The ask an MOT tester thread

[cheesesliceking]

chris4652009 said:

Holy st!!!!

literally! : D
not as bad as it seems though, its not actually the subframe as becomes very obvious when you take it off and nothing falls on your head...

[stevemcs]

cheesesliceking said:

I'd have removed it, but i guess if the dealer is paying the 400 quid for the new one then who cares!

Exactly, even the most basic of pre sales checks should have picked it up. They did eventually send a new one down and covered the labour.

[Athlon]

Blanchimont said:

Do you see many people asking you to refit the cat for the MOT, then uninstall it again?

Do you tend to look closer at a modified car, to see whether it's been done properly?

If the car is very low, to the point where it can't get on rollers/ramps do you do it in situ with jacks etc, or use wood to get it where it needs to be?

I have been asked and politely refused, no way am I getting into that can of worms!

No, I treat each car exactly the same.

Our ramp is flat and we have plates that fit over the brake rollers so no issue, if I think the car will touch dropping into the rollers than I will do a brake meter test in the car park but a Ferrari drops in no problem.

[Athlon]

Deranged Rover said:

I've sold the car now but have occasionally wondered - the SBC pump on my old Merc E-Class had reached the end of its pre-determined life and so there was a "Service Brake!! Visit Workshop!!" message continually displayed in its information centre, however, there was no actual warning lamp illuminated.

Assuming the brake preformance still met the test requirement, would it have passed an MOT like this?

Pass and advise

[Little Pete]

Blanchimont said:

Do you see many people asking you to refit the cat for the MOT, then uninstall it again?

Not cats so much but loads of number plates!

[rlg43p]

rxe said:

Yup, my Alfa 156 has projectors with HIDS, perfect beam pattern, but now a fail. Passes the test cheerfully with the back of the lights open, the ballast and wiring still in place, and the HID bulbs themselves on the passenger seat. MOT man does exactly the same on his car, but has to fail them if fitted.

Don’t know what Merc lights are like, but the Alfa ones are utter bds - however making a screwdriver with a slot in the tip to guide the retaining clips has turned it from a 2 hour swear fest to about 5 minutes.

They are pretty poor and the HIDs are dramatically better with no beam scatter. The cars had headlamp wash and MANUAL headlight beam adjustment so it would be almost legal!

I'll refit the halogens and swap them back again afterwards.

[RT7500]

Would an aftermarket steering wheel be a fail on a 2003 Clio 172? I removed the original airbag equipped steering wheel but fitted resistors to prevent the airbag light coming on.

[Athlon]

RT7500 said:

Would an aftermarket steering wheel be a fail on a 2003 Clio 172? I removed the original airbag equipped steering wheel but fitted resistors to prevent the airbag light coming on.

An airbag fitted as original equipment obviously missing..Major fail sorry

[InitialDave]

Does it not depend on other factors? I thought it was ok if the car was evidently modified for competition/track use?

[Athlon]

InitialDave said:

Does it not depend on other factors? I thought it was ok if the car was evidently modified for competition/track use?

Substantially...full cage, stripped out, seats, maybe scrutineering stickers and you might get away with it, just a steering wheel for track days ain't gonna cut it

[LosingGrip]

I get confused with lights on the dash board...

My service is due tomorrow. I'm going to do it either Saturday or next week depending on the weather.

My MOT is on Saturday. The dashboard has a message saying due in one day. I'm going to assume it will then say overdue.

Will this be a problem?

[Athlon]

LosingGrip said:

I get confused with lights on the dash board...

My service is due tomorrow. I'm going to do it either Saturday or next week depending on the weather.

My MOT is on Saturday. The dashboard has a message saying due in one day. I'm going to assume it will then say overdue.

Will this be a problem?

Service lights are of no interest to us.

[rambo19]

I'm doing some repairs on a friends land rover defender, after I have finished I am going to waxoyl the underbody, can I waxoyl over the brake lines?

[RT7500]

Athlon said:

An airbag fitted as original equipment obviously missing..Major fail sorry

That’s ok I thought that might be the case so I’ll refit the original steering wheel before the next MOT, cheers

[LosingGrip]

Athlon said:

Service lights are of no interest to us.

Cheers! Always get a bit nervous around this time of year!

[Athlon]

rambo19 said:

I'm doing some repairs on a friends land rover defender, after I have finished I am going to waxoyl the underbody, can I waxoyl over the brake lines?

You can! It may generate an advise depending on the tester.

[MG CHRIS]

Well after a months wait got my mot test tomorrow going to sneak in a practice mot test before he arrives just to get into a routine. Tbf the mot tester in work has been pretty good think I got everything sussed so should go ok.
Any tips from the testers on here.

[Athlon]

MG CHRIS said:

Well after a months wait got my mot test tomorrow going to sneak in a practice mot test before he arrives just to get into a routine. Tbf the mot tester in work has been pretty good think I got everything sussed so should go ok.
Any tips from the testers on here.

Take your time.
Make sure you go through the routine with the beam tester, they like that. Remember, if in doubt, pass and advise.
Refer to the manual if you are not sure, it takes a few seconds to be safe. Make sure you know the start dates for certain things, EML, rev lamps, fogs, SRS lamp etc all have first used after dates for instance.
Then just keep calm and do your best,he knows you are nervous and will expect a mistake or hesitation or two, it's just like passing your driving test, get it out of the way and it just gets easier.
Oh and try and stick to their system for where to start and finish etc (I don't as it is silly but they seem to like it!)
Print a check sheet for the car when you log the test to help you and be careful inputting the data at end of test.

Good luck

[MG CHRIS]

Been doing a few mots over the last few weeks so think Ive covered everything just keeping my nerve and not skipping over things. Check sheet is a good idea so will use that.
Update tomorrow hopefully it be a pass.

Edited by MG CHRIS on Thursday 24th October 21:59

[Little Pete]

Athlon said:

MG CHRIS said:

Well after a months wait got my mot test tomorrow going to sneak in a practice mot test before he arrives just to get into a routine. Tbf the mot tester in work has been pretty good think I got everything sussed so should go ok.
Any tips from the testers on here.

Take your time.
Make sure you go through the routine with the beam tester, they like that. Remember, if in doubt, pass and advise.
Refer to the manual if you are not sure, it takes a few seconds to be safe. Make sure you know the start dates for certain things, EML, rev lamps, fogs, SRS lamp etc all have first used after dates for instance.
Then just keep calm and do your best,he knows you are nervous and will expect a mistake or hesitation or two, it's just like passing your driving test, get it out of the way and it just gets easier.
Oh and try and stick to their system for where to start and finish etc (I don't as it is silly but they seem to like it!)
Print a check sheet for the car when you log the test to help you and be careful inputting the data at end of test.

Good luck

Great advice here, especially about the beam tester. I would add making sure you know how to do a full emissions test if the basic test fails. The Vehicle Examiners are generally a good bunch and they want you to pass. Don’t be afraid to refer to the manual, they want you to do that rather than having a guess and getting it wrong!
As has been said, take your time and best of luck.