What's made you grumpy today?

[StevenRB45]

what hope is there they are going to understand things like tyre pressure monitors and cruise etc?

Speak of the devil...just left the supermarket after Xmas big shop. *bong* "imbalance in rotation detected please check tyre pressures and re-intialise." It's dark, 1 degree and raining.

It's a 25 minute drive and had a boot full of shopping and car full of passengers...as is the way. Debated risking it but there's lots of steep unlit national limit country roads. You don't want to be next to the road immobilised with no room to pull over, no street lights etc.

Got out expecting a formality..as every puncture I've had for about 12 years has been a slow and I've just topped it up and drove it to a garage next day. No, you can hear it losing air over the traffic and I can barely keep up with the pump.

Got it pulled over into a nice well lit carpark...called breakdown cover immediately on the basis I was expecting it to be an absolute arse. They were going to be an hour...so thought sod it I'll get started worst case I'll be halfway through when they arrive. Wasn't actually expecting it to come off easy as all I had was the factory gear..and the wheel brace is barely a foot long. But pleasantly surprised...hardest bit was getting the spare out if anything. Citroën don't seem to have understood the concept of a space saver, it's a 15 185/65 steelie..so standard size for a supermini and the gap to get it out of is not large with a boot full of shopping.

Other than that extremely clearly marked jacking points, nice broad contact points on the scissor jack. All the nuts hadn't been torqued up to breaking point, the wheel hadn't oxidised on, and the wheel key/tool to remove the wheel centres all worked as they should.

Break down cover rang after 10 minutes to say they would be there in 10 minutes..at which I told them to cancel the job as was about to drop it back down, air up the spare (untouched for 4 years) and tighten the nuts.

Tomorrow's mission is now to get it fixed though...bum.

 

[Wiltshire Chris]

Skodas, and a few others, have a little plastic clip on the screen pillar, that presses against the screen to put car park tickets under. This is very useful, and therefore important.

This is such a tiny cheap thing but is just so useful I can't believe it's not more widely fitted

 

[Rocinante]

My younger boy has also had all his rads fitted with thermostats during the work on his recent extension but can we make his wife understand how they work and that the radiators won't always feel "toasty" hot if that room has reached the set temperature? Not a hope! She goes round the house turning the radiators up to full whenever we try to regulate them! Oh well, as they say, you can lead a horse to the water but you can't make it drink.

I could well be wildly out, but could I suggest that this could be down to miscommunication rather than wholly her failure to understand. You and your boy have presumably set the temperatures a level where you feel comfortable, however this may not be a comfortable level for her and hence she keeps turning up the radiators.
If this is the case, and the radiators are set at a temperature where she's still cold, it's not that she needs the radiators to be toasty at all times, but the radiators have reached your set level and turned themselves off, so she needs to turn them up to get comfortable. (granted she doesn't need to turn it to max, but if you set the level comfortably for her, she may never go near the radiators)

Women feel colder than men.

Why do women feel the cold more than men?

Brrr, turn up the heat! Women tend to be more sensitive to temperature than men.

www.sciencefocus.com

Of course I could be talking a lot of tosh.

 

[Rocinante]

A month ago, the Fabia got a rock slung at it by a clown cutting in on the motorway. had to lift off otherwise he'd have taken my front wing off. Screen then cracked.
Skodas, and a few others, have a little plastic clip on the screen pillar, that presses against the screen to put car park tickets under. This is very useful, and therefore important.
Screen got replaced, but clip no longer touches screen.
Windscreen company arrived again today to rectify. Fitter was a bit off with this. (different fitter). Declared that 'most fitters just cut it off', and 'they do relax over time'.
As it was fine before the screen was replaced, I doubt it 'relaxed' overnight. He fiddled with the clip, trying to force it to sit against the screen, but of course it has one fitted position. It looks like the screen has too much sealant, holding it awy from the body. So he removed and refitted the screen, clip is closer, but still not touching the screen. So still no good. He left saying nothing more he could do.

Complained to insurance company. And a new ref. number from same screen company. I see a firm discussion coming tomorrow.

Assuming the screen install is fit for purpose, I'd be personally tempted to glue a spacer on the holder to close the gap to the screen so it can be used, but I can understand that you would want it right.

 

[Popitinpete]

RE; what makes me grumpy today

Guinness and merlot make for a terrible hangover

 

[portland_bill]

Assuming the screen install is fit for purpose, I'd be personally tempted to glue a spacer on the holder to close the gap to the screen so it can be used, but I can understand that you would want it right.

