Monday 10 January 2011

MOT time is with us again


It was booked last week with Kwik fit mainly because they had a deal on for £30 which isn't bad, alas like all things car related once the car knows its going to be tested it starts to selectively fall apart our BMW was no exception to this rule...

on the day of the test I did my usual quick run around the car checking the lights and the last thing I checked was the screen water jets... needless to say they just dribbled.... "Ahhh no problem" I thought it's probably out of water....NOPE

so ensued a mad dash around various car parts emporiums in Carmarthen to track down a new washer pump which ended up in GFS car parts in Swansea.... I told him the registration and he chirped "we have two types in stock" so I told him to get both and I selected on the type of connector...went out to the car and started to remove the offending washer pump only to find that it wasn't going to be that simple....in fact it was completely different to the one I was taking out.... Bugger !!! What is worse is that the old pump when it was replaced WORKED PERFECTLY !!!.... so I took the replacement part back in and got a refund and raced back to Carmarthen for my 11am appointment with the MOT inspector ....

I presented myself at the front desk gave my name and registration number and announced my 11am appointment only to be stared at blankly and told no you don't have an appointment today.... "have you checked the date on the booking form?" so I rang Andrea and after a bit and a moment of silence she announced "it was yesterday not today"

I apologised to the Kwik Fit man who I suspect spoke some Mandarin to me in reply (just like the one in the advert) Well I think it was Mandarin and left.... Oh Dear

"Never mind" I thought shit stuff happens, mistakes can be made and laughed it off....after all what is the point in getting upset about things you can't change ???? you idiot

It turns out the washer bottle had algae in it and every time the pump sucked it got a big mop of plant life blocking it.... so I bleached the tank to death (and unfortunately my favourite Nike green hoodie) and refitted it .... problem solved....

However......
Roll on the next day after we had rebooked our appointment at no extra cost and on starting the car and rolling down the road we had the familiar Dresden bombing raid sound.... yup our nearside front wheel bearing was on the verge of shuffling off to the wheel bearing place in the sky....FAN-FRICKEN-TABULOUS...

So I've spent the weekend finding out the part we need at the cheapest possible price and I will have to dust off my spanners yet again.... The only problem I can foresee is that I haven't got a bearing puller and I'll need something to pull the internal race off the stub axle other than that it should be a fairly straightforward job.... being an old hand now at bearing removal and re-fitting......at least I won't need a 50 ton press to press the bearings in......

So lets hope the MOT man doesn't spot any play in the bearing or its a fail :( it's more about avoiding the retest fee than not getting the bearing replaced !!! fingers crossed :)

in fact I might just take it back to the  rip off merchant  garage that fitted the ABS sensor in the first place on that side because it's making the noise from that very same wheel and make him squirm .... hmmmmm not that the abs sensor is RIGHT behind the bearing housing ......

Vorsprung durch Technik .... bugger that's Audi not BMW ...... in which case

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