stevie_b

Welcome to the club. Also check out Lynbrook for insurance if you don't mind it being on a classic car policy (but these policies don't accrue NCB). Do you know what sort of spec you'd be after? NA / TT?

Data recovery can indeed cost a lot of money. Is it detected by the BIOS when you connect it straight into the computer?

They've bought another Vaillant ecotec. I think it's pretty similar to the non-working one. Not sure whether it's a combi though.

An update: the in-laws have bought a new boiler today locally. The heating engineers who are doing the work are only available until Wednesday so they wanted to buy one ASAP. Thanks for the offer of help H, really appreciate it. Sorry for mucking you about.

Thanks H, I really appreciate it. The non-functioning boiler that was due to be fitted is a Vaillant I think. I can find out the model tomorrow. The old boiler that needs replacing is very old, probably 25+ years old, and has been condemned.

This probably belongs in the "Wanted" section, but it's quite an urgent request and I wanted to ensure that anyone who can genuinely help sees it. My in-laws (also in Hampshire) are in urgent need of a new boiler for their 3 bed semi. They did have one lined up ready to be fitted tomorrow but it doesn't work. It's a long story but there's no come-back on it. They got it as part of a job-swap. I'm not expecting anyone to give me a new boiler for free but if anyone on here works in the trade or knows where to get a decent new boiler (preferably in the next day or so) for reasonable money, please let me know. Thanks in advance, Steve

Spot on, especially the bit in bold. That's exactly what the official workshop manual says. If I had a screen grab of that page I'd post it up here, to finally put to rest people's concerns about not using 4Life.

Last time I checked you needed to be in the motor trade. Is that still the case? How do you prove it? Walk in with oil-stained overalls holding a ring spanner?

Agree.

I think mine's a Laserjet 1215 as well. Not the fastest of printers, but super reliable in my experience. Laser cartridges can be expensive, but you get many more prints out of them than an inkjet cartridge.

I've also read Toyota's workshop manual for the Supra that claims it makes no difference.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15013038 Shame that REM have decided to call it a day, although it was going to happen sooner or later. They're the only band I've seen live in a concert. Great tunes!

I would try to pick up a 2nd hand HP colour laserjet. We've got one and it was only a bit over £100 when new. It only gets occasional use but never fails when we do need it. I've given up with inkjet printers: they're expensive to buy ink for, and if you don't use them they clog up. Lose-lose situation. Laserjets are more expensive to buy but the ink lasts a lot longer. They're cheaper to run in the long run.

Aussie website, but anything like these? http://www.zcg.com.au/rf_hazard_warning_signs.htm

Up to you, but I'd never be able to fully trust it. If it's strong enough to bung up hairline gaps between the cylinder head and bottom end, what will it do to the waterways, oilways, thermostat jiggle pin, etc etc? If it bungs those up, you might not know about it for a few hundred or a few thousand miles. I see what you're saying about using it on a blown engine, but if it *appears* to work and gives up or has blocked some bottom-end oilways and the engine lets go 2000 miles later due to a blocked oilway whilst you're driving somewhere with a camper-load of family and suitcases, I'd lose my sense of humour about it.

Nobody did. I've had to console them .... then I threw them in the bin to await their final home in a Hampshire landfill somewhere.

It sounds a bit like Radweld but for BHGs instead of leaky radiators. My fear is that it would have the same problems as radweld. How does it know what holes to plug, and which to leave alone? Would it bung the thermostat up? I wouldn't touch it with a blown bargepole unless people I trusted and who knew about cars recommended it. Also, it would only "fix" head gasket failure where the coolant either leaks out or leaks into the engine oil. It might be possible (but less likely?) for head gaskets to blow causing oil to leak out of the block.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/1662steve/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 Wife has had a clear-out in the cosmetics cabinet, so lots of stuff on eBay. When this lot goes I'll have space on the bathroom shelf to put my toothbrush! Also a print server, for anyone who wants to turn their bog-standard printer into a network-enabled one.

I imagine fronting can be tricky for the insurance companies to prove in circumstances such as you describe. I.e. how would they know that Fred merely borrowed the car from his dad for his once-a-month spin with his mates? That wouldn't be fronting (as you pointed out). The insurance company would get suspicious of the splifs and sound system, but that wouldn't prove things either way. Tricky business for sure.

You're thinking of "fronting", which is illegal (insurance fraud). That's when someone, Fred's 50 year old careful-driving dad for example, insures a car under his own name (ie. dad becomes the policyholder) and adds his 17 year old son Fred as a named driver. If dad doesn't tell the insurance company that Fred is the main driver, they'll asume that dad is the main driver and therefore will give a low quote. The insurance company get surprised when they have to recover the car from a ditch with some cans of lager and half-smoked splifs in the back and a bangin' sound system in the boot. The crucial thing here is that Fred's dad didn't tell the insurance company that Fred would be the main driver. If they knew that, they would have quoted based on a 17-year old inexperienced driver and not a 50-year old family man.

The wheels, stubby aerial and smoked lights push the definition of "bone stock". It looks clean and not OTT which is good. The comment about people just wanting new cars, not necessarily "better" cars (i.e. cheaper to run, faster, better looking, easier to look after, whatever someone's definition of "better" is), is spot-on. It's part of consumerism these days. Just look at the recent O2 adverts: they make people feel like they've got a real donkey of a phone if it's more than a year old. The phone was great a year ago, so what's changed? Does such-and-such a gadget on the phone make my life that much better? Unlikely. Does the new phone have features that I really missed on my old phone? Probably not. Do I simply aspire to new phones because they're shiny and I get a bit of jealousy whenever I see someone with one? You're getting warmer!

That's incorrect. As long as he tells the insurer that the main driver is the named driver, it's fine. The main driver doesn't have to be the policyholder. But it's a good point that she'd be better off as the policyholder to earn her own NCD.

Double-guessing you a bit, but if you're thinking of possible fronting, the OP will still be OK as long as he tells the insurance company who the main driver will be (and is truthful about it). The main driver doesn't have to be the policyholder, although a few insurers won't quote unless they are. Direct Line are happy with the policyholder not being the main driver. My daily driver is currently insured through them, under exactly those conditions.

Increased chance of miscarriage during the early weeks.

It shouldn't affect the supra's insurance.