The ask an MOT tester thread
Discussion
borcy said:
What's the worst single fail you've seen on a car?
Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
We failed one a few weeks ago on brakes, the nsf disc was vented and it was just about down to the centre of the disc.Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
With the pad, if the tester believes the pad has worn thin or is less than 1.5mm and a fail on dangerous defect then they are quite within there right to fail it regardless of what the car thinks is left people reset them just to get the light off.
borcy said:
What's the worst single fail you've seen on a car?
Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
Plenty of badly corroded cars when I started testing 30 years ago, not so much nowadays. Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
I think the worst I’ve seen from a safety point of view was an Escort van that someone had put a complete front end on, as in a cut and shut type job. There were about ten one inch long welds along the join across the floor and some of those had failed! The front of the van was coming away from the rear.
More recently an Alfa 156 had all four tyres through to the cords. The customer said he knew it needed tyres but wanted to see what else it would fail on first. He’d put the front tyres on the rear and driven it until they were in the same state. People like him are why we have the MOT!
Steve’s brake tale has reminded me of a Transit tipper back in for retest after multiple fails, including corroded brake pipes. The mate who had done the work couldn’t get a good pedal so he had clamped the two flexible pipes going onto the rear axle. He’d told the owner I’d probably just bob my head under and not re test the brakes.
lonny said:
I’ve seen old jags with a leaping jag mascot added on the bonnet (like a spirit of ecstasy on a Rolls). They look perfect for disembowelling a pedestrian in an accident. Would a mod like this be passed?
Sharp edges can only be failed if they are caused by damage or corrosion. As Athlon said earlier if there is a modification that could cause injury, that would fail also. Bonnet emblems etc that are fitted as standard will pass. 
borcy said:
What's the worst single fail you've seen on a car?
Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
I have seen an Audi on runflats where the tread was totally separated from the inner sidewall, TPMS light was on but ignored..Ever seen anything with say a big hole in the floor?
Corrosion is worse now than ten years ago for sure, I tested a 206 the other day and the sill looked fine as they have a rubber based protective layer on the sill but thumb pressure was enough to prove about a foot of the sill was rubber and no longer metal behind.
I have seen some lower ball joints that are really bad, bad enough to not risk bouncing them through the brake rollers again coming off the ramp. Renaults are the worst for this.
borcy said:
Do you fail them if the plates are mispelt, tinted, different font or not too bothered as long as they are readable?
There are a lot of rules about plates, it is a major fail and if a tester is caught overlooking them then he/she would be in trouble. There are far more reasons for rejection on plates than brake discs ! maybe it is because they want to be sure and catch you being naughty? !That said, if it can be read easily, is correct to the car and the right colour and font with no naughty bolt placement then you can use common sense.
davwill said:
As a MOT tester the thing that i can not get my head round is how many cars come in for a test with no water in the washer bottle. Makes you think if they can not keep that topped up what else never gets checked.
This! exactly this, if the washers are empty or the blades are totally finished that sets my alarm off and I fully expect the rest of the car to be poor, this is rarely proven incorrect.Athlon said:
There are a lot of rules about plates, it is a major fail and if a tester is caught overlooking them then he/she would be in trouble. There are far more reasons for rejection on plates than brake discs ! maybe it is because they want to be sure and catch you being naughty? !
That said, if it can be read easily, is correct to the car and the right colour and font with no naughty bolt placement then you can use common sense.
Cheers I did wonder. That said, if it can be read easily, is correct to the car and the right colour and font with no naughty bolt placement then you can use common sense.
Didn't the rules on brakes, specifically corrosion, change a couple of years ago?
Baldchap said:
I'm currently putting together a collection of sheds for a banger rally, after which they'll all be scrapped. If I tape over corroded wings so they aren't sharp, is this acceptable, or do I need to source some replacements?
If the 'repair' is solid and outside 30cm of any prescribed area and no sharp bits are present then there should be no problem. Nothing in the rules says what a panel should be made from..Athlon said:
Baldchap said:
I'm currently putting together a collection of sheds for a banger rally, after which they'll all be scrapped. If I tape over corroded wings so they aren't sharp, is this acceptable, or do I need to source some replacements?
If the 'repair' is solid and outside 30cm of any prescribed area and no sharp bits are present then there should be no problem. Nothing in the rules says what a panel should be made from..borcy said:
Athlon said:
There are a lot of rules about plates, it is a major fail and if a tester is caught overlooking them then he/she would be in trouble. There are far more reasons for rejection on plates than brake discs ! maybe it is because they want to be sure and catch you being naughty? !
That said, if it can be read easily, is correct to the car and the right colour and font with no naughty bolt placement then you can use common sense.
Cheers I did wonder. That said, if it can be read easily, is correct to the car and the right colour and font with no naughty bolt placement then you can use common sense.
Didn't the rules on brakes, specifically corrosion, change a couple of years ago?
Pads are 1.5mm but there is no way to measure them really so we use best judgement, my DVSA guy advised me that if the pads are scraping the disc they can fail!
Corrosion is as always, any bad metal that weakens the vehicle within 30cm of the brakes is a fail, how you decide this is tricky as the same applies to suspension, seat belts etc so you usually end up with multiple fails for the same problem.
Baldchap said:
Athlon said:
Baldchap said:
I'm currently putting together a collection of sheds for a banger rally, after which they'll all be scrapped. If I tape over corroded wings so they aren't sharp, is this acceptable, or do I need to source some replacements?
If the 'repair' is solid and outside 30cm of any prescribed area and no sharp bits are present then there should be no problem. Nothing in the rules says what a panel should be made from..Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff