E30 Zone

.......no worries. The 318i Sportomatic sailed through with an advisory on a bit of play in the rack. "In the old days I wouldn't even have mentioned it" says the tester "but we have to list everything now".

C.O rock steady at 2.3%

Not bad eh?

0.99% for me 2 days ago...not bad eh

how much did it really cost you thou, did you have to bend over

Not bad at all.

On my one month old Swedish MOT they say my fumes is 0% for the Co`value and we are here talking about a 21 year old E32

Can't argue with that. The other year my 320i had an advisory for the same thing. This year, no advisories whatsoever. The wonders of self healing BMW components? Or a sympathetic MOT tester taking pity on my 4dr turd?

That is good. Steering rack play seems to not get worse often though. Not many people on here seem to have to change racks that often - unless an upgrade. My touring had an advisory for play in the steering rack 12 years ago and it's still ok. It can seem worse sometimes I am guessing by the wear in the tie rods. Those joints on the tie rods, where they join the rack do tend to wear after no time at all.

Anyway congrats on the MOT success Andy.

318is passed today with no advisory's for the second year running!

Your a Jammy tw4t Andy,basically !!

I reckon there was a backhander there somewhere...

im sorry there guys but as a current mot tester,have been for the past 12 years,i cannot believe that these are passing with no advisory's. i currently work for a bmw dealership testing 3-5 year old bmw's and the like,and i find plenty to advise. either the tester is doing a bit of a pi** poor job or someones telling porkies!! a answer may be found in the fact that there is a problem with vosa handing out vt32 adviser'y forms with slots ordered online. they only send 12-16 with every 100 vt20 pass certificates! therefore creating a shortage of paperwork avalible,and reducing the amount testers will advise. advises are there for your benifit,if they are'nt noted down,problems will bite you in the ass later by surprise!

wackiacki wrote:i currently work for a bmw dealership testing 3-5 year old bmw's and the like,and i find plenty to advise.

But 3-5 year old BMWs aren't E30s are they? That's the reason I drive E30s rather than 3-5 year old ones!
Never had a failure, other than one place that deliberately damaged a component to try and generate work for their workshop, and rarely get advisories. (Last one was for a tyre.)

who wrote the ticket out, Maxfield?

The only advisory i got yesterday when i mot'd my (sold ) congestion meister was "Pete , you're taking the p1ss with these LIDL digestives !"

wackiacki wrote:im sorry there guys but as a current mot tester,have been for the past 12 years,i cannot believe that these are passing with no advisory's. i currently work for a bmw dealership testing 3-5 year old bmw's and the like,and i find plenty to advise. either the tester is doing a bit of a pi** poor job or someones telling porkies!! a answer may be found in the fact that there is a problem with vosa handing out vt32 adviser'y forms with slots ordered online. they only send 12-16 with every 100 vt20 pass certificates! therefore creating a shortage of paperwork avalible,and reducing the amount testers will advise. advises are there for your benifit,if they are'nt noted down,problems will bite you in the ass later by surprise!

It's known as 'common sense'. A car is either safe to drive, or it isn't. Some MOT testers are complete wankers and will crucify an older car, my one doesn't. he won't let a wreck through but he's sensible. It's structurally perfect, the suspension and steering are nice and tight, the brakes shit hot and everything works.
BMW's built in the E39/E46 era can be a an MOT disaster. I've seen too many X reg BMW's with shagged brake pipes, leaking shocks, buggered catalysts etc etc etc. They don't make them like they used to - my 19 year old E32 still has every original brake pipe and it's never required welding.

andyp wrote:how much did it really cost you thou, did you have to bend over

Bent MOT's are for idiots.

wackiacki wrote:i currently work for a bmw dealership testing 3-5 year old bmw's and the like,and i find plenty to advise.

And most of those will probably have been neglected for the few years that they dont need an MOT, then all of a sudden it all gets checked out and some worn parts are found.

