Biennial MOT tests

More daftness.
I'm assuming that the owner had prepared his car in readiness for the MOT by replacing the front pads and discs, caliper, drop links and suspension arms, but he seemed to have missed something..


It's so common that people just don't check the whole of the tyre tread and are shocked when it fails for the above.
 
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  • Wow
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I had a weird customer states when I was working for Lexus.
The customer complained that his nearly new car was making a whooshing noise from under the seats when he pulled away and when he slowed down.
He was correct, it made quite a racket.
So after pulling the seats and carpet out, it transpired that there was a million BB's rolling around on the metal floor of the car, and I can only assume his kid had tipped them down there through an air vent or suchlike.
 
A couple of pics from today's testing..

How this hasn't blown out yet is a complete mystery..

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and a perfectly acceptable repair to a seat belt..

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and yes, somone had attempted to sew that patch thing onto the belt for whatever reason that I'm still unable to fathom out.
 
General rule is that if we need tools to remove something, then we can’t.
But, on the other hand we’re not allowed to remove wheel trims or brake fluid reservoir caps.
The customer has to make sure their vehicle is in a presentable state to be tested, and I would say to them that if duct tape was covering a seat belt then the vehicle isn’t in a presentable condition for me to inspect correctly, and if they refuse to remove it, then I’d refuse to continue the test and cancel it (the same goes with sat navs/dash cams, loads of junk on the seats etc etc).
 
lordrobs said:
Why would a dash cam mean that it's not in a state to be tested?

Thankfully the garage I use is OK with the car seat being in. I remove it if I can but if the next stop after nursery drop of is the garage then it's staying in and I'll take the note saying they couldn't test the belt, if they even bother to record that.
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We're allowed to remove dash-cams/navs etc as long as we inform the person presenting the vehicle, but in some cases it's not practicable.
And by that I mean when theres wires coming down from the head lining, A pillars and all over the dash board, all of which I don't want to unplug or remove due to damage that I may cause, or the presenter may claim that I've damaged.
If I ask for them to remove such items and they decline to, I can either refuse to test or fail the vehicle for..

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I think it's is fair to say that a person may accept that it's reasonable to fail their vehicle for having damage to their windscreen that affects the view from it, but for some reason some think it's ok to have a large nav screen plonked on right in their view of the road but that isn't an issue.

All MOT stations are ok with child seats in, but we're not allowed to remove them to fully check the seat belt, but we must inspect the belt as best we can with the seat in place and then advise..

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Great news!

First MOT test to remain at 3 years from registration and annually thereafter while government works to establish a programme of longer-term reform for MOTs.

www.gov.uk

Government committed to MOT modernisation as consultation concludes

First MOT test to remain at 3 years from registration and annually thereafter while government works to establish a programme of longer-term reform for MOTs.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk
 
Nasher said:
They should have to be MOTed (by someone independent, not the dealer) within a week of being registered TBH.

Quite a lot of 3 year old cars seem to fail on stuff which has likely been there a long time. Bad wipers, headlight alignments, oil leaks, tyres, brakes etc
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You think a brand spanking new car should have an MOT? and by someone other than the supplying main dealer?
That’s what a PDI is for, and as an ex PDI tech, believe me, you want manufacturer trained techs doing that job and not by some herbert who doesn’t know the product.
I’ve PDI’d thousands of new cars and found faults that you wouldn’t believe (trapped chaffed wires, ECU’s not plugged in, every sort of rattle when interior parts aren’t fitted correctly and the list goes on & on).
 
As tom_e says, it’s 3 years after first registration date, which will be on your V5.
A PDI is a pre-delivery inspection that’s carried out before the car is released to the customer and has nothing to do with the registration of the vehicle.
 
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Coil spring snapped at the top and the bottom, and when the van was jacked up, it just fell out!
It also failed on tyres, lights, brakes and corrosion.
The brake hoses were so deteriorated it's almost unbelievable that they hadn't burst.
The inner wings were in such a state you could fit your fist through the holes that had rusted through, but there was no advisories on any of the 4 years previous MOT tests, so it's safe to say that it had serveral dodgy MOT's done.
The spring..

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Imagine going over a speed hump and that fell out.
The poor guy had bought it a year ago just after it was last MOT'd, and it's fair to say he wasn't jumping for joy.
 
Stu999 said:
@JonRGV250 - how often do you put your own car on the ramps to check for this sort of thing?
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Every couple or months or so, but being a tester/tech for god knows how may years I know when somethings not as it should be just through seeing/hearing/feeling it from so many customers cars.

Stu999 said:
It's sort of hard for your average punter to pick these types of issue up.
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Agreed, but sadly so many people just ignore any knocking noises or wayward handling etc on their cars and I guess just hope it goes away, that or they turn the radio up a bit.
It always amuses me when I fail a car for suspension issues and ask the customer if they'd heard a loud knocking noise and they say "yes, it's been happening for months".
At this point I have to bite my lip and try and be polite.
 
Some people just shouldn't repair, or attempt to repair their own cars.
This BMW had just had new brake pads fitted, and unsurprisingly I failed it for what hopefully should be fairly obvious..

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I did ask the guy who the hell had been let loose on his braking system, and he admitted that he'd replaced the pads, but when I showed him the above pic, he said it was like that before and that he'd not removed the caliper to replace the pads.
I guessed he'd used magic to fit them then.


The next delight was a Kuga that was booked in for 2pm and the customer called to say he'd be late as he was having two front tyres replaced.
So, on to the MOT, and it failed* on the NSR tyre that was so devoid of tread that it'd worn down to the cords on the inner edge..

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I asked him if the tyre place had checked the other tyres and he showed me this..

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It clearly shows the NSR tyre as having 5mm and being legal, and I think it's fairly obvious that the tyre hasn't had 5mm on it for quite a while now even ignoring the fact that it's about to blow out.
If I hadn't MOT'd it, the customer would have thought that his rear tyres were on 5mm and legal would have happily carried on driving it for another few thousand miles.
*it also failed on 2 broken coil springs and insecure headlamps.
He'd apparently had both headlight bulbs replaced by Halfords who instead of removing the lamps correctly, had just ripped them out and in doing so had broken the lower brackets off so there was no way of the lamps being secure.

So, well done Formula one autocentres, and well done Halfords.

It's terrifying that these places have such a low standard when it comes to employing supposed qualified staff.
 
Stu999 said:
Obviously the tyre is knackered but what was the tread depth in the central 3/4ths of the tyre? They must have measured the central part.

Edit - it’s hard to tell from the pic, excluding the worn through inner edge.
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4mm at best, but the report says "all depths are measured at the lowest point" or not as the case may be.
 
tonys said:
This clearly shows why we need to have better controls in place to keep this type of work at bay
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Indeed, yes.
There's a massive shortage of motor trade staff, and it seems some companies will employ any old clowns to keep costs down.
Pre Covid, the wages were terrible, and given the time people had off and a had chance to look elsewhere, many left the trade and didn't return (and I'm talking very very skilled people).
During Covid I worked at a Mercedes dealership, and 7 out of 11 techs left!
Now employers are offering £10-15K over pre covid wages to get decent staff, but they've all gone and taken their skills with them.
No one is coming into the trade, and from what I've seen from work placement students etc, they seem to think it's all fine and dandy until they get their hands dirty or have to put any effort in and then they just give up, because effort.
I'd wager theres more talent in the OCUK motors section than there is in almost any garage anywhere in the UK these days.
 
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Yup.
When he’s taken the caliper off, he’s for some reason twisted the hose before refitting it.
It’s way way too tight, and I’ve seen it before where the hose is so tight it actually applies the brake when on lock.
 
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