Tighten the collar on the cat. That should help with any head gasket issues. When was the oil last changed? Don’t forget to use the correct grade of organic fish oil, none of that cheap mackerel oil from your local Halibutfords. If you spill any oil while putting it into the cat you can use cat litter to soak up, not sure if you have that?

In the STW tradition of recommending what you own. How about a Volvo V40? I just bought a D3 Lux Nav to replace my dead XC90 and it is surprisingly lovely, especially the adaptive cruise control. Not as easy to get in and out of as an Audi Q3 or similar but very nice and better than a BMW 1 series I would suggest.

Of all the bike branded tools I own, this one gets by FAR the most use:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r2ljljbmglbhgt8/Park-Tools-Pizza-Tool-Gifts-Blue-QKPZT2.jpg?dl=0

I agree with the above comment on breaker bars! my Halfords one (75cm approx….the biggest they do) is my default wheel removal tool. For stuck bolts I have a Makita impact driver that is normally better than a breaker bar, but the breaker bar is invaluable.

The tool you need for removing the filter really depends on the car. Most cars now either have a plastic filter housing that often has a large HEX bit on top to get a 36mm or similar socket onto. OR if its a self contained metal canister filter then they usually have indents round the domed top where an adapter cup fits over the housing and a 3/4 or 1/2″ extension socket bar fits into the adapter. Much easier than using a strap wrench (which I have but have not used for a few years!). So see what your car needs and buy that as a start.

For changing the oil, the best thing I bought was a Pela Oil extractor. Lets you suck 99% of the oil out of the dipstick hole and saves getting jacks, ramps etc. This turns a job that used to be a bit of a faff into 15 mins of listening to the radio, sipping a coffee while the vacuum pump does it’s stuff. Some will say that draining the oil the “traditional” way is more thorough, but personally I think changing 99% of the oil easily every 10k is better than changing 99.5% of the oil as a bit of a faff.

Brakes are also fairly easy. Get a good caliper wind back tool, about £40 and this will make the job much easier.

For sockets I prefer Bahco now to Halfords. Halfords are good value, but most of the sockets are multipoint rather than proper HEX. This means that for seized nuts and bolts there is less support and they are a little more prone to rounding.

The fenix titanium on Sport pursuit is a good offer for the top of the range previous model (titanium and Sapphire glass).

I resisted however!

I bought a couple of weeks ago the fairly new Garmin Vivosport. As an activity tracker this is great. Has heart rate, steps, GPS, calories etc and modes for running, cycling etc. It does not do any of the mapping stuff that the Fenix will do, but as an everyday wear it it a lot of tech in a small package for £130.

Hi OHP. Car is in Leeds. Reg is DG54ANR if you want to do MOT check. All kept in splendid condition for an old gal.

New Volvo suspension arms last year. Brakes OK and always Pagid/ATE. Regular fluids changes etc.

Top spec leather and tow bar etc. RNP has first refusal.

I was considering getting something newer/smaller for work anyway, just not this soon!

Genuinely a good car up to the ford spec pulley taking out the cambelt!

It’s a 2005MY 163bhp with the 5 speed auto and no DPF to worry about.

Hi! Just seen both your posts. Rusty: £600 is the scrap value I have been offered. Car is in good condition other than the cam belt damage. There are £400 worth of tyres on the thing too!

Vinnyeh: I have a load cover in the garage somewhere, never used it. You can have it for £10 less than the typical Ebay price (not sure what that is have not researched.

If only you had some efficient LED lighting to keep the place lit up :-) Stay safe and (try to) stay warm. Love from toasty Leeds.

I love Merino and I am a sweaty bloke. Wear it all the time. Slightly gutted that Embers have gone out of business as their stuff was the best I had. On-One and Lidl/Aldi just is not the same. I also bought some Norwegian brand merino t-shirt from Sportpursuit, but the weave was dreadful and baggy. So on the subject of merino…who makes/sells stuff that is as good as Embers but at none Rapha prices?

So full camera survey done this morning and our drains are fairly knackered looking at the footage. The pipes are the clay type. You could see on the camera that quite a few of the pipe joints were misaligned and at the end where it joins the soil pipe there was a half inch gap between bottom of soil pipe and the elbow.

There are actually three bits of drain on my land that join the main communal pipe: one from the front corner freshwater drain grate, one from the rear drain grate (shared by guttering and domestic drainage) and a third one from the soil pipe. This could be a big job!

My guess is that the drain pipes have shifted settled and this has caused some minor erosion/softening of the surrounding soil allowing the property to move a little. IF so would I be correct in assuming that getting the drains fixed (under insurance) and then getting cracks reinforced with helical bar (out of my own pocket)would be sufficient fix? This would avoid the “subsidence” marker going onto the property.

My daughter did it last year and loved it. I really recommend it.

The residential was a bit of a shock for some kids as they had never slept anywhere that wasn’t a house/hotel.