I'm not about to add any unsightly addition to the visible clip to bodge a fix for something that has no need to be wrong. The clip is basically L shaped, but the corner of the L is stepped to go around the pillar lip. That prevents the clip being moved closer to the screen, so any attempt at bodging it means adding something to the visible part of the clip.
It would be better if the screen was fit for purpose.

 

[DaveMcT]

Undersized heating rads are obviously a bad idea. However, many houses have radiators that are too big. These take ages to get warm then over-heat the room once they are up to temperature. A thermostat valve can help but the hysteresis is the system means you never get the right room temperature. Far better to fit a pair of smaller rads and leave one switched off until the weather is cold enough to need the heat.

 

[Popitinpete]

This is such a tiny cheap thing but is just so useful I can't believe it's not more widely fitted

They are so useful, I have seen them on a couple of other manufactures, I think suzuki is one, can't remember the other.

 

[Cheest]

What wasn't mentioned in my post about the little snowmobile in the 'What made you smile today?' thread is that with the much increased speed results in much worse handling with the summer wheel kit installed. To quote Ken Richardson of BRM after his first test drive of the original Triumph TR; "Bloody awful. A death trap."

The little poop dumped me in my driveway at about 20 mph. I have road rash on my right knee and right shoulder, plus bruises on my right foot and hip. It made for an uncomfortable nights' sleep. Right now, the shoulder and hip aren't too bad but I know the knee is skinned when I walk and my foot is throbbing.

Current project in the garage is new hubs and u-joints on the front axle of my Wrangler and force of habit has me kneeling on my right right knee. That will result in an "Ouch" followed by an "Oh, ****. That hurts."

 

[StevenRB45]

What wasn't mentioned in my post about the little snowmobile in the 'What made you smile today?' thread is that with the much increased speed results in much worse handling with the summer wheel kit installed. To quote Ken Richardson of BRM after his first test drive of the original Triumph TR; "Bloody awful. A death trap."

The little poop dumped me in my driveway at about 20 mph. I have road rash on my right knee and right shoulder, plus bruises on my right foot and hip. It made for an uncomfortable nights' sleep. Right now, the shoulder and hip aren't too bad but I know the knee is skinned when I walk and my foot is throbbing.

Current project in the garage is new hubs and u-joints on the front axle of my Wrangler and force of habit has me kneeling on my right right knee. That will result in an "Ouch" followed by an "Oh, ****. That hurts."

Sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Also ouch.

My Grump would be the ongoing struggles of my son.

We had a letter recently from his speech therapist/nursery. Won't go into massive detail but basically says he's mute, doesn't understand language and only echoes things said to him, doesn't interact with other children, doesn't make eye contact, doesn't understand basic instructions, doesn't engage in imaginative play. Doesn't know when he needs the toilet...etc etc. So try we need to encourage him to say things in context like saying ready, steady and getting him to do go.

Now if you've any sort of memory for any of the crap I post you may remember one of the things that made me smile long ago was travelling in the car with him in the back. Everytime we reached a traffic light...he would wait until it went red and Amber and say Ready Steady Go like he was controlling the car.

That right there sums it up...they seem to think he's about 18 months behind where he is and it's very annoying. Especially given the speech therapist came to the house saw and and said he was much more advanced at home. This is obviously reduced to half a sentence in a 2 page letter.

So while I've been off work...I've seen him engage in an imaginary gun battle with his uncle..ask his cousins (who he sees far less than the children at nursery) to play. Also while at his cousins he walked up to me and asked to go to the toilet at home he takes himself..Also he makes meals in a play kitchen, re inacts of fireman Sam etc etc. Not only that but we were sitting in an auditorium watching a science show where they set lots of things on fire..and he did probably what anyone would do in that situation if you had never been in that situation and no one had explained the concept. He turned to me and said "What's Happening?" Given this morning I asked him to get his drinks bottle so I could fill it and he did well not understanding instructions...that's balls as well.

He does have issues he is a lockdown only child...so isn't as socialised as he should be for his age. Potty training is still a work in progress but as a late July baby he's nearly a year younger than some of the kids at nursery and the youngest there.


Apparently he needs full time support...his case worker will get a glowing report from the school I'm sure when the child I see everyday decides to turn up.

There is the well known phenomenon of you seeing the best in your kids because you are biologically hardwired to...but this morning he's done literally 3 things they say he can't do and while I've been off he's done everything they say he can't and they are videos of him doing it etc

Yes this a car forum...but if you've ever been near a parenting forum/group just no .

