What's made you not grumpy but not smile either today?

[DaveMcT]

You should see the carpet in the back of my wife's Panda - rubbed through to the backing entirely due to kids scrubbing in and out of the rear seat. The seat has a cover blanket so it's in great condition.

 

[StevenRB45]

You should see the carpet in the back of my wife's Panda - rubbed through to the backing entirely due to kids scrubbing in and out of the rear seat. The seat has a cover blanket so it's in great condition.

Back seat is pretty much destroyed

Not his fault actually just whoever designed the isofix in a Mazda 3 clearly gave no thought to it ever being used.

The legs on the chair need to fit into a gap at the bottom of the back rest half their width..so obviously that batters the cushion. Also to get the top tether point tight you need to pull the strap to bite into the foam on of the top of the back rest which leaves a lovely groove as well. Finally the thing sans toddler weighs 18kg so has flattened the seat cushion.

That's before you get to the more obvious like crumbs, mud, etc.

If it was about the car you'd get a smaller, lighter none isofix seat but prefer to have something that's attached to the chassis in two places and strapped hard onto the seat back on the final attachment.

Once he exceeds the weight for the straps I'll get something a bit less built like a tank.

 

[DaveMcT]

My house lost on the divorce had a Powermax thermal store boiler. Plumbers hated it because it wasn't their usual "thing", but it was actually very reliable and about as simple as it gets. The heating side was low pressure with header cistern. Mains pressure hot water was via a high performance coil in the top of the thermal store. It was very efficient I suspect at least as good as an "official" condensing boiler without the system losses of running at part load.

 

[StevenRB45]

My exhaust has snapped on a 13 year old car?

Is it time for the scrap man?



Step away from car....

Tempted to go in with "yes mate it's terminal but I'll give you 50 quid for it"

 

[varesecrazy]

My exhaust has snapped on a 13 year old car?

Is it time for the scrap man?

View attachment 218235

With the money they save..
they could buy better photo's

 

[StevenRB45]

With the money they save..
they could buy better photo's

Potato cam...

The world should be thankful he didn't buy anything built by PSA. He'd be scrapping 3 year old cars at the first MOT.

 

[varesecrazy]

4 days at work

Got to friday:
Text from Panda Driver - 'no hot water in the flat'
Its a 3.5 year old install.. all electric..
Main Element at lower of tank ..'boost' on top

I had lost the lower in Jan.. so swapped wiring over.. still have a Gallon of hot water on Economy 7

Well thats time for a drain of tank and 2 new elefants then..

Anyway got back from work..
Switched cables again.. now got a switched supply to the one at top that worked yesterday.. ( on E7 supply)
Flick of switch.. Red LED on socket.. nothing from element

Last Jan I faffed around looking for a Red reset button .. nothing.. so left it for dead.

There is a tiny little slot cast in the plastic.. I prodded and probed it.. heard a clunk !!

Flicked switch - ACTION !!

Power off ..switched cables again

Probed and prodded lower Element.. more Noises..!!

I may well have dodged 3 hours labour and 2 x£100 elements.. I had spoken to the supplying heating shop.. no warranty.. some owners had reported early 'failures'

They were booked for Tuesday.. hopefully I have hot water on Monday..


Set off in the Panda back to Wales..
Busy on the M4.. shunting for a few miles.. so took the 'old bridge' to Chepstow.. and the scenic back road

Glad I did.. the car started 'missing'

Really rough ride at @2000/2500.. its twinair.. so 50% spark is a possibility.. but plugs have done @8k

No warning lights and correct temp and fuel indicated

ECO..switched to OFF Italian Tune.up time

Fine for 10 minutes of dual carriageway.. started again on the last climbing A road.. then its 15 mins downhill on backroads
Not 'good' but no errors and it ticked over beautifully

Weird one.. will take a local trip out later to gauge my next step.

 

[StevenRB45]

Sometimes I'm not sure if I prefer when it's definitely broken..at that point you must sort it and there's a clear indication it's fixed when it works.

Intermittent faults are the worst...do you get it fixed immediately? Will it actually happen again? How do you know if its fixed or it's just hiding?

 

[The Panda Nut]

£50?

Each..??

