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Please play nicely.  No one wants to listen/read a keyboard warriors rants....

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Topics - LC0112G

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 5
1
General Car Chat / How 'kin complicated can it be....
« on: 18 May 2023, 17:55:02 »
to get a new key cut. Aaaaarrrrggggghhhh. So Saturday afternoon I decided to swap out the ignition switch on the LC, hoping it would solve a high-ish resistance in the battery feed. Having done so, the ignition key wouldn't turn. No idea why - it was working before I swapped the switch, but now nada. The key still opens the door, boot and glovebox, but no chance it'll turn the ignition.

So read up on t'interweb on how to remove the ignition barrel, and (long story short) after much wiggling and jiggling it pops out. Strip the barrel down to remove the tumblers and no-idea how it ever worked. Probably 6 of the 10 tumblers sticking proud of the barrel. So off home to collect my spare 'master' key which has never been used (well less than 10 times probably). Back to the man cave, and still some of the tumblers are proud.

So next step is to get a new key cut. Can I find anywhere local to cut to the key number? Can I heck. So I take my master key and off down the local key cutters (plural!)

Shop #1: A local hardware shop. Sorry can't cut those, we can only do the ones with 'dimples' or yale type.

Shop #2: A major UK wide chain. Sorry, can't cut those because company policy is not to cut keys without imbedded immobilsers for security reasons. What about if I drive the car here, complete with log book, photo ID, utility bill, passport, driving licence and tape measure (so you can measure my inside leg). No sir sorry - company policy.

Shop #3: A small local engravers. After half an hour of faffing about - sorry our machine won't cut those.

Shop #4: Different branch of same UK wide chain. Yes we can cut them, but we don't have the blanks in stock. AhhhhHaaa - I just happen to have 3 blanks in my pocket that I bought just in case many years ago. Sorry sir, we can't cut blanks we don't supply for insurance purposes. W@nkers.

Shop #5: The third local branch of same UK wide chain. Yes we can cut them, and yes we have the blanks in stock. We're not really supposed to do it, but. Anyway £30 for the first key, and £15 for the second. Still won't cut my own blanks.

Then off down the VX dealer - sorry sir can't help. All Carlton/Senator stuff has been removed from EPC. If you can get me a part number I can look it up to see if it's available.....

Anyway, tomorrow will be spent selecting the best set of tumblers to fit the new keys.

2
General Car Chat / Windscreen Repair
« on: 11 May 2023, 18:57:24 »
Hi,
Took a stone to the windscreen on the Not-A-Vauxhall over the weekend. It 'might' be repairable although the chip is quite large. Sadly it's in the drivers section of the windscreen. Will certainly be an MOT failure come October.

Now in the past I've just paid for repairs on the LC and Omega - a repair used to be about £30 and a new screen about £150. I'm struggling to get online 'quotes' without giving inside leg measurements, bank account details phone and email contact details, but Autoglass seem to want £250 for repair? Halfords appear to want £40 for a repair - although their limit is 15mm which I suspect this chip exceeds.

So what's the going rate for a largish repair? I'd rather not involve the insurance co if I don't have to.

Cheers
Malcolm

3
General Discussion Area / Mobile WIFI USA
« on: 11 September 2022, 03:54:45 »
Not sure why my previous thread has been locked?

https://www.omegaowners.com/forum/index.php?topic=149706.msg2011262#msg2011262

Anyway - turns out neither device work in the USA - the 4G LTE bands apparently aren't used/enabled here. So I'll be relying on McWifi for the next 3 weeks.   

4
General Discussion Area / Mobile WiFi
« on: 16 August 2022, 13:56:27 »
Next month I'm off to the USA, and in October I'm off to Oz. In both places I would like access to mobile interweb whilst sitting in in a car in the middle of no-where. My sister showed me one of these over the weekend :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254669429644

I connected my notebook to it and it seemed to work Ok. With one of these widgets AIUI you just walk into a mobile phone shop in whatever country you're in, buy a PAYG SIM card, plug it in and off you go. Then whilst doing several more seconds of extensive research I came across similar 5G devices, such as...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/134198481204

Is there any advantage/disadvantage in buying a 5G one over a 4G one other than the price? I'm not expecting to use huge amounts of data, just want to run ADSBExchange/Planeplotter/FR24 for a few hours at a time whilst in the middle of various desserts, and use a home brew satnav receiver to navigate around. I will/should have phone coverage (though dunno how good) but the nearest 'free' McWifi will be too far away.

I do not have, never have had and have no intention of ever having a mobile phone so don't even think about suggesting that. And no my notebook does not have a SIM card slot either.

Cheers
Malcolm

5
General Discussion Area / Loft Insulation
« on: 08 August 2022, 10:27:31 »
With temperatures due to hit 35C again this week, I've been wondering about my loft insulation as you do. Currently there is (at best) one inch thick fibre-glass 'wool' roll laid between the floor rafters, and then chipboard loft flooring over the top. Wool roll is at least 50 years old, and I put most of the flooring down 20 years ago. I haven't measured them yet, but I suspect the rafters are probably 2 inches tall. House is a 1960's 3 bed semi, brick & breezeblock construction with cavity walls and plasterboard ceilings.

Plan A was to lift all the chipboard, rip out the existing wool, and replace it (yes I know it's glass and nasty on your hands so use a face mask and marigolds when handling it.) Then I saw this picture on the web :

https://www.bradfords.co.uk/xtratherm-xt-pr-rigid-pir-insulation-board-2400-x-1200-x-25mm?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI95eL-e-2-QIVN4xoCR1vpw0-EAYYByABEgKD7PD_BwE

I have been warned off insulating between the 'tops' of the A frames in the loft, or boxing in the eaves because of ventilation and condensation issues. But that picture appears to show exactly what I was told not to do.

