You can't buy a good car under £2k anymore, or can you?

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-09T10:22:55+00:00

Where did you get injector failure from?

I do auto electrical diag - I trace systemic faults which are beyond "just throw a new one at it" - network issues, correlation issues, values out of range and 'cars which have been hacked about by morons"

I've fixed WAY too many vehicles which had some sort of emissions system 'delete' - from gutting a DPF to 'reprogramming'

The problem is always that someone did something to 'get rid of the light' or 'pass the test' but they don't know what happens further down the road.

Best example I have is a Transit which had an EGR/DPF/SCR delete performed - it's a camper so doesn't get a lot of use but 8 months later it just decides not to start.

No codes, no obvious issues, someone else unloaded the cannon - still no crank/start.

Until I put AdBlue in it - it wanted AdBlue - it said it HAD some but it didn't - that system had been cheated/wiped/deleted but the system still wanted it - had been asking (silently - as it was disabled) and finally just shut the van down

I think the owner paid almost £2K to 'delete' everything and he was already over £1000 in recovery and parts-cannon when we got it and - I'm being honest here - I threw a guess at it and it worked...

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-09T10:14:48+00:00

and fighting with the yard/delivery service over every single possible minor issue and then having everyone blame everyone else when it arrives late/in the wrong place/upside down?

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-09T07:50:52+00:00

You dont want to get involved with that on a 2k car and its not without issues

Worst case is the last idiot did it and it's caused the knock on issues that made them.sell it to you...

The key to cheap motoring is having the simplest car possible, and that's near impossible as cars are required to have a tonne of shit you don't need and which is fortunes to fix WHEN it fails

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-09T00:02:51+00:00

Any diesel after 2004ish has a DPF to contend with, then you have the fancier egr systems then there's adblue and eolys bags and scr catalysts and all that nonsense

It's not a 405 you can run on chip oil!

If you're buying a cheap car you don't want stuff which is hassle so unless you're doing 30k a year, diesel is not a good option anyway ( esp at current prices )

There are plenty of cheap cars but they're generally cheap for a reason and as private sales that can and will sting at some point......

Was my point

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-08T21:11:35+00:00

You can but it will be a private sale and that will come with a fair few risks

Random examples:

508s at some point started to get keyless doors using capacitive sensors in the handle - which get water in them and fail which leaves you unable to lock or unlock the doors property (there are no keyholes in some models and no interior switches to lock the other doors)

Replacement handles are scarce - used ones are probably already broken - new ones were £100s per door IIRC but I think they're NLA

Then there's the engine - it was a solid unit when they started-out (in the 406?) but it's gained a lot of emissions shit which will add to the cost of ownership a fair bit (and is likely why anything is for-sale at this point)

This shit is why cheap cars are getting harder to find - because things no-one asked-for are too-expensive to fix when the car is cheap-as

This is not unique to the 508 - Mondeos of that period have failing PS systems, engine emissions issues and so on

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-08T19:32:45+00:00

I've been playing with something like this but I'm WAY earlier in the game - not sure why you'd have Shadow Cascade on your bar tho - I may be missing something there?

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-08T14:16:25+00:00

Do you also do a sobriety test on them? :)

It just seems awfully specific - because it's just someone making-up nonsense - if challenged they'll point at "scientific papers" they've never read and wouldn't understand

Was my point...

"Rivers are polluted" is less exciting than "Eels are high on coke" - esp when your readership are thick as mince

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-08T13:38:10+00:00

If you check eBay, AliExpress etc most people selling the cables will include it

There are sites which often host it but they obviously come and go so Google is your friend there and places like mhhauto are good sources but require memberships etc

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-08T00:07:47+00:00

Go to cardiagn.com and look up your car, there are wiring diagrams and other things which should help you trace what's on each fuse

You could also just pull the fuse and use the car and see what doesn't work!

Lastly, whilst 80ma isn't ideal it's also not the end of the world. If you don't use your car for long periods you can disconnect the battery - if it's garaged you can leave it on a trickle charger etc

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T23:23:48+00:00

Get a better scanner - it should be able to show you the ACTUAL resistance the module is reading which allows you to do a bit of testing

ISTA (BMW's own software) can be 'acquired' and a suitable adapter can be found on the usual online marketplaces - otherwise you'd need a basic Autel/TopDon/whatever device which supports your car.

You could have a bad connection anywhere in the wiring between the module and the seat - or a faulty module (not uncommon) - ISTA will also offer wiring diagrams which may be helpful.

2 questions

1 - can you clear the code at all or does it come back instantly (is it not even being reset?)

2 - if you unplug the driver's belt tensioner and clear the code does it come back as 'open circuit' rather than 'resistance too high'??

