MOT Question

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

The mind boggles at how worn a rack and pinion set would have to be to get 3" play!

If you ask around you should be able to find a good local garage, word of mouth is the best form of advertising. The one near me lets me watch the MOT (on a Saturday when they are not too busy) and it's a good optintunity to have a look under the car to see it's condition, and also see what is tested first hand.

Last MOT she failed on brake discs, the inside surfaces were bits were missing and were rusty, the outsides were perfect so you didn't notice it from outside the car, pads were OK, no arguments there. New discs and pads fixed my wheel wobble as well. I had put it down to out of balance wheels!

I happen to think the MOT is the best bit of automotive legislation this country has. Most things are fair, apart from the emissions which isn't a safety issue IMHO.

If you ask the MOT guy to show you why it's failed they usually will.My guy knows I will fix all the bits myself (the garage is busy anyway so he isn't desperate for the work!) unless I am very busy when the 30quid / hour labour isn't too bad.

Keep well,

Will

Ever tried a DIRAVI car (eg CX) with the engine off? (ok, strictly speaking it isn't r+p while running).

cheers, clive

Loose universal joint on the column?

The message from "Dave Plowman (News)" contains these words:

I had a whole loose rack once - on a motorway in a Morris 1100. We'd forgotten to tighten up the U-bolts which secured the rack to the bulkhead and when we hit 65ish the whole thing started to shimmy. Luckily I had the socket-set underfoot and was able to peel back the carpet and tighten up my side while Peter carried on driving. Did the other side later when we stopped IIRC.

Of course - I'm older, wiser, more responsible and anyway not flexible enough to get into the footwell of a moving car these days.