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I could well be wildly out, but could I suggest that this could be down to miscommunication rather than wholly her failure to understand. You and your boy have presumably set the temperatures a level where you feel comfortable, however this may not be a comfortable level for her and hence she keeps turning up the radiators.
If this is the case, and the radiators are set at a temperature where she's still cold, it's not that she needs the radiators to be toasty at all times, but the radiators have reached your set level and turned themselves off, so she needs to turn them up to get comfortable. (granted she doesn't need to turn it to max, but if you set the level comfortably for her, she may never go near the radiators)

Women feel colder than men.

Why do women feel the cold more than men?

Brrr, turn up the heat! Women tend to be more sensitive to temperature than men.

www.sciencefocus.com

Of course I could be talking a lot of tosh.

Now that is really very interesting as I had the same "problem" with Mrs J.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Sometimes just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Also ouch.

My Grump would be the ongoing struggles of my son.

We had a letter recently from his speech therapist/nursery. Won't go into massive detail but basically says he's mute, doesn't understand language and only echoes things said to him, doesn't interact with other children, doesn't make eye contact, doesn't understand basic instructions, doesn't engage in imaginative play. Doesn't know when he needs the toilet...etc etc. So try we need to encourage him to say things in context like saying ready, steady and getting him to do go.

Now if you've any sort of memory for any of the crap I post you may remember one of the things that made me smile long ago was travelling in the car with him in the back. Everytime we reached a traffic light...he would wait until it went red and Amber and say Ready Steady Go like he was controlling the car.

That right there sums it up...they seem to think he's about 18 months behind where he is and it's very annoying. Especially given the speech therapist came to the house saw and and said he was much more advanced at home. This is obviously reduced to half a sentence in a 2 page letter.

So while I've been off work...I've seen him engage in an imaginary gun battle with his uncle..ask his cousins (who he sees far less than the children at nursery) to play. Also while at his cousins he walked up to me and asked to go to the toilet at home he takes himself..Also he makes meals in a play kitchen, re inacts of fireman Sam etc etc. Not only that but we were sitting in an auditorium watching a science show where they set lots of things on fire..and he did probably what anyone would do in that situation if you had never been in that situation and no one had explained the concept. He turned to me and said "What's Happening?" Given this morning I asked him to get his drinks bottle so I could fill it and he did well not understanding instructions...that's balls as well.

He does have issues he is a lockdown only child...so isn't as socialised as he should be for his age. Potty training is still a work in progress but as a late July baby he's nearly a year younger than some of the kids at nursery and the youngest there.


Apparently he needs full time support...his case worker will get a glowing report from the school I'm sure when the child I see everyday decides to turn up.

There is the well known phenomenon of you seeing the best in your kids because you are biologically hardwired to...but this morning he's done literally 3 things they say he can't do and while I've been off he's done everything they say he can't and they are videos of him doing it etc

Yes this a car forum...but if you've ever been near a parenting forum/group just no .

Sorry to hear of your worries for your boy. Looks like there's "professionals" around to help though even if the child they report on doesn't seem to be the one that lives with you. Don't loose heart, We've had our fair share of worries too - oldest boy didn't crawl, walk or even move around much when all his contemporaries were starting to toddle. The medics got a bit worried which worried us until we realized that his younger sister was fetching and carrying everything he wanted and placing it in front of him - there was absolutely no reason for him to stir himself. The worst was my sister's daughter's child who was born with a very rare condition and all the medics warned us to be prepared for the worst as they thought she would be with us for days only. We're months in now and she's a lovely wee thing, full of smiles and gurgles! There have been other very worrying dramas too. So just keep looking on the bright side, children are remarkably resilient and a few days can make a great difference with them. Kindest regards Jock.

 

[StevenRB45]

Sorry to hear of your worries for your boy. Looks like there's "professionals" around to help though even if the child they report on doesn't seem to be the one that lives with you. Don't loose heart, We've had our fair share of worries too - oldest boy didn't crawl, walk or even move around much when all his contemporaries were starting to toddle. The medics got a bit worried which worried us until we realized that his younger sister was fetching and carrying everything he wanted and placing it in front of him - there was absolutely no reason for him to stir himself. The worst was my sister's daughter's child who was born with a very rare condition and all the medics warned us to be prepared for the worst as they thought she would be with us for days only. We're months in now and she's a lovely wee thing, full of smiles and gurgles! There have been other very worrying dramas too. So just keep looking on the bright side, children are remarkably resilient and a few days can make a great difference with them. Kindest regards Jock.

Thanks Jock.