Also the activities can be quite a challenge for some (eg climbing and plunge pools in the Lake District). That said from what I heard they only push to YOUR limits, not to some Bear Grylls limit. It’s about stretching the kids out of their ipad bubble and making them think about community and the outdoors.

My daughters group did some gardening for an old peoples home and did some entertainment for them.

So yeah I would say DO IT!

:-)

So I spoke provisionally to the insurance company (but have not logged a claim).

Their advice was as above. Get a CCTV check of drains first. IF it turns out to be the drains causing problems then that’s a much less severe claim than subsidence. Subsidence claim can bugger up your insurance for years to come (10 years).

So tomorrow I have a nice person from Wakefield coming out for a full CCTV survey. £125+vat but if it gives piece of mind and rules out any other problems then it’s worth it.

If there is no major underground issues then I will probably self repair with the helical bar solution.

Important things I have learned:

Don’t log a subsidence claim unless you are certain that’s the cause.

Repairs to drains on my property only have to be paid for by me up to the bit where it hit’s the shared pipe.

So even though the communal pipe runs right across my back garden, if there is ever a problem with this then Yorkshire Water foot the bill.

Thanks for all the advice folks! Will keep you posted.

Why? Well as a Yorkshire man my answer is simple. “How effin much?????!!!!”

One of the bikes that were “the perfect bike”. Fantastic to see one restored to former glory.

bubs, thanks for the advice. I suspect it is not just “movement/settlement” as the houses were built in the early 1960’s.

There (apparently) was a cement shortage at that time so there is a general issue with the quality of the mortar used in the property, but after >50 years I think settlement is not likely to be the cause. The main drain runs near that corner of the house, so I worry that this is somehow linked. Or it could be the mines near the area, or just slightly shonky building. To my knowledge, no other houses on the street have had issues and we have lived here for nearly 20 years.

bump for the evening crew!

Distance selling regs. Send it back to the seller and ask for a refund.

A log grenade with sledge hammer is good fun for initial splits.

Only thing to be wary of with Stereo is to ensure your source is outputting stereo and not 5.1 or 7.1 side sound. Personally I would suggest at least a 3 speaker set up: centre, front left and front right.

I have 5.1 wired into the living room. A decent centre makes a lot of difference. I don’t think I would lose much by not having the B&W sub or the rear speakers in day to day viewing.

My amp is an 18 year old Yamaha with 5.1 and DTS but none of the modern Bluetooth or HDMI passthrough or upscaling. I basically take the optical out from my Panasonic TV and feed this straight to the amp. Works well.

definitely Lingcars.com, but only if you want a top of the range Octavia.

I use my D5 on lots of long trips. With the older 5sp Aisin Warner gearbox there is a huge jump in MPG over 50mph as then the gearbox locks up so you are not loosing energy to the torque convertor. Typically on a long run (ie Yorkshire to France or London down the A1 when there is no other traffic) I get about 500 miles from a full tank. Around town the car drinks fuel like you would expect.

We have a 2005MY 163bhp Auto D5 with pretty much all the toys (DVD, side steps, roof bars, tow ball). We got it in 2010 with 100,000 miles on and it’s now on 153000 miles and going strong (there I jinxed it).

Fabulous car for a family. Ridiculously comfy seats…like in all old Volvos.

Flash is right, they are a wallowy, they are a car to waft in, not a car to throw round roundabouts.

Ours is likely for sale in a months time as I changed jobs last year and am doing about 30,000 miles annually. I am currently using the XC90 mainly as the BMW i3 we also have is too nice to kill the value of by throwing miles onto it.

I am probably going to get a Vauxhall Grandland as a company car in april. The XC90 has been brilliant over the 8 years we have owned.

The cheapest will depend on where you live. But these are the cheapest (and green too!) that I know about.

The link gives both of us a £50 credit if you use it.

I did check last month and they were cheaper (but not by much) than the cheapest MSE deal, and a shed load cheaper than EDF etc.

Link:

As a start I would head to Sprotborough Flash as it’s a lovely walk and there was lots to see, plus it’s free.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is £5 a month for me and wife to have joint membership. RSPB is the same cost for joint (and the coffee is good value…though not great at Old Moor, much better at St Aidens and Fairburn).

If you venture to Leeds there is Adel Dam nature reserve run by the Yorkshire Wild Life Trust which has some nice hides and lots to see.

Today we are heading out to Potteric Carr.

Hiya! My wife (and therefore by default me) has gotten massively into bird watching and photography lately. This I am happy with as it gets some nice walks and for once in our marriage the expensive Nikon stuff turning up at home is not funded by me!

Best thing I can suggest is join the RSPB, they have lots of good local walks and VERY knowledgeable staff/volunteers who are always keen to share their passion.

It sounds like you are about 30 miles south of us (we are south Leeds) near you there is Potteric Carr (Yorkshire Wildlife trust), Sprotborough Flash and RSPB Old Moor which is in Manvers near Doncaster. Further North you have Fairburn Ings and St Aidens. I am not familiar with whats in the Notts area as we have not yet ventured that far.

