Most comprehensive MOT phails evah?

[sierraman]

Tell us the worst MOT fails you've had, either in condition or numeracy of fails?

[Hendry]

This is my worst ever, first car and first ever MOT test, never beaten it since!

 

Test date14 June 2006 Test ResultFail Odometer reading57,937 miles MOT test number6119 6516 6126 Reason(s) for failure

Nearside Stop lamp not working (1.2.1b)

Offside Headlamp insecure (1.7.3)

Offside Front Direction indicator not working (1.4.A.2c)

Nearside Headlamp aim too low when the centre of the headlamp is below 850mm from the ground (1.6.B2)

Offside Headlamp aim too low when the centre of the headlamp is above 850mm from the ground (1.6.B3)

Offside Rear coil spring fractured (2.4.C.1a)

Offside Rear Tyre(s) incorrect because different size tyres are fitted on the same axle. (4.1.A.1a)

Nearside Front Brake pipe excessively corroded (3.6.B.2c)

Steering wheel retaining device insecure (2.1.6)

Parking brake lever, pawl mechanism pivots or their associated mountings are insecure (3.1.4b)

Advisory notice item(s)

Offside Rear Seat belt damaged but not affecting the operation of the belt (5.2.2a)

Nearside Front Seat belt damaged but not affecting the operation of the belt (5.2.2a)

some play in nearside track rod end † †slight leak offside rear shocker † † †

 

Other than that I don't think I've ever had a car fail on me whilst I've owned it, it may have before I owned it and definitely after I'd got rid, actually no scrap that, 1 other failure for a wheel bearing and a top mount on an 85k mile 8 year old Astra G. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th car I got rid of before an MOT was due but pretty sure they would've passed, just got bored, Car after that was too new to need an MOT during my ownership, Car after that was aforementioned Astra which did fail its MOT before I bought it from the dealer, discs and pads, wiped blades and handbrake cables. Astra after that failed when I bought from the dealer needing a new droplink or a bush or something but never failed a test I took it for. Car after that never failed one either to my knowledge, and the car after that was again too new to need an MOT in my ownership, the one I have now could be a fail, diesel cheating emissions modern VAG with 150k, ex taxi, ex hire car, ex caravan tow car, but the amount of work I've just done recently and all the work done before I got it, it had better not fail on anything more than stuff like droplinks, track rod ends, bushes etc.

[Mr A Lawrence]

2001 me and the then soon to be wife rebuilt an old cbr600 around a new frame as the old frame was cracked when I binned it.

 

We thought we'd done a good job so I rode it to our local bike shop for mot.

 

This journey involved a short 1 mile blast on the M53.

 

They took the bike in and after about half an hour the guy came out and asked if I'd ridden this here.

 

I said yes, down the motorway.

 

He said, to quote his exact words, "you must have bollocks of steel and there's no way in this world your riding it away!"

 

The numerous fails included........

 

Worn headstock bearings

Insecure bodywork

Binding brakes

Worn tyres

Various bulbs not working

Worn chain and sprocket

 

It cost us around £500 for all the work doing.

[Junkman]

Stupid question amnesty, please.

 

Why would anyone with half a brain take some hopeless shitpiles like this to an MoT test?

[DodgeRover]

2001 me and the then soon to be wife rebuilt an old cbr600 around a new frame as the old frame was cracked when I binned it.

 

We thought we'd done a good job so I rode it to our local bike shop for mot.

 

This journey involved a short 1 mile blast on the M53.

 

They took the bike in and after about half an hour the guy came out and asked if I'd ridden this here.

 

I said yes, down the motorway.

 

He said, to quote his exact words, "you must have bollocks of steel and there's no way in this world your riding it away!"

 

The numerous fails included........

 

Worn headstock bearings

Insecure bodywork

Binding brakes

Worn tyres

Various bulbs not working

Worn chain and sprocket

 

It cost us around £500 for all the work doing.

