What's made you smile today?

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What's made you smile today?

Wow! now that's something worthy of the description "Pot Hole"!
Poor little Panda was parked up minding its business and that dirty great ole sunk from under it. More testament to the structural strength it held up pretty well.
 
It was clearly one of those massive gas guzzling 4x4 pandas
may be trying to drink straight from the oil well.... While not 4x4 its certainly a cake fed variety.
 
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Noop makes me smile. Big service, MOT and brake fluid change £280 plus the bits and oil about £70 from S4P. They also did an all round inspection prior to the warranty exiring on 8th May and had nothing to report. Emissions readings were exactly perfect no advisoroies and apparently teh staff were amazed at the condition... The fact Ive only just put the summer tyres and alloys on and these were clean and polished inside and out, and the repainted under tray caused a load of comment. He is allowed out to play again.

SHAME THEY CANNOT REST THE COMPUTER!!! I bet the oil service reset hasnt been done either. Another job for MES. I'd better check they stamped the book,

The $64,000 dollar question is should I extend the warranty again at £700 for two years. Hes only done 20K and seems to do 5K a year. Im struggling to justify the cost.

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Mes has decided no to recognise Noops ECU which makes things more difficult, The cars menu said service in 800 miles and service coupon expired. Checking the ECU a service had been added but the date was showing 04082024 not 08042024, so I corrected that and then reset the oil which may or may not have been done, benefit of the doubt it probably had. Why the car menu was showing 800 miles to the next service I have no idea. Looking further service interval was as set by me last year at 9000. Changing it to 14875 chnaged the miles to service to 8000. Upping the figure in teh ECU to 15000 returns the cars computer to 9000 to next service, so the ECU is in km , but not an accurate conversion factor.... It seems you have to witch off for the changes to take effect and go too memory. I will have now to watch and see if the date and milage to service, in the cars menu sceen, pans out. Next task is to ask Gendan why my ECU / engine is unknown / not recognised and fix that. Most functions seem to work just ignoring this issue, but it doesnt build confidence. Something a bit odd seems to be going on.
 
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I tend to do the Citroën one on the basis anything that would break would cost more than the warranty..however that's more like 200 a year not 350.

Given your mileage it's a bit marginal, but any twin related fails would be expensive..

Probably not doing mine this year..but that would be because they've quietly extended engine warranty on Puretech engined cars to 10 years.
 
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I tend to do the Citroën one on the basis anything that would break would cost more than the warranty..however that's more like 200 a year not 350.

Given your mileage it's a bit marginal, but any twin related fails would be expensive..

Probably not doing mine this year..but that would be because they've quietly extended engine warranty on Puretech engined cars to 10 years.
Why are things always marginal.... The other thing is £700 would be lump of a new Suzuki which now has a 7 year warranty. But Uniair unit is c £1000 and a DMF would be similar at the dealer. Its as bad as pet and breakdown insurance.
 
If you read the policy is the DMF even covered?

Wear and tear exclusions become more and more all encompassing as time goes on and I know for a fact on ours clutch friction material isn't covered..so unless they are going to bill for a clutch disc...but not the fly wheel it's attached to that's gonna be a heck of a wrangle. The other one is "damage caused by an uninsured component" which is another handy one to stop most claims.

So I lost a CV boot...well 2 they are a wear and tear item, if I ignored it until the "covered" drive shaft went they would tell me to go away. Effectively basic maintenance remains on you as does wear and tear so it's only really something random giving up its covering.

Eg, if I lose an LED Drl...they cost about 250 to replace and the warranty would cover replacement and they are an MOT fail these days. It also covers brake discs in the event of MOT fail....which given it's a Citroën you can guarantee it'll have scored discs on the rear every 2 years.
 
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If you read the policy is the DMF even covered?

Wear and tear exclusions become more and more all encompassing as time goes on and I know for a fact on ours clutch friction material isn't covered..so unless they are going to bill for a clutch disc...but not the fly wheel it's attached to that's gonna be a heck of a wrangle. The other one is "damage caused by an uninsured component" which is another handy one to stop most claims.

So I lost a CV boot...well 2 they are a wear and tear item, if if ignored until the "covered" drive shaft went they would tell me to go away. Effectively basic maintenance remains on you as does wear and tear so it's only really something random giving up its covering.

Eg, if I lose an LED Drl...they cost about 250 to replace and the warranty would cover replacement and they are an MOT fail these days. It also covers brake discs in the event of MOT fail....which given it's a Citroën you can guarantee it'll have scored discs on the rear every 2 years.
These things and the I cant be arsed to do a service reset in the ECU means Im not spending any more with them at the moment. So its not marginal anymore and I shall not be renewing it. I shall spend the £700 on anything with no VAT so no tax either. Thats a result.
 
To be fair to them the garage has been fine but I just think the likelihood of making successful claim gets lower as the car gets older.

In terms of day 1 manufacturing faults at heading for 50k miles 7 years old anything of that nature would have occured by now.

It might be if the gearbox lunched itself then they'd cover it but in 2 years time with another 20k miles on it are they gonna argue that? It's already lasted twice as long Jocks Seat gearbox did...

