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

[The Panda Nut]

Beko washing machine! What a shambles this company are. Basically a very good machine and its gone nearly 9 years without much trouble and it does a decen tjob of getting clothes clean. AFter the previous Indesit machine it was a revelation in this respect that make just did not ge tthings clean or fresh at all. I think it had a new door lock once. Now the inner bearing has started to make quite a racket. Phone the Beko number on the machine. It's disused. Try different number on the paperwork. Disused but directed to ring another number on an answer message. Disued. So onto the internet for bearings. The big outer one is clearly fine so I just need the inner one and the seals for the bearing and drum. Beko customer services email... doesnt work apprears to be disused. Beko spares email doesnt work Pnone number on the net actually works so try spares. Press four then press 1 15 minute wait We dont do phone orders for spares ...go to the usless email address. So I try the 2help in diagnosing and repairing" line option 5 and get through to a nice asian sounding lady who tried but knew nothing about washing machines at all, and proceeded to tell me I needed the product ID and serial numbers not the model number and that the spares web site would find the parts. Spares web site doesnt list ourmachine and doesnt accept either of the two numbers I was told to use. After several hours and after delving under many layers of military style internet security an answer the bearings are not listed......
So I try ringing a tiny local shop in our small Norfolk village. They tel me the whole assembly is made and welded in place and the bearings arn't available separately. ... but!!! I can have a new tub for £200. I have stripped the thing down and can see the large bearing but the part number is on the opposite face.... need the drum out to be able to remove it. Then the inner smaller bearing would be revealed. As it would take a week to get this all out and the parts ordered and back its not very practical while it still works. :Looking at the way its made I am presuming the bearing assemblies are super cooled and fitted to a heated tub and cooling then locks it all up. I dont believe its impossible to get the bearings out and replace them so I shall now wait till it fails big style and then we will find out. I could then get bearing(s) and a beairng seal as they will be standard sizes. There are only a handful of sizes used in all the washing machines. In the mean time I would recommend avoiding any products from Hotpoint Group including Beko as the after sales is so woeful as to be about 80% useless. You may or may not be able to get parts. The next machine we are going to drive a hard bargain and get the price down one way or another. Front end unloading I shall term it.

Its not good for the environment to need to scap a machine in good order for lack of possible the most often replaced wearing spare part perhaps the Hotpoint group need to have their environmentla senses wakened up. Next stop the press! I think an environmental basj=hing of all their brands will go a little way to getting them into the current geological era.

 

[portland_bill]

Beko washing machine! What a shambles this company are. Basically a very good machine and its gone nearly 9 years without much trouble and it does a decen tjob of getting clothes clean. AFter the previous Indesit machine it was a revelation in this respect that make just did not ge tthings clean or fresh at all. I think it had a new door lock once. Now the inner bearing has started to make quite a racket. Phone the Beko number on the machine. It's disused. Try different number on the paperwork. Disused but directed to ring another number on an answer message. Disued. So onto the internet for bearings. The big outer one is clearly fine so I just need the inner one and the seals for the bearing and drum. Beko customer services email... doesnt work apprears to be disused. Beko spares email doesnt work Pnone number on the net actually works so try spares. Press four then press 1 15 minute wait We dont do phone orders for spares ...go to the usless email address. So I try the 2help in diagnosing and repairing" line option 5 and get through to a nice asian sounding lady who tried but knew nothing about washing machines at all, and proceeded to tell me I needed the product ID and serial numbers not the model number and that the spares web site would find the parts. Spares web site doesnt list ourmachine and doesnt accept either of the two numbers I was told to use. After several hours and after delving under many layers of military style internet security an answer the bearings are not listed......
So I try ringing a tiny local shop in our small Norfolk village. They tel me the whole assembly is made and welded in place and the bearings arn't available separately. ... but!!! I can have a new tub for £200. I have stripped the thing down and can see the large bearing but the part number is on the opposite face.... need the drum out to be able to remove it. Then the inner smaller bearing would be revealed. As it would take a week to get this all out and the parts ordered and back its not very practical while it still works. :Looking at the way its made I am presuming the bearing assemblies are super cooled and fitted to a heated tub and cooling then locks it all up. I dont believe its impossible to get the bearings out and replace them so I shall now wait till it fails big style and then we will find out. I could then get bearing(s) and a beairng seal as they will be standard sizes. There are only a handful of sizes used in all the washing machines. In the mean time I would recommend avoiding any products from Hotpoint Group including Beko as the after sales is so woeful as to be about 80% useless. You may or may not be able to get parts. The next machine we are going to drive a hard bargain and get the price down one way or another. Front end unloading I shall term it.

