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Moxey
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PostPosted: 14:09 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: MOT Horror Stories Reply with quote

Seen on the SOHC forum

https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/category/horror-stories/

Looks like a few tradesmen examples using what they have in the back of the van to make do.......
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 14:32 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a new spin on "brakes feel wooden."
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 16:56 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rogerborg wrote:
That's a new spin on "brakes feel wooden."


But is it a fail though?

There's the flipside too.

There was the MOT tester who told me I had to drill a hole in my rear wheel spindle so I could fit a split pin in it.

Another one failed my Tomos moped on leaking fork oil seals. It didn't have fork oil seals, just greased springs.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 18:05 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
Rogerborg wrote:
That's a new spin on "brakes feel wooden."


But is it a fail though?


Apparently so, according to a comment underneath
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 20:42 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Freddyfruitbat wrote:
comment underneath

Ah "illegal to use". To sell, perhaps. To use? What's the offence?

The MOT tests the performance of the brakes, not the material.

Apart from a few items (bike exhausts) it doesn't concern itself with the legality of the item, only its functionality.

Consider wooden brake shoes in a drum brake. How would they know?
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MCN
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PostPosted: 22:08 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

The MOT can be a PIA or an inconvenience but Jesus knows what sort of Ram-shacks some cnuts would drive on public roads if there was no control.

I have worked in places where even though there is a government regulation to meet no cfuker gives a shit as it is not properly enforced so the roads are crowded with moving junk yards.

But at 04:00 in the morning when you are full of ale and potato sap any taxi home is a taxi home. Wasted
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ADSrox0r
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PostPosted: 23:31 - 05 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

It can go the other way too though. Years ago I put my wife's first Ford Ka for MOT in at a chap my father in law swore was a 'trusted mechanic' and he'd do us a good price on anything cos he owed him a few favors. She'd complained of a 'funny noise' from the rear end (fnar) and I'd not followed it up before having it tested (makes me as much of a cunt if anything) It had a snapped suspension coil; he passed it. Oh really? You checked it as roadworthy did you?

I don't trust MOT testers a jot unless I know them. Apparently, the best place to have an MOT done is a council depot that takes public vehicles. They're not out to make any money out of you because they don't do servicing/follow-up so you only get the truth out of them. Well, 'truth' so long as they've checked properly.
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M.C
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PostPosted: 01:12 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

ADSrox0r wrote:
I don't trust MOT testers a jot unless I know them. Apparently, the best place to have an MOT done is a council depot that takes public vehicles. They're not out to make any money out of you because they don't do servicing/follow-up so you only get the truth out of them. Well, 'truth' so long as they've checked properly.

It's expensive (£55 I think). I don't see why somewhere like Kwik Fit would make-up work, they seem to be busy enough.
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MCN
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PostPosted: 06:47 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

M.C wrote:
I don't see why somewhere like Kwik Fit would make-up work, they seem to be busy enough.


R U Trolling us?

It depends on where you take the vehicle, who does the test, how they feel that day/at the moment/if their team won/they've had their hole that morning or not.

They usually do not pass obvious faults.

Some things obviously can be missed if the shop is busy and time limited too.
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arry
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PostPosted: 07:40 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

M.C wrote:
I don't see why somewhere like Kwik Fit would make-up work, they seem to be busy enough.


https://garagewire.co.uk/news/kwik-fit-charges-for-unnecessary-work-in-undercover-sting/
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grr666
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PostPosted: 08:41 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Fact is, these days a fair percentage of motorists don't even know how to open their bonnets, never mind have a clue
what they are looking at once under there. The younger the motorist, the worse this phenomenon is. They use warning
lights to tell them things need attention so it's not a giant leap to assume those same people will swallow any old tosh
these places tell them needs doing as they are 'professional' mechanics Confused I see the same thing in my game and regularly
witness people who can barely change a lightbulb in their own homes, never mind put up a shelf or do a bit of tiling.
They are usually a dab hand at pressing buttons though, which is probably a weak part of my own skill set.