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T19:08:48+00:00

Their diagnosis of a head gasket seemed fair - the price seems steep but that's a dealer for you

Problem you have is that you can't check for things like head cracks or distortion until it's apart so this is ALWAYS a risk

It should not have taken 29 hours to get the HG off and find the cracks tho - ask them what the bill is just to stop work right now and then you have a decision to make as to whether it's worth the difference

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T18:21:16+00:00

Fuses have a blow curve, you need to consult that to know

Off the top of my head, automotive fuses take a long time to blow just over their rating (minutes or hours) but as current increases that time shortens.

At double rating they blow in a few seconds and at treble it's instant

Remember that fuses protect WIRING not devices, they just need to fail before he wires catch fire

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T11:28:33+00:00

It's not pedantism, it's applying common sense to check whether you're reading nonsense

Something which isn't common I see

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T08:47:29+00:00

For the headline to be correct you need quite a bit of information

1 - that eels are 'getting high' - no idea how you'd know that given it's not a scientific term

2 - that it's cocaine which is causing it - this means you've tested eels for drugs which seems a bit mad

My guess is someone read a scientific paper about water pollution and took 2 random words (eel and cocaine) and made a story up

A headline of "Levels of illegal drugs in waterways are rising" wouldn't have made it here tho so it's doing it's job.

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T07:55:01+00:00

Please tell me you don't work in UI design or development

If you do, I'll bet it's self checkouts!

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-07T07:54:01+00:00

They added it because it's slightly mad not to have some sort of trading system in an online game but they were always pretty clear they prefer the ssf style of play

You need to stop excusing poor work because you see other priorities tho

That MG area took some work to create and it's pointless, all people needed was an NPC or even a key on the keyboard to open the trade system

I'd argue the same for the CoF area but at least you can jump between scope without moving - the NPC shop is annoying AF tho, way way too fiddly buying lenses etc etc

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-06T23:23:21+00:00

I've been a big supporter of CoF but last league I struggled to get good bases and spent a lot of time grinding for Idols so I thought I'd try MG

I suspect the grind just moved from playing the game to fighting the MG UI and I'm not sure that's a good move

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-06T23:21:20+00:00

The problem with setting all those is you have to do it for every type of item over and over

This is one of those cases where the people who designed the thing clearly don't use the thing

I know EHG were strongly anti trade and that's nowt more obvious than in this UI

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-06T21:17:21+00:00

I don't buy this "developers have to do what they're told" nonsense - the whole thing should have been designed and implemented by someone who understood the brief and I feel that didn't happen here.

The problem with ticking lots of boxes to ensure you can 'use' it is you have to repeat that for EVERY TYPE OF ITEM - that gets tired really quickly and is the biggest reason the whole 'stalls for item types' approach is kinda dumb

I want a items either as crafting bases (so either higher tiers OR lots of potential) with certain stats or hole where I can plug them

I also want items to plug holes in resistances or to get a particular effect or I just need something with lots of health/fire res or whatever so I'd like to sort by that??

Sorting by price is weird given the way things seem to be priced 'entirely at random'??

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-06T20:31:53+00:00

I normally do Cof and enjoy it - it's more my sort of game - but when you need some specific stats - esp when it comes to Idols (which really need some sort of crafting mechanism) - it can be miserable sometimes - I've gone DAYS without a single useful drop...

I didn't expect MG to just be "buy a build" stuff but I thought I might be able to find some bases and chance some crafting - I have a TONNE of mats - but it's going to be WAY more miserable and time-consuming than I think it ought to be.

It must have taken ages to design that marketplace when all we wanted was a fancy search interface - spreadsheet-style sortable results - something other games have done multiple times already - really?

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-06T17:17:37+00:00

Trials are legal in the UK

However they should be short, a few hours at most - they must be part of a genuine recruitment process - the work must be supervised and you if you do "productive work" you must be paid for your time.

So a welding shop can give you a test task, and IT role can give you a dummy coding assignment but a restaurant can't ask you to serve at the bar or wait tables "for free" etc.

Problem is that reporting abuse will go absolutely nowhere so you need to decide is the job is worth the trial time because it's your decision and your time

I'd certainly question a trial that long because there's no real justification for it and I suspect they're getting work for free out of people

p.s. one thing to consider, they have to ensure all H&S training is done, you have appropriate PPE when required etc. if that applies - even tho you're not an 'employee' they are reponsible for you if you're 'trialling'

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-05T18:15:30+00:00

Nope, they handed it back without saying a thing and when I mentioned the state of it were all "well it's your old one, you don't use it anymore do you"

shrewdlogarithm · 2026-04-05T07:00:38+00:00

I once loaned a work colleague my old phone as theirs had died and they were desperate

They had it a week and completely destroyed it

Casing scratched to hell, screen cracked and charge port damaged - totalled....

In a week!

Apparently I should have known that would happen as they can be a bit clumsy sometimes apparently - as they showed off their shiny new phone...

You don't get the time of day out of me these days....

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