and today i have mostly been...

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Doggy
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Feel for you Steve. You did your best for her.
2002 HDi 2.2 Exec Estate, (2008-12) (wonderful)
2003 HDi 2.2 6-speed Exec Estate (2012-19) (also a gem)
2009 Citroen C5 2.0 HDi VTR+ Estate (godawful heap)
2008 BMW E91 330i touring (great fun - murdered by a reversing SUV)
2007 BMW E91 325i touring (slower smoother quieter)
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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I'm still horrified it did this, as if people didn't have enough to be sad about already. I should really have included a disclaimer, there are certain risks with taking in what are essentially feral cats (ok the adults probably have owners but they've never been looked after) and there can also be consequences of anything they might be bringing in with them. Especially if you already have more cats than is sensible as anything nasty can spread like wildfire. We dodged a bullet with the feline aids, more luck than judgement I guess, but we have since had other problems. We've lost young Dave to FIP, which I found very hard to deal with as he wasn't much more than a kitten, and now we're watching our other youngsters in case he passed it on.

We have had a new arrival:
Image

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This is Victor (having exhausted Bram Stoker I've now moved on to Mary Shelley...) who turned up one frosty night a few weeks back - late at night, temperatures already below freezing, whatcha gonna do? The vets don't really want anything from us as there's something nasty in the environment here but the current plan, if he's escaped the FIP, is to try and find him a home ourselves. He's about 5 months. We'll leave is a couple of weeks to see but he's unusually friendly for a Croatian cat so I don't think there'll be any problem once any prospective new owner meets him.

Also we had Spot (Linderp) neutered in January, here she is in the evening after the surgery, having stripped off her dressing:
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Yep, that's it. She was off her grub and vomited a couple of times in the evening but that's to be expected and she was back to her normal self the next morning, when she celebrated by deleting another pair of t'wife's carpet slippers.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Oh yeah, this is meant to be a car forum...

YoyoII was registered last week, that's insurance (pricy) plus "MOT" & tax (not so pricy, the advantages of having a car older than 10 years is, for whatever bizarre reason, we don't get a huge tax bill through the post).

Before that it was serviced. This is at the same garage I've been going to since I came to Croatia:
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Up on the lift, I had a good look over and, apart from the boots on the dampers falling to bits, I can't see any problems.

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Err.. How much confidence would this place give you? The main advantages are they're cheap, they're good and they're local, so I can walk if I need to leave the car. The downside is this mess, they used to be untidy but this is just a disaster. I've no idea how they find anything. There are also dead engines scattered about and even more car parts outside.

In the other bay was a Golf 7 Tdi bowel movement estate:
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In for a "new" engine after loosing its timing belt. Oh dear, what happened there, too old? Nope, it's only 4 years old. Too many KM then? Nope. So what happened? They just do that.

So the service. As we've not been doing many miles (or rather kilometres) for some reason, I've been going off time instead and it's a year since it was last serviced. Engine oil and filter done we moved onto the transfer case and diff. However the oil that came out of them looked just as clean as it went in. Err.. The air filter also turned out to be clean as a whistle - hold on, how many kilometres has it done since the last service? Err, [checks dash] 4,000 :shock: Old air filter back in. I guess for the next service things are going to be checked first.

Krešo the mechanic also told me I don't realise how reliable the car has been, in 5 years the only problem was the diodes in the alternator going but they were changed in situ for cheap. He said most other cars (indicating the Golf) just aren't that reliable. I'm still looking about for something to replace it with before it gets too old but it's only just passed 160,000km (~100,000 miles) so I guess it's got plenty of life left in it.

I also "treated" it to one of those steering wheel covers:
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I think they look stoopid however the wheel was mint when we got it but 5 years of my dry rough hands have started to wear it out, so I thought I'd better do something before it started to look really shabby.

Edit:
5 years
I've just checked this, we actually bought it July 2015 so we've had it almost 7 years (I think the only car I've owned for longer that wasn't a shed was the D9). It came with 86,000Km on, it now has 162,000 so it's done 76,000Km with me at the helm, golly :shock: In that time it's had 2 handbrake cables (1 each side) and one alternator diode pack, plus the usual stuff like a battery, brakes etc. Of course, now I've said this it's going to explode...
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Good to hear you're well and all

Sounds like you're doing OK with Toyota, I'd keep it until you can see changing it soon becomes inevitable, then try to get sorted before it's a last-minute rush. In my experience swapping cars costs you, running them as long as is sensible mostly doesn't.

