In article <20010411130735.66634.qmail@web9613.mail.yahoo.com>, John
Hobson <goalie_john@yahoo.co.uk> writes
>
>I took Saskia for her first MOT since I've owned her yesterday and she
>failed! Some of the things that she failed on seem somewhat suspect,
>although I think she was having a bit of an off day, which rarely helps!
Dear John,
Sorry to hear about Saskia. MoT Testing Stations vary a lot, as do MoT
Testers. Carly had a brand-new MoT when I bought her, and frankly
should have failed on four major items (tyres, sills, wipers,
emissions), and several more minor ones. Some testers apply ridiculous
standards to older cars (I've heard of cars being failed for lack of
seat-belts when seat belts were never originally fitted, and Series 1
Land Rovers for the windscreens not being permanently fixed in the
vertical position), others seem to treat old cars far too leniently, and
pass death-traps.
>
>For a start she decided that the hazard warning flashers would not work
>on that occasion, and they have been fine previously, and I have tested
>them since, and guess what...they are fine!
Sod's Law. :-(
>
>One of the headlamps was aiming too low, I guess that this is easy enough
>to fix myself?
Well, it is fairly easy to adjust it yourself, but getting the precise
alignment required by law is going to be a bit more tricky. Get your
garage to do this - they will have the right alignment kit.
>
>There's a bit of a problem with the handbrake, I think it just needs
>adjusting, which I told the garage to do beforehand, but they didn't...
My handbrake is pretty useless, but it passed the MoT anyway. I just
try not to park on a slope.
>
>Another point that she failed on was the wiper blades, there is a gap in
>the middle of the screen that they don't wipe, although I am sure that I
>have the correct size blades and wiper arms. Is this normal on a spit?
Funny you should ask that, because I have been meaning to ask the
opposite question: there is a gap at the right of the screen (where it
curves sharply back) that the wipers never reach. Is *this* normal?
Given that you don't have my problem, and I don't have yours, I think it
is fair to say that neither of these are "normal", but probably there is
a trade-off between good coverage of the centre of the screen, and good
coverage of the far right.
>
>They claim that both of the front seats are insecure, they are both
>bolted down fine, but just wobble a little, but then this is inherant in
>the design seeing that they are only secured at the rear in one place. I
>can't see how this particular aspect could be improved. Anyone else had
>this problem?
This sounds like a Testing Station that doesn't understand the car they
are testing. They are not allowed to fail you for Triumph's poor
design!
>
>And the final one is excess exhaust emissions. I think this is due to a
>number of things. Firstly one of the bolts securing the inlet manifold
>is threaded so that needs replacing, is this easy or hard to do, other
>than the obvious problems of gaining access to below the manifold? Also
>the points are burnt out and I have a misfire, I think these two may be
>linked? What else could cause my misfire? The emissions results were:
>Co 5.26%, that passed, it was the Hydrocarbons that failed with 1464.
>There was also low compression on No2 cylinder, although I forgot to ask
>for the actual results.
Sounds like you may have some ropey electrics. Carly's emissions were
very high in hydrocarbons until I replaced the plugs, points, HT leads
and coil - she was only running on three-and-a-half cylinders, and the
unburnt petrol was simply spewing out of the exhaust pipe. Fix your
misfire problems, tune your engine, and not only will you pass your MoT,
you will have a much more exciting car to drive.
>
>So quite a few things failed there!
God, that's nothing! I've had cars fail on upwards of twenty items!
At least they haven't failed you on anything structural.
> Although only the emmisions one
>seems like it could be particularly troublesome, or have I missed
>something in my assumptions above?
I don't think any of these fail items are going to be very troublesome.
My technical expertise is minimal, (but my experience of MoT failures is
quite extensive!) so I would just throw the car at a garage and say "fix
it" - but I wouldn't expect a big bill for this little lot. If you
have technical skills, you should be able to do most of this yourself
quite cheaply.
ATB
Mike
--
Michael Hargreave Mawson, author of "Eyewitness in the Crimea,"
published by Greenhill Books on 28th March, 2001:
http://www.greenhillbooks.com/booksheets/eyewitness_in_the_crimea.html
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