DHC report nr. 95; Systems check

On Monday I started with a check all systems. First one were the brakes, bleeding them and checking all unions for leaks. There were none ... I thought. When I returned to the car on Tuesday there was a damp patch underneath one of the front callipers, and there was a drop of brake fluid hanging at the bottom of that calliper. I presumed it to be from a very minor spillage when I loosened the bleed nipple too much. But just to be sure I cleaned up the suspect area on the calliper and put a piece of clean paper underneath to give the exact position if there was a leak. It turned out there wasn’t one.

After Bleeding the brakes the obvious thing to do was bleed the clutch. This time definitely no leaks and we managed to get all air out fairly quickly. It is not unusual on these cars that bleeding the clutch can be a real pain.

As I was lying underneath the car I carried on with the adjusting the hand brake cable. Hand brake lever still has a fair bit off travel, but I presume that with the servo in operation, the brake shoes will adjust a little more. So should be OK.

Yesterday was the big day, or the dreaded one, time to connect the battery and check all the electrics. With a battery in place there at least was no smoke or smell of scorching wires. And when opening the door, I was welcomed by the interior lights, at least one thing that works.

I started with the lights at the rear. Rear lights, reversing lights, licence plate illumination and indicators (including hazard) working fine. And the brake lights were also working fine, even with me standing outside the car. Clearly something wrong. A quick check with the multi meter showed that the switch was always switched on. This could only mean two things, either the switch was faulty, which it wasn’t, or I fitted it incorrect, which I did. I fitted the shims/washers on the wrong side of the bracket. With these on the correct side the brake lights worked as they should, or don’t as they shouldn’t. Most obvious is that they are much brighter with the inside of the clusters coated with chrome paint. And much cheaper than LED’s ...

While checking the rear I already noticed that up front something was fairly wrong. Everything worked fine, safe for the headlamp lift motors. Switching of the lights raised them, switching on the lights lowered them, clearly not good. First thoughts were that I fitted the wires incorrect to the connectors, but that didn’t explain the fact that the lights didn’t raise fully. And of course I refuse to accept that I make that kind of mistake. So time for a little experiment. I crawled underneath the front of the car to disconnect the levers that attach directly to the motors, and raised the pods manually. After that I switched on the lights and disconnected the battery. 5 Minutes fiddling with the little levers later and the headlamps raised and lowered as they should! I mounted the levers the wrong way round ...

To end the day I checked the instrument panel where possible, horns (very loud), wiper motor, screen washer, heater and starter motor. Everything works fine so far. More checks to follow in preparation for its MOT on Monday and insurance valuation on Wednesday ...