Extended family fleet sitrep:

BMW hasn't disgraced itself any further and I'm getting really fond of it.
Smax clutch is still 'fixed'
Two daughter's 307 & 107's soldier on without fuss
No. 1 daughter's partner parked the Citroen from hell in the boot of an Audi, thus doing the world several favours. Next he got a diseasal Insignia which promptly siezed it's engine the day after the warranty ran out. Currently he's got a suspicously cheap Mazda CX7, (4wd petrol turbo - WCPGW).

Just had my 4th vaccination.....
2002 HDi 2.2 Exec Estate, (2008-12) (wonderful)
2003 HDi 2.2 6-speed Exec Estate (2012-19) (also a gem)
2009 Citroen C5 2.0 HDi VTR+ Estate (godawful heap)
2008 BMW E91 330i touring (great fun - murdered by a reversing SUV)
2007 BMW E91 325i touring (slower smoother quieter)
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Good to hear from you too. Yep, pretty good ta, although you may have missed the above post where I've learned that taking in infinite cats probably isn't such a good idea.
Doggy wrote: Mon Feb 07, 2022 2:47 pm Just had my 4th vaccination.....
4th! :shock: Blimey, we've had our 3rd (OG 2 plus the booster) and I thought that was it. Lordy, are we going to have to keep being vaccinated forever? (Short answer: Nobody knows)

It's a shame about the C5 really, I had such high hopes of them. Mazdas, I think they were once a good brand but not so much now. The only thing I can find on the pez turbot is the preposterously high tax band, which might make them a bit of a hot potato. Diesels, on the other hand... :shock: :shock:

I was actually starting to think I might be able to live with a Bini C untryman, a bit small but the Yoyo isn't particularly spacious and to be honest the largest thing I've had to transport over the last couple of years is a dog. The seat in the one I sat in suited my back and some of the performance figures on them will probably make driving a hoot. It's a shame about the "designed by class 4b" dash though. Prices actually seem to be a bit more reasonable here than, say, an X3 too, even for a 4x4. And then I looked at what goes wrong with them... Standard blow off valves need to be replaced by aftermarket ones to make them reliable, transmission failures, oil leaks, engine failures, stretched timing chains (that's a bit too much like the original :lol: ) and, hold on...turbocharged Cooper S engine...electric auxiliary water pump...malfunction...circuit board can overheat...smouldering...fire. Fire! They catch fire?!! Where do I sign?! :lol:

So it looks like I'll be driving the yoyo until it either rusts away or gets taken out by a crazy Croat. I suppose the transmission is the biggest worry but I think the yanks use the same gearbox mated to the more powerful 2.5 (something of a sleeper apparently) so providing I service it regular and keep driving it like a grandma it'll probably go on forever.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Most of us have had 3 vaccinations but I volunteered fro the Novavax trial when they wanted old codgers and got my 1st two in October 2020. They only approved Novavax in the UK last week, so many trial participants had complained they couldn't travel abroad as their vaccinations weren't recognised. From Decemeber we were offered a Pfizer jab & an optional 2nd one after 8 weeks so you could venture to foreign parts. Seemed daft not to get it if it was on offer.....

The Mazda looks like a fairly effective wallet drainer, getting on for £600/year road tax & 20 mpg urban, (which will be an optimal summertime number). Should have got a campervan - mine's a 'Private HGV' £165/year tax, fuel consumption's about the same - I get around 17/18 mpg towing the trailer with the car on it.

I'm really out of touch with 'modern' cars & don't want any of that contemporary crossover shiz ever. If I get too creaky to fold myself into the bimmer I may need to think again. Possibly summat tiny & electric?
2002 HDi 2.2 Exec Estate, (2008-12) (wonderful)
2003 HDi 2.2 6-speed Exec Estate (2012-19) (also a gem)
2009 Citroen C5 2.0 HDi VTR+ Estate (godawful heap)
2008 BMW E91 330i touring (great fun - murdered by a reversing SUV)
2007 BMW E91 325i touring (slower smoother quieter)
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Oh yes of course, sorry. Although the idea of being in a trial would probably give me the jitters...

Crossover? I'll take anything with an upright seating position really, the trouble is finding out exactly what has one these days. I'd happily drive a van, maybe a Jumper clone, but I've been outvoted on that one - "I used to drive vans all the time." "That was 20+ years ago." I even found one with air con, eclectic windows, cruise control etc. but then it was "where are you going to park it?" Small vans these days just seem to have car seats with enough headroom for an extremely large hat.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by Welly »

Ooh sorry it's been a while, where does the time go?

