Salutory tale

Honest John Back Room » Technical matters
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Thu 5 Sep 2002 16:12
Salutory tale - Tim Allcott
Vehicle : R plate '98 Passat 93k miles. Paid for service @ non franchise specialist, and asked him to do rear disc and pads at the same time, as main agent had told me they needed doing. He told me fronts were also now due. Last week brake warning light starts to come on, accompanied by three musical chimes. Ah, thinks I ; indicator for pads. Purchase set to change. Does it have a wear indicator? say suppliers Must have, say I, theyr'e telling me its time to change. Remove old pads. No wear indicator wires. Oh. Fit new ones (genuine parts, too!) which fit exactly, once I've removed the wires. Drive 350 miles to collect family from airport (which is why I changed pads.) Following day, wife drives her mother 120 miles, light starts flashing, tone starts chiming. RTFM! I say (and look underneath at the back for fluid leaks) yup! it's damp under the rear wheel car to local garage who diagnose loose bleed nipple on rear wheel.
Moral? I should have read the manual.
Mea Maxima Culpa.
(and I probably ought to at least tell the non-franchise specialist that they didn't finish the job properly, as I doubt bleed nipples (will that get censored, I wonder) have a habit of loosening themselves.....)
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Fri 6 Sep 2002 13:35
Salutory tale - El Dingo
Hi Tim,

Interesting tale... I got RTFM ground into me at an early age, but still manage to forget sometimes...

Last time I changed our A80 pads, it was cheaper to buy the ones with the wires in and cut the wires off.


El Dingo (Martin).
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