Nope, just £50 the pair. I noted that the centre electrodes are like needles. Never seen plugs like that before. On inspection of the parts they were all clearly bin jobs. Pity Fiat didn't correctly fit the original air filter as it looked like it hadn't been doing its job correctly, Just as well it was changed! £337 fro the service seems steep but even at discount prices parts are around half the cost, and they did the brake fluid too so on reflection, expensive but it maintains the guarantee.

The more I think about it the more I wonder if extended warranty is worth having. Having had 7 trouble free Fiats I think I may be fooling myself. Its the wobbly mass fly wheel I am guaranteeing I think.

 

[portland_bill]

Last week, while servicing the Panda, the plug leads fought back, so I decided to get new ones. Not urgent, so ordered from Autodoc. Previous orders have taken a week, so this could also be a test for greater delays due to no longer in the EU.

Yesterday (Wed) I got an email from ParcelFarce saying delivery today (Thu), with options to 'leave with a neighbour', 'leave at local post office', 'deliver Friday' or 'deliver Monday'. Simple click options on teh email seem to be a good idea to remove teh need for multiple steps on their website. As I have to go out shortly, I had not expected to be in for any delivery today, so chose delivery Friday.

This morning, (Thu), another email saying delivery today. Website shows change to delivery day, but still out on original day.

A short time ago, large red van arrives outside, so out to the front door I go. Waited several minutes while man rummaged inside van. Big van, small parcel? Eventually he emerged, apologetic. He has the delivery on his PDA unit, but no parcel. However, two vans are covering this route today, due to volumes, so probably on the other van.

If the other van has the parcel, will it be on both PDAs, so it will get delivered, or attempted, as I'll be out. Or will it languish in the van, as not on the schedule. If so, will it be reconciled tonight, for delivery tomorrow?

Will it be out for delivery tomorrow, or will their system now close it off as delivered? Or perhaps awaiting further customer instructions, despite not having left a redelivery card.

Might be a while yet before they arrive.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

I'm unsure as to whether this would be most appropriate here or in the "smiles today" thread. But, on reflection I think here is best.

It was yesterday when one of the friends I've made from the Bowling club (mentioned in the "smiles today" thread) rang our doorbell. He's retired like me, Ex gas board actually, so reasonably handy with tools. "Got a problem with my garden gate Jock, can you help"?

I suggested a "recce" so went with him for a look see. The gate is a typical blacksmith job, heavy duty steel bars with a rounded top and vertical bars, maybe 7 foot high? The hinged side is Rawl bolted into the side of his house and the latch is Rawl bolted to the adjacent end garage of a block of 8 lockups which run down the side of his back garden - actually makes a nice boundary wall for him. (He's bought one of them and knocked through it's back wall so he has access from his garden and made a very nice wee workshop for himself).

Anyway, back to the problem. He tells me the gate was catching on the latch side before the actual latch lever can engage. The hinges show no wear so he's concluded that there's been very slight movement in either his house founds or, hopefully and probably more likely, the lockup founds. Just enough to close up the clearance on the latch plate. So he'd made the decision to remove the latch plate from the wall and file it out - it's a typical monolithic blacksmith type construction - and had already snapped off the top Rawlbolt in it's hole before he realized he couldn't get a spanner on the bottom bolt. Why? Because the blacksmith - or whoever - had first bolted the wall plate to the wall with the afore mentioned Rawlbolts (big ones too) and then WELDED the hook type catch to the wall plate right over the top of the bottom bolt!

Took about half an hour with my angle grinder and consumed about one and a half cutting discs and substantially reduced the diameter of the grinding disc I'd previously been using on another job. That Blacksmith obviously wasn't contemplating ever returning to this one! He's now got two Rawl bolt stubs stuck in the holes where he needs to instal new ones so he can eventually put the latch plate back. Don't think I'm volunteering to sort that out.

 

[varesecrazy]

'Easy.out' ? Jock

Bound to be corroded in the sleeve of the fixing..and any twisting load will probably break its bond with the masonry


Might be a job for a welder and a slide hammer..

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

'Easy.out' ? Jock

Bound to be corroded in the sleeve of the fixing..and any twisting load will probably break its bond with the masonry


Might be a job for a welder and a slide hammer..

