Gaz

I'm gonna say it's in there, stuck open, just to be contrary 😁 One of us is gonna be right! G

+1 👍 Micks one's obviously more photogenic. Mine comes through somewhat akin to the Millennium Falcon making the jump to light speed 🙄 We only had one sunflower this year, the rest were eaten by slugs and snails. It's just made it above our 6' garden wall, so can watch the Sun go down: Gaz

Possibly the button to turn off the internal alarm sensors.

Twilight, looking over towards the end of the South Downs: I quite like this photo, even though I appreciate its quality isn't all that. The Sun had just gone, the Moon just up, lovely pinky orange hues over the Downs and the sky's blue was splendid. A case of the camera not quite being able to capture what the eye could behold I'm afraid. Gaz

Hello and welcome MG89 We like Sidmouth - always enjoy a visit to the donkey sanctuary 😎👍 Gaz

This is Mrs Gaz's first insurance claim in 40 years of driving. She's not long off the phone to her insurer as, wait for it..... wait for it...... their online claims system isn't working 🙄 I'm sure she'll get her excess back. Our preferred repairer isn't on her insurers list. If we wanted to use our preferred repairer, we'd have to pay £200 for the privilege. I've given up. I've offered to glue it back on and use touch-up paint. I've offered to buy a £40 unit (same colour) from a scrapper and fit it, so we'd only have a small area of paint to sort out. But it's going through insurance. C'est la vie. Gaz

That is an option of course, as why should she/we be financially disadvantaged. Mrs Gaz was going to get quotes and then go discuss it with him, but seems to have changed her mind. That's a very likely outcome (It'll also thwart her goal of getting my Golf for herself once and for all). G

Mrs Gaz's car had its fuel filler cap knocked off by another car while filling up at a fuel station. There's some minor paintwork damage as well. Our preferred repairer has indicated it'll cost £500 to £600 to repair. We haven't got an exact quote as they charge £35 to quote. Mrs Gaz is planning to do it through her car insurance. Mrs Gaz is on my insurance for both the V70 and Golf, so would I be right in thinking her incident, in her car, is going to affect my renewal premiums? If so, would I be better off simply paying for the repairs and not having an insurance claim made? Ta for any advice. Gaz

Looks a cracker 😎 I don’t see boring. I see hell yeah, my kinda car Gaz

Are we going to be introduced? 😁

I'd imagine the 140k you mention is based on a dry belt remaining dry, in normal conditions, and not unduly affected by other factors, such as a dousing in oil. Your belt has been contaminated. Like @seriesdriver I'd be having it changed if it were me. Not worth the risk IMO. Gaz

Surely if a repair has been completed under warranty, and you have a receipt, then you have someone to go back to, to ask if the work they completed should be expected to be flaking and peeling already? Gaz

The DQ200 in our 2015 Polo GTI, which we've owned since 2017, has now covered 53k miles and been faultless throughout 👍 Gaz

Mini making its first migratory trip back to the electricity spawning grounds? 😎 Gaz

Hello and welcome Sander Gaz

We had a Sparrowhawk join us for dinner yesterday. We had pizza, he had starling: Phone on full zoom - didn't want to disturb him. Got a video too, but it's a bit grisly. G

The two 1.9TDI’s we’ve had were blooming brilliant 🤩 Fantastic engines. Older than the A4 you’re looking at, but Mrs Gaz’s 90bhp Golf III was a peach. We sold it as drivable scrap and the bloke who bought it was tickled pink as he clearly also loved the 1.9TDI’s 😎

Yeah, common Buzzard 👍 My Brother had a pair many years ago (pair for only a short time, as the somewhat bad tempered female killed the male). Gaz

It's a Target Audio five tier stand. I know it should be on pins, but it's on castors as it's on a laminate floor G

Yeah, I agree with @J.R. too. It's a case of me being overtly cautious. I was thinking back to Jamie's thread, where after an oil warning came on, his dipstick was dry: And the VW website saying to stop asap at the amber warning stage (I appreciate you're responding to a 'Check Oil Level' warning): Obviously at the red pressure warning stage, you're rapidly approaching bad news. As my friend is just about to find out - she drove her Juke two miles to my house, with a red oil pressure warning light on. I got two litres in it to max. (so it wasn't completely empty) and she's now waiting to hear if it's just the timing chain or if there's more damage. As the oil level in the engine reduces, it'll get closer to where the oil pump pick up is in the sump. At some point, there's a risk the pick up will start to be sucking crankcase air as well as oil, at which point you'll start to experience potential oil pressure issues. If the check oil level warning comes on when you've still got plenty of oil, both at cold and when oil is being pumped around the engine, then it's not the issue of 'dangerously low' that I'd previously said it is, and I stand happily corrected 👍 It's probably worth knowing how much oil your engine has when the check oil level warning comes on. The manual says 'Too low', which I take as being a bad thing. Gaz

Just for you Lee, just for you: 😁

Well I planned an assault on the thick black sticky mess, armed to the gunwales with my weapons of choice; cocktail sticks, cotton buds and dental floss. And I'm pleased to say with a positive outcome 👍 But my hand's really not designed for intricate work and I was quite nervous about the amount of dismantling required, particularly for getting the smaller belt past axle pins for pulleys and cogs 😓 Anyway, a picture (or two) paints a thousand words: Better: More gloop: Chuffing messy work: Flossing was nicely effective: New belt: And the fiddly little sucker: And with much relief: IMG_0444.mov All's well that ends well 😁 Gaz

^^^^ What Ootohere says ^^^^ Unless you have a special light, it's not a 'check oil level' warning. It's a 'Your oil pressure is dangerously low' warning! And driving with dangerously low oil pressure can have catastrophic and expensive consequences - like new engine time consequences. Waiting for the light to come on is a bad idea. Gaz

Huge. If you want comfort and cabin space, then it’s a no brainer. Although my Octavia was a vRS, so you can undoubtedly get a more comfortable Octavia than the model I had. Gaz

I went from a 2005 Superb (saloon rather than hatch) to a 2015 Octavia Estate. Then from the Octavia to the Golf I have now. I miss the practicality of an Estate, even though I don't need it very often. I was recently looking to replace the Golf, and drove several very nice Superb hatchbacks, and they really are lovely, spacious cars. Ultimately I realised that for the cost of changing, I could keep the Golf and get an Estate car as well, which is why I ended up with the Volvo V70. Loved my Superb, loved my Octavia Estate. If I had to come down to one car and choose been the Golf and V70, it would be the Golf that goes. An estate car offers all you'll likely need. Gaz