The car went through its MOT the other week with an advisory about their being a differential in the power of the braking on the front between left and right.
Today I decided to investigate and had the car up on the stands and the brakes off. I checked the following :-
- difference in brake pad wear - nothing noticeable
- visual check of all hoses - no leaks, bulges, kinks, corrosion or anything of note
- caliper sliders - clean and free
- seals - no leaks or cracks, no excessive muck
- mountings - all secure
Also, on the road in all sorts of braking conditions there is no pull to the side at all. The car feels absolutely fine. I think I'll bleed them next week for the fun of it, but I'm going to leave it at that as I can't honestly find or feel anything wrong.
I think I've sorted the door seal leak too. Found the channels in the seals fixed to the underneath of the door were full of muck and the remains of a broken window so the water could not run along it, and the seal could not have folded into the correct postion on closing. Undid it all and cleaned it through and it seems to be holding. It seems too easy though so I guess we'll see over the next few days!
Anyways, whilst it was up on stands I decided to take the intercooler out and clean it all through. I was amazed at the amount of gunked up crud that was on the face of it. I jet washed it through (in the direction of the external air flow) and a lot of filth came out of it - the drive was black! Some minor oil residue inside, but only a thin coating and no pooling so I was happy with that. Checked all the seals and changed a couple of the clips that looked a bit past their best. Refitting was a pig with the airflow plastic ahead of the intercooler being a total pain to get lined up again. Ended up with the fog light out too just for access but got there in the end. I wish I had taken some pics but I was so filthy at this point from working in all that crud and the splash back from the jetwash I wasn't going in doors to search out the camera!
Then checked all the plugs and replaced one of my coil packs that looked a different shade of discolouration to the others inside (I have 3 spare coilpacks - I didn't buy one for such a whimsical idea!!) . Then took it for a road test. The car was running much better that it did before, on boost pulling cleaner and harder than before and no stuttering as it has done in the past.
I will get aorund to getting these cheap coilovers soon but an unexpected bill elsewhere kinda screwed that idea this side of pay day! In the next couple of weeks I'll have them on order though!