MOT anomonalies

Firstly, car is a Toyota Avensis 2.0 2001 model going in for its second MOT (3 months early)....

Took my car for an MOT last Wednesday (5/1/05) to *** in Leeds. *** are a similar sort of operation to Motosave and Kwik-Fit, generally supply and fit parts cheaply (name is *'d as I don't want to be accused of slating them unnessarily). I don't think that had a bearing on the outcome of the MOT to be perfectly honest but I digress.....

MOT bloke does the usual MOT stuff but seems to be spending a lot of time studying the braking effiency of my front wheels. Eventually, he consulted his MOT testers manual and called me over. He basically said that my front brakes were out of balance by 32%, the maximum permissible being 25%. However, it wasn't this that worried him. He pointed to the MOT testers manual and explained that my footbrake was creeping. Basically, he'd kept his foot on the brake for an extended period of time and the pedal sunk down a little. Now I've experienced this myself when braking for a long period of time down a steep incline and assumed that this was quite normal with 'assisted braking'. He even went as far as citing the brakes as a 'Dangerous' fail.

I asked him what the remedy was. Firstly, he suggested that whoever had recently replaced the front pads (Motosave actually) had pushed the pistons back too fast and introduced air into the system so a brake bleed was necessary. Bullshit in my opinion but I kept schtumm. He then suggested that I would need new disks and pads. One lenghty phone call later I was given a slip of paper with the price of new front disks and pads, £250! I declined the offer and went home smarting from the shock of it!

I went to work Thursday morning and asked the missus to phone the local garage just around the corner to see if they could do me an MOT that day. Much to my surprise they could, just drop it off at 2pm on my way home from work, great. Dropped it off as promised, walked the short distance home. Phone rings at 2.45pm, "Hi, you can come and collect your car". I walk back round to the garage.....

"What's it failed on?" I ask. "Nothing, it's fine" was the response. "Do I need to pay attention to anything in the coming months?"... "No, everything is spot on".

Frankly, I only took it for the 2nd MOT because I was absolutely certain that the brakes were spot on, I know I could stand on the brake pedal at

90mph with no hands on the steering wheel and it'll stop without the slightest twitch in any direction other than straight on but my gamble paid off. It's cost me two MOT's instead of one but still far cheaper than what it would've cost had I stuck with the first garage.

I dare say a lot of people would've just accepted the first verdict and spent lots of money and I'm sure some will reply that I know bugger all about cars and my brakes really are shot but I know damned well that my brakes work properly! It's just so bloody annoying that certain aspects of the MOT test are still open to massive interpretation.

Reply to
Dave
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I can't comment on the braless as I wasn't there, but why not get a form vt17 and appeal the failure. You have very little to lose and would at least gain satisfaction if you are right and be shown the problem if you are wrong.

mrcheerful

Reply to
mrcheerful

Has the name of the place got three letters in it? any clues? :O)

Reply to
Mr Jolly

I agree with you that it is vague but who says the second tester was right?

Bearing in mind the car is still in warranty, why not ask a Toyota dealer to testdrive it for a second opinion?

They would want to charge for repair work if they find someothing wrong (as you have non-genuine pads) but you can decide once they give you a report.

Alan

Reply to
Alan

I can assure you it's not a normal feature of servo brakes. Once the system is under pressure, as when braking, the pedal should not sink down any further. Assuming the hydraulics are OK, I can only think of one cause, and that would be a slow reacting servo.

I've never come across this as a fault, but if the servo vacuum pipe was restricted in some way, I would assume this could slow down it's action.

Maybe the pedal action is normal for your car, but if it were mine, I'd certainly want to know the reason for it, if only to satisfy myself it was nothing to worry about.. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

The message from "Mike G" contains these words:

Can be - with diesels.

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Reply to
Guy King

I bet they saw you coming. I bet some places decide what's wrong with your car before they've looked at it. Next time leave your haynes manual and a few oily rags / tools lying about then they'll know not to mess ! Simon

Reply to
srp

Sooner than going through complaints procedure, you might try returning to the ripoff place with your MoT and demand the money back. If they refuse, start the procedure. (And report them anyway, whatever the outcome). DaveK.

Reply to
davek

the pedal sunk down

Just a point here,- Never descend a long steep hill with your brakes on continuously. Brake fade is inevitable and you might lose them altogether. The discs can get red hot and destroy the pads, apart from the possibility of boiling the brake fluid. It's why roadsigns in the mountains of France order "Use engine Braking" on long descents. DaveK.

Reply to
davek

The message from "davek" contains these words:

And in some parts of the UK, too. "Low Gear Now" they say, IIRC.

Reply to
Guy King

Did you notice this on the dials when he was testing them? I always watch this part.

It's not normal. The servo adds a constant pressure proportional to the pressure from your foot. If you keep that pressure constant, the pedal shouldn't move down further after the initial movement. The likely cause - if there's no leak - is a faulty master cylinder allowing fluid past the first seal, but not to leak to the outside.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Seems a bit stupid if the pump can exceed the pressure that the hydraulic system can take without seals leaking.

Surely a relief valve could be fitted to keep the pumps vacuum within a safe limit for the hydraulics.

Things for use by the general public should be as idiot proof as possible. Come to think of it, the same could apply to many professionals. :-) Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

It was somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "mrcheerful ." saying something like:

*Quality* typo.
Reply to
Grimly Curmudgeon

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