The Vt32 Advisory notice.
Leave a CommentOften when conducting an Mot the tester will notice an item that has deteriorated, but has not yet become bad enough to warrant a failure. In a few cases I’ve seen customers glance at the vt32 and immediately dispose of the advisory notice without consulting regarding the necessary repairs.
There is a reason for issuing these notices and it’s not just to cover our backsides.
Two examples have arisen this week, in one case the handbrake had been advised (by me, in January) that the efficiency was only just passable, the vehicle returned to us this week to have the repairs carried out before taking the car away for a long weekend.
Checking in the roller brake tester the efficiency of the handbrake was down below 5%. A stripdown of the brakes revealed the brake shoes very badly worn and the braking surface of the drums severely corroded.
The second example could have had far more serious consequences, the vehicle had been tested elsewhere several months ago and the owner had been advised that a brake hose was deteriorated.
The brake hose split this week and resulted in a minor shunt, however the owner suggested that perhaps the tester had been overly lenient when the vehicle was tested and perhaps the test was in his words “dodgy”.
Did he complain at the time, or was he just pleased not to have another repair at the time ?
However he then asked us to blank off the relevant brake hose as he couldn’t afford to have the repair done until the end of the month but needed the car for work!!
Fortunately he was able to come to an agreement with the boss and the repair was completed rather than allow the vehicle to continue on the road in that condition.
Fortunately the coming changes to the Mot certificate will prevent the vehicle owners from just binning the Vt32 on their way out of the testing station, so there will be a permanent reminder that work is required .
Mot certificate changes
Since the installation of laser printers has now been completed in all Mot testing stations, the format of the mot test certificate is to change.
No longer will there be green for a pass, red for a fail and orange for the advisory notice, instead from October 16th 2012, the mot documents will be printed on plain paper. examples of the new documents can be found on vosa test forms .
As can be seen the new plain paper test certificate will be printed in landscape format with the details of advisories also printed, I understand the same will apply in the case of the failure notice, although there is no example of the Vt30 on the above site.
tyre pressure monitors
Its fine having all these monitoring systems on vehicles nowadays, but unless the driver pays attention to them they’re basically worthless Had a late model mini in for Mot, and the tyre pressure warning light was glowing brightly on the dash. On inspecting the tyres, one of the tyres was split on the sidewall for about 30% of its circumference.
The fact that the tyre was of the runflat variety was no excuse for ignoring the warning signal, it could still have failed with disastrous consequences for the driver and other road users.
When the tyre was removed the inside was completely trashed, with the inner of the tyre breaking up and depositing as rubber crumbs inside.
Peugeot and Citroen springs again.
Earlier in these posts I refer to the way some peugeots and citroens have a habit of shredding their front tyres when a coil spring breaks, mentioning a modification made under recall by the manufacturers consisting of a retaining shroud fitted around the base of the coil spring seat.
The above is an example of the retaining shroud in place, what cannot be seen in this instance is that the coil spring has broken and that the shroud has done its job and prevented the broken end of the spring falling down and shredding the tyre. The following image clearly shows how the spring has broken but remains securely on the spring seat. 
I should also mention that I have seen a broken spring that has managed to slip through the base of the shroud, so it seems it is not always successful in retaining the broken spring in place.
Emissions
One of the items on the mot to be tested is the exhaust emissions, below is an image of the printouts of the results, a failure and after repair.
Often the results as displayed mean little or nothing to the vehicle owner, however the results displayed give valuable clues as to where the fault lies.
The left hand section shows the results obtained prior to repair, both the co level and lambda ratio are outside specification, and the idle co is very high at over 6% but the hc level is within limits, although a little higher than expected, this initially points to a failing lambda sensor. A quick check with the diagnostic kit showed the range the lambda sensor was switching was very narrow, a check at the lambda sensor plug under the bonnet (to eliminate a wiring fault) confirmed this.
Had the catalytic converter failed I would have expected to see the hc level higher.
A new lambda sensor was fitted, an emissions test immediately carried out and gave the results as shown to the right. (normally we would have allowed the vehicle to warm up fully before carrying out the retest but time was running out to finish the job before it was due to be collected)
As can be seen the 1st fast idle was a fail (engine not quite up to temperature) however the 2nd fast idle is well within limits at 0 .12% and the hc level down at 16 parts per million, with the natural idle down to 0.5% and lowering.
