MoT Horror Blog

[Noel Tidybeard]

Is that a metric or imperial hot spanner ?

looks like its one of those sets that fit both

[michael1703]

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!

I'm on my own so have nobody to ask, I've got enough to do without scrolling through endless categories to find the right section so I sometimes do body and structure rather than prescribed areas

[Barry Cade]

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.

 

Bike tests were a pleasure to do compared to cars. Most bikers know their stuff, and are actually interested. I welcomed them to get involved in the testing of their machines.

 

To be honest I got really annoyed with testers who clearly didn't care. One recently was where I was pulled into head office to give info on another tester- he'd got an LPG Range Rover in, running on LPG, and switched it over to Petrol to do the emissions test, where the whole fuel system shat itself. Tester wrongly didn't Test As Presented... Pissed me off as stuff like this makes the company look bad. He was arguing and arguing that he was right....

 

Works both ways as always though.

 

I tested an old tatty Focus a good while back, then went off on my hols. Upon returning I was informed that there was an appeal put in about me and VOSA got involved. Turns out old guy had bought the car for his Grandson, and a few weeks later the clutch slave went. Took it to a garage where he was informed the car was a death trap, should never had been given an MOT, brake pipes were rotten and everything. The brake pipes had surface corrosion and scraped to a shine. Vosa said the same, would have possibly warranted an advisory (which I gave) and the guy was sent on his way. Still gave me days and days of wondering if points make prizes.

 

16 years, class 1,2,3,4,5 and 7 testing. No points or issues with Vosa, and yet it can take one Ar3e to finish your career if they so wished.

 

 

[Mr A Lawrence]

Years ago my brother in laws brother bought a mk1 escort estate with a short mot.

 

When he took it for its mot the tester pushed his screwdriver through the floor.....

 

Which was made of Lino, wood and newspaper!!

 

With the underseal on it looked like the proper floor!

 

Also, anyone remember those little clamps you could get to take the slack up on stretched handbrake cables??

[twosmoke300]

Tester shouldnt use a screwdriver !

[Barry Cade]

Manual."To correctly assess the condition of corroded metal brake pipes, surface dirt might have to be removed.  This might require light scraping with the Corrosion Assessment Tool ‘spade end’. Care must be taken not to damage any protective coating"

 

Does the "protective coating" include the CV grease painted on by the owner to cover severe pitting?

 

 

 

 

 

Manual."Chafing, corrosion or damage to a rigid brake pipe so that its wall thickness is reduced by 1/3 (e.g. approximately 0.25 mm for typical hydraulic brake pipe) is a reason for rejection."

 

Do you mind if I cut all your brake pipes to measure the remaining thickness?

 

 

.......

 

 

There was a discussion on here a wee while ago, about the transverse bar on the rear of Renault Megane's. Many people failed these when they were rotten, as they were thought to be part of the rear suspension. They are not, and there was a note about them in the VSI, avaliable to testers when logging on a vehicle. Now with the new system, VSI is no longer there, so it's down to the tester to find this stuff out.... just wait until the first few cars handbrake goes crazy because there is a proceedure for testing them on the rollers. I foresee many problems... If indeed testers ever bothered reading the VSI. It was removed because the general opinion was that it wasn't used...

[BavarianRetro]

I was astonished recently when a car we presented for test had one wobbly wheel. It had had work done, the wheel put back on, tightened with the torque limited socket (useless) but not torqued up. The trip to the MoT station had loosened a couple of bolts. We fixed it on the ramp and much hilarity, merriment and fully deserved embarrassment ensued.

 

The interesting bit for me though was that the tester explained that if on each wheel, I'd had one bolt of the 5 on just tight enough to stop the wheel wobbling when rocking it side to side - driven from the garage next door rather than 6 miles away maybe, and the other sixteen studs lying on the bench, because the centre cap covers the studs, he'd have to pass it. He can't take the centre cap off to ensure that the wheels are bolted on properly!!

 

Why not?

 

Things like this and rot under plastic sill covers that can't be removed, and other such ludicrous anomalies do lead you to question whether the MoT is really worth the paper it is written on.

[strangeangel]

Most bikers know their stuff, and are actually interested. I welcomed them to get involved in the testing of their machines.

 

My tester is like this and I don't mind admitting I've learnt a lot from him these past six or seven years.

 

Totally get your point about those more complex scenarios you posted, Barry.

[michael1703]

VSI was useful but it surprised me that there wasn't any VSI for quite common models.

 

VSI was handy in the pre internet days but now every station has to have a broadband connection we can google brake weights and epb testing methods.

