The ask an MOT tester thread

The ask an MOT tester thread

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iknowhowtoholdaspanner

3 posts

14 months

Sunday 29th January 2023
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inkyhands said:
Check your boost pipes for any splits and look for oil stains on the intercooler, as any air leak will cause it to over fuel.
Couldn't see any damage. Though I've not sprayed and soapy wooder on it to check for any bubbling, I'm guessing that's the best way to do it? I had noticed that there is a bit of oil on the rocker cover, I did de-grease it, but still oils up a bit. I also noticed on my OBD that my idle is like 760rpm, Is that a bit low, I thought about 1000 RPM should be the ideal idle.

stevemcs said:
Last one we did, we fitted a new fuel filter but put emissions cleaner in the filter and run it through that way, On some of the TDCi's you can reset the EGR learned values and that also helps.
Someone that I know had this done at a garage and messed up his engine apparently. Though it was on a Ibiza that had a lot of work done and was pushing 300+ BHP (Running cleaner through the fuel filter)

I've ran through 1/3rd of a tank w/ cataclean and I've popped another 10 liters of the premium shell diesel in with another bottle of cataclean, though I'm yet to have this ran through, but im now getting 0.86, so I still need to shave off another 0.16. My only three thoughts were to 1. pull out the air filter, pop in some mesh so no junk gets sucked into the engine to get maximum airflow and/or to take off the intake manifold and give that a clean as it's pretty grimy or to see if the terraclean actually works, I'm only considering this because of Edd China.

uuf361

3,154 posts

221 months

Friday 3rd February 2023
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Might have been covered before and a bit of a moot point given my last 2 hours of activity:

Does presenting a clean car versus a filthy car have any affect ?

And has any MoT tester refused to perform the test on a car bcos it was just too dirty ?

paintman

7,669 posts

189 months

Friday 3rd February 2023
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I'm not a tester but:

"Reasons for refusal to test
b. The vehicle or any part or equipment on the vehicle is so dirty that examination is unreasonably difficult."
www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-priv...

Cleaning off any leakage might stop a fail for those items where fluid leaks are an issue, although the criteria for a fail seems pretty huge!

"You should fail a vehicle if a fluid leak creates a pool on the floor within 5 minutes that’s more than 75mm in diameter or if there are many leaks which collectively leak fluid at the same rate.

You can refuse to carry out the test if there’s an excessive fluid leak. For details see item 4 in the Introduction of this inspection manual."
www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-priv... 8.4.1

cuprabob

14,414 posts

213 months

Friday 3rd February 2023
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uuf361 said:
Might have been covered before and a bit of a moot point given my last 2 hours of activity:

Does presenting a clean car versus a filthy car have any affect ?

And has any MoT tester refused to perform the test on a car bcos it was just too dirty ?
This has been discussed already towards the start of the thread.

Athlon

Original Poster:

4,998 posts

205 months

Friday 3rd February 2023
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First impressions work. A clean car that is obviously well cared for makes us happy!

The car I did t'other day with kitty litter and cat crap in the boot (and a kid seat fitted) made me an unhappy tester.

petrolbloke

502 posts

156 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
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Had my g/f's Abarth 500 MOTed yesterday with this advisory:
"Front Macpherson strut pin or bush worn but not resulting in excessive movement both (5.3.4 (a) (i))"

Car is just under 7 years old with 47k on the clock. She's owned it from new and none of the front suspension parts have been replaced before.

The tester said that there is play in the top mount when the front of the car is jacked up and the suspension is fully unloaded. With wheels on the ground I don't believe there is any play and there's definitely no knocking, roughness through the steering or anything else that would suggest it might be worn when driving it. The tester said the advisory is because they have to check for play with the suspension unloaded.

The testing manual says this:
"Many MacPherson strut top bushes are designed to have significant lateral play when the suspension is hanging free. You should only reject MacPherson strut top bushes when play is due to wear or maladjustment."

I don't think there is actually anything wrong with the car. The manual seems to be saying to disregard any play in the top mount when the suspension is hanging free, so I don't even think it should be an advisory item. The wording of the advisory is that it's "worn" but that doesn't seem to be the case when the wheels are on the ground. I'm pretty confident that it'd be a waste of time/money trying to "fix" this and that advisory items should be something that the owner can fix, not things that are by design on a standard/unmodified car.

I'd like to get another tester's opinion on this. Should it be an advisory? Has the tester followed the testing manual properly? Is it just a grey area?

FWIW - I cleaned the car the day before the MOT, though not the interior! Maybe that was why...

Athlon

Original Poster:

4,998 posts

205 months

Tuesday 7th February 2023
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Those top mounts float about all over the shop when they are unloaded ! that is not a good advise to me, no need to mention them at all really. I am sure they are the ones with just the strut top stopping them falling out rather than bolted to the inner wings.

mikdys

212 posts

234 months

Saturday 11th February 2023
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Question about tyres:

4mm left on tyre, worn down to 2 on edges, thin cut in tread about 2.5cm long which, if you peer down it with an inspection lamp and look really carefully, you can just about see the tyre cords.

Is this really a failure?

Seems to me that the "exposed tyre cords" rule is meant to catch tyres with the tread worn down to the cords on the edges or exposed through cuts on the sidewall possibly weakening the structure. Either of which would be fair enough. Cords are just about visible through a thin cut in the tread though?