Its not good for the environment to need to scap a machine in good order for lack of possible the most often replaced wearing spare part perhaps the Hotpoint group need to have their environmentla senses wakened up. Next stop the press! I think an environmental basj=hing of all their brands will go a little way to getting them into the current geological era.

I believe they are Turkish, so you may have been speaking to a lady there. They were apparently well-known in Europe, long before arriving here.
Choices in washing machines is limited, as many are made in one factory in Italy, and given different faces for different manufacturers. All to a low standard. Bosch still make most of their own, although I'm not sure if that's all. Miele of course are very nice, well-built, and intended to last 20 years. Service and repairs backup is excellent, but at a price. Sometimes a frightening price.
It is a shame to throw them away so often, but a cheap one from AO.com can be delivered next day, and replaced every 3-5 years.

Could go back to a large wooden tub, and a pole with what looks like a tiny three-legged stool on the end as an agitator. Miele have one on display at their UK head office in Abingdon.

 

[vexorg]

Hotpoint are no better. We had one with free 5 year parts warranty. It started leaking just after a year, out of the 1 year warranty, so had a look inside and saw a bit had broken off the drum. Phoned them up and they wanted £130 up front for an engineer to come out and then decide if it's a parts warranty issue. And if not there would be an additional charge. So just fixed it myself.

At the end of it's life, about 10 years of near daily use, the drum bearing support broke, and a new drum part was more expensive than a new Beko. Bit of a no brainer.

I hate throw away culture and usually fix thing to death, like every washing maching I've owned has had 3 or 4 sets of motor brushes before getting to point of no return.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Was helping a friend recently to source a bearing set for a washing machine which he couldn't get. I approached the engineering company who have obtained some weird and wonderful bearings for me in the past and during my conversation he advised me to first look at how the drum is constructed and get back to him if we still wanted to go ahead. I rang my friend back and he started to dismantle the machine but found it seemed impossible to do so without hopelessly damaging it. I then rang a chap I used to know many years ago who is a domestic appliance repair man. He told me a lot of these modern machines are made with plastic drums which "snap" together and taking them apart is a nightmare as many of the little plastic lugs tend to break off. "I wouldn't bother if I were you" said he, "They're made to just throw away when the main drum bearing fails".

 

[The Panda Nut]

I believe they are Turkish, so you may have been speaking to a lady there. They were apparently well-known in Europe, long before arriving here.
Choices in washing machines is limited, as many are made in one factory in Italy, and given different faces for different manufacturers. All to a low standard. Bosch still make most of their own, although I'm not sure if that's all. Miele of course are very nice, well-built, and intended to last 20 years. Service and repairs backup is excellent, but at a price. Sometimes a frightening price.
It is a shame to throw them away so often, but a cheap one from AO.com can be delivered next day, and replaced every 3-5 years.

Could go back to a large wooden tub, and a pole with what looks like a tiny three-legged stool on the end as an agitator. Miele have one on display at their UK head office in Abingdon.

I think large wooden pole and a bucket. Mrs thinks not. I noticed the Turkish firm are called Arcelik. Careful how we say that! We will run this machine till we have grease in the drum or it seizes. Its actually done 8 and nearly a half years now so was still an OK buy. When we have nothing to lose I will try and do the bearngs. I thnk they will come out . What goes up must come down. If the sort of spiggot ring in the drum comes out too I shall refit it and fix it with a series of screws into the plastic tub along with some epoxy and see how long it lasts. It does get things really clean so worth a try for a year or two. We aint got Miele money.... some of their stuff is as you say mighty costly. Often you do get what you pay for though. I dont want a washer that lives longer than me though.