I'm hopeless with techy things. But until they invent an app that can fit a kitchen, hang a door, fix a leak, lay a floor
change a wheel, fit a headlamp bulb, top up fluids etc, then more practical manual working people will always be
able to rinse people like them thouroughly, who can blame them? Sign of the times, although Kwik Fleece have been
at it for many years since long before the smartphone (zero life skills) revolution. Women are especially easy marks in
this aspect, as most have zero interest in anything of a practical nature throughout their lives, most of them can't even
cook any more, never mind anything else. Although I will concede they are totes awesome at photographing themselves
in a manner that makes them look slightly thinner.
How handy. Rolling Eyes
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arry
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PostPosted: 09:28 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

grr666 wrote:
Fact is, these days a fair percentage of motorists don't even know how to open their bonnets, never mind have a clue
what they are looking at once under there. The younger the motorist, the worse this phenomenon is.


Agree with everything except the age bit to an extent. It's swinging back a bit now since the younger generation struggle to afford motoring. 15 years ago kids had daddy buy them their first car and then when that got a little bit old (6 years lol) they'd go off and use it as a deposit on PCP.

I think what worries me most is the lack of basic mechanical understanding and the fact they can't feel when something is wrong with the car. Got into a work colleagues car the other week and said to her 'you do realise your rear wheel bearings are knackered don't you' - of course he didn't. The bloody racket they were making was insane.
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Holdawayt
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PostPosted: 10:34 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

It's frightening how many young people haven't a shred of mechanical knowledge or sympathy.

I'm 25 and my dad brought me up around classic car and bike restorations so I've naturally picked it up as I go along. I've been in cars that are pulling so far to the left if you let go of the wheel you'd be in the kerb before you know it. One lad had a rear wheel bearing (on a KA funnily enough) so bad that the wheel almost came off. Others have no idea how to change a wheel in the event of a puncture.

They should probably teach it at school like the yanks. More useful to a 17 year old than algebra or trigonometry.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 10:35 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Tyhere are also a fair proportion of people who couldn't give a shit about a car.

I'm among them. I'll ignore a huge number of funny noises and weird running things and just keep driving it. I wore the brake piston right out of a car a couple of years back by serially ignoring the metal graunching noise. It also had a steel brake line rust through and rupture resulting in catastrophic brake failure. I'd have expected the second to have been picked up at an annual MOT before that happened?

I also have a mate who is a motorcycle mechanic by trade and a motorcycle MOT tester. He pulled into his yard the other day and the whole nearside front wheel, with hub attached, fell off his van having rusted through.

I'm not rolling about on the ground under a fucking car. It goes for an annual service and and MOT when necessary and it gets fluids when either a light comes on or I can't see out of the windscreen. It gets the tyres checked when it seems a bit splashier than normal in corners.

There are also a fair proportion of cars where you CANT do anything. You need a special tool to open the bonnet on some. It's the job of the guys doing the servicing to sort this shit out but alla they actually do is suck the old oil out through the dipstick and put fresh stuff in. The callipers on my last van were so seized, they had to be destructively removed. I'd consider it the job of whoever had the wheel off to change the tyres to at least look at the fucking thing.
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 11:55 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

arry wrote:
Got into a work colleagues car the other week and said to her 'you do realise your rear wheel bearings are knackered don't you' - of course he didn't.

That's nothing, apparently you couldn't even tell what sex the driver was Cool
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 11:56 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Mmm, I'm just about done with wrestling with modern cars.

I went to change the pads and discs on my Zafirea only to discover that unless you have it up on a ramp or are prepared to disassemble most of the front end, you can forget having enough access to remove the caliper bolts (lulz at YouTube videos showing them easily winding out), let alone have the discs off.

There's an EML on which I determined was a temperature sensor, then promptly ignored. It gets reset before each MOT. SRS light got reset without a second thought.

