<p style=”text-align: left;”>Ok.  Having spent another £780 at a reputable garage I am now sat by a dual carriageway waiting for a tow truck after the first outing since it was “fixed”.  I think this might be terminal.  What’s the best way to handle this with the garage?  No doubt they will say it is an unconnected issue.  I assumed I’d get further than 19 miles.</p>

Good motor, that 1.9TDi

Yes, that is what we had previously but now we have the 1.6TDi and according to a couple of AA people, it has issues that VW are not acknowledging.

Reliability has become the issue.  Having to have 3 AA rescues since March is not fun with 2 kids and a dog.

All of the issues have been fairly major and although not directly linked they are perhaps related or knock-ons. They have been costly and so it now feels like I am invested in the car.  As one injector has failed I’m now just waiting for another to go.  Previously MAF issues, coolant system issues, ECU issues.

The car is a 2014 plate and is on about 64k miles.  We had 2 painless years before March this year.  I still can’t help thinking that this may all be due to contaminated fuel but there is no way to prove that now.

They were fast and easy when we have used them but they were about 25% below initial offer.  We’ve only used them to get rid of old bangers though and so we were expecting a reduction on inspection.  The inspections were not that detailed, only obvious things were picked up.

Mine does that too.. but again, it came on a 2nd hand bike.  I also find that it very sensitive to seatpost clamp tightness.  Adjusting where my seat was clamped helped a little but I am now just used to it and so see the stiction free posts on my other bikes as a treat.

I normally don’t mind spiders but a noble false widow in my dog walking shoes earlier did give me a bit of a surprise.  The zebra spiders who live in our porch on the other hand are very welcome although they must have got tired of my kids checking that they do indeed jump!

People always say a bb tensioner is best but I have got on really well with the Surly singleator on my old Soul conversion.. I actually prefer using it over the sliding dropouts on my “proper” ss frame.  Self adjusts for chain stretch, makes removing the back wheel simple and just doesn’t give me any problems.  Only downside is that it doesn’t look as clean.

Ha. No, looks like I’ll be splitting and selling as parts when I get around to it if that likely to be the least faff.

My kids just suggested the same as above (flip to survival mode and die) but break your new beds first and it reset your spawn point to 0,0,0 where you first spawned.

Just back from seeing it.  Not a disaster and cleverly done in parts.   My son considered it a worthy addition and had fun which is a 👍 from me.

I missed Cougars joke the first time reading and Googled what part of a branch is the cradle!

Beech or Scots Pine?

It’s part of a beautiful beech hanger. Good to know!

I don’t see as many these days which is sad.  I have seen some fantastic black ones at Swinley though.

I like the way they didn’t show Valli’s post race interview because she swore but they did cut to the presenter saying what she had said 😁.   If the Hoff is ok she will give Valli some competition but Valli does look very fast.

brian2.. Eh? I don’t think I did, I think I suggested thay there is some useful research/documents out there about planting trees near houses but that an expert may offer better advice than my ramblings… The RHS and the Woodland Trust for example have good advice… blimey.

I would definitely do some research into trees and subsidence risk.  5m is really not that far and when combined with clay soil it could pose more of a risk.  Hopefully an expert will be along soon with better advice!

Thanks for trying. I think I’ll see how I get on riding with darker glasses for now or let my kids loose with some sharpies.

Thank you, it’s a large frame. I don’t really notice the stripe and so the logo and panel could work until I’m able to migrate all of the purple out or learn to love it.

Ha. Sorry! I really didn’t think that I would win it. I do have an old Pipedream Sirius needing a new home now though 😁.
Looking on the Cotic outlet it looks like this may have actually been an original colour scheme (unless 2 people had rhe same taste in customization)…the magenta mud guard was definitely too much though.
Plain black vinyl decals sound like they could be the solution which hopefully tones everything down a little.

Wno are you ordering from? Is a physical copy available to order for Friday or only the digital download? My boy is a huge fan of the series.

