Today's MOT...

[Steve Medlock]

Although my last MOT lasted almost 18 months, I've only done 1600 miles so wasn't expecting much change from last time. My neighbour saw me yesterday checking things over and when I said I was going to a new garage for an MOT, he said something like, 'I don't go there any more - they're far too picky'. OK, I thought, I probably don't mind that too much - as long as they give me a pass of course!

Anyway, it took and hour and a half which surprised me as its usually done and dusted in just under an hour. I was then payed the biggest negative compliment I can recall......'Do you have any spanners at home?' . I played it cool though 'Er yes I do'. 'Well I think we can trust you to look at this when you get home'.

I didn't read the advisories there and then but when I got home there were a couple of strange ones:

Noisier than similar vehicle fitted with standard silencer in average condition - Never had that before!

Near to excessive parking brake lever travel - This one floored me as I've recently adjusted it. the book says 6 clicks and just able to turn the wheels. I checked it at home and six clicks engages both drum brakes. If you heave on the lever, you can just get 7 but absolutely no more. It wouldn't take 10 mins to adjust it to say 4 clicks, but 6 clicks appears to be by the book.

Front coil spring is rusty - Its a 4 year old Bilstein unit. All the suspension parts seem to acquire a surface rust coating almost immediately after fitting.

Front sub frame and other under body components are rusty - As above. Makes it sound like my car is a complete rust bucket whereas its pretty good for a 22 year old car!

So, good MOT or bad MOT?

Steve.

 

[bertiejaffa]

sounds picky to me - maybe they have been done in the past and therefore go OTT incase the inspector comes round again.

 

[t-tony]

Mostly useless advisory comments Steve, as you say puts shade on your car for no good reason. If there was only 6 clicks on the parking brake that’s totally unjustified. Probably a “new” tester on the scheme.

Tony.

 

[DavidM]

You got a pass - great! Next time change garage again.

 

[Paul Rice]

Its good it got a pass but with the internet will always show these advisories as a negative to any future buyer.

 

[Steve Medlock]

You got a pass - great! Next time change garage again.

Yes - objective achieved. (Checking the paperwork, I also got a fail before the pass) I'm not encouraged to use them again for anything.

 

[Woodsta888]

If you can find one, best to use an MOT station that ONLY does MOT's and won't benefit from any work required. Shortening the times you had to fix things previously almost ties you to a garage. What is it now, 10 days or 8 working days if you get it tested on a Monday or 6 days if tested on a friday.

I have a Collins DIY manual from the 90's - shows you how to do loads of things like wire in a consumer unit for electrics. Now I think a DIY manual only has how to wore a plug under the electrics section......... H&S n all that. (Not actually looked). Maybe swap a socket too.

 

[t-tony]

It is 10 working days. Saturdays and Bank Holidays do not count.

Tony.

 

[Bonzeau]

One tester was foxed by the speed related intermittent wiper setting. The w/shop manager, a chum of mine who had a Z3 at the time put him straight!

all, and merry Christmas.

Bonzo.

 

[t-tony]

As long as there is one position where the wipers work consistently any speed variation or int. wipe function is irrelevant.

Tony.

 

[Nodzed]

Totally out of order I would say, some of these guys don't know their arse from their elbow. I took the daughters 320 for an MOT at her local station some years ago and the hazards had been set to double flash, they failed it as indicators should not flash more than 120 times a minute, I asked if they had counted the flashes as I had in the carpark and they were 90 times a minute so I told them to reissue the MOT as their finding was incorrect, which they refused to do, took it to my man and said nothing, he passed it I mentioned it after the cert was in my hand and he said they were fine they were under the 120 flashes per minute, he counted! The guy that does all my MOTs is the garage owner and been in the business donkey years and his reputation locally is outstanding. He builds his own race cars and drives them himself so I think he is a pretty good judge of what's good and bad and I consider myself lucky to have access to him. He may mention certain things he thinks I need to keep an eye on such as a bit of corrosion starting on brake lines but not to a point of being advisories (what he is saying is next year he will put an advisory if its worse and giving me the heads up) as he knows I tinker, and because of that I listen to him and by next MOT they are usually sorted, but he would not put them as advisories unless necessary and it was justified. Plus he is very complimentary about how I keep my cars. Lets be honest most of our 20 year Zeds have a bit of corrosion somewhere don't they? Why is it so difficult around the country to find fair and consistent MOT station after all we would all want to be told if there was anything wrong with our cars that was dangerous and illegal and I'm sure appreciate the advice, but the sort of crap that usually gets put on as advisories is neither helpful or justified.