I've completed a quick catch-up read above, Wiggy that mechanics workshop! how can they find anything? and I thought my tools collection was messy :lol:

The Infiniti has been with me for 1 year now, it was due its annual service so what with it being 4 years old I thought it best to get a proper place to service it and stamp the book (goes against my usual procedures). Called up a Nissan/Infiniti 'specialist' main agent for a price.....they quite casually and calmly/normally told me it would be £961.00 :lol: and "when would you like to book it in".........

I went off and sourced the correct Spark Plugs for the Mercedes Engine (after a considerable faff) and was charged £90.00 for 4 sparkers :frown: sourced the correct approved Oilage and Filterages and got my local family garage to do it under my instruction, they did a great job and charged me £110.00. All in the 'major service' cost me £260.00, I only went this route to satisfy the next owner as I may* have been considering shifting it on this year whilst it's still worth some decent dollar.

The Hyundai continues to do an impeccable job of being 'a car' without slapping us in the face every few weeks and the Twingo continues to slap us in the face regularly with a gearbox end-plate oil leak (now fixered) and a 'new' miss-fire under load that I've just wasted my time wanging in a new set of spark plugs in an attempt to fix it :roll: turns out Renner Spark Plugs are £20.00 8)

Hope all is well with everyone.
Cars in my care:
2021 Kia Spottage 1.6 Pez Turbo Dual Clutch Gearbox Trickery
2013 Renner Twingo - donkey work
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

Ah Welters, good to hear from you! (I is a worry wart :oops: ) We're doing ok here ta, although the variable weather has been giving me varying headaches :(

Find anything? I have no idea :? I keep thinking I should volunteer to help them clean up, the trouble is I have no idea what they'd consider rubbish and what they'd want to keep.

That's a huge reduction in servicing costs :shock: People getting ripped off much? I'd be quite happy seeing receipts rather than a stamp in the book myself (I have a dealer stamp here if you want it - "DeVille's Motor Carriage Company of Cambridge"). Sparkers do sound pricy, as are the yoyo's but its irididumdidum plugs are meant to last 100,000km. Not that I'd leave it that long, my schedule has them down for every 4 services (although now I might just wait until it's done 60kkm since the last time they got changed).

Misfires. I quite enjoy watching diagnostic vids on the tube, although it seems like if you haven't got any diagnostic gear then you're probably screwed. For a misfire they look for the counters, see which cylinder it is then swap the coils - if it moves it's a coil, if it stays it's probably the plug (and failing that it's out with the comparative compression tester). Did the plugs give you any clues?
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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Morning gents,

I'm impressed with welly's servicing techique - getting a good job done at reasosnable cost is a real winner.
LIke to do the same if I could find someone local I rate and trust.
Not having any luck on that front but in all honesty I'm not sure it isn't my paranoia about getting ripped off and/or car bodged that's stopping me. Clearly there are decent outfits around, (i.e. welly's garage and the Peugeot indy specialist Gingermagic recently recommended), but finding one. :?

Finding misfires is something you forget about over years of diesel ownership. The BMW's notorious N53 direct injection lump doesn't like being stopped/started a lot in cold weather or running on less than 99 octane - it's even got 2 levels of EML warning to help you worry about it. I have the full diagnostic kit and if I changed everything implicated it would have had a set of plugs/coils/injectors/2 cats & 2 pre-cats and an electric water pump. So far I've not changed anything and it runs like a swiss watch 99% of the time, only disgracing itself with some very sooty tailpipes. Goes really well and worst mpg has been 24 on constant urban short runs in bad weather, better than 30mpg tyically. I conclude that it ain't broke....
Will swap the plugs and coils this year and just keep an eye on the rest.

