MoT Horror Blog

[michael1703]

/\ what that castle nut being on wrong like that is not a fail? That can't be right surely.

There is a fail "locking device missing" but dvsa would say that both the nut and the split pin are present

 

I'd fail it

[scaryoldcortina]

Not a fail according to dvsa

2.5.4 - a front suspension retaining or locking device missing or ineffective....

[twosmoke300]

If you even consider not failing that then you shouldn't be testing !

[inconsistant]

I like the wooden brakes, I might have to whittle myself up some for the F

The wooden brakes are a shocking misuse of material... such a waste of decent oak.

They should have used melamine faced chipboard from an Ikea wardrobe, that's got an unrivalled reputation for breaking.

[scruff]

Poplar is the stuff for brake blocks

[Junkman]

There is a fail "locking device missing" but dvsa would say that both the nut and the split pin are present

 

I'd fail it

 

I'd pass it and let Darwin sort it out.

[meggersdog]

Nothing like the horror pics here but only yesterday a guy came in with new coil springs "fitted" to his BMW. Every single balljoint rubber had been split in removing each strutt then put back together like it.But neither front spring was correctly located.I asked him which idiot fitted those springs ? He said it was some mobile mechanic as one spring had broken on his driveway and was resting on the tyre so couldn't drive it to the garage.I told him if he'd paid actual money for this work to be carried out then he needed a refund.

I suspect the owner had done the work as he just threw the mot money on the counter and stormed off.

[twosmoke300]

Another reason why I don't own a balljoint splitter !

[scaryoldcortina]

I do, it's called a FBH....

[twosmoke300]

Yup , never ever fails

[Junkman]

It fails occasionally. Hence there is the Messer Griesheim Universal Spanner:

 

[twosmoke300]

Is that a metric or imperial hot spanner ?

[scaryoldcortina]

I haven't used a hot spanner on a balljoint since a track rod end exploded in a volcano of burning grease one time. I'd rather cut the end off and replace than go through that again!

[Rusty_Rocket]

I only use a scissor ball joint splitter on one joint- the steering track rod to strut connection on Mrs Rusty's '95 Astra. They are always so tight on 90s Astras/ Cavaliers and there is no easy way of getting a good bar in there.

 

Mind you, I still managed it last week without splitting the rubber boot..

[spike60]

I've seen a Tranny drag link end ball joint rattle around the workshop rafters when it was heated to free the threads after releasing the taper. Lesson learned!

[rainagain]

Years ago someone told me if you grease up the ball joint splitter before you use it doesn't tear the rubber, I've done this ever since and about 95% of the time it does work!

[D Spares & Tyres]

MoTs aren`t the be all and end all....

 

Two dangerous faults that can pass an MoT are steering rack inner joints. Can be totally fucked byt as the tester can`t see them then he can`t fail them...

 

also shock absorbers aren`t a testable item anymore. so long as they aren`t weeping and the bushes are ok then its a pass....

[Tamworthbay]

MoTs aren`t the be all and end all....

 

Two dangerous faults that can pass an MoT are steering rack inner joints. Can be totally fucked byt as the tester can`t see them then he can`t fail them...

 

also shock absorbers aren`t a testable item anymore. so long as they aren`t weeping and the bushes are ok then its a pass....

so many things can get through and always have. As the tester can't move carpets or trim you could have a complete rotter and it get through. Mini inner sills are a famous one, but having just got an Impreza with the plastic oversills I can see them being an issue.

[Dead_E23]

I have a 'C' shaped bit of metal cut from a baked bean tin that I slide over balljoint rubbers so I can bash a fork shaped splitter in without damaging the rubber.  Works well, cost nothing to make.

[garbaldy]

It's not just the rubber that they damage though, your basically trying to force the ball out its socket with those forks before the taper breaks free.

[Ben_O]

I'm frightened by the amount of incompetent testers out there.

 

I went to a national autocentre with my old cinquecento years ago. I had adjusted the headlights the night before using the garage door and got them about level.

got a call from them the next day 'sorry mate, it's failed' Never mind says I but when he told me that the headlamps were out but they couldn't adjust them because the adjusters were snapped, i snapped!

 

They had broken both headlights and tried to deny it and headlamps for those are surprisingly hard to find..

 

there was a fail list as long as my arm so fed up, i replaced the lights took it to a reputable garage that charged full price for another test and it flew through without even an advisory.

I have been using the second garage for years now come MOT time and they are fantastic. They always sort silly bits FOC and always ring and ask if i want any failures sorting, always at excellent rates.

[strangeangel]

I'm frightened by the amount of incompetent testers out there.

