MOT help,

[ste00]

Thinking of putting my bmw in for a mot but not sure what it will fail on, i know it has the following problems:

Passangers indicator is broken and hanging off,
3 part exaust is missing the last back box so it ends under the rear axel atm (is the first box on the 3 part a silencer or cat?),
Their is a 1" hole in the boot floor near the passangers side wing,
rear fog lights dont work (not a clue why because the bulb is fine and the switch is fine... plus they worked a few weeks back),
battery isnt bolted down,
wipers dont work on the first setting,
front right break is catching a bit (well a lot)
steering doesnt self center,

thats all i can think of atm... how much of that would it fail on?

[smithy318i]

all of the above. plus extra stuff you dont know about.

[stevetigger]

1)Passangers indicator is broken and hanging off=needs doing
2)3 part exaust is missing the last back box so it ends under the rear axel atm (is the first box on the 3 part a silencer or cat?)= needs doing
3)Their is a 1" hole in the boot floor near the passangers side wing= Hide it
4)rear fog lights dont work (not a clue why because the bulb is fine and the switch is fine... plus they worked a few weeks back)= needs doing
5)battery isnt bolted down= Needs doing
6)wipers dont work on the first setting= Thats fine, as long as they squirt
7)front right break is catching a bit (well a lot) = Depends
8)steering doesnt self center= At this point, scrap car

[ste00]

5)battery isnt bolted down= Needs doing

*walks round room muttering and swearing*

thats gonna be a problem... mainly because the only battery i have that works with the bmw is for a nissan 200sx (connections other way round to a bmw battery and taller)

hiding that hole wont be easy ether as i took the carpet out of the boot and it got binned...

the washers deffo squirt... as i found out when i was stood near the drivers door with a mate in the car...

why is the steering a point to scrap it on?

[Jon_Bmw]

Err a scrappy or alternatively Ԛ£50 to the MOT'er to overlook some points, not that i'd condone that.

I would imagine the brake machine will pick up the front right problem, so you need to look at that. Depends how bad it is really.

Hide the hole, shove some p40 in their then wack something appropriate over it(grease?)

I think it would be advisable to put a rear box on otherwise they won't be able to put the probe in the end of the exhaust very well, don't piss off MOT'ers by making their job harder, put it this way i always assist when my old garage does mine, it helps... A LOT.

bolt the battery down-easy

Probably a loose connection somewhere with your foglamps, surely fairly easy to find with a volt meter, but brian moore is your man really.

Indicator, just replace, easy.

Then see what else it fails on

Personally that would be how to get it to get a ticket but i certainly wouldn't drive it if you bodge everything.

[fuzzy]

what do you mean "thinking" of puting it in for an mot? its not like you have a choice, it needs one! everything needs to be in order, thats the point of the mot.even if its only for your own piece of mind that your not running around in a death trap

[ste00]

break is so bad that when i jack the car up i cant turn the wheel with both hands,

i'm thinking about putting it in for a mot for the simple reason that i have another car thats in slightly better condition that i could get mot ready... and its quicker

[911mot]

Battery security is not part of the test.

Wipers work, thats good enough

Steering doesnt self centre - not part of test - its not checked for as no road test involved. Could fail on 'excessive tightness' if its the u/j siezing up causing the problem

Hole in floor needs to be within 30cm of suspension or seat belt pick up point to fail

trust me, i'm a tester

[ste00]

break has losend up a bit (thanks to a large hammer and me being in a bad mood because the battery was flat again...)



thats the rust

am i rite in thinking the middle box on a 1987 3 part exaust is a silencer? if so then good

i was told the steering not self centering is the uj but it doesnt seem stiff at all...

anything else i could do with checking b4 the mot?

[DanThe]

Battery security is not part of the test.

Hole in floor needs to be within 30cm of suspension or seat belt pick up point to fail

trust me, i'm a tester

Hmmm, must be taking cars to the wrong tester as ive had failures for the above

[911mot]

It sound like it

Next time it fails on an insecure battery ask him where it says that's a failure in the MOT inspection manual....

As for corrosion that is a very grey area and sometimes boils down to the individual tester having to call the shots.

See here: http://www.motester.co.uk/cog.html

and here: http://www.motuk.com/mottest.htm

quote:


"Corrosion

A vehicle can fail with respect to corrosion for:

excessive corrosion in a 'prescribed area' Ԛ—a within 30 cms of certain safety related components, e.g. brakes, steering, suspension, seat belt mountings etc.
excessive corrosion not in a 'prescribed area', but which is likely to adversely affect the vehicle's brakes or steering. 'Excessive corrosion' can mean a hole or a significantly weakened structure. "

[DanThe]

Ive had cars fail on lower rear vallences before, I suppose you could call anypart of a car structural if you wanted to be picky though.
Thats what monocoque means
I will remember about the battery clamp though! May even take one off on purpose

[E30BeemerLad]

I think it is pretty safe to assume this car will probably fail on other things even if you tackled that list.

