Following the Fiesta’s MOT failure on Monday, today was the time to try and fix it so I can get a re-test before the end of the week.
This morning I rushed round to get what I needed. At Tyreland I was going to get two new tyres and a slow puncture fixed on a third. But, when I got the wheel off it looked very badly worn on the inside edge. I decided that it wasn’t worth repairing so I got a third new one.
Euro Car Parts sold me two disks and a set of brake pads and Halfords printed a new number plate for me.
I then set about replacing the disks. According to my Haynes manual this is only a two spanner task, but as always it was a bit trickier than it looked. Starting on the offside, I got the brake caliper off OK but struck a snag with unbolting the caliper mounting bracket. This has never been removed before and unsurprisingly was a but tough to move. The bolts needed a 13mm socket, but the lower one just rounded off when I tried to shift it. I decided that I needed an impact socket but I don’t have a 13mm one so then I was a bit stuck. I couldn’t obviously see anyone in Salisbury who could sell me such as socket and thing were looking bad until I had a brain wave. The basic problem was that the bolt head had corroded and was now a bit less than 13mm. It was still too big for a 12mm, but then I remembered the old trick of finding an imperial socket which you can force on with a hammer. It turned out that my ½ inch AF socket was ideal. I walloped it on and then with my breaker bar shifted the bolt.
After that things went quite smoothly. The disk came off with a bit of releasing spray and a lump hammer and the new one fitted on easily. I took the opportunity to line up an old and new disk to compare thickness. See the considerable difference in the photo below:
It was the work of a few minutes to re-fit the caliper with some new pads and the job was done.
With the tyres and brakes done, all that was left was the number plate. This needed drilling to match the old one and just screwing on. As it was raining a decided to drive the car most of the way into the garage so that there was enough room in front of the car to work at the bench and I could shelter under the door whilst fitting the plate.
This scheme worked well. It was the work of a moment to drill the new plate using the old one as a template and screw it on.
Disaster!!! When I then came to move the car the remaining metre into the garage it wouldn’t start!!! How the hell has that happened? It turns over just fine, but there isn’t so much as a cough from the engine. Thinking that the problem might be damp as the bonnet was open for part of the day when it was raining I pushed it in and have left it with the bonnet up to dry overnight but I don’t hold out a lot of hope.
If it doesn’t start tomorrow morning I shall have to cancel the re-test a booked for the afternoon. It then seems unlikely that I will get the car to the re-test with the 10 days allowed as I will be in Finland next week (don’t forget to follow the blog). If that happens then not only have I got the cost of repair, but also a full re-test where something else is bound to be found wrong with it!