Had a telephone call tonight from a mechanic friend, it appeared he had recurring problems with an independent, the problems were:

Front drive shafts uj's were wearing out extremely quickly, despite the fact that Daihatsu parts were fitted to try to remedy the situation.

Brakes were poor on a monday morning, after the fronts were bled, they were ok for the rest of the week.

After a thorough interrogation of the owner, i concluded that the problem was water ingress, this promoted rapid wear; the vehicle is used considerably off road, in 4 wheel drive and gets extremely dirty.

Following the removal of one gaiter it was obvious from the mush in the joint that my conclusions were indeed correct, this led to an even more intense interrogation, following this, we bled the front brakes, after letting the old brake fluid settle we could see the water globules in the fluid.

Finding the cause, i asked when the problems had started, he said february 2007, and i asked if he had a jet wash for christmes to which he replied yes, and went home in his wifes car to fetch it. this was a standard 1500psi output, and he said instead of using his hosepipe to clean the underside of the vehicle every Sunday afternoon, he now jet washed it.

Jet washing components such as drive shaft or steering boots, front wheels/disc brakes, and steering joints with rubber boots on them is not recommended, direct blasting of these components forces water past the clips and into the components causing premature or accelerated wear. In addition to this, blasting the underside of the vehicle will blast off underseal, or force water behind poor areas of underbody protection, and past the front brake caliper seals, into the brake fluid.

The solution, do not jet wash, when the vehicle is wet underneath, use a standard hosepipe jet, wet mud is easily removed with a standard hose, and does not generate enough pressure to force water into components.

A WARNING TO US ALL - Old Betsy is now in the garage to have all the defective components replaced, and she should return to her old utterly reliable self.