 

How could you not know about that lot if you had rebuilt it?

PS Theres no way an MOT place can stop you driving/ riding away no matter what they may say.

[sierraman]

It's a bit of a grey area, if you had a valid mot still to run you can drive after it failing a subsequent test if the last mot has time to run. If you had an accident though you would be up shit creek as it had been drawn to your attention the car had serious safety defects but you continued to use it.

[Shep Shepherd]

My worst MOT fail in 17 years of car ownership has been a defective rear fog light on The Volvo in 2014, which was caused by a loose bulb holder and was fixed in seconds.

[Bren]

I sold a 1300e escort to my cousin - it had been stood on my drive after fitting new wings and having the worst respray ever in red ultraspeed - there were dead flies stuck to it.

My cousin put it in for an MOT - tester stopped after five minutes and said " If I stop now I wont charge you".

It was like a ryvita that had been painted red.

He set fire to it doing the welding.

[Asimo]

'69 Beetle - Brake light switch bursting during the test resulting in zero brakes and a gentle drive home on the (very effective) handbrake.

 

Re-test failed because of rust to sills and rear inner wings.

[Dan the van]

A former employer of mine was heavily into Mini's.Hadn't got a clue mind you,I did all the work.Anyway,presents me with a very shabby looking Mini 25 one morning and says ' pop it in for an mot and see what it fails on'.Of I duly go to local mot place,drop it off and sit in waiting room.Few moments later I can hear laughter,then a tap on the window and chap beckoning me to come round.Points at Mini and says 'take it away and don't bring it back'.We broke that one for parts.....

[greengartside]

From the knackered Zafira I bought a few months back...

 

• 6 January 2017
• Test Result Fail
• Odometer reading 134,964 miles
• MOT test number 3689 7143 8470
• Reason(s) for failure
  
  Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)

  Rear Brakes imbalanced across an axle Axle 2 (3.7.B.5b)

  Offside Headlamp aim too far to the right adjuster rounded out (1.

  Nearside Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3)

  Offside Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3)

  Nearside rear brake binding (3.7.B.1)

  Brake fluid warning lamp illuminated (3.6.G.2)

  Nearside Front Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (3.6.B.4e)

  Offside Front Brake hose ferrule excessively corroded (3.6.B.4e)

  Nearside Front Brake pipe leaking (3.6.A.1)

  Nearside Front Brake pipe excessively corroded (3.6.B.2c)

  Offside Rear Hydraulic brake cylinder leaking hydraulic fluid (3.6.A.1)

  Nearside Front coil spring broken (2.4.C.1a)

  Nearside Front wheel bearing has excessive play (2.5.A.3c)

  Nearside Lower Front suspension ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.4.G.2)

  Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content at idle excessive (7.3.D.4)

  Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.3)

  Brake hydraulic reservoir fluid level below minimum level (3.6.G.1b)
• Advisory notice item(s)
  
  Nearside Front brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)

  Offside Front brake disc worn, pitted or scored, but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)

  Power steering fluid level low, but not below minimum (2.3.1)

  Oil leak from engine ()

[strangeangel]

Why would anyone with half a brain take some hopeless shitpiles like this to an MoT test?

 

In my younger years, when I practised Bangernomics, I would often present cars for an MOT knowing they would fail. All I wanted was to see how much £££/effort I would have to expend to get another year's use.

 

If the fail sheet looked expensive, the car got bridged, and some other pile of shite was bought instead.

[Ben_O]

I took a vectra B in once and whilst the tester was running it a high revs to do the emissions test, the radiator blew apart and before he could shut the engine off, it shat a con rod out the side of the block.

That was a pretty bad fail..... 

[Split_Pin]

Because I'm a sad bastart I sometimes go onto eBay and look up MOT histories for various spares cars such as KAs or Corsa Bs.

 

Some of the fail sheets are longer that Lord of the Rings. It's a whole new vocabulary too.

