spec cars with similar reg plates, suggesting de-fleeted cars.

Not sure if it’s Cazoo or cinch but one of them is owned by we buy any car…. Take from that what you will, but let’s just say I don’t have much faith, when they claim the cars are “refurbished” I’ve worked in car dealerships “refurbished” involves 3 spray cans, wheel silver, satin black and black carpet dye. It’s amazing what you can cover up with just those 3.

 

[portland_bill]

In 2000 I traded in a 1993 Panda CLX with 108k on it, for a new Seicento Suite. (Basically an SX, but with the 1.1 engine and aircon)
I'd had the Panda 4 years, taken it from 20k to 108k in that time, all serviced myself, and couldn't be bothered to collate the bills for parts.
At that time it was worth £200, and the dealer quibbled about no service history. My answer to that was, I had looked after it for 88,000 miles over just 4 years. If my maintenance had not been good enough, it would have been broken by now. As he had just driven it, and thought it nicer than it's mileage suggested, he thought about that and accepted it.

The Seicento, poor thing, did 85k in 3.5 years. Alternator went pop, which meant removing the aircon pump, so it got traded for a Punto auto.

 

[joycespeed]

I'm getting tired of what I do. I want to take a break but I can't and that makes me feel grumpy.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

No2 son handed me his device adaptor for his car yesterday - one of those things you plug into the cigar lighter socket, now a days called an "aux" socket - It's stopped working dad, can you fix it? Mainly he uses it to power his phone when he's out on business but it has a variety of other options including two more cigar lighter type orifices.

Last night I was sitting looking at it when I realized the end which plugs into the car can be unscrewed - so I did, and found one of those small glass type cartridge fuses, clear glass 30mm long. Not only was it blown but it was completely vaporized! just a light dusting of bronzy coloured dust on the inside of the glass!

What did you do to it son? I asked when I phoned him. Turns out he had his phone plugged in recharging because it was flat but realized he had an underinflated tyre so plugged in his electric tyre inflating pump too! Everything just stopped dad, even the wee coloured lights on the front of it went out!

So he's had a wee lesson on how anything with an electric motor is likely to be drawing quite a high current, certainly a lot more than his 'phone, and also not to think of plugging in one of those heater elements which heats a cup of water so you can make tea - Do they still sell those?

So next time he's going to plug the tyre inflator straight into the socket in the car and all I've got to do is find someone up here selling an 8amp 250V rated fast blow cartridge fuse. Tried 3 "possibles" but all say probably best to buy online. Maplins and/or Omni Electronics would have been my "go to" but both long closed now, wonder about Halfords? Why rated at 250 volts though I ask myself when it's being used on a 12 volt system?

 

[portland_bill]

No2 son handed me his device adaptor for his car yesterday - one of those things you plug into the cigar lighter socket, now a days called an "aux" socket - It's stopped working dad, can you fix it? Mainly he uses it to power his phone when he's out on business but it has a variety of other options including two more cigar lighter type orifices.

Last night I was sitting looking at it when I realized the end which plugs into the car can be unscrewed - so I did, and found one of those small glass type cartridge fuses, clear glass 30mm long. Not only was it blown but it was completely vaporized! just a light dusting of bronzy coloured dust on the inside of the glass!

What did you do to it son? I asked when I phoned him. Turns out he had his phone plugged in recharging because it was flat but realized he had an underinflated tyre so plugged in his electric tyre inflating pump too! Everything just stopped dad, even the wee coloured lights on the front of it went out!

So he's had a wee lesson on how anything with an electric motor is likely to be drawing quite a high current, certainly a lot more than his 'phone, and also not to think of plugging in one of those heater elements which heats a cup of water so you can make tea - Do they still sell those?

So next time he's going to plug the tyre inflator straight into the socket in the car and all I've got to do is find someone up here selling an 8amp 250V rated fast blow cartridge fuse. Tried 3 "possibles" but all say probably best to buy online. Maplins and/or Omni Electronics would have been my "go to" but both long closed now, wonder about Halfords? Why rated at 250 volts though I ask myself when it's being used on a 12 volt system?

Good luck finding one of those. Might be easier, and cheaper to buy a new complete unit. At least the fuse has been tested, and found good.

 

[chr1s]

Good luck finding one of those. Might be easier, and cheaper to buy a new complete unit. At least the fuse has been tested, and found good.

'5mm x 20mm' or '6.3mm x 32mm' ?

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/c/fuses-sockets-circuit-breakers/fuses/cartridge-fuses/?applied-dimensions=4294808955,4294584693,4294853294
Unfortunately your nearest branch is in Glasgow, and there are delivery costs for offline orders or online orders under £30 !

https://uk.farnell.com/w/c/circuit-protection/fuses-fuse-accessories/fuses/cartridge-fuses?blow-characteristic=fast-acting&fuse-current=8a&range=inc-in-stock-grp1
But they seem to have closed their collection counters, and there are delivery costs for orders under £40 (online orders only for non-trade customers).

