DD_Brando Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 I couldn't quite believe it when my screen went black, but a reset and a visit to the BIOS showed me that the worst was true - my main drive, a 75Gb Raptor, was no longer detectable by the PC. A quick physical check, using the old mechanics' trick of holding the blunt end of a screwdriver to my ear with the point held in contact with the drive, revealed the sad news. I could clearly hear the drive winding up, then a loud click and the drive winding down again, over and over........ I've always thought it odd how, once Fate has you by the short and curlies, bad luck seems to come in multiples. This latest batch started on the day before my birthday, when our 15-year old Renault's head gasket blew. We got a new car no problem, but we are now dismayed to find that the remote device that enables me to drive has to be replaced. We had hoped to get away with transferring the old unit across (£200) - but changes to the way car electrics are distributed have scuppered that. So it's £1300 for a new remote switcher! I checked back to see the age of the dead Raptor - 5 years and 2 months, wouldn't you know it? About 50 days past the warranty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_O_A_D Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Sad day for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Pooka Posted October 14, 2009 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted October 14, 2009 Sorry to hear the news Brando, I've got a 74 GB Raptor also, just about the same age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 14, 2009 Author Share Posted October 14, 2009 Thanks guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 And the finance manager positively insisted that I buy a Velociraptor, so I did! Who am I to refuse a beautiful woman? B can we trade? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blairgowrie Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I feel your pain Ross. I recently blew a hose in my backhoe and I decided to replace all the hoses in the hoe portion of the backhoe. Maybe 8 hoses. Since they had to take it away I asked them to do a service. $2250 later! I get the hoe back and almost immediately, the two 12 volt batteries die. Not that expensive to replace but I have to wait 2 weeks to get them on special order. I picked them up yesterday and installed them this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_O_A_D Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 BG, the next time you have battery trouble. As long as the cells are not shorted, or have broken plates. You can crush an Aspirin, and pour it into each cell, the slow charge the Battery till it's fully charged. Then hope for the best. I've done this many times over the years, and it works about 90% of the time. They may last the rest of the season, or allot longer. The last one I treated was in my kids car, last spring. It wouldn't charge up, let alone crank the engine over. I treated it, and it is back to life, and still being used. It's over 6 years old now. Hopefully your oil leak is nothing more another hose. A new PS pump, can get to be a few hundred dollars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JensenPark Posted October 14, 2009 Share Posted October 14, 2009 I feel your pain Ross. I recently blew a hose in my backhoe and I decided to replace all the hoses in the hoe portion of the backhoe. Maybe 8 hoses. Since they had to take it away I asked them to do a service. $2250 later! I get the hoe back and almost immediately, the two 12 volt batteries die. Not that expensive to replace but I have to wait 2 weeks to get them on special order. I picked them up yesterday and installed them this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 And the finance manager positively insisted that I buy a Velociraptor, so I did! Who am I to refuse a beautiful woman? B can we trade? Like BG suggests above, there's a lot of servicing involved Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 Oops - I didn't mean to sound like I was laffing at your hardware problems BG. Those big machines are a money-pit ain't they? The trouble with hydraulic systems is that you end up renewing all the hoses as the weak spot shifts along with the repair cycle, a bit like "painting the Forth bridge" as we say over here. B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 Well, things have shifted a bit and I'm able to report some success all around - even if the family wallet has taken a substantial battering! The work on the car is going ahead at high speed - with the modification marked as 'urgent' in the producer's work-list. I rechecked the purchase date on the Raptor and discovered that the broken one actually is within the warranty period. I had mistaken the receipt number, which referred to another Raptor (34Gb) which my wife is using. So I've been given an RMA number by WD - and I'll be able to use the packaging from the Velociraptor which arrives tomorrow, to return it. Win, win! I'll be interested to see what WD can give me in exchange for the dead drive. The 74Gb Raptor is no longer available so I'm wondering what they'll do? Any thoughts on that? B Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blairgowrie Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 Good news Ross. I wonder if I can RMA the backhoe and the excavator. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 15, 2009 Author Share Posted October 15, 2009 Good news Ross. I wonder if I can RMA the backhoe and the excavator. I wouldn't want to be the one who has to wrap it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perfesser Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 Bought a Raptor a while back. 150 and 300G are all I could find. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1. DDz Quorum Painless Posted October 16, 2009 1. DDz Quorum Share Posted October 16, 2009 ~S~ Brando M8, You have had a bit of bad luck for sure and it's great to see the chaps rally round to help. Hopefully you will be sorted in quick time. Only thing I can add is..... DON'T BUY FRENCH CARS !! LOL............Vorsprung durch technik.............Deutschland uber alles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DD_Brando Posted October 16, 2009 Author Share Posted October 16, 2009 's funny. Our last two cars were Renaults and they both suffered the blown head gasket. Then we discovered that we'd each had a Renault that died of the same causes before we met. You'd think we'd have learned! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 ~S~ Brando M8, You have had a bit of bad luck for sure and it's great to see the chaps rally round to help. Hopefully you will be sorted in quick time. Only thing I can add is..... DON'T BUY FRENCH CARS !! LOL............Vorsprung durch technik.............Deutschland uber alles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perfesser Posted October 16, 2009 Share Posted October 16, 2009 You can crush an Aspirin, and pour it into each cell, the slow charge the Battery till it's fully charged. I've done this many times over the years, and it works about 90% of the time. Holy crap, how is it that I've never heard of this before? An aspirin per cell in an average car battery? Only ASA I assume? I did some looking. The ASA trick is recommended as a last chance thing. The aspirin's acetylsalicylic acid will combine with the battery's sulfuric acid to produce one last charge. Just be sure to drive to your nearest service station. For a longer term maintenance kind of thing: Give your battery a little more life with this potion. Dissolve about an ounce of Epsom salt in warm water and add it to each battery cell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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