 

I've been ok with fails, Corsa had a fair few advisories some years ago for corroded suspension components, all of which were replaced.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

I don't bother to waste the fee unless I know it's got a reasonable chance of passing, these days.

 

But, in 1983 I achieved the Holy Grail of MOT Shitedom, yes A RED TICKET !

I'd heard of this mythical piece of paper but never actually met anyone who'd received one, indeed I've not met anyone since that's had one either, and I don't think they're still used. Should've framed it.

 

For those too young to know, if the tester thought the vehicle was so unsafe that it should never turn a wheel on the Public Highway again, even to drive to a place of repair , he could issue a red fail. It was effectively a prohibition from use.

I had to pretend I was having my car recovered after hours and the garage threatened to phone the Police if I drove it away- obviously I did drive it home, but after the pub closed.

 

The car? Well, let's say the engine was about to fall out , but it still went like fuck- let's have some guesses.

[Shep Shepherd]

Lancia Beta?

[SiC]

My Laguna...

 

Date: 29/11/2016

Result: Fail

Mileage: 97138 miles

Refusal Notices

Nearside rear direction indicator incorrect colour (1.4.a.2f)

Offside rear direction indicator incorrect colour (1.4.a.2f)

Offside registration plate lamp not working (1.1.c.1d)

Offside front position lamp(s) not working (1.1.a.3b)

 

Advisory Notices

Nearside front tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.e.1)

Offside front tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.e.1)

 

Literally the biggest list of failures I've ever had. But then most of my cars have been boring moderns...

[lisbon_road]

I know my MOT tester well.  They tend to pass.  After years of experience, he knows I will fix minor stuff.  Mind, he's no fool and totally intolerant of people doing stuff like taking out particulate filters.

 

However.... I replaced the head on my Astra with a rebuilt gas flowed one.  I didn't seem quite right.  He just couldn't pass it as we could not get it to run right and it was making dreadul noises.

 

I had to take the head off and found a loose bolt inside the engine, and a crack across the piston.  Oops.

 

I call that a pretty spectacular fail, though it actually only failed on one issue.  I remember a friend with a Mini back in the day that had an extension sheet on the fail and it was rust, rust and more rust. 

[Rovorsche]

My most comedy fail was a Chevy Astro, bought cheap because it had an LPG conversion sourced from the bottom of the pile in Steptoes Yard.

 

In the end It failed on two things

 

A badly scored windscreen

An insecure exhaust.

 

The exhaust looked ok but on the way to the MOT centre I saw my daughter at the bus stop and took a slight detour to drop her at college on the way to the MOT place, honest officer/M'Lud.

The detour involved one hundred and eleventy speed cushions.

As the van went up on the lift, Mr MOT took his finger off the button and the ramp stopped suddenly, prompting the whole centre section to drop off its mounts. Its hard to argue that one.

 

I had a side exit exhaust knocked up around an ebay silencer to resolve the exhaust issue and tried to get a new windscreen.

The best price I could find was £1200, the wiper scratches may have polished out but I ran out of arsed.

 

I made £150 by putting it on Ebay as "Ideal for Export, new exhaust, LPG converted" and selling it to some bloke from Lithuania, it had a week of MOT left.

One lap round the block with the cherry bomb and he was sold, it was quite good at scrabbling away from junctions in a fishtailing manner though.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Lancia Beta?

Yes, an 1800ES saloon that had been blown over in a light purple colour( similar to a Minor Million) , it came as part of a package with a 1600 Coupe that was as solid as a rock. The intention was to put the 1800 engine in the coupe, but as the 1600 was pretty rapid, I never bothered, I sold the alloys to a bloke with a Mirafiori and weighed it in for £15.

[Hendry]

The same Astra that I had the big fail list I posted, never actually passed an MOT in the time we had it, it was bought bang on 3 years old from a Vauxhall dealer as an ex motability car, but absolutely mint condition, had only covered 7,500 miles. My dad did less than 6k in it in the next year, so here was a 4 year old 13,000 mile Astra, failed on front wishbone rear bushes, drop links and track rod ends and a water damaged rear number plate, we were shocked these were needing done on such a relatively new and low mileage car. 

