Ray Luxury-Yacht

I know you've already replaced them, but I gotta say, my money's on coilpacks. That's exactly what I get on my vcds lite when I have a failed coilpack (at least once a year I reckon...and that's with genuine parts)
 
Did you replace for new? What brand / where from?
 
Wouldn't be the first time an electronic bit is faulty from the box...

Once again, I am eternally grateful for everyone's help and advice. Group hug!
 
I did as advised, got the car jacked up and went methodically through the systems.
 
It was a bit of a swine to find, this one...possibly not helped by the fact that I had driven the car in heavy rain, so any fluid leaking had been washed away.
 
I FINALLY found the leak, after getting in the car, starting the engine and leaning heavily on the brake pedal for 30 seconds. Fluid was weeping from the seal behind the handbrake mechanism, on one of the rear calipers. The little bugger
 
So seeing as my calipers had been moo-ing a bit more lately, and the discs were a bit worn, I have bought a complete refresh kit from Ebay. It's from a chap who has a massive score, and really good feedback. He also offers a 3 year warranty on the parts.
 
I'm getting two brand new TRW calipers in green (so I don't have to send the old ones back or pay a surchrge) plus two new discs, a set of pads, and new fixings. Total price £140 delivered. That's not bad is it?
 
Link here for anyone else interested: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271624209965?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
 
 
Cheers!!!

But even without a guide, it is the proverbial piece of ****...
 
Once you get your head into the driver's footwell and remove the panel covering the bottom of the dash unit - you can just easily see the pedals and switch assembly sitting there.
 
Disconnect the plug, twist the switch eh voila! It is in your hand...
 
 
And for extra pikey points - don't replace it.....just dismantle it and clean up the burnt contacts inside like I did
 
Just needs a bit of scraping with a fine screwdriver and a blast out with some electrical contact cleaner.
 
I did this to mine which had failed - two years ago - and it is still working fine!

RE: Number-plate lamp lenses. Yes you can access the bulb holders from inside, but if you're an OCD'er like me, it means the horrible rusty screws will still be there. Besides, it's probably time that the INSIDE of the lenses need a clean, no?
 
I have a Snap-On 'easi-out' kit, designed for removing broken screws and studs.
 
I know you were fearful of this job, but trust me - I was back inside my house eating toast and drinking tea within 30 minutes of starting this job. 
 
I used my trusty little cordless drill too - with it's rather crappy and slow RPM - and it was still easy. In fact, using a drill with a slow RPM for such a tiny job is probably favourable - they're only small screws after all, and attacking them with a monster drill might well end in tears of damage anyway
 
I reckon it took me all of 30 seconds per screw to drill a small hole into the rusty screws - using a 1.5mm bit. The fact that the heads rust into oblivion gives you some idea of the chocolate nature of the fixings - so drilling into them is like drilling into butter basically. Then when I screwed the 'easi-out' bit into each screw shank, they just basically fell out. 
 
Then I was able to give the lenses a good clean (they were very grubby inside) and re-assemble both units with brand-new bulbs, a good squirt of WD40 onto the metal contacts, a smear of grease on the mating faces of the lenses, and brand-new screws, covered in Coppaslip grease, including the heads, to prevent the same thing happening later. All sorted.
 
 
 
With regard to the pain in the ass that is the plastic boot-lid inner trim...I tried the same solution as the poster above (i.e. leaving it off the car) and I found the road-noise to be unacceptable. So my solution was thus:
 
On the top edge that is closest to the bottom of the rear screen, I drilled several pairs of holes along it's length. Then I inserted a medium-sized cable tie into the first of each pair of holes. I then offered the trim to the tailgate, and looped the free-ends of the cable ties through some of the holes in the tailgate's internal metal pressing. I then ran the ends back through the second pairs of holes in the trim.
 
Once I had done that, I connected the cable ties up (inserting the free ends through the clip ends) clipped the rest of the boot trim into place, and pulled all the cable ties tight with a pair of pliers.
 
So the leading edge of the boot trim is now held tightly in place to the tailgate itself, and rattles are a distant memory.
 
Hope this helps!