MOT is due end of March so I should get it done in the next week. (Funny, since I stopped working I seem to have more trouble finding time for stuff)!
2002 HDi 2.2 Exec Estate, (2008-12) (wonderful)
2003 HDi 2.2 6-speed Exec Estate (2012-19) (also a gem)
2009 Citroen C5 2.0 HDi VTR+ Estate (godawful heap)
2008 BMW E91 330i touring (great fun - murdered by a reversing SUV)
2007 BMW E91 325i touring (slower smoother quieter)
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

I know of a place right near me... :supafrisk: That might be an idea, hunt round all the workshops near to you looking for the dirtiest, untidiest one you can find :shock:
Doggy wrote: Tue Feb 22, 2022 9:40 am ...worst mpg has been 24 on constant urban short runs in bad weather
I'm getting worse than that from the yoyo :frown: I was getting 8... 35mpg before the pandemic but these short runs, pfft.
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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One of the (in fact the only) thing that is good about this Renner Twingo is the Economy: £30/year road tax and a solid 48MPG door to door and I've seen 72MPG on the Skeggy run to that mother in laws gaf. We use this car for all the donkey work and for inflation-busting saves £££££

It has a single Coil Pack because: Renner, which somehow fires whatever spark plug it fancies including brand-new HT leads what came with the pack. Curiously the two 'nearside most' spark plug connections were rusty - a bit like water had been getting into the spark plug well which is kinda possible as water does get whooshed up to underneath the bonnet on that very side but there's a large air box housing 'covering' the sparkers so it makes it seem a bit of an unrealistic wetting problem.

Worse would be the onset of OMG Head Gasket Failure which bothered me right from viewing the damn thing and finding its coolant reservoir devoid of any actual water and the fan running after a 5 minute drive :oops:

Speaking of fans.......this very morn I went out in the Renner and upon return thought "I know, I'll test the A/C, haven't done that for a while and with it being +3 Deg C today it's the perfect time to stand in front of a very small car and peer deeply into its engine room".......30 mins later I have the engine cooling fan assembly on the Kitchen floor and was scratching my head over this curious and very corroded looking 'resistor' component. Cleaned that up good and excitedly and hastily refitted and re-plugged in everything and ........ NOTHING - the fan motor is fubar'd (according to my expert* diagnosis*).

Renner Dealer: £200.00 please
Me: No

Ebay: £40.00 please
Me: Yes Please!

I have to say during my 'diagnostic phase' the A/C got quite upset at the lack of airflow through the condenser, I didn't think it would mind what with the weather being cold but the refrigerant was starting to get too hot :oops: Quite pleased at catching this broken fan before any actual warmage happens as that could have been a complete engine room disaster.
Cars in my care:
2021 Kia Spottage 1.6 Pez Turbo Dual Clutch Gearbox Trickery
2013 Renner Twingo - donkey work
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

Post by steve_earwig »

That was indeed rather fortuitous :shock: I don't suppose the Twinger is high up the wish list of car thieves either (what's the insewerants like?)

Ah, sorry, I'm so used to seeing all these (mostly) yank cars I assume everything has individual coil packs :oops: Umm, maybe if water does get up there it can't then evaporate. Spray down with deoxit and apply dielectric grease (yeah right, another disadvantage of watching vids from the US, they use products I have no hope of buying here :( )

ZG shopping mall this morning, not only did I see loads of noses or occasionally whole faces, there were people not even wearing masks. Come on, it's not that much of a hardship is it? My god, in some parts of the world there are bombs raining down and you can't even put a mask on :roll:

Speaking of which
F U C K O F F P U T I N

Well that's him told. And I thought he was one of Russia's less crazy dictators.

The car park was pretty packed so I did my normal scan for anything I liked the look of and... nothing. I did see a C5 aircross which looked interesting but after Eric's experiences I think maybe not. And the petrols are 1.2 turbots, hmm. i also got behind one of them VW T-roc things on the way home. Who designed that? Talk about fat arse :shock: :lol:
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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The Insurance was quite amusing; me and missus, zero no-claims discount, fully comp with all the trimmings.............£162.00 :lol:

I have a theory about Renner Twingo's - I just don't think Insurance co's have much data on that models' Claims History so they're viewed as low-risk? if you ring an Insurance co and mention 'Corsa' or 'Fiesta' I can imagine a big Red Beacon flashes 'atop the pooter.......

I've just imaginised your next car - a Hyundai Tuscan!
Cars in my care:
2021 Kia Spottage 1.6 Pez Turbo Dual Clutch Gearbox Trickery
2013 Renner Twingo - donkey work
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Re: and today i have mostly been...

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They probably don't get into many accidents or get stolen much 'cos no self-respecting bogan would be seen dead in one...

Hyundai Toucan is that? Hyundai Tapir?? Hyundai Toupee? :? I wouldn't fit in a TVR :supafrisk: Umm, Hyundai Tucson, 1.6 GDi turbot, they don't look to bad to me but I really need to sit in one. Petrols are a bit rare here mind.
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