So if I was in your shoes, I would weigh up what you want to do with the car.

Before wasting time, energy, money etc even putting right the things you think it will fail on, I would get it in for an MOT as there could be some nasty surprises. that way, if the thing is a death trap you know you can cut your losses and bin it or frag any salvageable parts from it without wasting a week going round the car only to find it has more "issues" which will test your sanity and wallet.

just my advice though

[martauto]

my car failed for wipers not self parking (easy fix) but I never did get a proper answer from the zone on that one .
Does anyone know who we can ask ,and not "a very good mate in the trade"
Mart.

[E30BeemerLad]

my car failed for wipers not self parking (easy fix) but I never did get a proper answer from the zone on that one .
Does anyone know who we can ask ,and not "a very good mate in the trade"
Mart.

What do you mean fella?

"How do I repair the wipers?"

[bmwe30mtech]

my car failed for wipers not self parking (easy fix) but I never did get a proper answer from the zone on that one .
Does anyone know who we can ask ,and not "a very good mate in the trade"
Mart.

Mine dont self park (pain in the arse ) and it passed. But it also passed on worn out brakes, ruined struts and worn through pads. Also on worn out bushes and steering joints, bald tyres etc..!!! So i had it re-mod't by my local garage and all this was picked up on and sorted (at a high cost ). That car above looks like a scrapper. MOT people will be bound to find out more problems you dont know about, it alway seems to happen.

Paul

[ste00]

lol u serious about scrapping it for that little patch of rust? lol... i have brought worse nissans back from the dead, that rust patch is gonna be cut out and plated soon, and their is no more strutural rust on the car (bodywork is ok too) starts runs and drives fine so their is no reason to scrap it.... some ppl worry me at times writing off good cars just cause they need a little work

break isnt catching anymore... (dont know if it is evean when i break lol... but calipers and pads r quite cheap so might change em)

should be getting my surf back soon so i can go get some parts for it then

[bmwe30mtech]

lol u serious about scrapping it for that little patch of rust? lol... i have brought worse nissans back from the dead, that rust patch is gonna be cut out and plated soon, and their is no more strutural rust on the car (bodywork is ok too) starts runs and drives fine so their is no reason to scrap it.... some ppl worry me at times writing off good cars just cause they need a little work

break isnt catching anymore... (dont know if it is evean when i break lol... but calipers and pads r quite cheap so might change em)

should be getting my surf back soon so i can go get some parts for it then

OK, i may worry you about saying that, but maybe your bill will worry you more, who knows!? You say it has a few other problems, and im just pointing out that looking at that pic of the rust, i dont beleive that it can be the only rust on the car. Also i was pointing out that often MOT people will find things we havent thought of/realised, and that it would be pointless to keep on investing in it if its gonna rust through anyway? But you know th car better than me!

Paul

[ste00]

bill wont worry me as i can do 99% of the work myself and the guy nextdoor will do ne welding for me for free, so only thing that costs is the parts,

their is a small ammount of bubling near the rear windscreen (3 little bubbles that are being sorted soon), few small bubbles on 1 rear arch, thats all, been all over the underneath of this car and their is nothing worng under it at all except that one hole that the guy that does the welding has agreed can be done easily,

i've had bad rust in cars before so know what i am looking at here and its nothing at all (had a 200sx that was pretty much snapped in 2 down the middle with rust... rear arches had gone and so had the front outer wings and the inners were startng to go... worrying thing was it had a mot when i got it... oh and the eng had gone too but thats sorted now and in another car...)

[bmwe30mtech]

The 200sx i am guessing you scrapped, so not realy compareable. If your neighbour will sort it for free lucky you. Parts will still cost a lot though if from the dealer.

Paul

[bmwe30mtech]

I think it is pretty safe to assume this car will probably fail on other things even if you tackled that list.

So if I was in your shoes, I would weigh up what you want to do with the car.

Before wasting time, energy, money etc even putting right the things you think it will fail on, I would get it in for an MOT as there could be some nasty surprises. that way, if the thing is a death trap you know you can cut your losses and bin it or frag any salvageable parts from it without wasting a week going round the car only to find it has more "issues" which will test your sanity and wallet.

just my advice though

E30beemerlad has said similar to me, and you wernt "worried" by that. And he knows a lot more than me!! Just pointing it out.

[ste00]

The 200sx i am guessing you scrapped, so not realy compareable. If your neighbour will sort it for free lucky you. Parts will still cost a lot though if from the dealer.

Paul

only because it was going to cost Ԛ£60 for a new front cross member or Ԛ£120 for a decent shell... still got most the car, point is anything is repariable if u have the time...

and dealer prices are 1 reason i never buy parts from dealers,