I think most of the people who have replied to this thread look after their E30s, rather than run them on and wait until the MOT tester says there is a problem.
Both my E30s have always passed their MOTs. For the couple years I drove the Sport, it never had an advisory but did need one ball joint replacing, which I did before the test.
The touring sailed through its first MOT with me and only had one advisory last year on a corroded brake pipe. And the touring isnt in A1 condition by any means - it cost me £400 to buy and has cost me another £100 in parts, which isnt bad for just over 2 years of motoring.

Haven't MoT'd my e30 yet, but definitely reckon the whole advisory thing is complete b0ll0x. Last time I got an MoT I got an advisory for 'damage to inside rim on all 4 alloy wheels' - wtf? I asked him what he was on about and he mumbled something about it being nothing to worry about, just has to say if he notices anything. It's not like I had been parking so far up kerbs I was catching the inside of the rims (I'd remember if I had anyway! Particularly if I'd done to BOTH sides!). So then he says, oh, have you had new tyres on it? 'Yes, 4, why?' Oh, sometimes the alloy wheels stick to the steel hubs and tyre fitters knock them off with a mallet, that might be it.

Next day I jack the car up and spin the wheels to see if I can see what he's on about - can't find a graze or an even slight buckle on any of the inner rims All the while, remember, all four wheels have got odd kerbing marks on the outside that he hasn't even mentioned.

So I'm left with a helpful bit of paper that makes my car legal but suggests to anyone I might want to sell it to that the wheels might be about to do a Kovalainen (and what does it suggest about how the rest of the car's been cared for?)

Except they're not. So what was the point in 'advising' me about it? All he succeeded in doing was p1ss1ng me off and probably knocking down the value of my car. Either it's safe or it isn't, why bother with this halfway-house, jobsworth load of old c*ck?:banghead:

Sorry, rant over, and well done to the fellas above on getting their cars through without a note from matron!

i've got my MOT this weekend Im hopping the chrome blinds them

when my e30 went for m.o.t it only failed on the drivers side headlamps. Basically when the lights were on the beam was too high. All it needed was a clip. the only advisory I had was something to do with the car battery not sitting properly. I was crapping my pants thinking what would it fail on. As it was the first time it went for a m.o.t under my ownership and first time me owning a e30. Credit to the 2 previous owners

My iS passed without an advisory, the tester even shook my hand and thanked me for owning an E30, he said that it was a pleasure to test. There was an 07 plate audi there that had £9000 worth of engine damage and it was only 4 months old! Congrats to you Andyboy!

The advisories are crafty bastards. What it means is that if the cops decide to hassle you for your old BMW, they have a full record of what your car was advised on - they can then check that. In the event of an accident they can check it also.

Andyboy wrote:The advisories are crafty bastards. What it means is that if the cops decide to hassle you for your old BMW, they have a full record of what your car was advised on - they can then check that. In the event of an accident they can check it also.

but when some fking import Polski* rear-ends you in Carmarthen Tesco Car Park, doing 4 times the car park speed limit and you find 2 illegal front tyres, dilligently point them out to the copper who then responds by stating its not an issue if nobody was hurt, it takes the p1ss!

My 4door chariot passed the MOT with a few advisories, of which I keep an eye on every week. Tyres are next on the list, as it has slight neggy camber and I like my tyres with plenty of meat on them but i'll change them before they hit their markers, which kind of goes to back up what was said above about car enthusiasts takign care of their cars.


* i have Polski friends, so dont get uptight*

Andyboy wrote:The advisories are crafty bastards. What it means is that if the cops decide to hassle you for your old BMW, they have a full record of what your car was advised on - they can then check that. In the event of an accident they can check it also.

quite crafty if its your car, wouldent be seen the same if it was a car you were buying though ay? you would want to know the advisorys from the last mot to make sure its kosha? problem is,if you dont advise,eg, the tyres are getting low on tread, owner will usually forget and then blame the mot tester for not telling them when plod pulls you over for knackered tyres. either way us mot testers are usually seen as the bad guys, and theres always an excuse for blaming us for somthing!