 

Yep, this is why I have a 45-mile round trip for an MOT these days. I might have moved house three years ago but I'm fucked if I'm trying to find another decent bike shop/MOT tester given the huge ratio of incompetents to good ones. I'm genuinely staggered by how many I've encountered who simply don't know the regs, which is unforgiveable really - all you need to do is RTFM.

[captain_70s]

My 1850 failed it's MOT a few months ago on things that were exactly the same as when it passed the year before at the same garage! To be fair it's stuff it probably SHOULD have failed on for the most part but I can find nothing wrong with the rear brake pipes, they look to have been replaced not that long ago, and the flexi pipes are the same. I think they guy saw the state of the front pipes and simply listed the whole system...

[Barry Cade]

Yep, this is why I have a 45-mile round trip for an MOT these days. I might have moved house three years ago but I'm fucked if I'm trying to find another decent bike shop/MOT tester given the huge ratio of incompetents to good ones. I'm genuinely staggered by how many I've encountered who simply don't know the regs, which is unforgiveable really - all you need to do is RTFM.

You'd think.

 

Tell me this brake pipe is OK, just a bit rusty. Or it it gonna burst and kill your whole family and some kittens. RTFM and get back to me...

 

Gaffa tape fell off your cracked Mondeo bumper.. pass or fail

 

Take bumpers off leaving bumper brackets and towbar sticking out. pass or fail

 

wipers packed in on your SJ410 soft top. pass or fail

 

Make decisions like these 10 times a day, whilst getting heckled by the gaffer, with a migraine, with air guns and radio 1 in the background,whilst being watched by a punter and his 3 screaming kids,who needs to pick up his other 2 at 3pm,being totally objective and to the letter whilst his Zafira reeks of weed, has 3 bald remoulds, a 47% imbalance on his front brakes, 2 burst CV boots, a knackered track rod end and a rotten subrframe. Then moans it's failed, jumps in and drives away, mumbling under his breath about how the MOT is just a government scam to make people on the dole unable to get a job.

 

Rant. been a tester too long. Prickly subject.

[sloth]

i remember being a 16 year old first year apprentice and one of the bosses mates brought his 1976 jag xj in for test. white with red leather. all went well till we jacked the body clean off the rear suspension.....  it got issued a red fail. remember those?

[strangeangel]

 

. Prickly subject

 

Clearly.

 

Thing is, I'm not talking about anything that complicated. A couple of examples: a scooter which failed on an inoperative parking brake, when that device isn't testable on a motorcycle. Another - and this guy got quite the righteous rage on about this - was a JDM bike which didn't have a front sidelight. No way that could have an MOT, says he, and yet it's clearly stated that a bike fitted with a headlight doesn't need one. There have been others too.

[Richard]

I'd be very surprised if these wooden Transit brake pads were any worse than the real thing.

[sierraman]

i remember being a 16 year old first year apprentice and one of the bosses mates brought his 1976 jag xj in for test. white with red leather. all went well till we jacked the body clean off the rear suspension.....  it got issued a red fail. remember those?

could quite easily happen on the older Xj6, if you jack the rear up by the bodywork, the suspension is held in bybthe metalastic bushes. You wouldnt jack one up like that anyway.

[UmBongo]

Thank chuff I have a sympathetic garage manager.

 

My car does seem to pick a new scratch every time it goes in, mind you.

[scaryoldcortina]

Clearly.

 

Thing is, I'm not talking about anything that complicated. A couple of examples: a scooter which failed on an inoperative parking brake, when that device isn't testable on a motorcycle. Another - and this guy got quite the righteous rage on about this - was a JDM bike which didn't have a front sidelight. No way that could have an MOT, says he, and yet it's clearly stated that a bike fitted with a headlight doesn't need one. There have been others too.

 

 

While I'm entirely sympathetic with Barry Cade because he's right - it can be a minefield of shite at times, and the constant rule adjustments don't really help I too am irritated by testers that just get stuff wrong because they don't know what they are doing!

 

Junkman's number plate for example, or the BMW someone posted a fail sheet for where it has failed on "body mountings" when it has none. It's a common error to go into Body, structure, general items on the computer to find somewhere to fail the huge hole with when you should be in suspension and steering/prescribed area, and it comes down to a lack of training. You are expected to work it out yourself - the vosa examiner doesn't visit regularly, and the whole scheme hinges on the AE for each garage keeping his testers in line with regular QC checking. My AE rings me up regularly because he knows something should be a fail but can't figure out how to do that.

 

Mind you, he called last week to say he couldn't log in and I had to go help - caps lock was on!