Reply With QuotePretty scary.
It’s struck me for years that car manufactures give little thought that in years to come their vehicles have to be inspected for MOT every year. If you look underneath the vast amount of modern vehicles to say they’re not MOT tester friendly is an understatement. Many components are hidden behind trims and covers which makes inspection of the component very difficult or impossible.
DVSA testing methods are quite clear in that in general covers can’t be removed to inspect components however covers or trims that are design to be easily removed such as covers around brake cylinders or batteries can be.
This was struck home this week when a gent in his 2008 Range Rover lost his brake pedal whilst, luckily for him, reversing on to his drive, the cause was these 2 brakes pipes pictured which are totally obscured with a huge plastic fuel tank cover. The cover takes about an hour to get off and when it’s in place no part of any of the lines is visible. There are loads of cars on our roads with hidden gems like this, let’s hope we all manage to avoid them when they inevitably let go.
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Pretty scary.
This is a good point. Another thing that is of note is when brake lines are purposely coated with grease or wax to protect them - the MOT report can only then state as much rather than an accurate condition of the pipes.
What are the black and blue lines in that pic?
Fuel lines to and from the tankOriginally Posted by rico
Fuel and feed and return
- - - Updated - - -
Fastest four finger first lol
Ill use that as a ban name, no one will ever know.
My brake pipes on my 22 year old runabout are sprayed with a thin coat of transparent wax (Bilt Hamner Dynax UB) every year. It is easily wiped off before MOT, with a rag moistened with thinners or petrol, the pipes inspected, MOT done, then resprayed again. What's left in the tin gets used on other underbody parts (Ooer missus!) and box sections via a 360 degree spray wand. Never had an advisory in my ownership.
Depends on testers I think, some like to use the advisories a little too much. I’ve seen quite a few recently where they've stated something along the lines of “brake pipes coated and inspections made difficult.
I suppose this highlights the importance of regular servicing along side the MoT test.
A decent service station will be able to have a much better look over the car than the cursory glance a modern MoT will achieve.
Whilst my local guys are very reasonable and sensible, a mate had an advisory on his car (first MOT) due to under trays limiting the testers ability to inspect stuff.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
That’s to cover the tester’s arse.
Same goes for children’s car seats. They have to advise that the belt holding the seat hasn’t been tested.
Still wouldn’t have shown it Dave, totally hidden.
Manufacturers won't spend any time building in systems that make the cars last longer, it's not in their interests. Equally they won't make them particularly maintenance friendly especially without the "official" tools.
Their job is going to be to produce the most efficient car from the point of ease of manufacture and profit margin and containing the best, most up to date tech which in turn makes them sell better. They will want them to be as maintenance free and reliable for the warranty period but after that they are obsolete from the manufacturers point of view. Their business won't really allow them to look back with the possible exception of the small sports car manufacturers, Ferrari, Maserati, AM etc where the sheer value of the old cars makes them of worth to the factory.
I've always thought there would be a market for a modular car where a lot of thought has gone into the design and layout of the mechanicals to allow easy access and maintenance. I imagine everyone who has an interest in a car knows the things that are a real pita to change. 944 clutch, that's the gearbox and torque tube all out. I think it books at 13 hours. Plenty of cars need bumpers and wheel arch liners out to change headlight bulbs etc.
There should also be the option to delete all the options you don't want but you get anyway.
But there would be no money in a cheap, fast, simple, easy to fix, good looking, but up to date car that lasts forever. I'm not suggesting we all go back to Morris minors for their simplicity but a city car or 4 door hatch with good crash protection and modular electrical and mechanical systems that allow easy changes ought to be a possibility.
Sorry, not in that particular case but I meant that covers can be removed during a service that can’t be with an MoT.
This makes zero sense, cars last longer than they ever have and service intervals are longer than they have ever been.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
I understand Dave - it's the inconsistency that I find annoying.
My Defender (when I bought it) had a new MOT (after needing a windscreen washer jet and an anti-roll bar link) - all good (supposedly).
During my OCD of sorting stuff out to my standard I find the power steering pipes looked about as bad as FFF's picture of the brake pipes - when I check the MOT history it has been flagged twice in the last 3 years prior to the latest MOT.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
Many years ago in my misspent youth I worked on the spanners. The later part of which was the days of Mk 3 Escorts and the FWD Cavaliers/Astras etc. Having been used to fitting clutches on mostly RWD cars some of the FWD gang seemed like hard work. The Cavaliers that could be dropped out with the box still in place were one exception. Another one was the BMW's where the gearbox could slide back on slots so no need to drop it out completely. Always used to curse those cars where everything seemed to be made to be as difficult to fix as possible. That reminds me, talking about Mini's...........
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
I'm a big fan of using Bilt Hamber's products on my vehicles and FWIW I've never had an MOT test issue on the brake lines despite them having Dynax UC all over them.
R
Ignorance breeds Fear. Fear breeds Hatred. Hatred breeds Ignorance. Break the chain.
Exactly! If the rear back plates of an E39 which are about £14 each need changed you have to strip the axle down and change the bearings at the same time. BM charge about £700 for the job, I found out the hard way. I would have used an angle grinder and welder if I had known.
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