Which is a road-worthiness test for the Americans among us.

Clearly my cars way of paying me back for damaging the bumper.

Failed on : Illegal number plate spacing (first time in 7 years despite the fact that they've been illegally spaced in all that time). And - of more concern - a serious brake fluid leak from the rear of the car - enough so that they advised me not to drive it any further than home (which was only about 500 yards).

Unfortunately, because of what it failed on I have little choice other than fix it myself (which I don't plan to) or take it back to the same garage to do. So it's booked in for next week.

Stupid car!

 

sorry to hear that, it's always a pain... on the upside, at least you found out about the brake problem whilst car was on a ramp!

Hope it is sorted soon. Weather just getting good..

 

Dave-
Sorry to hear of one of those unexpected repair bills. Always a stinger.

Did they determine (or show you) where the leak at the rear was coming from?
Rubber line, or hard line?
(Or issuing from the caliper, perhaps?)

Just curious, as a "heads-up" check point for some of us.
Thanks ahead of time,
-Lonnie

 

They told me it was by the caliper, and is actually a leaking hose. Which is a bit surprising because I have braided / steel hoses fitted (although they are 5 or 6 years old).

I have a 4 day weekend now - so if the delightful English spring weather decides to stop the heavy downpour / hail storms I'll take a look myself over the weekend - and if possible post a pic.

I am a bit surprised to be honest - this is a weekend car that's done about 2,800 miles since the last service a year ago. I guess a leak can start at any time, but I'm surprised I found out this way.

 

Its not that bad. Its only a brake pipe, and a reg plate, no mega cost.
Mine failed last year, brake pipes, handbrake, emissions, washer jet and some bulbs. So yours is fine IMO

 

"Illegal number plate spacing" ?

My car once failed for to light tinting .
He would not pass my car until I peeled off the old faded tinting .

 

I'm actually a total criminal - both my cars have illegal spacing on the number plates. My bike is legal though.......

 

OK.......enlighten us over here in the colonies........WTF is "illegal number plate spacing" ?

 

For cars the age of the 964, registration format is : xnnn yyy

Where x is a letter (age related) nnn is numbers and yyy is letters. And there must be a space between the nnn and yyy but nowhere else.

My number plate is actually a private registration (an Irish plate) so is a different format - it's xxx nnnn. So there should be a space between the letters and numbers but nowhere else. However - because the numbers are 911 & 6, I have plates with a space between them. Which clearly means I rob banks in my spare time.......

 

In reply to YYC930:

In the UK the characters on a registration plate are supposed to be spaced according to guidelines - e.g. A124 ABC or X1 XYZ. It's meant to aid identifying a vehicle quickly if necessary, but it also helps our government line their pockets with 'taxes' gained from our numerous speed cameras which rely on clearly photographing your number.

You can't choose a word or name to for your reg plate like you can in some states in the US. You can however buy a legitimately issued registration which might spell out a word using numbers/letters and you can transfer it to your car (example: B4 LLS). Some people might space the letters and numbers not according to guidelines to spell something (example: A1 84LLS).

 

The irony being - people are far more likely to remember a reg that reads B4LLS than one that reads B4 LLS.

 

In our governments infinite wisdom.......







sorry just fell of my chair having read what I'd just written

 

What's really hypocritical is the UK government regularly hold auctions for 'cherished' registration numbers, many of which will only spell a name or word if the characters are spaced contrary to the governments own guidelines.

 

Here we just get in trouble for hanging plastic bull's ***** off our trailer hitches.

 

I heard these were the big thing in the US.