Time flies like an arrow but fruit flies, like a banana.

Tempus does indeed fugit when you are busy with work. And in this post I have a few things to share including one or two problems and some ideas.

Early last week I had to travel to London. For me this is a roughly 460 mile trip, parking in Harrow and getting the Tube to my final destination. As luck would have it, or not, as the case may be; I couldn't use my usual general purpose car and so instead decided to take the Bentley.

Overall this turned out to be a very pleasant experience and she returned 20mpg, my best consumption yet. However, the trip was not without incident when, in slow moving traffic, about half way down to London, I could hear a rotational scraping noise. There were no warning lights and all seemed OK, but the noise was definitely there. Given that I had just decided to pull in for a quick coffee, stopping was no hassle and on stopping and checking the car - rotational = wheels so not that difficult to check. I notice that my rear discs looked in poor shape (see pic). They were also quite hot to the touch, but not overly so. However, enough for me to realise that the visual and aural clues seemed to indicate that the brake calipers were sticking. As it turned out, on resuming my journey, once up to speed the issue was resolved as the calipers are obviously freeing off, and sticking again when the brakes are applied. I carried on...

On the way back the noise was still there at low speeds and once on the motorway I got two warning lights - the traction control disengaged light and the ABS warning light has both come on. Brakes were working fine and given that I don't drive hard, I could live with not having these for the remaining 150 miles.

Back home another check showed that the pads have plenty of meat on them and the discs have seen better days. A post on one of the Bentley Facebook groups brought several views including use the car more! I can't use it much more - it gets used all the time. I sometimes have to use my hack of a Ford just so that it gets a run!

Anyway, following a conversation earlier in the month with John and Bowling-Ryan and getting her booked in for the windows to be fettled and a few other bits (fuel pump not pumping enough fuel under load - see previous post) I have have added the brakes to the list. Hopefully the warning lights are simply the sensor, which might have got too hot - not sure. Either way John and his band of merry mechanics will sort it, I am sure.

Apart from those shenanigans, which I believe will be resolved, we have our first wedding of the year booked in and looking forward to being a part of someone's joyful day.

Report to follow once the old girl is back from Bowling-Ryan. She's going in on Monday next week. Keep your fingers crossed for me!