Should 4-2-2 testing become the norm this vehicle could be polluting for a further 12 months without the driver being aware of any problem. www.facebook.com/MOTTesting?sk=app_132065096874831
Say no to 4-2-2
The current government are still considering a change to the mot scheme by extending the period between mot tests, even though the previous government decided against it after examining the options.
Should this happen we could find vehicles in a dangerous condition for a further 12 months compared to now.
Some examples.
A tyre badly worn through to the cords,
The following example of corrosion found on a Subaru Justy had an advisory notice issued 12 months ago, regarding the corrosion now bad enough to fail.
The pale blue you see in the centre of the image above is the inside of the chassis above the rear subframe mount, heavy braking could well have caused the subframe to break away causing serious loss of control. I was unable to complete the test and abandoned the test as I could not complete a brake efficiency test.
On to another vehicle, approx 3 months ago an advisory notice was issued with regard to the rear brake pads wearing thin. Returned to us this last week to have the brake pads replaced.
As you can see from the above image one of the pads has had the metal backing worn to half of it’s original thickness, it must have been grinding away warning the driver of the problem for at least 500 miles.
It seems that the advisory notice is totally ignored, the necessary repairs aren’t done because of cost constraints, but how much more expensive is replacing the car after an accident, or even a fatality?
Many drivers seem to be of the opinion that as the vehicle has passed it’s MOT it is good for another 12 mths without any maintenance.
The MOT is only a check that certain components met a minimum laid down standard at the time of the test
If 4-2-2 testing becomes a reality we could see a lot more vehicles in this condition on the road.
Sign the petition at http://www.facebook.com/MOTTesting?sk=app_132065096874831 and voice your opposition to the proposed change.
Electrical accessory fitting
"2. Electrical wiring: a. insecure or inadequately supported so that it is likely to become damaged b. damaged or deteriorated to the extent that it is likely to cause a short circuit or become detached c. insulation damaged or deteriorated to the extent that bare wiring is exposed."
Suspension and prescribed areas
A number of items have cropped up this last week, a broken coil spring seems to be a regular occurrence, this one seen on a Renault Clio
In it’s normal position, rather than wheels free, the break was hardly noticeable, however once jacked up it was immediately spotted.
Following on from springs another regular occurrence are suspension arm bushes, the following images are from a ‘Y’ reg Honda Civic.
Again on initial viewing of it, it didn’t appear too bad, however on inspection of the underside of the arm it was clear that the bonding on the bush had failed 
allowing excessive movement, as the arm moved up and thus contacting the front subframe, leading to a heavy knocking over bumps. The same vehicle also had a problem with 2 antiroll bar links having become detached at the balljoints.
Which were also making a characteristic knock over small bumps.
Then we had a Mazda MX5 suffering with some tinworm, the outer sills seem to suffer just forward of the rear wheel arches,
Further inspection also revealed excessive corrosion to the sill closing panels inside the rear wheel arches, not something the owner would be expected to notice under normal circumstances.
All of the above would be spotted in good time if the vehicles were regularly serviced.
Matters of testing
The new matters of testing magazine published by Vosa is available to download now.
This issue contains news of forthcoming changes to the mot test.
There is also information for owners of quad bikes who have a hydraulic parking brake, this has to be replaced by a mechanically operated system for the next test.
Flexible brake hoses and routing
We’ve had a transit in for extensive welding and to replace a front suspension ball joint on a vehicle that had been tested elsewhere. Initially, when it came in, knowing that I’d have to complete a full test once the repairs were completed, I had a quick look around underneath. I thought a brake hose had something amiss, however the hose had recently been replaced so at this point I didn’t pay a great deal of attention to it.
On removal of the front wheel to perform the replacement of the ball joint I noticed the flexible hose was severely chafed.
On closer inspection it was obvious the hose had been bolted to the suspension strut incorrectly and when the vehicle was in use the hose was rubbing on the wheel rim, in a fairly short period of time the hose would have worn through leading to a complete loss of braking to this wheel.
When testing I always feel along the hose automatically in case of bulges not easily visible, but, better to have discovered it before testing it rather than during the test.
