MOT tester woes

Took the Focus for an MOT last week. Turned out one of the front springs was broken. No biggie. Ordered a new one off Ebay and fitted it in a couple of hours. The advisories I got were mental though. Tread depth on my digital verniers, 3.50mm front, 4.00 rear. I got an advisory for worn tyres even though all of them are over twice the legal limit. Drivers door window not operative after I told him it wasn't in case he wanted to get a readout for the brake or emissions tester inside the car. It isn't part of the MOT test. Rear seat not latching up. I went back and tried it and it latched up just fine. "I mustn't have slammed it shut as hard as you did" he said. Oil mist on the power steering pump. There's a tiny leak from the cam cover just above it. Nothing wrong with the pump itself at all.

Exhaust system flexible joint in poor condition. My MOT tester mate just checked everything out and it's perfect. No leaks. No problems.

Fuck's sake.

Reply to
Dave Baker
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Apart from the obvious suggestion that if it was a general garage he was after the work, testers are tending to list everything that is not 100% as an advisory now. It tends to reduce the pressure if the ministry stop you on the way out and do a re-test.

Bear in mind also that the only attention some cars get is at MOT time, so tyres that are a pass now may well get ignored for 12 months.

Chris

Reply to
Chris Whelan

Or, to put it another way, tyres that were about 2/3-3/4 of the way between new and illegal.

If it was, he'd have failed it.

So it did need a fair ol' slam? In which case, why submit it for the test

- in which he needs to have it upright to check that it's secure and the belts are good - folded?

Advisories are just things that he can't/hasn't failed the car on, but he thinks need bringing to the driver's attention, or which he feels the need to cover his arse on. No more, no less.

People mutter about advisories saying "Engine bay has undertray" - then you see pics of stuff where the subframe's rotted almost completely through, unseen, because the undertray blocks the rot from view until it's too late.

Reply to
Adrian

I am surprised the advisaries are not recorded on a car by car database for the next mot.

Reply to
critcher

The test station can look up advisories, but in my experience does not.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

How many people would have just rolled over ad had all the 'work' done .

A similar issue happened whe my eldest daughter took her car in to be fixed (coil pack started playing up), sharp intake of breath this is gonna be expensive luv comes out with a quote for nearly £1500,

Her reponse was along the lines of just because i aint got balls don't mean i don't now whats wrong with it now give me a proper price to fix it, her partners a mechanic and both are petrol head so she's pretty switched on

In the end she went elseware £145.00 including parts

Reply to
steve robinson

Yet neither of 'em could swap a coil pack?

Reply to
Adrian

Both could, however she was no where near home, on the way to a meeting with clients so wasnt suitably dressed.

Reply to
steve robinson

They failed my car because they said the was a cut in the rear tyre. However, I didn't see no cut and tyres had plenty of thread.

Tyre shop said there were no cut, but the tyres were a bit old, some small cracks as you often see on old tyres. I didn't think it was a problem, but changed the tyres anyway.

Reply to
johannes

On some makes it's recommended you change all the coils if one fails.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Yes, it's a coil *pack* or ignition cassette.

Reply to
johannes

Some cars have multiple coil packs, mercedes for example.

Reply to
Mrcheerful

No, approx 1/2 to 2/3 worn and anyway so what? The test is about whether a car fails on the day not at some indeterminate point in the future and the tyres are fine for many thousands of miles. At my average 25,000 life on the front and 55,000 on the rear those tyres with 7mm as-new tread depth are still legal for a calculated 9000 miles front and 24,000 rear. At my average

3500 miles a year that's a hell of a long time.

As it isn't it's not even a bloody advisory!

No it didn't need a slam and never has! I've just been out and rechecked it five times. You can push it back upright, give a light press and it latches perfectly. It was just his way of saying "my bad, I tried it on but you caught me". That would have been a fail if I'd let him get away with it. He deleted it from the list after I set him straight.

Reply to
Dave Baker

A coil something - pretty sure it was 'pack' - went on my SEAT. Well out of 3 year warranty, but SEAT replaced FOC as it was a manufacturer's fault. They only replaced one of the four though.

Reply to
RJH

9mm new - 1.6mm illegal = 7.4mm usable. You've got 1.9-2.4mm, 25%-32% left of it.

If you go by the "use until illegal" theory, of course. Change 'em at

2mm, and there's as little as 20% left.

Correct. And the advisories are for anything else the tester thinks you should be aware of.

I don't remember ever being asked that on a test before. And, no, just comparing last year's mileage doesn't mean a bloody thing. In the last month and a half, the Landy's done more mileage than the total between the last three MOTs.

If he thinks he should make you aware of it, it's an advisory. That's the whole point of advisories, and

Reply to
Adrian

It depends on the vehicle you drive, some are separate others are in a pack

Reply to
steve robinson

Trouble is advisories ought to be useful. Low tyres - might want to consider new ones before next year. Slight play - consider getting new balljoints. Slight corrosion - get some paint on it. etc.

The such & such hidden by tray is just too open ended to be helpful. There may as well be one that says "Can't see inside chassis rails" or "bodywork hidden by underseal". Mind you, if I think of it next to "Warning contains nuts" and "Slippery when wet" it seems perfectly normal.

Reply to
Scott M

No. As I've already told you. The average new tread depth for a car road tyre is 7mm. Nothing I've ever seen has 9mm at the sort of sizes of my

205/50/16s.
Reply to
Dave Baker

Packs come in all sorts. Cassette means nothing.

There can also be a vast difference between genuine ones and aftermarket.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Old saabs have the ignition cassette with 4 coils. It is well known among saabsters that although it last a long time, it can fail without prior warning or symptoms (sudden death). Some carry a spare one in the boot. The cassette leads a hard life with vibrations and heat on top of engine, so eventually it goes.

Reply to
johannes

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