They get tyres, oil and filters, I even did the plugs on the Zafirea, but beyond that, not one penny more than the MOT turns up. They're not my pride and joy, and I'm happy to let their multiply redundant (and expensively failure-prone) safety systems look after me.
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Freddyfruitba...
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PostPosted: 11:57 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

grr666 wrote:
The younger the motorist, the worse this phenomenon is. They use warning lights to tell them things need attention

Yeah - as in "Dad, there's this red light on the dashboard, can you fix it? it's been annoying me for ages" BTDTGTTS Rolling Eyes
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King29
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PostPosted: 12:27 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've an old Polo. No power steering, no airbag, no eml to worry about. Just keeps plodding on. Easy mot pass each time.
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 12:44 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

I changed a lightbulb on the wifes car at the weekend.

Had to jack it up, take the wheel out and remove the wheel arch card to get at it.

The only reason I did it is the last two garages it's been taken to for a new bulb didn't do this, they somehow enviegaled it in via the bonnet.

The first one didn't get the back cover on properly and landed up with a steamed up light unit. The second one did something that blew the lighting fuse and relay on his first attempt (I assume he tried to connect it with the headlamp switch on and grounded the wire to the chassis). That's the one I just had to replace again, 2 months later so presumably he also touched the glass of the bulb.

So. In many ways, garages are their own worst enemy and that's at least in part why this kind of shit happens.

If I put a car into ANY garage, I would have no confidence at all that the job it was in for would be done at all or done properly. So pay a fortune for someone to fuck a job up, bodge it yourself of ignore the funny noise/flashy light? Only one of these costs you anything up-front.

There was a thread a while back about a lass who bought a new corsa and just drove it. It got tyres, fuel and screenwash, nothing else. It finally shat itself at 85k miles, cambelt, lunched top-end. I worked out she was about £500 up after replacing the engine with a recon one compared to having it serviced from new.

Makes you wonder how long it would have lasted if someone had thrown a new cambelt at it at 50k?
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I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.
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RhynoCZ
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PostPosted: 13:02 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
I changed a lightbulb on the wifes car at the weekend.

Had to jack it up, take the wheel out and remove the wheel arch card to get at it.


What car? Thinking
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stinkwheel
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PostPosted: 13:06 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

RhynoCZ wrote:


What car? Thinking


Daihatsu Copen.
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arry
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PostPosted: 13:42 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Freddyfruitbat wrote:

That's nothing, apparently you couldn't even tell what sex the driver was Cool



Did you just assume gender? Shocked


(Stupid autocorrect...).
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RhynoCZ
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PostPosted: 13:51 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

stinkwheel wrote:
RhynoCZ wrote:


What car? Thinking


Daihatsu Copen.


I was going to give you a lecture on how to change the light bulb without taking the wheel off, but I've got nothing. Crying or Very sad Laughing

Would removing the headlight help? Many modern cars require you to remove the lights to change the bulbs. Even the tail lights (PSA cars, for instance). Taking the wheel off seems a bit excessive.
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Monkeywrenche...
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PostPosted: 15:51 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rogerborg wrote:

The MOT tests the performance of the brakes, not the material.

Apart from a few items (bike exhausts) it doesn't concern itself with the legality of the item, only its functionality.

Consider wooden brake shoes in a drum brake. How would they know?


There's a specific failure for "inappropriately repaired or modified" on the brake pads, now we can argue semantics but it's pretty easy to see wooden friction material added to an old pad back as not being an appropriate repair/modification.
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Rogerborg
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PostPosted: 16:53 - 06 Dec 2017    Post subject: Reply with quote

Monkeywrencher wrote:
There's a specific failure for "inappropriately repaired or modified" on the brake pads

Is there?


Monkeywrencher wrote:
now we can argue semantics

Awesome, let's do that.

What does the (motorcycle) MOT manual actually list as reasons for failure of brake pads?
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Old Thread Alert!

The last post was made 6 years, 113 days ago. Instead of replying here, would creating a new thread be more useful?
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