In defence of Halfords...

So, my 'daughters car' (the only one I really drive) a Vauxhall Corsa
1.0 has developed a fault. When driving it suddenly stops. Then won't
start again for 5-15 minutes.

It's one of these shitty intermittent faults.

Put it through the MOT and it passed... mind you it stopped on the ramp
and it took 10 minutes to start again. So with 12 months ticket it's
worth fixing.

Investigation suggests it isn't sparking or injecting fuel when in the
fault state. So this is (probably) either the crankshaft sensor, the
cam sensor or the ecu. Crankshaft sensor's cheapest so hope it's
this...

Bought one, on eBay, and tried to change it. **** it's not a socket,
it's a reverse torx bolt. Oh well, use a socket. No... they won't fit.
So I need a spanner.

A quick search and Halfords seem to sell them. Managed to reserve a set
of four in one of their Bristol stores. Turned up and they were waiting
for me.

I'm quite happy to pay the extra if I"m honest, the online search and
discovery saved me hours.

 

I hope that sorted the problem. I've just managed to fix a similar
intermittent fault, which happened to be caused by a disintegrating
earth connection to the engine block. A couple of weeks (not
continuously!) to find; 10 min & 20 p to fix.

This afternoon I bought some Autosol at my local outlet; because I
wanted it _now_ I paid the premium. But I was annoyed by being
overcharged at the till, and held up three times as long as it took to
buy it, to get my refund. After having to provide name & postcode.

Many times I've said "never again" to myself, after leaving Halfords.

 

wrote:
<snip>

Halfords need defending?

They're just about my favourite shop in the world.

 

Not a Corsa but my Mk2 Mondeo used do something similar that. It took
literaly months to find the fault. In the fuse box there was a little
grease on one of the relays. Once it got hot it would short the relay.
If I stopped the engine I couldn't restart it untill it had been left
for about 5 minutes.

Remove relay, wipe all clean and replace, "...simples, squeak.". But
yours won't be that at all, oh no.

 

KW7 2 BU

YKIMS

 

I'm sure I've managed to buy something I needed in a hurry at Dixons - it
doesn't redeem them though.

Halfords manager: "You can't have a Sat Nav on a car with a dynamo".

 

On Mar 13, 8:41 pm, wrote:
[snip]

I needed a new set of front[0] wiper blades for the RX. Mazda wanted
something like £45 to supply and fit during the last service; I told
them to **** off.

Popped into Halfords, they had a replica set for £13.95, and at the
till asked me if they'd like them to fit them for me. I asked "how
much", and they said (I think £3), but assuming it was an easy job
(which is sort of is - turns out getting the corroded-on old blades
off is the hard bit) said, nah, it's OK. But the girl on the till
said, along the lines of "Dave[1]'s not busy, he'll do it for you for
nothing" which he did, in about 10 minutes[2].

That's actually "proper service".

[0] only car I've ever owned without a rear window wiper, which would
be a problem if the rear window was actually much use for anything
when you're reversing anyway, which it isn't much.
[1] probably not his real name; I can't remember, but he *looked* like
a "Dave".
[2] approx. 9mins 35 seconds to get the old blades off, 25 seconds to
fit the new pair.

 

next to "PC World" and "Poundstretcher"[1], presumably.

[1] I was in our local "ex-Woolworths" the other day[2] - it's now
called "The 99p Shop". ****. ME. What a fucking hole. It's worse than
Netto, FFS!
[2] I was looking for a particular type of "pick'n'mix" sweets that
haven't been available since about 2002, but which she keeps sending
me out on missions to try and locate.

 

Different volts from a dynamo obviously.

 

The joys of being a kept man.

 

Did he give a 'reason' at all?

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

You're bored, aren't you?

We have a traditional sweet shop round here. Personally I'll give it 6
months, tops, but if you want me to have a gander, I'm more than happy to.

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

oh, the amount of stuff I now do around the house is unreal, but
unacknowledged. It'll be interesting to see what happens if I get
another job.

 

we have a "Ma Bateley's" just 10 minutes walk away - they don't have
them[1]

[1] the things she's after are the "orange and lemon" slice things
that look like thin slices of oranges or lemons but are really just
gelatine and sugar and food colouring textured.

 

If?

 

<bad form etc>

Have you checked ebay(1) for these elusive sweets?

(1) seriously

 

http://www.silverspoon.co.uk/home/products/cakecraft/sprinkles/orange---
lemon-slices

 

good try, but not quite right - these are about 3 times the size of
those, and come in individually wrapped single sweet portions.

 

http://burnssweets.co.uk/acatalog/sour.html