Beamish Museum
Gibside Chapel
Forbidden Corner (Magical for kids!)
Durham Cathedral
Shildon Rail Museum.

10 miles up road Newcastle!
Choc full of stuff to do.

I’ve fallen into the trap of buyer older cars and maintaining them at the end of their life, never again. It’s such a lottery if you want anything interesting (not dull.) I buy at 2-3 yrs old and get a 1 year warranty with the dealer. Run it for a year getting to know it’s foibles then decide if I want to extend the warranty or not. I think I end up paying about the same if not a tad more but have a much better driving experience overall. It also means I can ensure the service history is ok provided the dealers have done it properly and if they haven’t at least I’ve caught it earlier.

How about a Suzuki Swift. Great little cars, reliable and very safe. They always get good write ups for driver satisfaction and ownership.

Bill Nighy
Dave Grohl
Eddie Vedder
Brian Johnson

Regarding the Sat Nav I had a 2015 Seat bought at a year old, the post code sat Nav had never been used. Foreign cars especially German cars in Europe don’t use Post Codes for their navigation. I thought there was no Post Code option. Mrs Inbred found the option, you need to click on the town/city option then a post code option pops onto the screen.
Get the autobox serviced, find a good transmission specialist that has a diffusion gearbox oil system. There is a popular misconception that these boxes are sealed for life and don’t need servicing, they do and should. Lastly get the filters and fluids changed and treat it to a few tanks of V power fuel. By that time you’ll have got used to it and hopefully have more trust in it.

Sell it and buy something on the coast.

Hamilton has just done the rest of the grid a favour. Max has been intimidating the other drivers and squeezing them all this season and last. To the point where most of them have been backing out to avoid a collision. Not this time. It’s about time Hamilton got his elbows out. It’s called racing. You can clearly see Max turn in on Hamilton, maybe he’ll think twice next time. F1 has certainly got a bit more interesting if nothing else.

Just looked on Autotrader out of curiosity. My car is worth at least 1.5K more than I paid for it last February 2020. There are only 2 cars for sale nationwide for that year and model. World has gone mad. It’s a bit like house prices it only helps you if you decide to sell and use public transport or cycle.

Just had a quick perusal on a few MX5 forums. Seems a common issue to do with water in the passenger side footwell Uk car so on the left.
Seems to damage a circuit board with the moisture. Car seems to cut out when the right indicator is used!

Just had a quick perusal of a few MX5 forums. Quite a few cutting out when warm not on start up. Water on the passenger side footwell seems to be causing issues with the electrics. Especially when turning right! Seems there is a circuit board that gets damaged from the moisture.

Never been without a dog as long as I can remember. No other animal gives as much unconditional** love as a pooch.

** As long as you feed them!

Old wives tale says to start taking Garlic supplements 2 weeks before going to an infested area. They supposedly can smell it on your skin and it puts them off. I have never tried this!

The Freelander II 2006-2015 is the best all round small 4×4 Landrover have ever made in my opinion. Nothing comes close for it’s all round ability on and off road. The TD4 pre 2011 non DPF versions being the pick of the bunch. Yes it does have niggles, the filter for the steering rack reservoir can block and damage the rack. The oil filter is a pig to reach. Window regulators will fail over time but if you need a proper 4×4 that can cope well on the road these are really good. Much better than the defender as an every day car.

I’m old and have driven a lot of cars. I’ve had several Ford estates, Focus and Mondeo’s. I’ve also had several VW group cars. If you want driving dynamics, space and reliability go for the Mondeo in manual guise if you can find one. The early Powershift dual clutch auto is riddled with problems, as are the DQ200 DSG used in VW cars. Ford have now gone to Torque converter autos. If you want very safe understeer handling, a nicer interior and better resale value from perceived improvement in reliability (check any warranty company for VW group vs Ford and VW will be way lower) go for the Audi. If it was my money I’d go for a 5 series Tourer and get the driving dynamics and perceived quality. Just put a bit aside for the inevitable repair.

Get the whole area really hot with a hairdryer or hot air gun (be careful with hot air gun) then blast area with freeze spray to shock the dissimilar metals, then tap out if lucky. Repeat as necessary. Good luck.

Look up Mazda Diesel engine woes. Petrol bland but reliable, a bit like an Avensis but nicer looking. Regarding the oil burner I’m sure there will be people saying it’s all sorted now, mine has been fine etc etc. They never got to grips with the DPF regeneration even in the later cars. At least they never run out of engine oil as it’s topped up from the fuel tank. Petrol all the way with these.