 

My dads Vectra C 2litre diesel taxi with high miles but newish (2/3/4 year old) used to fail every mot on something about an excess level of metered smoke for a turbo charged engine.

 

I remember once when coming up to its taxi test he put had some repairs done for it to pass its taxi test and had it serviced at the Vauxhall dealer (I worked for the group at the time and got staff rates on labour - half price, trade price parts, discounted servicing) anyway we ended up getting it MOTd by them at the same time and after a couple of minor repairs before doing the MOT it passed. Dad then put it in for its taxi test at the council testing place, who as well as doing a taxi test did another MOT (same price for just the taxi one or the MOT too because it includes all the same checks only taxi test covers even more items and is stricter) it failed both on this excess metered smoke thing, dad was confused because itd passed its MOT at the Vauxhall dealer before, he took it back and they did the MOT emissions thing and said it was passing on their machine, but anyway after a mess around they replaced the fuel filter and tested it again and the emissions readings were better than before, so he submitted for a retest and yet again at the council it failed both again, think he ran some snake oil diesel fuel cleaner through it and hammered it on a run before the test and it passed. 

 

Part of me thinks all cars should be subjected to a stricter test like a taxi test, then there wouldnt be scruffy scrapheaps on the road which have just scraped an MOT, and would get rid of all the cheap utterly fucked stuff off the road, and we could be confident the older cheaper "shite" was decent and a solid car and maybe the perception by the public old cars are shit would disappear and there wouldnt be a lot of call for overpriced new cars, dealers and manufacturers would then be more interested in aftersales than sales and reduce their costs, keep stuff for older models and non current cars in stock and not NOS or obsolete. People then wouldnt buy cheap crap parts because genuine would be reasonably priced, cars would be tidier, better condition and better treated, and youd actually have to look after it, and all the folk who can only afford deathtraps and cant afford to maintain them properly (council scheme chav trash types) would be priced out of car ownership. The roads may be interesting again without a sea of white, black, silver and grey BMW/Audi/crossover types/current gen Focus. Cars would have a cleanliness test like taxis do so they wouldnt be utterly minging, bodywork would be in reasonable order, interiors not utterly trashed, and things like central locking, electric windows etc. would all have to work. 

 

Can you tell I hate seeing really ropey, filthy, hanging cars with various body damage, missing 3 wheel trims, interior trim panels missing and things like the rev counter, central locking and so on all not working. I hate seeing any car get mistreated and ran into the ground. 

[Spottedlaurel]

Was surprised to see a lengthy failure list on 2014's test for this smart Concerto:

 

1994 Honda Concerto 1.6 EXi Auto (+ 1991 Civic) by Spottedlaurel, on Flickr

 

• Reason(s) for failure
  
  Nearside Front All position lamps not working (1.1.A.3b)

  Offside Front All position lamps not working (1.1.A.3b)

  Nearside Rear All position lamps not working (1.1.A.3b)

  Offside Rear All position lamps not working (1.1.A.3b)

  Nearside Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.5a)

  Offside Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.5a)

  Nearside Headlamp not working on main beam (1.7.5a)

  Offside Headlamp not working on main beam (1.7.5a)

  Rear fog lamp not working (1.3.2b)

  Rear fog lamp tell tale not working (1.3.1b)

  Nearside Registration plate lamp not working (1.1.C.1d)

  Offside Registration plate lamp not working (1.1.C.1d)

Surely a fuse or something gone, otherwise that would have been a lot of bulbs that had gone pop in the space of a year.....

[twosmoke300]

I hate it when testers pad out one failure ( all position lights not working ) with one for each lamp .

[twosmoke300]

Also - check your fecking lights before test at least

[UmBongo]

My brother's old Micra advisories after he sold it.

