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MOT...... FAQ

Before you ask a question, check to see if it's been asked before. We show all the common Transit faults here and it's a good idea to read through these in case they happen to you in the future!!

MOT...... FAQ

Postby Marty.H » Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:10 pm

i wrote this thread for another forum I'm on and though it may of use to people on here. If i have posted it in wrong section then please move it or if its not of use feel free to delete it :D

In this thread you may find some useful information relating to MOTs and how common issues can be resolved. So please take the time to read this thread before asking a question.

If it doesn't answer your question or you're still unsure? Then feel free to post in this thread, or PM me directly, and I will try to help. I am a licensed class IV and VII MOT tester so should be able to answer most of your questions, and if I am not about there are many other people on this forum who may be able to assist.


Useful Links

MOT Testers Manual


MOT Check List
Before your car goes in for an MOT here is a few things that may help:


1.Make sure you car/van is clean and presentable or the tester will be thinking if they can't keep it clean then they probably can't be bothered to look after it or maintain it resulting in them going over it with a tooth comb

2. Check all your lights and make sure they work. As this is a very common failure and it's simple to check yourself.

3. Make sure the screen wash is full of fluid (the amount of cars/vans that i have failed due to no screen wash is crazy ). It's not the testers place to top it up and pass your car/van. Also check your oil level make sure its where it should be

4. Check the tyres. It's very simple to do make sure they are at the correct pressure and not like a Damon Hill racing slick

5. Be on time or just before. There's nothing worse then someone turning up late its very annoying as the tester will have a big workload and MOT's are done in slots and you don't want to be annoying the tester if you put him behind.

6. Make sure your rear view mirror is clear from hanging air fresheners and fluffy dice. A Tomtom mounting bracket stuck to the windscreen is a no no (they're all failures ).

7. Take your old MOT cert makes life easier for the tester they like an easy life

8. If you had been advised on something last year have you rectified it? Or have you left it to get worse and not checked it since? Chances are if left and not been checked on it will get picked up on again this year and either be another advise or a failure

9. Check your car/van for management lights and fault lights. At the moment only ABS light on is a fail so get anything like that sorted before taking it for test as it will fail.

10. Makes sure everything opens, boot ,fuel cap ,bonnet and all the doors. If none of them will the tester will refuse to test it and its a waste of a journey for you.

11. If you are able to have a good look around at the brakes, suspension etc. If there's something you're not happy with chances are the tester won't be. The more effort you put in, the more likely your car/van will pass with flying colours

12. For a petrol vehicle make sure you get it nice and warm before you take it in for test. The cat does not work until it's upto a certain temp and can result in a failure on emissions, due to the vehicle not being hot enough. So make sure you get it nice and warm before.

13. For a diesel vehicle the same above applies but make sure its not smoking excessively when revved



While your vehicle is being tested:

1. You can watch the test from the viewing area. You may want to chat to the tester but the rules state he is not to talk while a test is in motion. So you are better to leave the tester to do his job if he wants to talk he will talk to you first.

2. Stapling £20 notes to the drives seatbelt and trying to bribe a tester wont work so don't attempt it as you will only get their back up they don't know you!!



If you follow all the above you cant go far wrong :mrgreen:


Emissions


Spark ignition ( petrol )


High HC reading means excessive unburnt fuel could be cause by:

1. Spark plugs need replacing or faulty leads,cap,rotor arm check ignition system
2. Faulty CTS ( cold temp sensor )
3 Mechanical fault if present engine will not be running even
4. Lambda sensor
5. Defective air filter

High Lambda reading means the AFR ratio is not correct could be caused by:

1. The engine having a high HC level see above to rectify
2. A leak in the exhaust system even if a minor leak
3. A defective lambda sensor
4. A leak on a vac or intake pipe.

High CO reading can be cause by:

1. All of the above
2. Was the vehicle tested at correct temp was cat allowed to get to operating temp
3. Defective Cat

If you go through the above and in most cases the above will solve most issues if it does not then put a post up but please include the reading from the emissions printout for CO,HC,LAMBDA as this will aid to see what the engine is doing

AFR = Air Fuel Ratio: The ratio of fuel to air entering the engine or the "mixture".


CO= Carbon Monoxide: The result of incomplete combustion.


CTS = Coolant Temperature Sensor: Measures coolant temperature as a reference for the ECU. Faulty sensors can cause the ecu to enrichen the fuel mixture or difficult cold starts.