Not sure about trying an easy out because the remains of the bolt is loose inside the outer parts - but won't pull out - I think it would spin and wobble if you tried to drill it, and probably break the drill? However I like the idea of welding something to it and then you could really get "wellied" into it with a slide hammer.

I think though that discretion is the better part of valour so I'll just stand by for another tinkle on the door bell rather than going looking for problems?

 

[varesecrazy]

After some LONG days.. been starting early for a few weeks

I was looking forward to a proper nights sleep..

I was woken up by a 2-stroke at 06:15

Who on earth uses a chainsaw at a quarter past six ?

2.25 hours later its obviously a 'Brush Cutter' ( a heavy duty strimmer ) being used by a crew down the bank on the railwayline..

To be fair they normally put a note through the door..
Advanced Notice of Works

Maybe this is only for heavy machinery 'overnight'

One fringe benefit.. NO TRAINS

The latest rollingstock is cleaner and 'smarter'..

But it sounds like a Helicopter taking off..!!

Hourly from 06:20 to 22:20

 

[portland_bill]

Dishwasher pump is making whiny noises, so may be not much longer for this world.
New pump from manufacturer (Bosch) is £154. Usual online appliance spares sources all priced slightly higher. Then found one at £125.

New Bosch dishwasher (table-top model, but built-in under worktop) is a frightening £540, or £460 from one online supplier. Zanussi equivalent is £285, so a new pump looks like the way to go.

Looking forward to stripping it down again, so many parts, all linked in strange ways.

 

[DaveMcT]

He's now got two Rawl bolt stubs stuck in the holes where he needs to instal new ones so he can eventually put the latch plate back. Don't think I'm volunteering to sort that out.

Weld nuts to the Rawlbolt stubs, unscrew and fit new bolts. If they are seized solid, the question is why would they be damp enough to rust like that?

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

It's a bit of a strange one Dave. - I haven't been called back so I'm working from memory and maybe he's sorted it out anyway - We had to cut the bolt head off because of the bracket parts which had been welded over the top of it preventing the use of any sort of spanner. There's really no rust problem at all. The top one he seems to have wound the bolt out of altogether so you can see the outer expanding sleeves still stuck in the hole but there's nothing in the middle (ie no bolt) - probably the cone shaped spreader is still in the bottom of the hole? The bottom one still has the bolt down it's middle and it's loose so you can wiggle the bolt around but it's now flush with the surface of the brick due to me cutting it's head off!

I suspect the top one just needs the outer expanders to be loosened and then teased out with long nose pliers but the bottom, because it's all flush with the brick surface has nothing to get hold of. Welding something, like a nut or bolt, to the bolt in the wall might give enough purchase to unscrew it and then tease the outer parts out with those long nose pliers.

He hasn't been at my door again so my guess would be he's getting on with it - he's not "handless" - I'll give it a week or so and then ask him how it all went.

 

[portland_bill]

The rawlbolts I've used just pull an expander from the inner end to expand the sides. It is only the expander that has threads in it.
Now the head is off, if you just punch the bolt inwards, it should take the expander with it, hopefully the hole was drilled deep enough for some clearance. Once thumped, you might be able to get hold of the outer and wriggle it out.

 

[jimboy]

25 mile run today, both sides of the Caledonian canal on my bike, sunny but windy, very enjoyable part of the journey. On the main road however was particularly busy, not least because of the NC500 many expensive super cars, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Ferrari’s to name but a few, over a million quids worth past me by today…. The noise at times was very loud indeed, and it wasn’t the engine noise that practically deafened me, it was the tyre noise. Apart from these expensive marks, SUVs are pretty much the chosen weapon here and the tyre noise when they speed past is very loud and it kind of wears you down.

It is surprising what you learn out on cycle run. On another note, 20 odd miles is more or less my limit at the moment, not because of my ability to pedal more, it’s because of numb bum, after so many miles I just have to stop and let my behind rest a bit….

 

[portland_bill]

... both sides of the Caledonian canal on my bike,

I now have a picture in my head, of a bicycle on each side of the canal, being ridden by one person, with very long bandy legs. Hopefully a narrow canal.