 

[StevenRB45]

Last Beko we had ended it's days making a loud sizzling noise... complete with arcing blue lights.

I didn't try fixing that...it had very much released the magic smoke.

Thing for the day, spark plugs definitely appear to have fixed the car, yay!

Now it's fixed it feels slower, Boo!

Oddly enough now it pulls cleanly from low rpm it no longer has the distinct step as it takes off, used to be it only really pulled above 1500 anything below that it wasn't happy. Now it is...but the resulting smooth power curve is less interesting.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Hotpoint are no better. We had one with free 5 year parts warranty. It started leaking just after a year, out of the 1 year warranty, so had a look inside and saw a bit had broken off the drum. Phoned them up and they wanted £130 up front for an engineer to come out and then decide if it's a parts warranty issue. And if not there would be an additional charge. So just fixed it myself.

At the end of it's life, about 10 years of near daily use, the drum bearing support broke, and a new drum part was more expensive than a new Beko. Bit of a no brainer.

I hate throw away culture and usually fix thing to death, like every washing maching I've owned has had 3 or 4 sets of motor brushes before getting to point of no return.

Beko and Hotpoint from the same group. I would probably buy another Beko in spite of my annoyance at their total lack of environmental care. How do they gar away with this. I will keep all the nits of this one as spares.

 

[StevenRB45]

1 year since I sodded the other car off...

Thought I'd have bought another by now but hey ho..turns out didn't we didn't actually need 2.

 

[varesecrazy]

Driving down a busy .otorway the other day.. quite breezy

Got to a point I knew tends to have a crosswind

Im doing @65 in lane 1
a sprinter type van.. turned into a dayvan is passing me in lane 2

I am wary of the van being pushed across into my lane... but it manages to get a car length in front.. so I am not concerned

Just at that point.. something catches my eye

A Solar Panel from the vans roof... sailing through the air between us.. I watched as it landed just in front of me in the hard shoulder.. landing on a corner and changing shape.. thats Fubar then

5 seconds later the van brakes and pulls in ftont of me.. doing 60mph

A motorcylist in lane 3 saw it all and is slowing the van to make the van driver aware

I knew there was nothing left worth salvaging... and I still had a servicable bonnet and windscreen

 

[The Panda Nut]

wind back 40 years on the new M65 and it was a full sized french window (fully glazed) that went up (about 50M) off a van roof and landed in lane 3. My car and the Jag sailing along in land three were a week old. The Jag was showered in 4x4 and glass I managed to avoid all the debris as I had braked hard when I saw the frame flapping. Its just luck I suppose that noone was hurt that day either.

 

[portland_bill]

Reminds me of many years ago, probably late seventies, heading out of London on the M3, and was passed by an Austin 1100 with a roofrack holding two large suitcases. This was when cars had roof gutters, and the roofrack was attached to those with little clamps, so the rack effectively had four feet.
The wind was trying to heave the rack off the car, and then one leg let go and the rack started to lift noticeable on that corner. All three lanes slowed to create space, and we all watched as the rack lifted off the car and deposited itself on the road, still moving at over 70mph. We all waited to see which foot would dig in first, as that would determine which way it went. As luck would have it, it dived left, skidded across to the hard shoulder, 'tripped' over the kerb and disappeared into a ditch. All safe then, and the traffic increased speed again.
The car that lost it never stopped.

 

[StevenRB45]

Long day today.

Boy ditched at his Grandma's while we pulled his room to pieces.

So successfully managed to dismantle his cotbed and place in loft, move several large pieces of flatpack furniture without destroying them. I do have a bag of spare cam screws coming as whoever moved them last left them held together by hopes and dreams mainly (let's just say when I built them they weren't in this state but some friends helped my wife with the nursery). I'm not entirely sure how the chest of drawers is together given it only appears to have 3 of the 8 cam screws it's meant to have in it and the top is entirely unattached. Of course the spare cam screws I already had are too big.