To be honest I have no worries about him really. He's very bright when he wants to be...however at nursery he must be getting a bit overwhelmed by everything is all I can think of. Not a chatty child by any means but still inquisitive without being why why why? He got a my 1st scalextric for Christmas...and I set it up and he's saying "racing cars!". So we sit down and take a couple controller each he counts us in and these things fly...they've got very little mass and strong magnet on the bottom. So you can do the whole track flat out pretty much without them coming off. We get about 10 laps in and he turns round and says "What do now?" which is a fair question, I'd not explained any rules to him and I don't ever remember managing 10 laps at full speed on a scalextric track..so may have arranged for mine to fall off so he won.

He's not where he "should" be but he's massively moved on from where he was at home at least...I suspect the busy environment in nursery and tendancy to whisper if unsure is not his friend.

That and he does seem to have learned if he plays dumb and that he doesn't understand people will ignore him and let him do what he wants. He tries it at home...but doesn't get away with it. He's bloody devious occasionally, asking for something he knows is upstairs...so he can raid the kitchen while you're away. But again that's something he's incapable of...

Cannot imagine getting told your baby has a short time to live...that would be awful and far worse than what we've had to deal with. Good that the prognosis was worst case and not borne out in reality.

If anything my son is just an oddball/occasional little **** but he is related to me so I'd expect nothing less.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Mrs J's sister, who arrived looking like an impersonation of Margaret Rutherford/Hyacinth Bucket a week before Christmas, has just announced that she thinks she'll honour us with her presence for another week after new year! Deep breath, bite your lip Jock!

 

[portland_bill]

Mrs J's sister, who arrived looking like an impersonation of Margaret Rutherford/Hyacinth Bucket a week before Christmas, has just announced that she thinks she'll honour us with her presence for another week after new year! Deep breath, bite your lip Jock!

There must be so much to do in the garage.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

There must be so much to do in the garage.

Indeed there is. I'm half way through "rationalizing" my "useful" stuff. Done two trips to the recycling and sold the cultivator but it doesn't look like I've really done much yet! I want to move the trailer up the garage nearer to my workbench as I don't have a tow bar on any of the current vehicles so don't need to access it. That would leave me with a clear floor workspace near the outside door which will be useful if, for instance, I have to strip the rear axle and rebuild it onto a new axle.

 

[portland_bill]

Indeed there is. I'm half way through "rationalizing" my "useful" stuff. Done two trips to the recycling and sold the cultivator but it doesn't look like I've really done much yet! I want to move the trailer up the garage nearer to my workbench as I don't have a tow bar on any of the current vehicles so don't need to access it. That would leave me with a clear floor workspace near the outside door which will be useful if, for instance, I have to strip the rear axle and rebuild it onto a new axle.

I can picture you spending a lot of time out there in the coming week. Take a flask and sandwiches.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I can picture you spending a lot of time out there in the coming week. Take a flask and sandwiches.

No need, The door in the back of the garage opens directly into the utility room (so small it's really more of a broom cupboard) and two strides then take you into the kitchen!

 

[Cheest]

Mrs J's sister, who arrived looking like an impersonation of Margaret Rutherford/Hyacinth Bucket a week before Christmas, has just announced that she thinks she'll honour us with her presence for another week after new year! Deep breath, bite your lip Jock!

It's early in the morning on this side of the pond and too early for me to be wiping coffee off my laptop screen.


Back in grumpy mode, as stated earlier, been doing the hubs and u-joints on my 05 Wrangler LJ. I want to spend five minutes in a room with the Chrysler/DB engineer that decided to use bolts with 12 point heads, instead of normal 6 point, to mount the hubs to the knuckles. After 16 Illannoy winters, there are no 'points' left to fit a socket.

 

[portland_bill]

Back in grumpy mode, as stated earlier, been doing the hubs and u-joints on my 05 Wrangler LJ. I want to spend five minutes in a room with the Chrysler/DB engineer that decided to use bolts with 12 point heads, instead of normal 6 point, to mount the hubs to the knuckles. After 16 Illannoy winters, there are no 'points' left to fit a socket.

I worked for some time with a guy who'd spent most of his working life in R&D at MG in Abingdon (UK). We always used to tease him that as MGs hardly changed for many years, R&D must have been a cushy job.
When it came to maintaining his own vehicles, it was painful to watch. He'd theorise for days over jobs that should take only an hour or two, refusing advice from those of us who'd 'been there, done that', sometimes arguing how things could not fail the way we described. He'd then later find his, broken in exactly the way we'd described, but still argue that it was not possible, and claim his was a freak one-off. Too much theory, no practical experience at all.
I'm sure the 12-point bolts seemed like a good idea at the time, but no thought about ageing. They work fine on cylinder heads and big-ends, as they're bathed in oil their whole life.

Something like these might do the job. https://www.bes.co.uk/irwin-bolt-grip-fastener-remover-5-piece-expansion-set-16924/
If there's enough space.