 

23 February 2010

•  
• Expiry date 24 February 2011
• Test Result Fail
• Odometer reading 65,222 miles
• MOT test number 1327 8475 0083
• Reason(s) for failure
  
  Offside Front Mechanical brake component has restricted free movement (3.5.1k)

  Nearside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.3)

  Offside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.3)

  Offside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is severely distorted (2.4.A.3)

  Offside Front front brake binding (3.7.B.1)
• Advisory notice item(s)
  
  Nearside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is distorted but not considered excessive (2.4.A.3)

  Nearside Rear Suspension component mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (2.4.A.3)

  Nearside Front Subframe mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (2.4.A.3)

  Offside Front Subframe mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive (2.4.A.3)

  Nearside Front Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (2.4.G.1)

  Offside Front Suspension arm corroded but not seriously weakened (2.4.G.1)

  Nearside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)

  Offside Front Suspension arm rubber bush deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)

  Exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2)

  Exhaust has part of the system slightly deteriorated (7.1.1a)

  Nearside Front Front constant velocity joint gaiter deteriorated (2.5.C.1a)

  Offside Front Front constant velocity joint gaiter deteriorated (2.5.C.1a)

  Nearside front brake juddering slightly (3.7.A.2b)

  Offside front brake juddering slightly (3.7.A.2b)

  Brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)

  Nearside Front coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)

  Offside Front coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)

  Nearside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)

  Offside Rear coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)

  Nearside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)

  Oil leak

 

[twosmoke300]

Loads duplicate reasons for rejection there too

[Vince70]

The worst fail I had was on a MK1 GTE Astra when I bought it had no history and came with a very tatty mot certificate which looked like it had been through the washing machine about a hundred times but I could just manage to make the word Astra out on it and being the month began in F I guess it had a ticket till Febuary.

 

I bought it for £600 and to be honest it drove very well and the interior was immaculate and the body was rot free but driving it to work one day with my brother as passenger he kept asking what that noise was when I turned the wheel (I would just turn the stereo up) so on the way home we popped in to see a mate who was an mot tester as I wanted a new ticket anyway.

 

He told me not to drive the car as every time I turned the wheel the front wings moved with the wheels and the bulkhead had split down the sides, I wouldn't mind but I had just come down the A21/M25 flat out.

 

He said just scrap it as it was an engine out job but my theory was it was £600 wasted and I would only buy another turd so another mate Who's a welding God managed to take apart the injection system and get in there with his mig and seam weld it stronger than Vauxhall had ever intended it to be and the MOT tester couldn't work out how he managed it.

 

I wouldn't mind but at the time my other half had a Mk4 cut and shut escort with a MK3 back end and we worked it out the front was E reg and the rear was an old W plate made to look mk4 plus it was a 5 door on the log book and a 3 door car and that passed every year without an advisory.

[2MB]

A discovery 1 that had had no advisories for rust on the previous test:

Reason(s) for failure

Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.C.1b)

Nearside Rear Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings body mount (6.1.B.2)

Offside Rear Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings body mount (6.1.B.2)

Offside Front Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings behind front wheel body mount (6.1.B.2)

Offside Front Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings body mount behind head light and under battery tray (6.1.B.2)

Offside Front Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings inner arch (6.1.B.2)

Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings rear cross member (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Outer Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings sill (6.1.B.2)

Offside Outer Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings sill (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Front Inner Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings arch and floor pan up right (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Rear Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings rear cross member under back door(open door to see) (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Rear Brake pipe excessively corroded axle pipe (3.6.B.2c)

[sierraman]

I looked up a car I sold years ago and it said something to the effect of there had been a repair to the sill had been insufficient. I guessed someone has riveted a bit of old tin over a hole.

[rantingYoof]

There must be a good 'age:fail' ratio game to play here. Newest car with most catastrophic failures. I'm talking a 2009 car failing on substantial rot.

Mazda, I'm looking at you.

 

*heads to 'Trader*