JHAnd

The rust seems to be outside of the swept area on both left and right discs as far as I can tell. Thanks, I'll remove the drums and do an inspection tomorrow.

Thanks, you were in fact quite clear, but since the drums in the rear were so obviously rusty I wanted clarification. Also since I was not sure if those flakes on the front brakes were rust or just crud. Since I had put the wheels on again I could not check easily. Also I thought that the friction area where the pad meets the disc was the most critical and if there was a bit of surface rust/crud on the edge of the disc it did not matter much. I mean since the edges don't touch the pads, a little rust would be ok? Since the pads are not worn too bad, do you think I could wait with the discs until spring? About the rear brakes... Is it OK for the outside of the drum to be that rusty? Since no one mentioned this I figured that it is OK, but just to be sure I'd like to ask again... sorry again for asking about the same thing twice, just in need of clarification! Thanks, should I remove the drums to inspect them? Or should I inspect them through the inspection hole mentioned in the maintenance pdf ? Then I would need a brake fluid tester. Heard something about the pen types being unreliable. What kind of tester would you recommend?

Are you refering to the front disc brakes or the drum brakes?

Perhaps I'll wait with the rust then... and move on. I took some photos of the brakes. Do they look OK? Brake pad is 7-8 mm thick on the right side. About the same on the left side. Pic 1-2 Front Right Pic 3-4 Front Left Pic 5 Rear Left Pic 6 Rear Right

This is the wishbone on the front left side. The rust seems a bit worse then on the right side but still only surface rust.... Perhaps I should brush of the worst flakes with a metal brush and spray some hammerite over it to slow the rust down. Any other suggestions?

Good point. Also a good point. Thanks!

I have the front right tire off now, and have tried to check if anti roll bar link is loose. As you may recall from my post above the MOT test said there was a gap in link connection on both sides of the car) I have tried to feel this supposed gap by pulling and pushing the link with my hand... I do not feel like there is any gap, the only thing that happens is car rocks a bit back and forth. But when driving the car I do feel that there is a lot of noise when going over a speed bump for example. But that could be the strut top mounts? What part is more likley to make noise, mount or link? Should I change out these links or just leave them be?

Wishbone right side

It's probably surface rust since it is in the "Good to know" section, but yes it would be good to see for myself... I should have made him show me when I was at the MOT. How do you guys do when you want to get a view under the car? Do you have ramps or do you use jack stands? I have som jack stands that are 54 cm high... so could perhaps use those, but I only have the jack that came with the car, don't think it will lift high enough to get the stands under the car. Thanks for the tip! I'll check them out! Could I ask a, perhaps stupid, question...out of curiosity, are drop links and anti roll bars necessary for the saftey of the car? Or could I in theory just remove the whole anti roll bar and it's components? Or would the MOT guy fail me for that?

Great point... for example the book might not mention changing fuel filter at all because if you run the car long enough ALL parts of the car would need replacing at some point. The MOT in Sweden is very good at pointing out things that might become safety issues. So my thinking is that if they don't say anything about the breaks, suspension, steering, lights etc, then all is well. I had a MOT shortly after buying the car so may this year. Headlights did not pass, had to polish them, then they passed. They MOT tests in Sweden also have a portion where they mention stuff that is "Good to know" about the car. In my case it was: 1. Rust, Front axel beam (Swedish= framaxelbalk, not sure about the correct translation here) 2. Front, anti roll bar links, both sides, gap in connection (Swedish = Krängningshämmare, stag) 3. Whishbones, front, both sides, rust (Swedish = Länkarm) I'm planning to change to winter tires tomorrow. So then perhaps I can get a peak at the anti roll bar links, and also measure them so I know what part to get if I need to replace them. I'm not sure what else to check, but I hear something about bushings?

It seems that fuel filter change is only applicable to diesel engines as sepulchrave mentions above... also the "Inspection and maintenance" manual only mentions fuel filter change when referring to diesel engines, which seems to prove sepulchraves point. Where did you read about fuel filter change interval?

Thanks that's very good to know. Then I'll leave the filter be.

How do I know if the fuel filter needs changing or not? I noticed that the car needs more gas in reverse gear, and motor more easily shuts down.

I have some knowledge and tools since I have a 1979 VW bus that I'm working on, rebuilding the engine myself. I don't think changing oil and air filter will be a problem... also I like fixing things myself.

I'm not sure how to read the odometer correctly (see picture) Is it 172131 km or 17213,1 km?