HC= Hydrocarbons: A byproduct of burnt or partially burnt fuel.


Lambda Sensor: Also known as the O2(Oxygen) sensor, is used to monitor AFR. The Lambda probe does this by measuring the oxygen content in the spent exhaust gases. This is then converted into a signal (voltage) and used by the ECU to interpret the AFR.[/quote]

Compression ignition ( diesel )

Excess level of smoke measured

Ways to help get it though are as follows

1. Give the vehicle a good rev till it clears diesels tend to get clogged up and this is normally enough if not follow number 2
2. A new fuel filter and air filter and add some anti smoke or fuel cleaner to the tank that will 9/10 times sort it



Corrosion is often failed in areas that it should not be so check that any corrosion/holes fall within 30cm of the prescribed area it was failed on all details can be found in the testers manual link at the top of this post if it does not fall within the 30cm's then it should of not been failed


I hope this post is of use to you :mrgreen:
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby motorman116 » Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:37 pm

:lol: :lol:

You can put all that up, but how many vehicles do we get in for an Mot, with no screen wash in the bottle, wiper blades that are well past it, bulbs that are not working, and how many do we get with the sat nav stuck right in the center of the screen :lol: :lol:

The other day I had a vehicle in for an Mot, and it had an L plate stuck right in the center of the screen, so I hope that he learnt something when I failed it :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby MinorMatt » Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:46 pm

There are occasions, of course, when a bulb fails on the way to the test (It happened to me on a brake light bulb :twisted: ) First failure in my ownership...

I would also like to point out some testers are W*****S (i'm sure no-one on here is). One tester didn't like the look of one of my brake pipes (which was fair enough)... so instead of just failing it he spent 5 minutes with some 40 grit sandpaper rubbing hard until he made a hole! I wouldn't have minded if he just failed it... but that of course meant I either had to pay for recovery (££££) , get them to fix it and walk home (££££) or drive home and fix it myself with next to no brakes... That wasn't the same test as the brake light.

I still havent got all the air out of the brakes :evil: :twisted:
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby motorman116 » Mon Nov 26, 2012 8:54 pm

MinorMatt wrote:There are occasions, of course, when a bulb fails on the way to the test (It happened to me on a brake light bulb :twisted: ) First failure in my ownership...

I would also like to point out some testers are W*****S (i'm sure no-one on here is). One tester didn't like the look of one of my brake pipes (which was fair enough)... so instead of just failing it he spent 5 minutes with some 40 grit sandpaper rubbing hard until he made a hole! I wouldn't have minded if he just failed it... but that of course meant I either had to pay for recovery (££££) , get them to fix it and walk home (££££) or drive home and fix it myself with next to no brakes... That wasn't the same test as the brake light.

I still havent got all the air out of the brakes :evil: :twisted:


The idea of this post is to get people to check just the basic things, as 99% of cars fail on stupid items that could have been fixed before the Mot test.
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby zetor4321 » Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:16 am

Hi all, could i please ask if having no door cards on my transit mk5 would be an mot failure?

only asking as i have stripped mine to the minimum inside to do all welding spraying etc but wanted to test it before doing the final respray and full refit and i dont really want to put them back on to take them off again

I will have the window winder in place but with no door card no proper handle to pull it shut!

the rest of the interior is fully stripped except dash and associated parts

i will of course be fitted seats and belts (saftey stuff)

Any help is appreciated

Dave
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby motorman116 » Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:23 am

zetor4321 wrote:Hi all, could i please ask if having no door cards on my transit mk5 would be an mot failure?

only asking as i have stripped mine to the minimum inside to do all welding spraying etc but wanted to test it before doing the final respray and full refit and i dont really want to put them back on to take them off again

I will have the window winder in place but with no door card no proper handle to pull it shut!

the rest of the interior is fully stripped except dash and associated parts

i will of course be fitted seats and belts (saftey stuff)

Any help is appreciated

Dave


The Mot manual says that the doors must be able to be opened / closed from the inside and outside, as long as this can be done, then there is no problem....
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby lampy54 » Tue Nov 27, 2012 9:56 pm

Here's another link :arrow: http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/index.htm

I do class 1-2-4-7 tests and as motorman says "Do not antagonise the mot tester it may make it harder for you to tax your vehicle" :wink:
Phrases that annoy are...............

I've ridden bikes for 50 years there is nothing wrong with that its a tourer !!!........ front forks on a BMW that carried on bouncing half a dozen times.