Second question: I quite often remove stones from my tyre treads. We have a lot of long stone driveways, and stone road surfaces where I live and stones quite often get stuck in the tyre treads. I had a puncture from one once pushing right through the tyre and hence I regularly hook the stones out now. The MOT failure "cut" was no doubt caused by one of these stones. If I had left it in place would the tyre still have been failed (because the "cords wouldn't have been visible" then)?

Maybe I should just quit getting the stone out and risk repalcements due to punctures rather than MOT testers....


Alickadoo

1,592 posts

22 months

Saturday 11th February 2023
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mikdys said:
Question about tyres:

4mm left on tyre, worn down to 2 on edges, thin cut in tread about 2.5cm long which, if you peer down it with an inspection lamp and look really carefully, you can just about see the tyre cords.

Is this really a failure?

Seems to me that the "exposed tyre cords" rule is meant to catch tyres with the tread worn down to the cords on the edges or exposed through cuts on the sidewall possibly weakening the structure. Either of which would be fair enough. Cords are just about visible through a thin cut in the tread though?

Second question: I quite often remove stones from my tyre treads. We have a lot of long stone driveways, and stone road surfaces where I live and stones quite often get stuck in the tyre treads. I had a puncture from one once pushing right through the tyre and hence I regularly hook the stones out now. The MOT failure "cut" was no doubt caused by one of these stones. If I had left it in place would the tyre still have been failed (because the "cords wouldn't have been visible" then)?

Maybe I should just quit getting the stone out and risk repalcements due to punctures rather than MOT testers....

Or, get the stones out after the MOT, not before.

mikdys

212 posts

234 months

Saturday 11th February 2023
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Good point ^

stevemcs

8,592 posts

92 months

Sunday 12th February 2023
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mikdys said:
Question about tyres:

4mm left on tyre, worn down to 2 on edges, thin cut in tread about 2.5cm long which, if you peer down it with an inspection lamp and look really carefully, you can just about see the tyre cords.

Is this really a failure?

Seems to me that the "exposed tyre cords" rule is meant to catch tyres with the tread worn down to the cords on the edges or exposed through cuts on the sidewall possibly weakening the structure. Either of which would be fair enough. Cords are just about visible through a thin cut in the tread though?

Second question: I quite often remove stones from my tyre treads. We have a lot of long stone driveways, and stone road surfaces where I live and stones quite often get stuck in the tyre treads. I had a puncture from one once pushing right through the tyre and hence I regularly hook the stones out now. The MOT failure "cut" was no doubt caused by one of these stones. If I had left it in place would the tyre still have been failed (because the "cords wouldn't have been visible" then)?

Maybe I should just quit getting the stone out and risk repalcements due to punctures rather than MOT testers....

Cut to cords is a failure, yes it seems harsh but would you rather buy a new tyre or a new car from the tyre failing and you ending up on the roof ?

Rough101

1,657 posts

74 months

Sunday 12th February 2023
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stevemcs said:
Cut to cords is a failure, yes it seems harsh but would you rather buy a new tyre or a new car from the tyre failing and you ending up on the roof ?
Yeah, exposed cords let water in, they rot/ corrode and you get a structural failure.

E63eeeeee...

3,777 posts

48 months

Saturday 11th March 2023
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Headlight question. I've just had advisories for my headlight lenses. I can see why on one, but the other looks noticeably clearer.

Is there a scientific test at work here, or is it down to the judgement of the tester?

spikeyhead

17,222 posts

196 months

Saturday 11th March 2023
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They're advisories, don't overthink it

Little Pete

1,513 posts

93 months

Saturday 11th March 2023
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E63eeeeee... said:
Headlight question. I've just had advisories for my headlight lenses. I can see why on one, but the other looks noticeably clearer.

Is there a scientific test at work here, or is it down to the judgement of the tester?
It is down to the judgement of the tester. As has been said it’s just an advisory but they do get worse and ultimately affect the beam pattern.

E63eeeeee...

3,777 posts

48 months

Saturday 11th March 2023
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Thanks both

Hol

8,356 posts

199 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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On one of the classic threads the historic existence of Pre MOT tests as an almost official offering was mentioned. In the modern age, garages mostly refuse such activities.

Were these pre-tests official squashed by the DVLA, or did they just fade away naturally.

stevemcs

8,592 posts

92 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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Pre mot’s are pointless other than waste money what do they achieve?

You cannot check the emissions, brakes, headlight aim without it being in the test bay by the time you have paid for that and we have lost an mot slot you may have well just mot’d it.

You may also find what someone in the workshop thinks is a pass is a failure to the tester. Why pay £60 for a pre mot test then £55 for the test itself

wolf1

3,081 posts

249 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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Hol said:
On one of the classic threads the historic existence of Pre MOT tests as an almost official offering was mentioned. In the modern age, garages mostly refuse such activities.

Were these pre-tests official squashed by the DVLA, or did they just fade away naturally.
I have a few customers who always want a pre mot and no manner of persuasion will change their mind. So I just complete an mot without logging it on and charge them what I normally charge for an mot. They then come back for an actual mot and I get paid again so it’s a win win for me.

texaxile

3,289 posts

149 months

Wednesday 15th March 2023
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How to I get the correct level for my headlights without the necessary gear?. I replaced a bulb and it was a headlight out job, since putting it back in the level on the OS is slightly higher than the NS, which I didn't really notice before.

Is there an easy DIY route to this ?