Has thinking changed? Or am I 'safe' to put 2 inches of wool between the floor rafters, and another 2 inches of wool between the roof rafters (and cover it with a thin layer of summut (hardboard?) to keep it in place)? I'll probably use wool rather than hard sheet insulation unless there is a really good reason not to.

Also, can/should I stuff a bit of wool down the top of the cavity wall - say 4 inches worth? I know you can get to the cavity because I've stuffed ethernet and aerial wires down it in the past.

6
General Discussion Area / Well, the nights are drawing in....
« on: 29 June 2022, 20:27:22 »
...and Christmas is on the way, so any idea when the Xmas smiley's will be up? :D :D :D :D

7
General Discussion Area / Today is....
« on: 08 March 2022, 12:13:09 »
...apparantly Irrational Women's Day - though how anyone is supposed to tell the difference from any other day is difficult to tell.

Oh - after a clip round the ear I'm now educated that it's actually International Women's day - there is even a flag for it.


9
General Discussion Area / eBay nonsense, or is it me?
« on: 29 October 2021, 10:26:41 »
I ordered something from a seller on eBay. Buy it now, and specified click and collect at the local Argos. Waited the 2 weeks, and when nothing turned up, contacted the seller. They confirmed the package had been returned to them for unknown reasons, and that I could either have a refund, or they would resend it. I said to resend it, and that's where things started to get strange.

The seller says they can only resend if I close the case on eBay. However, the eBay screen I have says that if I close the case then that's the end of it as far as eBay are concerned - if the package goes missing again, then I have no further recourse? I told the seller that as far as I'm concerned, they've got my money and I haven't got the goods, so I wouldn't close the case until/unless I received the goods.

In then end I've just opted for the refund, and ordered the same thing elsewhere.

I've never sold anything n eBay, so is it me, or have I potentially avoided a scam whereby the seller gets me to cancel the complaint and then never sends the goods?

10
General Discussion Area / Text Messages to EMAIL
« on: 23 October 2021, 13:04:57 »
Anyone have any good recommendations of a service to allow me to setup a virtual mobile phone number?

I need something that allows me to give the NHS (useless twonks) a 'mobile number' so that they can text me an activation code for the Covid Pass. The text message then needs to be forwarded to my email address, so I can see the activation code and enter it on their web page.

I don't want or need a mobile phone. I don't want or need to be able to receive or make phone calls. I just need an 07 number that will forward texts to my EMAIL address. I've tried a few free ones, but the NHS service appears to be blocking them.

11
General Car Chat / Insurance nonsense
« on: 27 September 2021, 15:23:50 »
Ok, so I've got a new car - more details once I've picked it up. But what a faff getting insurance.

First step was to visit the broker who my current omega policy is with.

1) Swap the current Omega policy (8 months to run) over to the new car. Cost £165 ??? I only paid a little over £200 for the full year on the Omega.
2) Take out a new policy for the new car. No NCB so - £468 :-[

3) Try the meeercats. £197 (eSure) for a full year, zero no claims.
4) Try direct on the eSure website £157 for a full year, zero no claims.

Is it just me, or is there something wrong when transferring a policy with 15+ years NCB to a newer car with a lower insurance group costs more than a completely new policy with zero NCB.

Gotta buy a rail ticket now to go fetch the wretched thing.

12
Omega General Help / Head Gasket
« on: 18 September 2021, 11:17:45 »
Car has been losing water for a while, but recently it's been getting worse. No oil in the water, and no water in the oil, so don't think it's anything to do with the oil cooler. Have been having problems with hoses leaking at either ends, and have been replacing them as and when, but that just seems to shift the problem from one place to another. Recently it's started to misfire when cold as well.

A few years back I bought a sniffy dooo-dahh kit of eBay when the LC was playing up. One of these : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132436479596 . Don't think I paid £90 though!

You pour a little of the blue liquid into the syringy thing, and then put it on the open expansion cap orifice thusly:


Then you start the engine, and get it warm (you will probably have to remove some water from the expansion tank first to stop it overflowing first). Once the engine gets warm you pump the rubber bellows on the top, and it sucks/bubbles gasses from the expansion tank through the blue liquid. If the liquid turns pi55 yellow, then there are hydrocarbons in the gasses, and that almost certainly means a head gasket leak. If the fluid stays blue, then no hydrocarbons, so head gasket is Ok.

Anyhow, suspect it's rubber ducked...




13
Omega General Help / Scuttle Drains
« on: 05 September 2021, 16:19:12 »
I was trying to see if I could find out where last years rear seat foot well swimming pool was coming from. Looked down under the cabin filter, and can see the drain vent, but I can't work out where the 'exit' is. I squirted a washing up bottle of water in, and it dribbled out onto the floor, but I couldn't work out where from. Seems to be below the ABS modulator somewhere?

I know on one of my previous Pre-facelifts there was a rubber grommet exit in the NSF wheel well - discovered it when I poked some wired into it whilst lying underneath. Got covered in swamp water.

Anyone got a picture of it? My guess is it's in the NSF chassis leg somewhere.

14
You know, the pump thingy that lives behind the OSF bumper on an Elite and pumps up the rear shox. Though I had a spare, but can't find it anywhere.

15
General Discussion Area / Wohooo - another year's ticket
« on: 20 August 2021, 11:06:13 »
Another years ticket on the death trap - errr - immaculately maintained example of a future classic (not) ::).

Needs a new front number plate (Bambi damage) and a new idler arm, but they're doing both because they did the idler 2 years ago and I told them at the time aftermarket were dross and we had a verbal agreement that if it failed quickly they'd do it again. Sure enough it's FUBAR - which I already suspected/knew.

So it'll now last until I decide what to get next.

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