The big wardrobe is similarly knackered... because again it was moved full with brute force rather than emptied and a bit thought used and it wasn't a sturdy item to begin with. Joys of cheap flat pack..

Anywho got it all moved around with out destroying any of it further, sons new bed built and in position. Everything all sorted, tip runs done and brought him back from the grand parents and walked in and whispered "it's amazing" As he went in...so there was that.

I however am fahkin knackered..

 

[StevenRB45]

I do have a bag of spare cam screws coming as whoever moved them last left them held together by hopes and dreams mainly (let's just say when I built them they weren't in this state but some friends helped my wife with the nursery). I'm not entirely sure how the chest of drawers is together given it only appears to have 3 of the 8 cam screws it's meant to have in it and the top is entirely unattached. Of course the spare cam screws I already had are too big.

These have arrived..

Furniture is now held together with hardware rather than hopes/dreams/gravity.

 

[puntofan01]

The final regular episode of Doc Martin. It feels crazy to think I was just 14 when the 1st series was originally broadcast! It's sad how much the world has changed in that time...

 

[irc]

Just picked up a 57 plate Panda Multijet with a gearbox problem. Gearbox removed and in the boot. So far, so good.
So, open boot. There's the Gearbox, looking surprisingly clean, and, next to it is... a DMF.
Didn't think 169 Panda diesels had one, but Fiat have had some strange ideas. Besides, it could be a misplaced part from whoever took the gearbox out.
Open bonnet, sure enough, no flywheel on engine, so looking more like the DMF in the boot belongs with the car. However, I'm still fairly convinced that it didn't leave the factory with one.
Original problem reported as oil contamination of clutch, leading to judder etc.
Gearbox seems to have been rebuilt in the past, with witness paint marks on bolts.
Scratching head now, wondering if it's a DMF fault on a car that (probably) didn't have one.
Or maybe I do have the parts from someone else's car.
Sorely tempted to fit a spare flywheel, new clutch and different gearbox, but for now, more research is required.

 

[The Panda Nut]

Long day today.

Boy ditched at his Grandma's while we pulled his room to pieces.

So successfully managed to dismantle his cotbed and place in loft, move several large pieces of flatpack furniture without destroying them. I do have a bag of spare cam screws coming as whoever moved them last left them held together by hopes and dreams mainly (let's just say when I built them they weren't in this state but some friends helped my wife with the nursery). I'm not entirely sure how the chest of drawers is together given it only appears to have 3 of the 8 cam screws it's meant to have in it and the top is entirely unattached. Of course the spare cam screws I already had are too big.

The big wardrobe is similarly knackered... because again it was moved full with brute force rather than emptied and a bit thought used and it wasn't a sturdy item to begin with. Joys of cheap flat pack..

Anywho got it all moved around with out destroying any of it further, sons new bed built and in position. Everything all sorted, tip runs done and brought him back from the grand parents and walked in and whispered "it's amazing" As he went in...so there was that.

I however am fahkin knackered..

Ha ha ha. Another family with a cot bed bunging up the loft. In another 30 years you will look at it and remember this post!!!

I have firewood for tis winter but still need a skip......

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Ha ha ha. Another family with a cot bed bunging up the loft. In another 30 years you will look at it and remember this post!!!

I have firewood for tis winter but still need a skip......

As our family grew older cots and then bunk beds - and lots of other baby stuff like prams etc, were moved up into the loft until I almost couldn't open the hatch anymore and worried about the ceilings. Then they all got married and started their own families so the cots went off to them - Grandchildren are all steps and stairs, youngest now 3, oldest 17 so the cots moved round as new children appeared. The bunk beds then moved out to the older ones as did several buggies etc. Noone wanted the old large chromed pram though. The older kids are long past cots and bunk beds and even the youngest is soon going to be out of his cot and I'm noticing a trend to palm off the cots and bunks back on us with the excuse "but Dad, our house just doesn't have the room to store them". Mrs J is most reluctant to refuse them though because the last time we put all the stuff into store in the loft our youngest grandson suddenly decided to join the tribe! Think we'll wait a wee while longer and then probably give it all to our local hospice charity shop. Hoping the ceilings don't fall in in the meantime!