They've been decent in paying out for things it's at the age where it'll say need an exhaust...that's not covered..neither is the cat or just general deterioration which can cover a lot of things if they chose to be awkward. I mainly keep it to get free brake discs and cover the touchscreen unit.
 
To be fair to them the garage has been fine but I just think the likelihood of making successful claim gets lower as the car gets older.

In terms of day 1 manufacturing faults at heading for 50k miles 7 years old anything of that nature would have occured by now.

It might be if the gearbox lunched itself then they'd cover it but in 2 years time with another 20k miles on it are they gonna argue that? It's already lasted twice as long Jocks Seat gearbox did...

They've been decent in paying out for things it's at the age where it'll say need an exhaust...that's not covered..neither is the cat or just general deterioration which can cover a lot of things if they chose to be awkward. I mainly keep it to get free brake discs and cover the touchscreen unit.
I think you're right. Reading my older boy's Kia 7 year warranty he tells me is interesting. A lot less is now covered at 5 years old than when it was new. I think one of the main problems with these "super" long term warranties is that people expect everything to be covered and then are disappointed when something isn't. Personally I don't take extended warranties but I'd have won out if I had taken one on the Ibiza. On reflection the Ibiza's gearbox had a "clunk" in it from new which got slightly worse as it aged. It was particularly noticeable when reversing direction of travel. So, for instance, if you reversed and then started to go forward, just as you let the clutch pedal up in 1st gear there would be a clunk. I mentioned it on the first service and complained more vociferously on the 2nd and 3rd but was just told "they're all like that" I could easily see this being due to excess backlash in the final drive somewhere. The Scala, albeit with a 6 speed gearbox - the Ibiza was a 5 speed but both boxes are I believe from the same generic "family" - is absolutely silent in all respects. No clunks whines or anything and the gearchange is definitely smoother than the Ibiza's ever was. I was speaking to our local VAG indy again the other day as my boy's A4 is due a big service and he told me again that they've never had one like my Ibiza's give any trouble although they do see a number with front wheel bearings. I was just unlucky I guess.

Touchscreen going wrong does give me worries although I'm not reading much about them failing so far. I'm still struggling with understanding mine. I think I understand how to set up the Sat Nav now but two annoying things keep happening. Most annoying is that it brings up a mini display on the wee screen between the speedo and rev counter which is very annoying because I like to display the digital speedo reading there and when it does this I don't know how to get the speedo back also I haven't been able to get it to display coolant temp on this wee screen. I can get oil temp, but not coolant! I find I'm really really liking the speed sign recognition though and the wee "ping" it gives you to warn you when you exceed a posted speed limit. The engine and running gear on this car are very quiet so it's easy to find yourself going faster than you think you are.
 
We're absolutely ahead on ours...4 brake discs, most of the front suspension and a 700 quid discount on when it needed the inlet valves shot blasting.

With hindsight I probably could have tried my luck on the front wheel bearing..but it was in the indy anyway while they did the CV boot and it wasn't a big bill anyway. That and the dreaded "wear and tear" exclusion would probably render it a fools errand and their price for a wheel bearing would have been twice as much.

At this point you can actually pick up touchscreen units out of crashed cars for ours for 130-170 quid but whether it would be plug and play or need programming no idea. Also the mild wobble of no heating wasn't exactly confidence inspiring. However one day it decided to display the reversing camera constantly for one trip...never done it before or since, I suspect the heating issue will be the same. Occasionally it gets mildly baffled if you do something before it's properly booted up. Reverse camera, I started the engine in reverse...so it was getting reverse feed before the system was even on. Heating I changed clock with ignition on, and adjusted fan...then fired it up.

Computers, sometimes they just need turned off and on again. Think my favourite bit of character is it does the "gauge sweep" sweep thing modern cars do...but only if the automatic child locks are off if they are on it seems to get interrupted by the need to lock the rear interior handles and makes the needles just twitch instead before going into normal operation (don't ask me how I figured out one was caused by the other...).

Will say it works and is generally stable..but after 7 years you get to see all of its moods. I'm a fan of the speed limit and Speedo being displayed side by side for similar reasons.. especially when rpm wise it'll hit 85 before it hits 3k rpm. The Mazda did 3100rpm at 70 and occasionally the brain drops into old habits and the noise difference between 60 and whoops hello officer isn't a huge amount.
 
"Use public transport", we're told.
So today, I did.
A bit of a logisitics juggle. Take one car 43 miles away, leave it, and return home on buses. Tomorrow, travel 70 miles, pick up sister, take her to location of 'abandoned' car. Leave her with one car, return home in the other.
Next week, I have to do the reverse.

