mot
- Thread starter mikeyboy
- Start date
Seen this a few time lately and OP: I'm not having a dig at you personally, this is a general observation.
'Hope' isn't a word I use when dealing with MoT checks.
I either 'know' it will pass, or I 'know' it will fail unless some remedial work is done beforehand. It happens every year, so it's not like we've all forgotten what gets checked, is it?
To 'not know' just seems a bit rubbish to me. Like not knowing if there's fuel or oil in the car, or how many seats it's got.
Brakes a bit iffy? - look at them and see... the fact that your stopping-distances are getting longer are a pretty good indicator that the pads might be on the way out (there's even a light that's supposed to come on to warn us).
Maybe some welding needs doing? Or the CV rubbers are cracked? Get underneath with a torch and have a look then. Bulbs blown? Change them. Tyres cracked or worn - look at them and check first.
It goes on.
Emissions are about the only thing that most of us can't check ourselves, but if it was OK last year (and the year before, etc etc etc) and has been running well in the meantime there's no reason to suppose they'll be significantly different if you've maintained everything as you should...
'Hope' isn't a word I use when dealing with MoT checks.
I either 'know' it will pass, or I 'know' it will fail unless some remedial work is done beforehand. It happens every year, so it's not like we've all forgotten what gets checked, is it?
To 'not know' just seems a bit rubbish to me. Like not knowing if there's fuel or oil in the car, or how many seats it's got.
Brakes a bit iffy? - look at them and see... the fact that your stopping-distances are getting longer are a pretty good indicator that the pads might be on the way out (there's even a light that's supposed to come on to warn us).
Maybe some welding needs doing? Or the CV rubbers are cracked? Get underneath with a torch and have a look then. Bulbs blown? Change them. Tyres cracked or worn - look at them and check first.
It goes on.
Emissions are about the only thing that most of us can't check ourselves, but if it was OK last year (and the year before, etc etc etc) and has been running well in the meantime there's no reason to suppose they'll be significantly different if you've maintained everything as you should...
TBH I personaly didn't know if my car would pass unless there was nothing I'd noticed was wrong with the car, I take my cars for MOTs so the tester can tell me what IS WRONG with car that I don't know about (i.e. Underneath etc.) as for lights and stuff you can check, then no it shouldn't be left to the tester to tell you that the component has failed, however people still do.
Take Chris (mako) as an example, he is a good spanner man and therefore had an inkling of a problem with mako2 but it still failed as it was more serious than he could deduce, but its not saying he didn't know though, just we don't all have the time or equipment to have our own testing bay's set up do we
Take Chris (mako) as an example, he is a good spanner man and therefore had an inkling of a problem with mako2 but it still failed as it was more serious than he could deduce, but its not saying he didn't know though, just we don't all have the time or equipment to have our own testing bay's set up do we
Having owned various cars & motorbikes (cougar included up until recently) there will always be bits that even an experienced home mechanic can/will miss- humans make mistakes (unlike my wife lol). Ive been caught out in the past & i'm very anal as far as servicing & looking after my vehicles. My opinion is the MOT test is a necessary evil and as ginja has said "we don't all have the time or equipment to have our own testing bay's set up" or the mechanical know how.
I think you're both being a bit disingenuous: I said there are things you can't check yourself - although the majority of things checked on an MoT you can at least look at yourself without recourse to specialist equipment or a testing-bay, but even with those items, you'll at least have an inkling if something's wrong before the test: it shouldn't come as a complete surprise.
Braking and emissions are the biggest problems, but as I said, even there you can get some idea if something's amiss unless you're a total dullard.
For those without the know-how - well if they're smart enough to be posting in this forum, the knowledge is at their fingertips - all they have to do is ask.
As to not having the time: well that's BS - no-one is going to tell me that you can't find an hour or so in the month before the test to check things over - I simply don't believe it.
I was down at the local supermarket car-park at midnight the other week adjusting my headlights (the only area around here big enough with a nice wall handy to scribble chalk marks on) - there's always 'time' if you manage it properly.
'Mistakes' are usually the result of people not paying enough attention to whatever it I they're doing - which is the core of this thread to begin with.
If you pay attention, mistakes don't happen. You might look at a rusty patch and think 'that'll be OK til next year' when the tester will decide otherwise - that's not the same thing: you knew there was an issue and took a gamble - and lost.
The s**t happens factor is also outside the remit of this thread: yes, a component will occasionally fail and yes, it will always do so when your bank account is empty and yes, it will always happen a week before the MoT is due.
Braking and emissions are the biggest problems, but as I said, even there you can get some idea if something's amiss unless you're a total dullard.
For those without the know-how - well if they're smart enough to be posting in this forum, the knowledge is at their fingertips - all they have to do is ask.
As to not having the time: well that's BS - no-one is going to tell me that you can't find an hour or so in the month before the test to check things over - I simply don't believe it.
I was down at the local supermarket car-park at midnight the other week adjusting my headlights (the only area around here big enough with a nice wall handy to scribble chalk marks on) - there's always 'time' if you manage it properly.
'Mistakes' are usually the result of people not paying enough attention to whatever it I they're doing - which is the core of this thread to begin with.
If you pay attention, mistakes don't happen. You might look at a rusty patch and think 'that'll be OK til next year' when the tester will decide otherwise - that's not the same thing: you knew there was an issue and took a gamble - and lost.
The s**t happens factor is also outside the remit of this thread: yes, a component will occasionally fail and yes, it will always do so when your bank account is empty and yes, it will always happen a week before the MoT is due.
Best of luck with it Mike, i'm sure you'll be ok 
As for Rob's comments and in my experience, probably 99% of the driving population wouldn't have a clue where to top up the oil, or check the brakes, even the lights, it goes on. As enthusiasts and speaking for myself, yes i know where to look and what to check and repair 90% of issues,(welding being the one i'm brilliant at, arent i chaps) but there is always the unknown, and that is usually the guy with the clipboard.
My
As for Rob's comments and in my experience, probably 99% of the driving population wouldn't have a clue where to top up the oil, or check the brakes, even the lights, it goes on. As enthusiasts and speaking for myself, yes i know where to look and what to check and repair 90% of issues,(welding being the one i'm brilliant at, arent i chaps)
but there is always the unknown, and that is usually the guy with the clipboard.My
Best of luck with it Mike, i'm sure you'll be ok
As for Rob's comments and in my experience, probably 99% of the driving population wouldn't have a clue where to top up the oil, or check the brakes, even the lights, it goes on. As enthusiasts and speaking for myself, yes i know where to look and what to check and repair 90% of issues,(welding being the one i'm brilliant at, arent i chaps)
With 99% of the population - yes - I agree - you only have to look at how badly they drive or the crap cars they own (Dacia Sandero? Why? Anything French... Why? etc etc etc) to know they couldn't find their ass using both hands.
My comments are directed at the enthusiast motorist - among whom I include all of us here.
My comments are directed at the enthusiast motorist - among whom I include all of us here.[/QUOTE]
The problem if you can call it one is even some enthusiast are not mechanically minded, they just love owning rare,old or just generally different cars. Thats where forums like this help, especially this one.
The problem if you can call it one is even some enthusiast are not mechanically minded, they just love owning rare,old or just generally different cars. Thats where forums like this help
, especially this one.Whatever you do to ensure it passes an MOT can be totaly undone by the tester having had a bad day...
True enough - and the MoT is only valid on the day it's tested.
I used to swap my headlights back over to the Canadian ones the next day.
I know people who even swap exhausts over just for their MoTs...
I used to swap my headlights back over to the Canadian ones the next day.
I know people who even swap exhausts over just for their MoTs...