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Well, I'm not sure if I'm grumpy or not about this. It's concerning the heater/aircon in the Ibiza. It's worked absolutely fine for the last 6+ years but back in the spring, when the VAG indy garage put a new cambelt on it for me I asked them to do a couple of other wee job, one of which being to service and repressurize the aircon - as it hadn't been done since she was new. All was fine until about 6 weeks ago when my Grandson suddenly said, from his seat in the back, "whazat noise Gandad" (phonetic attempt at pronunciation) I hadn't heard anything (2 hearing aids these days) but when I concentrated I could hear an unusual noise from under the dash - a sort of hissing noise, a bit like if you have a water tap with lots of water pressure behind it and you just "crack" it on a wee smidgeon. I don't have a great depth of knowledge about aircon but I do know that when the charge is low the expansion valve can make a hissing noise and that valve is usually where the evaporator is in the heater unit.

Anyway, been to busy to do anything about it but Friday night I decided to google it and the info I gleaned together with the little I already knew emboldened me to spend an hour this morning performing upside down extreme gymnastics in the front footwells. I've been able to see that both the flap and air temp controls are working properly. This was an aspect that had been concerning me because there were reports of the motor driven flap controls packing in/stripping gear teeth. I was delighted to find mine has manually activated flaps etc, not a stepper motor in sight, hurrah! and all working exactly as they should. I'm assuming it'll be the climate control versions that have the motor driven flaps? Mine is just plain old style air con.

So, with that worry out of the way I started to concentrate on the aircon itself. With the heater fan on the wee red indicator lights up on the A/C button when you depress it and the hissing/grumbling noise under dash commences. If you feel the pipes from the compressor the small dia pipe gets quite hot and the larger return pipe cools down, but not so much you can't hang on to them. Then again I don't know how hot/cold they should get? however that would seem to indicate the compressor is working and it doesn't make any "nasty" noises. The air coming out of the vents, whilst being cooled a bit, is certainly nothing like as cold as it used to be. I've had a good look around for leaks - condenser always being suspect - but not noticed anything. I rang the garage to ask if they would have put dye in the system when they serviced it back in the spring but they were unable to be much help - "sometimes we do, sometimes we don't" was all I could get out of them. By the way, as far as I know, when you activate the aircon on most vehicles it commands the radiator fans to come on. Mine don't, which I understand is another indication of low refrigerant levels. Although they do act as normal cooling fans for the cooling system.

So my guess is that the refrigerant is low and that implies there's a leak somewhere. I think my next step is going to be to buy one of those cheap blacklight/UV torches I see on Ebay and have a look for leaks with it just in case they did put a dye in. If that doesn't turn anything up I know Steven, at the wee Honda Garage I've previously mentioned, Bonnington Mill Garage, have a nice well kept looking aircon servicing tool so I think I'll hand it over to him to have a go at.

Unfortunately I'm now not feeling very well from all my exertions so I'm sitting quietly and doing this to recover! Anyone with more experience than me have anything else I should check that you can think of?

 

[The Panda Nut]

Probably a hole in the condenser. My mums Prod (perodua) affectionately known as ripple, because so many panels were dented developed a leak from unde the engine near the bulkhead. After much prodding my local man suggested a sealant spray into the system which worked. Just saying so you dont write the idea off if suggested for difficult very minor leaks. I hope its not too drastic to fix. You should have bought a Fiat then lots of people would be telling you....

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

Probably a hole in the condenser. My mums Prod (perodua) affectionately known as ripple, because so many panels were dented developed a leak from unde the engine near the bulkhead. After much prodding my local man suggested a sealant spray into the system which worked. Just saying so you dont write the idea off if suggested for difficult very minor leaks. I hope its not too drastic to fix. You should have bought a Fiat then lots of people would be telling you....

Thanks for that. I suppose the condenser is always going to be vulnerable due to size and position. Becky's condenser is busily shedding it's fins but the aircon still seems to work quite well although it cycles the compressor on and off quite quickly - probably due to the reduced effect of the shedding condenser, which I believe is a common problem on the 169 Panda?