So today. 43 miles, 50 minutes, mostly motorway.
Midday, walk 200 yards to bus stop. Wait 12 minutes for bus. Nearly an 40 minutes later, arrive at bus station, about 7 miles from start. Wait 15 minutes for next bus. On bus for 1hr45m, to next bus station. Wait 20 minutes for next bus. Got off bus about 1/2 mile from home, walked. Arrived home at 15:50. That's 3 hours longer than the car journey.
Benefits:
Journey was free, to me, as I used my bus pass, for the first time. Thank you all you taxpayers, subsidising my travel through the countryside.
Got the front seat, upstairs, on all three buses, so best view of countryside.
 
especially when rpm wise it'll hit 85 before it hits 3k rpm. The Mazda did 3100rpm at 70 and occasionally the brain drops into old habits and the noise difference between 60 and whoops hello officer isn't a huge amount.
best not get a DS4, mine is somewhere between 72-75mph for 2k revs.
 
"Use public transport", we're told.
So today, I did.
A bit of a logisitics juggle. Take one car 43 miles away, leave it, and return home on buses. Tomorrow, travel 70 miles, pick up sister, take her to location of 'abandoned' car. Leave her with one car, return home in the other.
Next week, I have to do the reverse.

So today. 43 miles, 50 minutes, mostly motorway.
Midday, walk 200 yards to bus stop. Wait 12 minutes for bus. Nearly an 40 minutes later, arrive at bus station, about 7 miles from start. Wait 15 minutes for next bus. On bus for 1hr45m, to next bus station. Wait 20 minutes for next bus. Got off bus about 1/2 mile from home, walked. Arrived home at 15:50. That's 3 hours longer than the car journey.
Benefits:
Journey was free, to me, as I used my bus pass, for the first time. Thank you all you taxpayers, subsidising my travel through the countryside.
Got the front seat, upstairs, on all three buses, so best view of countryside.
Not sure how to react. I suppose free and slow is acceptable. You sitting alone in a hige diesel engined bus though... not good for the envoironment. Im afraid you must walk. Im going to use my buss pass for my voting ID. For which purpose its actually TOTALLY useless as the photo could be of the man in the moon?
 
Good news from my bone doc today. :D
The fibula has healed really well and I can now start putting weight on my foot along with starting PT. I moved around quite a bit today and used muscles that have not been used in quite a while. So I should have a good night's sleep. Other pluses were that I was able to get into the pickup without help. I also managed the same with the Jeep but found I'm not ready for the clutch yet. The boot's too damn big and my knee isn't quite up to the task. Another week.
I'm going to try to get back into the classroom tomorrow and see how that works out. The drive to that school should get all the rust off the pickups' brake rotors.
 
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Buster dog approves of the new couch.
 
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Buster dog approves of the new couch.
Apart from ther colour. He would I am sure like to ask why its not dog white with a few black bits. 😂 ANd dont brush the ahirs off as he goes out of his way to get it just right!
 
Being slightly more mobile, I busted my behind yesterday. Classes were postponed, so I spent the day puttering.
I managed to get the Ural, the ATV, and the mower out of the garage in the morning. No small feat, as the boot barely fits between the cylinder and the gear shift on the Ural, trying to swing my booted foot over the saddle of the ATV cannot be done in a single motion, and the mower has no steps to transition my butt to the seat. Throw in that my trickle charger/battery tender is a lying POS and is being aimed towards the trash, it took a while. The Ural started on the last gasp of the starter, I had to resort to the recoil starter of ATV(that's like trying to rope start a small diesel), and the mower started, once, then needed a jump after I gassed it up.
I rode the ATV and used a grabber to pick up the larger sticks from around what Mrs.Cheest calls our 'stick tree'; a River Birch that will put the dog to shame with the branches it sheds. There are two other trees on the property vying for that position. That was followed by an hour on the mower.
Before I did all that, I spent an hour in front of the lathe trying to finish the counter shaft repair. It may be time to throw in the towel on attaining perfection and settling for good enough. Throw in several trips from the garage to the house and back, I was beat.
What the above resulted in was the best nights' sleep I've had since I broke my ankle.
 
Being slightly more mobile, I busted my behind yesterday. Classes were postponed, so I spent the day puttering.
I managed to get the Ural, the ATV, and the mower out of the garage in the morning. No small feat, as the boot barely fits between the cylinder and the gear shift on the Ural, trying to swing my booted foot over the saddle of the ATV cannot be done in a single motion, and the mower has no steps to transition my butt to the seat. Throw in that my trickle charger/battery tender is a lying POS and is being aimed towards the trash, it took a while. The Ural started on the last gasp of the starter, I had to resort to the recoil starter of ATV(that's like trying to rope start a small diesel), and the mower started, once, then needed a jump after I gassed it up.
I rode the ATV and used a grabber to pick up the larger sticks from around what Mrs.Cheest calls our 'stick tree'; a River Birch that will put the dog to shame with the branches it sheds. There are two other trees on the property vying for that position. That was followed by an hour on the mower.
Before I did all that, I spent an hour in front of the lathe trying to finish the counter shaft repair. It may be time to throw in the towel on attaining perfection and settling for good enough. Throw in several trips from the garage to the house and back, I was beat.
What the above resulted in was the best nights' sleep I've had since I broke my ankle.
Very pleased to hear your now mending. Its been a long haul. Take care!Is it just fiat forumer who over do it?
 
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