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Thanks chr1s. However I got lucky. Maplins and Omni Electronics - Whilst Maplins was a big "posh" shop, OE were a wonderful wee independent electronics shop. Nothing fancy about them, bare board floors and a pretty rough counter but always something interestingly "electronic" in pieces which the chap was fiddling with when you went in. Just my sort of place, the electronic equivalent of Pilrig Motors in Leith walk for those who know them. All gone now though, Pilrig Motors is still there but struggling I should think with all the upheaval caused by the tram lines being extended which means you can't get near them in a car!

Now for the "I got lucky" bit. Having tried a few local likely prospects, computer repair shops and general electrical retailers etc, I suddenly remembered a shop I used to see from the bus when I was on my way to work. https://www.source-electronics.co.uk/ I remembered them because they are part of the Euronics network of shops and the name has stuck in my head for some reason. So I gave them a ring and he said "I think we do them, let me check" Within minutes he was back "Yes we do both sizes one at 20mm long and one at 32mm. It was the 32mm one I needed. Roughly a £1 each loose or you can have a packet of 5 (I forget if the packet of 5 was cheaper per fuse as i decided to buy just 2). Mrs J was shopping nearby so she called in with the old one as a reference and shortly after lunch she was back and in moments I had the device functioning again.

Mrs J had a good look round before she left and said she saw a lot of "stuff" which looked like it would interest me so I must call by and have a good look round. Maybe I've just found a place that can take the place of Maplins/Omni for my, limited, electronic needs?

Here's a picture of the device:



and here's where that fuse goes:



If it hadn't been the fuse the plug is screwed together so could be dismantled easily for checking broken wires etc but the main body of the unit seems to be bonded together so I don't think going any further with it would have been worth the effort.

 

[StevenRB45]

Set up my old work p.c. for 4th time this morning.

They left us until last because we have fairly specialist build pcs due to what we use on a daily basis, rest of the business has been on windows 10 for years at this point.

Spent a fortnight getting all the obvious show stoppers fixed on my new one, had it all set up last Friday eventually. Got to yesterday to discover copying from a file on a shared drive takes 15 minutes. On both my PC and laptop so clearly a set up/compatibility thing.

Back on the 10+ year old desktop that sounds like it's taking off and has had a failed sound card for 3 years then....

One day I'll finish snagging the damn thing and they'll send another one out...waiting for them to turn up at my house and ask why I currently have 3 of their computers.

The answer to which would be "between the 3 of them I have a working computer" :bang:

 

[StevenRB45]

Mazda is parked until the garage has seen it...currently has a high pitched whine when you lift off, which doesn't go away regardless of gear or even if you knock it into neutral and lift the clutch while rolling. Is combined with the knock I've been chasing for a while...so I guess whatever it is has had enough. Sounds like a bearing is not happy somewhere or the diff is knackered.

However the main thing that made me grumpy today was not pulling over to attend to that at Durham services. No I had to pull over at Durham services because my son has a cold, sneezed and then rubbed it across his cheek into his hair. Saw this in the mirror and had to pull over as I just couldn't deal with that in the mirror for the the next 40 minutes .

 

[varesecrazy]

My trolley jack had lost the ability to 'top out'

It would get to @75% then rise and fall about 5mm ,1/4" so I suspected it had lost oil while poorly stored over the years.. purchased @2001

Got some oil.. removed the tin plate to expose the workings.. removed a Black rubbery cap and unscrewed a short screw with an O.ring at its base

Added a bit of oil... and tried to screw in the short screw....
DOH.. the O ring spaces off the screw from a spring within the body

So press REAALY hard to compress the O.ring..and Spring ...in an to attempt to get abiting of the Male and Female threads..
So the screw can go back in and seal

Gave up.. as I went to tidy.up the parts.. the Black cap is actually RED.. but covered in 20 years of grime

When wiped clean it says 'Do Not Remove'

Bugger..

 

[jackwhoo]

My trolley jack had lost the ability to 'top out'

It would get to @75% then rise and fall about 5mm ,1/4" so I suspected it had lost oil while poorly stored over the years.. purchased @2001

Got some oil.. removed the tin plate to expose the workings.. removed a Black rubbery cap and unscrewed a short screw with an O.ring at its base

Added a bit of oil... and tried to screw in the short screw....
DOH.. the O ring spaces off the screw from a spring within the body

So press REAALY hard to compress the O.ring..and Spring ...in an to attempt to get abiting of the Male and Female threads..
So the screw can go back in and seal

Gave up.. as I went to tidy.up the parts.. the Black cap is actually RED.. but covered in 20 years of grime

When wiped clean it says 'Do Not Remove'

Bugger..

Hi,
The screw you removed is likely to be the max load bypass adjuster. Screw in to increase pressure before bypass opens.
Idea is to stop people lifting things heavier than jack can bear.

The top up plug is often a rubber plug just pushed into the outer round sleeve surrounding the ram. With jack fully lowered, pull out rubber plug, add hydraulic oil until its just below hole , fit plug.

Best wishes
Jack

 

[portland_bill]

10pm, someone is letting off fireworks. Quite a good display, but not appreciated.
Next door's squawky dog is now going berserk, accompanied by its owner screaming at it to shut up, making marginally more noise than the dog.

I think I need a house at least 100yds from any other.