If you get to an RSPB (Fairburn or Old Moor) they have EXTENSIVE binocular selection for sale and evaluation. We ended up buying a pair of RSPB branded HDX ones (to our shame from Ebay for half the price!), But there are lots of choice (almost too much) for binoculars, so I really suggest trying a few.

There are some good Facebook groups for bird watching. There is the “Yorkshire Birders” Facebook group which is good for sightings.

Of course this can get expensive if you get into Swarovski binoculars and exotic cameras and zoom lenses, but as a basic hobby it’s quite cheep (see what I did there) and seeing your first King Fisher is something you will remember.

Roast beef from Lidl with King Edward roasties and associated veg and Yorkshires. twas flippin luvverly.

My 20 year old RAB got a slash in it as I carried a sheet of greenhouse glass. I repaired it with spinnaker tape from Amazon. The tape is like a ripstop pertex and gives a rapair which is functional and barely noticeable. If it was a new jacket then I would get a professional repair.

You need a new garage.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/22/the-guardian-view-on-the-lecturers-strike-a-deficit-in-thinking

Shackleton, thanks for replying in earnest.

I am surprised there isn’t a web link that outlines the bare bones of the before and after proposal. I know I could search, but I thought someone on here would have it at their finger tips.

The £9000 a year comment was from the point of view of someone with a son at York uni and someone who has spoken to several heads of faculty in a few northern unis. The fact is that students are seen as meal tickets by many heads of depts. Now you can say that this is a system that was thrust upon them so they are making the best of an enforced marketisation of the system. But many of the heads of faculty I speak to seem to take to the numbers game with a little too much zeal for it to appear reluctant. As a direct example I know that students from overseas are preferred to UK students currently as they can charge more. I also appreciate that lecturers and support staff are piggy in the middle in this game.

My perception is that Universities have more cash than ever.  If this is wrong (ie if the increase in fees does not offset the removal of government funds then I missed that….any data on it?). I am not sure that Universities have much alternative but to play this game. The removal of the numbers cap has created a system where Universities can expand expand expand. It’s either go big or go home. For example my own faculty in Leeds had an annual intake of 25 when I studied there in the 1990’s. It then expanded to about 40, then 70 and for next year I gather they are looking at 120+ students. This is a at a Russell Group university and the faculty is still the same physical size.

Anyhow, you are right that this is not to do with the pensions debate (as I said above it wasn’t). But the context that universities operate in does impact on “perceptions” even if reality for the staff is different.

Well this is a better quality debate than typical on STW.

Does anyone have a link that actually explains WHY the staff are striking (ie prior and proposed post-terms)?

Universities are in a mess. Too many students, too much cost and Vice Chancellors packing them in like the £9000 a year gravy train tickets that they are. Those of us 40+ have let down the generation(s) behind us.

This doesn’t explain the gripe (genuine or otherwise) that the staff have. So I would like a link to the full data/story so I can be suitably sympathetic or otherwise.

Not sure my donation will buy many drugs, but it will buy an AWESOME pizza. And I firmly believe pizza can cure many ills. Not sure a clinical trial has been conducted on the effects of pepperoni on angiosarcoma, but my modest contribution might help that research. On a serious note, stay safe and keep inspiring so many of us moderate mortals.

Bloody Heck…I almost see an agreement on STW (or at least an overlap of opinion that is almost a first). I was going to suggest a meat veg bhuna. This is my default option (along with fish masala) at the Kashmir in Bradford. So yeah….lamb with some veg or spinach. Best type of curry going. Given that we have all agreed on the approximate curry type can we at least disagree on bread and rice? Personally I am a chapatti guy. But I know many of you prefer naans or even flippin rice! A really doza choice. :-)

Makita LXT fan here. It really is a fantastic system. At the moment Makita are rapidly bringing out brushless across the range. I have a mix of brushless and brushed kit. My angle grinder and impact driver and SDS are brushless, but my drywall saw, combi drill and 36v circular saw are brushed. My suggestion is to start by buying a combi drill and charger battery set up. Then add a brushless impact driver for about £100. After that you have free reign of battery free devices for sensible money. (add extra batteries as you see fit in time).

Another i3 owner here (are they becoming the STW alternative to a Skoda?). While not currently perfect they are definitely the future. It’s like saying the original iPhone or the early HTC Window phones were naff compared to the latest Nokia of 2007. The argument has some validity, but the future direction of travel is clear to anyone who actually looks at the tech. Battery tech is improving lots, and the i3 beats any ICE car I have ever driven. As soon as we get batteries with negligible charge cycle degradation then we will have micro grid demand buffering and be able to charge from wind/nuclear at cheap overnight rates and sell back to the grid during peak times to cover everyone boiling the kettle after watching EastEnders.

Really good knives without breaking the bank (easy to sharpen, not amazing steel but knives you can let your family use without shouting at them for putting them in the dishwasher):

http://www.amefa.co.uk/richardson-sheffield/premium-knives/kyu.aspx

Both the last two can be found on heavy discount in Amefa outlet stores.