We regularly update our facebook page through the day with everything that's happening in the workshop. It gives customers peace of mind when they can see their car from the office and allows us to relay on photographs to them of problems encountered as we go.
It also has a following in general on the internet. Not all cars get featured as we really are incredibly busy at the moment and by and large this Rover P6 is one that hasn't featured much.
The car came in just under two weeks ago for work to the rear brakes. There was a problem with one of the flexible hoses and it was thought that the collapse of this hose might have been causing poor brake performance. Rover P6 owners are usually only too aware of the difficulties of maintaining the rear inboard braking system so It tends to be ignored for as long as possible
With the car in our care, the first thing to do was to test drive the car ( very carefully). A test drive can throw up all sorts of problems not noticed and is a valuable start to this sort of job. Apart from wandering slightly and the brakes not being completely right the car was declared safe and lifted up.
A visual inspection next revealed that the faulty flexible hose was actually unpealing underneath allowing the cotton cords to show through. This does not mean that the pipe is about to burst but exposed re-enforcing will rot and then the pipe really can let go. The second hose in the rear system was just as old and past it's sell by date as well so this was earmarked for replacement and a new one ordered.
A chance drip of brake fluid in the eye ( not nice!) drew our attention to the rear callipers , one of which appeared seized and weeping. Access is very poor on these cars here and rather than groveling under the car with our hands feeling their way out of sight we decided it would ultimately be safer and quicker just to simply lower the differential away from the car.
A burnt brake pad- a sure sign that the callipers have been sticking on.
At this point both rear callipers were removed relatively easily and placed on the bench for inspection. The partially seized handbrake linkage was also removed and cleaned up and freed off on the bench. Once cleaned up, the nearside calliper was checked re set and put back on with new pads.
Leaking sized calliper
New calliper in position
The off side calliper was seized and weeping fluid. Luckily the owner had a spare in the rear foot well ( like you do) and this was again set up and fitted. The whole assembly was then re-fitted and lifted back up into the car, cables re-connected, linkages still on the car cleaned and lubricated, hydraulic unions tightened up and bled through to remove air and old stale brake fluid.
You can really see why we wanted to drop the rear axle for this job- access is awful- how would you know if a mistake has been made?
The hand brake was then set up and with the new brake pads in, a final check was made before the car was lowered to the ground . Here we were looking for potential problems for the owner to be aware of such as leaking shock absorbers etc.
As we now had given the rear brakes and suspension a clean bill of health, we lifted the front end to make sure that all was well here- just a free check. The only problem found was a slightly worn track control arm ( still serviceable though). With an oil and filter change, the car was ready for a final test drive and is now ready for collection.