Yes. Lesson learned there. The new garage is a VAG specialist with good reviews.. The previous garage was just who we could find locally with availability before our holiday.

Thanks again. That is the plan. I just wanted to check there were no quick fixes to get me the 3 miles without the recovery vehicle as we have been throwing away money on this already.

Hello, update of our woes below and so more help is needed. In particular, how can we get the car moving to a garage a couple of miles away if it is now not turning over (potentially coolant leaked into engine?).
Could we keep trying to start it up so burn the coolant off (if it is this or the head gasket). Anything else it could be that I could look at to just reach the garage?

Sat 25/03 – filled up with diesel, car went into limp mode driving out of garage. No warning lights but reduced power, foot to the floor going up hills.

Mon 27/03 – a local garage changed the fuel filter, made no difference, read MAF error codes so changed the MAF sensor. Car drove well, so assumed all fixed.

Sat 1/4 – went into limp mode driving up a hill, still no warning lights.

Mon 3/4 – went back to same garage, they thought it was sticky veins. They cleaned the turbo with a turbo cleaner solution and put in some sort of ongoing cleaning solution in with the diesel, said there was loads of carbon in the turbo.

Fri 07/04 – been down to Devon for a few days, car had been driving well. On the way back got flashing coil symbol, garages all shut, found one chap sort of open who ran a diagnostic, didn’t come up with much, turned the error off and said ok to drive home and get checked at home. An hour later, the coolant warning alarm came on. AA came out, said coolant was low but thought it was unconnected to MAF problems, couldn’t see anything else wrong with it, said the pressure was fine, so no leaks, filled coolant. Drove away, engine light came on, went into limp mode but after restarting car it then drove ok for an hour and a half. Then coolant warning came back on, we stopped at petrol station got some more coolant, drove away and had loads of white smoke came out exhaust pipe. Got another AA man out, put water in and said fine to drive, just keep topping up coolant. Drove home, flashing coil light came back on but didn’t go into limp mode and got home.

Car now won’t start, or dies soon after turning over.

Swallows and martins were racing around the coast of south Devon earlier this week but I haven’t spotted any in Surrey yet…I don’t blame them!

Thanks again all. I’ve just taken it for a short drive.. The revs were obviously me not understanding how cars work. Starts from cold without a problem. It is definitely wrong somehow though as the accelerator has to hit the floor to accelerate or pull away. I think I’ll be ok to get home but def a garage job tomorrow.

Ah, on the drive 😅

Ha. Interesting, it was serviced a month ago but I’m not sure that we have filled up since until yesterday.

Ok – thanks all. Probably best to get it looked at sooner rather than later then.

No lights on. Don’t think we are in limp mode as we got home on the motorway last night.. the lack of power/revs was just really noticeable on hills and when trying to accelerate.

My Soul mk1 is built up as fab little singlespeed for quick blasts on the local hills. I’d really love to find a modern hardtail (29 or 27.5) that has the same kind of zing… my current Sirius and previous Solaris just feel a bit dead in comparison.

That’s hard Dick

Thank you. A chromebook powerpack seems to have worked for now.

Exploding kittens and Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza have been a hit with a my family (8 – 80 yrs).

Thank you. I bought a cheap soldering iron and spent the afternoon clumsily connecting up wires and somehow got it all to work, result! It’s not pretty but at least it sounds ok.

OK. I need some help. My son has accidentally ripped out most of the wiring in his Pevey raptor plus exp (an Ebay bargain that got him started).

Can anyone point me towards a simple standard/generic wiring guide?

It currently looks like this..

@swdan I think you can still claim for 21-22 tax year but not the 22-23.
“The guidance for claiming tax relief for working from home has changed for expenses on or after 6 April 2022.”

This is what I got with my camera a week or so ago…

Dang it. A fourth moon is visible on the actual image on the far right. It’s just much less bright.

+1 Optilabs. I have used their photochomatic lens for the last 20 years or so. I have had no problem using them for night rides as they do go virtually clear.