MOT prep and service

With an upcoming MOT there were a few things to check and refresh.

A service was due anyway so I decided to do this in advance of the MOT. Fresh oil in the engine and diff, and new air filters were fitted. With the MOT booked everything was looking good - until I did was getting the car ready for a run out and realised the brake lights were not working. Typical pre-MOT gremlins! They had been working fine yesterday and it was both lights so not just a bulb. A check of the earth points showed no issues and adjusting the brake switch had no effect, so it looked like the switch itself might be the issue. Sure enough, shorting the switch showed power and earths were fine.

A brake switch is not something I keep in the spares box, so it would need to be ordered and there was no chance it would arrive in time - it would be amazing to have somewhere local like Moss or Rimmer where I could just pop down to pick spares up, but I need to get everything via post. MOT cancelled.

I ordered two brake switches so I could drop one in the spares box. Of course there were issues with both - one arrived pre-threaded (I couldn't even start it on the pedal box) and the other's wires dropped off as I started adjusting it. This is the state of classic car spares at the moment - we'd all happily pay more for parts which last but this doesn't seem to be what people will sell.

Two replacement switches came, much better this time and the brake lights flared back to life. The MOT was rescheduled, but this time one of the fog lights stopped working a few days before the test day. This is the fog light I replaced back in 2011 and it turned out the internals and so the earth for the lamp holder had rusted because there was no drain hole - unlike the original Lucas one which still worked fine. I had the lamp's twin still in the pack so I switched them out, but I think I'll get hold of another Lucas one so they match and both have drains.