HauptmannUK

On almost all monocoque-chassis cars (that's most cars apart from some 4x4s, pickups etc) the sill box-sections will have a number of water drain outlets. If driving in deep water, once the water reaches the sills it can therefore enter the interior of the car through these holes.

There are no grease points on a Civic. The suspension and drivetrain should be fine if it was a short drive with water up to the sills. Most likely any problems will be electrical. Check if water has actually entered the car (e.g. wet under the carpets?). External electrical connection blocks are designed to be splash resistant, internal ones are not. Water gets into connector blocks, sits there and causes corrosion. Weeks or months later you're confronted with a variety of random electrical faults. If water didn't enter the car then chances are you'll be fine.

Whilst your car is under manufacturer's warranty ('guarantee') then you MUST service it as specified by the manufacturer. If you don't follow the manufacturer's schedule then then are likely to reject a warranty claim.

My family have run a car sales and service business in the UK for many years. Back in the 70's cars would require a first service at either 600 or 1000 miles and then routine services at 6 months or 6000 miles, whichever came first. With the development of better materials, lubricants and electronic engine management service intervals have mostly extended to 1 year or 10000 miles. Some brands have adopted 'long life servicing' - whereby the engine management system monitors the car's usage pattern and uses an algorithm to tell the driver when the car needs a service. Often a four year old car has had only two services. The bottom line is that during warranty you must comply with the manufacturer's requirements (typically six months/10k km in Thailand). After that its up to you, but I would suggest 10k km or 12 months - whichever comes first.

For the most part its the vehicle that's covered, however there are some 'named driver' policies also available. Really you need to read through the policy document to be sure.

Of course I understand how it works - been investing for 40 years. Yes, they should get the money back - doesn't change the fact they had to change policy and spend the money though.....thanks to Kamikwazi Kwarteng's schoolboy errors.

And it only cost the BoE £60Bn...

I have a cousin who's worked in the airline industry for a long time. Used to be with BA but now navigation section in Emirates Flight Operations. He's told me that Emirates are looking at reducing capacity in 2023. Seems strange but its apparently the case - reducing frequency on some routes and using B777 in place of A380. No idea about UK-BKK routes but his comment to me was that prices will only be going up. Wife and I used to travel a great deal before Covid - usually with Emirates. Last couple of trips this year we found cheap promotional fares with other airlines - thy do pop up from time to time but you have to be very flexible on dates and they will hit you hard if you want to take baggage.

I'm sceptical about the 'skyrocket' bit. I've held small amounts of gold and silver since 2006. The values oscillate up and down but overall not done me a lot of favours to be honest. The basic problem with stuff that can be dug out of the ground is that when the price goes up it motivates people to dig harder, supply rises and the price falls back..

Broadly speaking you're correct. Diagnosis at a distance is very difficult although there are various common 'stock faults' which affect certain models. The OP did ask for some pointers and that's what people have attempted to give, but at the end of the day its going to need a competent mechanic interpreting live data to resolve it.

The suction control valve (AKA fuel metering control valve) controls the fuel rail pressure and is a 'wear item' and can indeed cause problems. Most typically the car struggles to start or goes into limp mode. Really the OP needs to get some live data to narrow down the likely culprits.

Back in February I bought a '4G LTE 300Mbps' router from Lazada for ฿900. Worked very well with AIS 15Mbps SIM. No issues - I get a good strong signal from AIS here near Pratamnak. I think they pretty much all work just fine if you have a solid cell signal. I also had a tiny 'pocket' 4G router that I took when travelling. That also worked great if you got a decent 4G signal. Unfortunately left it in a coffee shop somewhere..... I have just had 3BB Fibre Internet installed (I need high speed for gaming) so the 4G router is for sale if you want it at ฿400.

100k km on a set of tyres is surprising. Obviously tyres wear but they also degrade and harder with age and exposure to UV light. Often tyres need replacing well before the tread is worn down because the rubber has hardened and/or started to crack. Never economise on tyres. I would stick to a premium brand of the original size. You can check the manufacturing date. There will be a raised 'box' moulded into the sidewall with four digits inside. First two digits are week number and second two digits are the year. So 0521 = manufactured week 5 of 2021.

Some rather harsh comments! I think most women in most countries spend a lot of time talking about friends and family. My wife is no different and she also has an excessive (IMHO) interest in food and cooking. She is, however, interested in many other things. She loves travelling and we've visited many countries. She watches a lot of travel and natural history programmes. We talk a lot about international events, war in Ukraine, religion etc. When something's on the news she'll often open Google Maps and search the location and ask me questions. She also has amazing mental arithmetic skills. She can do quite complex calculations in her head in a few seconds....e.g. if you asked her 13% of (43.5x12.1)+30 she'd do it in a couple of seconds. Basically a farm girl with only about 5 years of schooling...

"No good deed goes unpunished".....time and time again we see this in Thailand...

I am somewhat familiar with these ZSD 'Duratorq' engines. The base engine is not bad but they do suffer from quite a few gremlins.. 140k km is only about 87k miles - the engine should be good for double that. If the vehicle is stuttering on light throttle at steady speed then its unlikely to be a fuel supply issue. Common problems on these engines are.. 1. EGR valve playing up. 2. Faulty crank position sensor causing momentary dropout of crank signal (Ford have released an upgraded part). 3. Cracking of the air intake trunking resulting in mixture variations. Are you sure its an engine problem? The autos are notorious for TC lock-up clutch problems which results in the a 'shuddering'. This can be due to a faulty lock up solenoid or a fault in the TCM itself. As a starting point you need to drive the car and have someone log live data. Ideally using Ford's own diagnostic tools. Its also best to have the dealer change the oil on these engines. There is a specific procedure to follow which includes resetting the oil dilution parameter in the ECU.