Could you put that on an advisory ?......... A X5 BMW with the cords hanging out the rear tyres.

I dont use the back brake anyway !...... A Suzuki gsxr 1000 with no rear pads left and the caliper piston wedged against the what was left of the disc.

You cant fail it for a loose chain !!!.......... When I wheeled the bike round in a circle slightly leant over it fell off.

And the list goes on........................

Its a real pleasure to get a vehicle in where the owner/driver has made an effort and although it shouldn't it does make a difference :wink:
so many lamposts so little time........................stupid place to put a wall wasn't it
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby Marty.H » Tue Nov 27, 2012 10:01 pm

lampy54 wrote:Here's another link :arrow: http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/index.htm

I do class 1-2-4-7 tests and as motorman says "Do not antagonise the mot tester it may make it harder for you to tax your vehicle" :wink:
Phrases that annoy are...............

I've ridden bikes for 50 years there is nothing wrong with that its a tourer !!!........ front forks on a BMW that carried on bouncing half a dozen times.

Could you put that on an advisory ?......... A X5 BMW with the cords hanging out the rear tyres.

I dont use the back brake anyway !...... A Suzuki gsxr 1000 with no rear pads left and the caliper piston wedged against the what was left of the disc.

You cant fail it for a loose chain !!!.......... When I wheeled the bike round in a circle slightly leant over it fell off.

And the list goes on........................

Its a real pleasure to get a vehicle in where the owner/driver has made an effort and although it shouldn't it does make a difference :wink:



:lol: :lol: at some of them above quotes from presenters.

I generally find if the vehicle is clean inside and out they are generally looked after those who cant be bothered to clean the inside and out are the ones that have no screen wash and things like that and are poorly maintained
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby MinorMatt » Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:04 am

Mine are well maintained... but are always filthy :lol:
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby lampy54 » Wed Nov 28, 2012 12:14 am

MinorMatt wrote:Mine are well maintained... but are always filthy :lol:



Just how I like my women :D
so many lamposts so little time........................stupid place to put a wall wasn't it
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby motorman116 » Wed Nov 28, 2012 7:25 am

lampy54 wrote:Here's another link :arrow: http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/index.htm

I do class 1-2-4-7 tests and as motorman says "Do not antagonise the mot tester it may make it harder for you to tax your vehicle" :wink:
Phrases that annoy are...............

I've ridden bikes for 50 years there is nothing wrong with that its a tourer !!!........ front forks on a BMW that carried on bouncing half a dozen times.

Could you put that on an advisory ?......... A X5 BMW with the cords hanging out the rear tyres.

I dont use the back brake anyway !...... A Suzuki gsxr 1000 with no rear pads left and the caliper piston wedged against the what was left of the disc.

You cant fail it for a loose chain !!!.......... When I wheeled the bike round in a circle slightly leant over it fell off.

And the list goes on........................

Its a real pleasure to get a vehicle in where the owner/driver has made an effort and although it shouldn't it does make a difference :wink:


I'm a class 4 Mot tester and the one that I like is, when someone brings their vehicle in for an Mot, normally the last booking on a Saturday and you get, the Mot has run out and we are using it to go on holiday tomorrow, then it fails the mot that cant be fixed at that time as all the suppliers are closed and you keep getting, I need it to go away on holiday tomorrow.
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby loot » Mon Dec 03, 2012 7:44 pm

I did that once but luckily i was friendly with the testers and they both got onto it lol i think it was just a Tyre needed or something daft, they got a nice box of chocolates!
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby maycontainnuts » Fri Dec 07, 2012 9:29 pm

And the one we must not forget ( It passed like that last year ), I test 4,5,7 vehicles and can write a book about some of the things peoplehave tried.
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby MinorMatt » Tue Feb 19, 2013 2:48 pm

Just reading this again...

I have had plenty of "advisories" on a test and not done anything about them. The next year (and subsequent ones) the problem is not there anymore... go figure? The one that I can immediately think of is slight play in a wheel bearing
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Re: MOT...... FAQ

Postby Marty.H » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:40 am

MinorMatt wrote:Just reading this again...

I have had plenty of "advisories" on a test and not done anything about them. The next year (and subsequent ones) the problem is not there anymore... go figure? The one that I can immediately think of is slight play in a wheel bearing


Chances are different tester so difference in opinion or he just could not be bothered second time around
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