I’ll take the fact that the entire show was narrated in English as a win. That will have annoyed the 5h!t out of the French and their dirge didn’t win. Germany resisted the urge to have a marching tune. The UK entry was awful as usual. Italian tune was by far the best of an average bunch. The Netherlands did a good job of hosting a difficult event. Normal Service is resumed.

I have a 26” inbred frame with standard drop outs 16” in matt black with 170mm Octalink cranks.

Estate Agents have just added on the Stamp Duty savings onto the list price of most properties. I think a big crash is coming when the furlough scheme ends and people realise their job doesn’t exist anymore, frightening. Bog standard 3 bedroom semi’s now a quarter of a million pound. Bricks and mortar costs can’t be more than 30-40K.

Labour Isn’t Working</a

Mrs Inbred born and bred in Fife. We’ve always thought we would return at some point to Tayside but that’s looking less likely due to the rhetoric coming from the SNP. For me they base their whole political ideology at the moment on being a slightly better alternative for Scotland than Boris. Every single interview Nicola Sturgeon gives is a diatribe on how bad Boris is. We know, we get that but imagine Boris has never existed, now what are you going to do about drug and alcohol related deaths, hospital waiting lists, the definite drop in educational standards? There is no answer other than we’ll think of something! Remove the independence argument and at least for me there’s nothing there. Maybe that’s enough for people, I think the silent majority may think differently. I hope so I would hate the Union to break up, Brexit was bad enough, it will only be worse for both countries if they split apart.

Campervan ownership has skyrocketed recently. Most places I know have very little stock available and is way overpriced due to travel bans abroad etc. If you can wait 12-18 months there will be a load on the market when everybody goes back abroad for their hols.

You can ride from Newcastle on the Keelmans Way then head up the Derwent walk cycleway to Chopwell woods. Maybe about 5-6 miles.

All I’m saying is there are bigger fish to fry.
Everybody I’ve spoken to at work when this has come up in conversation has rolled their eyes and said surely there are more important things to crack on with.

So if my office at work gets redecorated, that’s a benefit that I should pay tax on? I need that office to do my job, I take it he needs that flat to do his.

It’s not his property is it. It doesn’t belong to him. Why would you get taxed on something that doesn’t belong to you. It belongs to the taxpayer. Am I missing something here? It’s not his house. If you need something refurbished by your employer so you can do your job is that a benefit in kind? If your company cars needs repairing is that classed as a taxable benefit?

It’s not a gift though is it. He’s not getting a freebie to keep. It’s been refurbished and it hasn’t cost us a penny. That’s why nobody is going to really care about this, especially when there is so much other stuff to deal with. Who paid for the curtains that don’t belong to him isn’t going to ruffle any feathers with the voters. Making a big thing of this is the wrong tact for Labour. By all means push for who was awarded what and if the taxpayer got value for their money but this just feels a bit desperate.

Everybody is referring to it as his home. It’s not, he doesn’t own it, it’s a residence while he’s in office. It’s been renovated for free by a Tory donor apparently. Why would an average Joe in the street really give a monkeys. As long as it hasn’t cost me personally a penny from my taxes why would I care.

Did a bit of research on the above after Mrs Inbreds 1.2 110bhp TSI Fabia (30k miles)lunched its DSG gearbox towards the end of its lease. To replace it we decided on a BMW X1 auto with the ZF 8 speed box. In my opinion the best auto box you can get in a car. Works beautifully, silky smooth shifts, plenty of ratios and an easy box to service and repair. Not quite as fast changing as a DSG but when linked to the sat nav so it knows what’s round the corner and what gradient it’s about to hit it changes gear sensing the road topography. I hated the way the DSG would always change up when I slowed down for a roundabout.

For reference only.

DQ200 is a seven speed transverse DSG with a dry clutch pack used in all five brands. The gearbox code in the diagnostic log shows 0AM and or 0CW. This gearbox does not have a service requirement as it is sealed for life. It’s fittted to 1.0 litre to 1.8 litre petrol and diesel engines and has a torque capacity of 250Nm. Very high failure rate.

DQ400 is a six speed transverse DSG with a wet clutch pack and is used in the Volkswagen Golf Hybrid and Passat GTE and also Audi A3 e-tron. The gearbox code in the diagnostic log shows 0DD. It also has a service requirement of 40,000 miles. Generally reliable.

DQ250 is a six speed transverse DSG with a wet clutch pack. The gearbox code in the diagnostic log shows 02E and or 0D9. This also has a service requirement of 40,000 miles and a torque capacity 350Nm. Fitted to 2.0 litre petrol and diesel engines. Generally reliable.

