12 replies to this topic

[grck1]

well sad to say my mini has failed its mot. consisting of:

 

loose lower nsf ball joint

non functional fog light - piggin thing was working when it went lol

 

and corrosion to rear sub frame mounts specifically drivers side front and rear and passenger rear.

 

oh well.

 

what concerns me more than the failures is the items missed - namely a unsecured drivers seat - pushed to far back for the catch to latch.

 

and the fact that the three failed areas for corrosion had been repaired before in 2012 and passed two mots in 2012 and 2013 but even stevie wonder could see one was not repaired properly and now the others have corroded away.

 

i have to add the repairs happened before my ownership and i expected the failure on one of the areas as im not blind lol.

 

is this what we have to put up with?

 poor quality repairs and haphazard testing?

 

 

[samsfern]

Me being an active mot tester myself, I would suggest you take this up with the place that done the mot, before progressing further.

[grck1]

i dont really have a issue as such with the failure, i expected one and i would look a bit daft pointing out something they missed?and i dont think they would appreciate me telling them they werent doing there job right

 

its the previous mots with the horrendous bodge repairs that irk me somewhat, which i cant complain about due to time length and me not been the owner at the time. 

its the subjective nature of the test and the tester personal view - ive had cars get advised on corroded brake pipes one year then not the next - due to different tester.

and the standard that mot repairs are done to. you would think that a repair would last more than 2 years and less than 6000 miles?

 

am i being stupid in expecting better?

[sonikk4]

The problem you have with patch repairs / oversills etc is the work done to remove rust / old sills before hand. If none of this is done then you are lucky to get two years out of any repairs. Mini steel is thin to start with so not cutting out rust etc will hasten damage to any new repairs.

[blackbelt1990]

My daily failed last year on steering play and corroded fuel pipes. I know they havn't been rectified but it wasn't mentioned this year.

If you know what the issues are, I wouldn't go back to complain. Like you said, it's at the testers discretion.

[Tamworthbay]

They can be strange things, my MGB GT had an advisory on the OSF wheel bearing for slight play five straight years. The first year I replaced the bearing, the second I stripped, cleaned and rechecked everything - it seemed ok, the third year I checked the play and it was negligible, I did the same the next two years. I am still in touch with the new owner and it passed the last MOT with no mention.

[Guess-Works.com]

I've found that many MOT testers will look at the advisories from the previous year, and take special attention to these... I don't think that it is a problem, nor underhand it's just checking things which may be a future problem have been remedied or have not worsened... So advisory items can be carried over year on year..

 

IMO, you should not present a car to an MOT hoping it should pass, if you know there's something 'dodgy' why don't you fix it before the MOT ?

[silve1999]

A lot of people put the car in to see what work is needed to meet the minimum... and I stress the word minimum of road safety standards.

[Tamworthbay]

A lot of people put the car in to see what work is needed to meet the minimum... and I stress the word minimum of road safety standards.

very true, I am amazed how some people will try and fiddle their way through an MOT. After all it isn't the MOT tester driving around for the year. I hate it when a car fails, to me that shows I have failed in maintaining and checking the car, but I do have more facilities than most which helps a lot.

[mab01uk]

What you might consider to be 'bodge' repairs as a classic car restorer are often quite satisfactory to pass an MOT in order to get a further years use out the car as cheaply as possible. The welded patch plates and lack of rust proofing after welding repairs often means an MOT failure again the following year or two later.....but if the original owner had no intention of a long term classic car restoration then it is (and was) very common to see. The often mentioned 'oversills' are an example of this usually on daily driver Mini's not owned by a 'hands on'  enthusiast or a car run on a shoestring budget before being scrapped.

Edited by mab01uk, 07 September 2014 - 10:41 AM.

[blackbelt1990]

When I bought my mini, both sills had patches between EVERY one of the drain pressings!

[lordyoung1980]

 
IMO, you should not present a car to an MOT hoping it should pass, if you know there's something 'dodgy' why don't you fix it before the MOT ?

Sometimes thats not always the best course of action,as other things could fail near that area that could mean you do the job twice. For me I present the car to the tester clean and tidy and check all the things I can,lights etc and go from there. I had an issue with the brakes on a mini 1000 I had a few years ago,I replaced everything I could and that included brand new back plates. I set them up and they were amazing as far as drum brakes go. I took them back and he failed them as not being strong enough. This went on three times till I took it to another tester and it passed straight away,and he commented on how good they were for a mini. When I spoke to the first tester he said he was expecting it to be as good as a 'modern' car.

[grck1]

What you might consider to be 'bodge' repairs as a classic car restorer are often quite satisfactory to pass an MOT in order to get a further years use out the car as cheaply as possible. The welded patch plates and lack of rust proofing after welding repairs often means an MOT failure again the following year or two later.....but if the original owner had no intention of a long term classic car restoration then it is (and was) very common to see. The often mentioned 'oversills' are an example of this usually on daily driver Mini's not owned by a 'hands on'  enthusiast or a car run on a shoestring budget before being scrapped.

 

i called it a bodge because even a layman can see it is a bodge job that should not have passed 2 mots. - heel board vertical face not attached to floor plan leaving a ledge for water to collect in and rot out the repair?- that's  a bodge in any ones eyes.

 

 

I've found that many MOT testers will look at the advisories from the previous year, and take special attention to these... I don't think that it is a problem, nor underhand it's just checking things which may be a future problem have been remedied or have not worsened... So advisory items can be carried over year on year..

 

IMO, you should not present a car to an MOT hoping it should pass, if you know there's something 'dodgy' why don't you fix it before the MOT ?

 

i put the car in knowing it would fail because i only found the bodge repair a week or so before and wanted to make sure of any other work before starting repairs, didnt want to have to do things like removing the subframe etc