 

[t-tony]

Totally out of order I would say, some of these guys don't know their arse from their elbow. I took the daughters 320 for an MOT at her local station some years ago and the hazards had been set to double flash, they failed it as indicators should not flash more than 120 times a minute, I asked if they had counted the flashes as I had in the carpark and they were 90 times a minute so I told them to reissue the MOT as their finding was incorrect, which they refused to do, took it to my man and said nothing, he passed it I mentioned it after the cert was in my hand and he said they were fine they were under the 120 flashes per minute, he counted! The guy that does all my MOTs is the garage owner and been in the business donkey years and his reputation locally is outstanding. He builds his own race cars and drives them himself so I think he is a pretty good judge of what's good and bad and I consider myself lucky to have access to him. He may mention certain things he thinks I need to keep an eye on such as a bit of corrosion starting on brake lines but not to a point of being advisories (what he is saying is next year he will put an advisory if its worse and giving me the heads up) as he knows I tinker, and because of that I listen to him and by next MOT they are usually sorted, but he would not put them as advisories unless necessary and it was justified. Plus he is very complimentary about how I keep my cars. Lets be honest most of our 20 year Zeds have a bit of corrosion somewhere don't they? Why is it so difficult around the country to find fair and consistent MOT station after all we would all want to be told if there was anything wrong with our cars that was dangerous and illegal and I'm sure appreciate the advice, but the sort of crap that usually gets put on as advisories is neither helpful or justified.

Spot on Niall. Sadly though there some who look upon an enthusiasts car as a challenge to pick spots off and to “find” something wrong with them Just because they can. But many don’t even know what they are doing in the first place.

Tony.

 

[Bampz]

My daily is a Hyundai I30 , 2010 diesel great little car never been a problem and only advisor in 10 years was rear tyres close to legal limit 3.5 mm , this year failed on rusty rear trailing arm , advisory on corrosion on rear sub frame , and corrosion on tow bar frame , commented if tow bar ball was fitted it would have been on the fail list as well , I said to guy doing the mot how come it's gone from no problem to rusty in 12 months he said think yourself lucky yours can be sorted those over there are all going to be scrapped it was four cars which didn't look to bad but all failed on corrosion , but of a pattern going on here , anyway changed rear trailing arm £120 , removed tow bar (which only has surface rust ) car passed no advisories

 

[t-tony]

Was the trailing corroded to the point of being excessively weakened or holed by the corrosion? Would like to see a picture if you have one.

Tony.

 

[Bampz]

There was a very small hole to be fair , sorry no pics , the guy had been tapping away with his little hammer at the time , this could well have been a good call but it's strange how corrosion seem to be the main issues now

 

[137699]

Most councils now run their own MOT testing facility. I have used our local council run place in Andover for the past 5 years.
Because they only do MOTs, they have no incentive to be picky or "find" work that needs doing and as a result I have not had a vehicle fail in 5 years now (and as I run 5 in the fleet - all of MOTable age - that's impressive).

Not only that, but they only charge £40 a test too....

Well worth hunting our your local council run place for future.

 

[t-tony]

Most councils run centres to test their own vehicles, not many do public vehicles sadly. Personally I think vehicle testing should be done by stand alone test centres (as do HGV) where there is no room for profit before quality.

Tony.

 

[DrWong]

Yep, big thumbs up for council test centres from me. I've used Newcastle's for four years now and always found them incredibly fair. Plus, they also always seem genuinely happy to be testing civilian vehicles, particularly older stuff like a Z3 that's evidently been cared for. Probably because a lot of their stock in trade is blagging taxi drivers who seem to despise the testers with a passion. When I chat to taxi drivers in the waiting area, they're always bemused why I'd take my own car there haha

 

[t-tony]

Don't talk to me about Taxi owner/drivers, a breed apart they are for sure. When you do an MOT on a Taxi, along side of that you have to do a Taxi test too and although most things are covered twice quite a few are not and they expect you do both for the price of one.

Tony.

 

[137699]

Most councils run centres to test their own vehicles, not many do public vehicles sadly. Personally I think vehicle testing should be done by stand alone test centres (as do HGV) where there is no room for profit before quality.

Tony.

In my experience most councils now do run public testing - you usually just have to search your local council's website to find it as it's not that well advertised.

As Dr Wong says, mine are also really friendly and always have a chat about my cars with me. They particularly like my son's 2008 Ford Ka and are constantly telling me I should put it away as it's going to be worth something! Apparently they have not seen a Ka that clean with zero rust on it in about 10 years!