DQ381 is a seven speed transverse DSG with a wet clutch pack and torque capacity of 420-430Nm. Fitted to 2.0 TSI petrol engines. Generally reliable.

DQ500 is a seven speed transverse DSG with a wet clutch pack and a torque capacity of 600Nm, mainly used in the Volkswagen Tiguan and Audi Q3. It can also be found in the Transporter T5. The gearbox code in the diagnostic log shows 0BH and or 0BT. This also has a service requirement of 40,000 miles. Fitted to 2.0 litre 4-cylinder petrol and diesel engines and 2.5 litre 5-cylinder petrol engines. Generally reliable.

DQ511 is a ten speed transverse DSG with a wet clutch pack and a torque capacity of 550Nm.

DL382 is a seven speed longitudinal DSG with a wet clutch pack and a torque capacity of 400Nm, used in front wheel drive Audi A4, A5 and A6. Can have problems.

DL501 is a seven speed longitudinal DSG with a wet clutch pack and a torque capacity of 600Nm, used in Quattro four wheel drive Audi A5, A6, A7 and A8 plus the Porsche Macan. Can have problems.

The Ateca gets the new 7-speed dual wet clutch DSG, whether petrol or diesel, and that’s a lot better than the disastrous 7-speed dry clutch DSG and the old 6-speed wet clutch DSG.

The Ateca 2.0TDI has VAG’s new seven-speed dual WET CLUTCH DSG that overcomes the problems of the old seven-speed dual dry clutch DSG and the hesitations of the old six-speed dual wet clutch DSG, so it should be okay. No problems yet reported with the EA288 diesel. No reports of AdBlue consumption, which might be as good as 5000 per 10 litre container that retails at around £16.

VW Tiguan 1.5TSI Evo comes with the DQ381 DSG.

How does this work then. No 11 Downing St is owned by the Taxpayer and has been provided as accommodation linked to the post of Prime Minister. We the taxpayer have had the flat renovated by apparently a Tory donor for free. You are allowed a certain amount for renovations if you own the property or rent it.
Boris is just a squatter really, I presume he’s not renting or buying it.

The great Ayrton Senna once said if you see a gap and don’t go for it you’re not a racing driver. Could you imagine Verstappen apologising no chance. Racing accident get on with it.

As others have said renew the oil feed pipes to the turbo and when you get it off make sure it’s complete ie there are no loose bits ready to be digested by the cylinder head.

I think the remainder of the broken bit below the black seal will unscrew from the top section if your lucky. Get a screwdriver in and pull the seal off, you should see a threaded section on the top/inner section.

We have had an explosion of dog ownership around where I live due to the pandemic and it seems like people that would never normally choose a dog due to their lifestyle/work have now decided to get one as they are now working from home. Fully equipped with all the latest walking gear, boots, Rab coat and a shitzu doodle of some type screaming at their little pride and joy as it’s eating some dog poo completely oblivious to their owner who doesn’t understand that their 10 month old dog hasn’t grasped the English language yet! Sadly there will be an awful lot of 2-3 yr old barely trained dogs for sale or for rescue in a yrs time.

I may be wrong here but there is no such thing as a cycle way as such is there? It’s just a permissive access for cycles on a shared path. Pedestrians, horses and animals have right of way every time and so they should. I will always stop if necessary and certainly slow down for pets and kids. Runners with earbuds in are the worst as they can’t hear you and often run dead centre on the path, I just wait until there is a gap where I can get past, but then I’m not trying to blast a strava time as if it’s my own personal race track.

Helicoils are a pain to shorten unless you can cut them with a small cutting disc. They come in standard lengths that are based on their diameter so a 2D m6 helicoil will be 12mm long and a 1.5D will be 9mm long when inserted etc. Choose one that is slightly shorter than the web thickness. Make sure you fully remove the little snap off tang used for driving it in. It is a great skill to have if you do your own spannering 🔧.

I agree with Binners, our house does smell due to our minging mutt but we are used to it, however all our friends have dogs so it’s the norm. If you don’t have a dog then there is obviously some character flaw with you! 😉 On a serious note I would have just gone straight over put the dog on the lead and apologised for any distress. It’s about common courtesy and respecting other people’s personal space etc. Idiots will be idiots.

The only way forward is a hung parliament and a progressive coalition where there is compromise and a large dose of common sense on all sides. It seems that single party politics will never accommodate all the differing views of the electorate. Doubt I’ll see this in my lifetime.

If the helicoil thread is stripped a tappex insert can be fitted if there is enough room. They are better than helicoils but harder to fit.