240 General: MOT sickener

[chesters6]

just failed its MOT (examiner must be in a bad mood )
cracked windscreen ,strangely the very same crack as last year ,not grown a mm and behind the tax disk holder where its not seen anyway!
leaking clutch slave cylinder (isnt that standard?) is the proposal of a "fixing" kit ok i suppose its hit and miss if the bore is ok?
both expensive fails

need help though where exactly is the nearside torque/reaction arm in the rear (slight play in bush)?
offside rear trailing arm (slight play in bush)

is it best to replace the opposite bush (doubling the cost) at the same time?

whats slight play? now i'm not in a good mood

[rippedoffagain]

Is the clutch even part of the MOT? I once had a car go through its MOT and the clutch was slipping so badly that it took me some persuasion just to get it to the garage.

[chesters6]

bugger knows i once had a landy fail because the steel inner frame on a door had cracked ,nothing else!

sorted the bushes i printed off a green book and asked him to point to the offending ones ,will do both sides they are all the same age after all
the fun will be getting them back in.

still the windscreen to source pity they are glued in

and the slave but i'm cooling down now its not so bad but just 10 days to do it in

[rippedoffagain]

Originally Posted by chesters6

still the windscreen to source pity they are glued in

Ring around for a few quotes. I once had a Cavalier windscreen done for £90 even though Autoglass quoted nearly £400 for the same job.

I can't remember the name of the company I used, but there were a few quotes around that price, it was only Autoglass that wanted to rob me.

[honestjoe]

Hi chester...on the bright side with the mot tester in a bad mood its sounds as if your motor is in pretty good nick!!...the ten days to do the work is a stress you could do without..if you consider when i did my suspension/trailing arm bushes and new trailing arms due to rust holes it should not have been on the road never mind pass an mot!!..and the axle bushes were space dust!!...It goes to show that mot stations and garages vary so much...you could for the price of an mot try another garage and do the work at your convinience?..hang in there chester i really thought my old bus was going to the scrappy last year...I"m not sure about doing both rear bushes at the same time..just get the work done to pass mot and then think about refreshing the other bushes..noteably the rear axle bushes!!..I only got to see them because of changing trailing arms..They were so far gone..They are very hard to see in situ so the tester will not really be able to make a judgement..I"m not sure if they will remove the trailing arm to fit this one..in that case the axle bush condition will be seen...I think it was a harsh decision on your windscreen..especially with the tax disk evident...Its the labour charges that are a killer..but even so you will feel alot better when you drive the car home...cheers chester...been there done that!...hj.

[rippedoffagain]

Originally Posted by honestjoe

I think it was a harsh decision on your windscreen..especially with the tax disk evident...Its the labour charges that are a killer..but even so you will feel alot better when you drive the car home...cheers chester...been there done that!...hj.

My a mechanic once told my dad that the reason they fail an MOT for a cracked windscreen is not just that the crack my interfere with your view, but also that it is a weak spot that could end up taking out the whole windscreen without warning. The mechanic may have been telling pork pies to my dad, but it sounds plausible to me.

[Stoney Strike]

Originally Posted by rippedoffagain

Ring around for a few quotes. I once had a Cavalier windscreen done for £90 even though Autoglass quoted nearly £400 for the same job.

I can't remember the name of the company I used, but there were a few quotes around that price, it was only Autoglass that wanted to rob me.

If you're fully comp it's covered on nearly all insurance policies, so the crack happened THIS week and it'll be about £60 excess! Bingo!
Had a windscreen go on me 4 weeks after moving to fully comp and was supremely impressed by my (VERY RARE!) good fortune!

[adamsky01]

Originally Posted by Stoney Strike

If you're fully comp it's covered on nearly all insurance policies, so the crack happened THIS week and it'll be about £60 excess! Bingo!
Had a windscreen go on me 4 weeks after moving to fully comp and was supremely impressed by my (VERY RARE!) good fortune!

did it realy ? yer right lol

[keithf]

Originally Posted by rippedoffagain

Is the clutch even part of the MOT? I once had a car go through its MOT and the clutch was slipping so badly that it took me some persuasion just to get it to the garage.

I think that as it's a hydraulic clutch it is a problem (same as brakes, leaking fluid just won't do!). The condition of the clutch plate isn't important in an MOT but the operation is (it was slipping but still worked). The car you got MOT'd with a slipping clutch, was it hydraulic or cable operated? I bet it was cable operated (and there was nothing wrong with the cable).

On a different track, I took an old land rover for a test once, I was expecting a fail if only because I had only one windscreen wiper (yes it was the drivers side). The tester told me to fold the windscreen down and then he wouldn't have to test the wipers (or check the screen for cracks)!?! It passed!
It's like the old spare tyre, if it's bald it's a fail but if you havn't got one there's nothing to test so you pass (you are not legally required to carry a spare (in this country))!
You pays your money..........
Just had another thought, I think you can make an appeal to VOSA if you think you should question an MOT decision. I'm sure I heard of someone round here that got a fail for something, questioned it, appealed, and got the MOT he should have had in the first instance.