Pickups and pickup-based SUVs have a high centre of gravity and a high roll-centre but so many who drive them think they should handle like a Porsche.

That's what I've done above. Newer version of one I have.

A 'smart' TV can connect to the internet and, depending on age and specification, may have certain common apps built in (e.g. Netflix, Amazon video, web browser etc). However you will usually gain a lot by adding an Android box. They are not expensive and can be found in IT malls and on Shopee, Lazada etc... e.g. https://s.lazada.co.th/s.7Z7lx

These cars came with a one year warranty and so two or three years after launch they started turning up at our garage - which my dad was running in the late 1970s. I was at university, studying engineering, but was expected to go home and work at the garage on weekends and vacations. I worked 7.00am-7.00pm on Saturdays and 7.00am-1.00pm on Sunday - then my dad and me would go home to a roast dinner and I would catch up on university work in the afternoon. The SD1s were quite cheaply built and suffered a lot of electrical gremlins. I was the 'electrical expert' (I'd become a Radio Ham at age 15) so there was often an SD1 waiting for me to fix. The bugbear was the relays and electronic modules. Most of these were made by a company called Pectron (in Derby IIRC). The soldered joints used to fail. Rover charged a fortune for replacements so I used to pry off the plastic enclosures and reflow the solder joints. The multipin connectors were very cheaply made so a lot of time was spent with contact cleaner and Electrolube switch lubricant. One of the main weaknesses of the engine was cam and lifter wear. Unscrupulous dealers would massively overfill the sump to quieten them off. Of course once the car was correctly serviced you'd hear it clattering away like a helicopter. I often got the job of replacing these parts. I can remember we could get a cam and lifter set for £69 - which was very cheap (even allowing for inflation). The job involved removing the radiator and intake manifold. Lock the flywheel. Undo front pulley nut and take off the front pulley, cover, timing chain etc. Then remove pushrods, lifters and then cam pulled out through the front of the car. I can remember doing these like it was yesterday. There was a 2.3 and 2.6 version, IIRC based on the Australian Leyland engine, but they were much more troublesome than the V8.

IIRC you will have to access the bulb from inside the wing. The lens assembly clips into the hole in the wing. A bulb-holder then fits into the lens assembly. Rotate the bulb holder 90 deg anticlockwise to release it. Don't lose the O ring seal.

One of many Spen King designs. I remember them well - worked on more than a few. The V8 used the GM BOP 215 cu.in. engines. GM gave up on it because it was too expensive to produce and passed it over to Rover. The aitomatics were a GM 180 'box. Very very reliable drivetrain, but thirsty.

My family have been in the motor trade for 101 years. For about the last 30 years we've operated as an independent BMW/MB specialist but also doing general all-brand repairs, MoTs and retailing used cars from a 40 car pitch. I was only peripherally involved in the business because I went off to university and became a professional engineer. I was, however, a qualified MoT tester until 2018, when I early retired and spent most of my time in Thailand. Went back to UK during Covid to help at the garage. Couple of points... 1. Your daughter went to a VW dealer - she will be paying the highest parts and labour prices and they will mercilessly look for work. 2. Manufacturers' genuine parts, in my experience, are similar throughout the world. A genuine VW dealer-supplied part in Thailand will be a similar price to UK (with modest variations due to taxes etc). Similarly, aftermarket parts are not priced radically differently. The difference in the price of a job is mostly down to vastly differing labour rates between the two countries. However, servicing a German car at a franchised dealer in Thailand is not particularly cheap either! To give you an idea of realistic costs we would charge about £100 for brake pads and discs (Mintex brand) plus about £60 to fit. £160 total. Brake fluid service (bleed all brakes) £39 if done at same time as other work. Pollen filter about £12 plus a few pounds for fitting. Battery (Yuasa YX5000 - 5 year warranty) about £85. Replace cambelt, tensioner, idler and waterpump about £350. A/C vac and regas about £50 (R134a) or £100 (R1234yf). My advice is find a good indepndent repairer and MoT testing station (definitely NOT Kwik-Fit!!).

Prince Philip first met Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth when she was 13 years old. Its said he "never thought about any other girl" after that.....

When I got married the plan was early retirement and a permanent relocation to Thailand. However my new wife wanted a holiday in England.... She came for six months and really liked the village where I have a house. Loved fish and chips, Sunday roasts, vivid green countryside and 'stone villages' (Cotswolds etc). Also found Thai food ingredients ('big city' about 25 miles away) and very quickly found some Thai friends. She then wanted to spend a longer period in the UK and got a spouse visa. I went along with it and we compromised by splitting our time between UK and Thailand. She then got friendly with an English businesswoman and moved a chunk of money from Thailand to jointly invest in a small hotel. I thought it was a terrible idea and expected her to lose everything. Well, against all expectations, and despite Covid, she's done really well and overall returns herself several times the average UK salary. When we're in the UK she works in the hotel managing the staff and dealing with guests. Its an amazing achievement given her spoken English is still quite poor, poor written English and very limited IT skills. She's extremely good at dealing with people though. She now has a British passport and we have agreed to split our time 50/50 between UK and Thailand. Not entirely what I had planned but I do appreciate the financial situation and the fact she has something to focus her mind on.