[Bren]

Feast your eyes on this -

 

 

 

 

 

This was a garage repair to a sill on my mate's father in laws xsara picasso.

 

It looks like its been done by a pigeon that has been on a diet of guiness and scotch eggs.

[PhillipM]

Big seagulls around your way?

Whoever ground it should have the angle grinder stuffed up his arse and turned on.

[twosmoke300]

Why do so few people dress up their welds? Esp with welding like that ffs

[fordperv]

That is shocking,

[Angrydicky]

Probably because that garage was the cheapest. You get what you pay for, etc.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

That is spectacularly shite, would that even pass an MOT? I'm sure I have seen fail sheets with 'unsatisfactory repair' or some such on them.

[Jim Bell]

You can get advisories for the most minor of things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sierraman]

I think if you ground back the welds on that the plate would fall off. He must have just wanted to nurse it through the test. I for one wouldn't be happy with that job, it just looks a fucker.

[steve_earwig]

It looks like some of the welding* I did when I was 18 and had hired hired a completely borked mig. Honestly I reckon they could've done a better job with Evo stick...

[Bear]

Grotty MX5 I had once almost got an advisory for "Dead bird in radiator", but the guy was too amazed that the brush-painted purple horror with dents all over was probably the best MX5 he'd seen underneath.

[fordperv]

That is spectacularly shite, would that even pass an MOT? I'm sure I have seen fail sheets with 'unsatisfactory repair' or some such on them.

This is what I was thinking, stevey wonder can see that it isn't seam welded properly

[John F]

It's a fucking Picasso. It can't look any worse than when it left the factory.

 

Should have been hammered flat & dragged over the bridge. lol.

[UltraWomble]

He can't take the centre cap off to ensure that the wheels are bolted on properly!!

 

Why not?

I dunno, but I was very glad of that one year when I sheared a wheel bolt on the Micra a week before the MOT. Hub cap in place - passed MOT.

 

Few weeks later when it had stopped honking down with rain I drilled out the stud and replaced.

[Junkman]

That is spectacularly shite, would that even pass an MOT?

 

Of course it would.

If the space between the 1 and the V is an inch too big on your numberplate, now that's a different story.

[scaryoldcortina]

Honestly? What I can see in the photo would pass, but get an advise for being piss poor. Patches in panels need to be seam welded (unless rendered invisible with isopon) and that there only just meets the definition. If I could push the tip of the corrosion tool under the patch, or it was lifting or obviously not closed along an edge I could fail it. Having said that, I can't see the bit where it meets the floor edge and that's usually where the problems really are.

 

I know "garages" that do work like that.

 

Also, I had to fail a transit that someone had "restored" because there wasn't a single repair done well, and he'd missed a load of structural rot too. He wasn't a happy chap.

[oldford]

I had an Escort the other week that looked as though it had just been dragged out of a garden where it had been residing for a few years.  A non working alternator and a flat battery, meant that it required the jump pack on it for most of the test, it was for a garage that use us a lot for MOTS, if it was anyone else I wouldn't have bothered.

 

Two hours later after entering 25 fails and 8 advisories I had lost the will to live, nursing puncture wounds in my hand from the steel wire sticking out of a tyre and having a bit of rust in my eye.  The 10 working days for a retest has expired and I haven't seen it back yet.

[Station]

Feast your eyes on this -

 

 

 

 

image.jpg

 

This was a garage repair to a sill on my mate's father in laws xsara picasso.

 

It looks like its been done by a pigeon that has been on a diet of guiness and scotch eggs.

 

Christ, that looks like I welded it.

[Eddie Honda]

That is spectacularly shite

No, this is spectacularly shite:

 

 

I know it's old and probably been seen around here before(1) but it always comes to mind when I see shonky welding.

 

(1) If you've not seen it/them, find some time to watch all 33 of them, but you'll need a stiff drink.

[Bren]

That is spectacularly shite, would that even pass an MOT? I'm sure I have seen fail sheets with 'unsatisfactory repair' or some such on them.

I know may mate had his series 1 RS Turbo escort fail an MOT because a freshly welded repair had just been tacked in the corners. Again, by a garage.

[Richard]

My first and only attempt at welding a car was given a clean bill of health by the MOT tester. Earlier that day he had rejected three attempts at one repair from an unnamed local garage. Unnamed until another tester, I think it was Barry Cade of this parish, named it- and it was the one I would have guessed.

[PhillipM]

Most local garages seem to think buying a £150 clarke MIG and waving the gun at some metal means they can offer welding services. 95% of them need castrating before they breed.