# MOT DAY



## 99181 (May 12, 2006)

Hi All,
Well the day dawned ,set off to Mot station,only to get a flat tyre, limped in with 3 wheels on my wagon lola ,more mobile phones than the link at home not one in Rv,so cocouldn'tontact AA/RAC ,nice Mr man don't worry we will put your'e spare on after mot.After mamaneuvering 30ft vehicle in a 20 inch space,with no angle irons at the side of the pit to stop one going in ,I managed it. I was hoping they would take the keys off me get on it with ,but alas no it was foot on foot off left indicators right indicators ,hand brake don'nt have one ,have secondary brake lola,after spending 20 minutes trying to open hood with one leg either side of the pit ,I left them to it to go back and rrasureSue, only to be can you come down here as the voice came from the pits,up on my arrival he showed me all the cables coming down from the cab were loose and should have been bound together the heat from the exhaust which was approximately 6 inches away had melted the binding and insulation one of the cables was the main battery lead and he told me if the battery lead insulation had melted and shorted it would have caused a serious fire.he then took me to the rear of vehicle to show me a brake pipe which was approximately 5ft long the first 2inches were beginning to rust plus 1 inch the middle and half inch at the end, i pointed out it looked as though the ggalvanizingof the pipe had failed,he then turns to the exhaust pointing out that the heat shield at one point was only held on by bits of wire,and as this went close to the universal joint of the prop shaft it could result in the melting of the grease in the said joint ,he also pointed out that all these faults were not failures but advisory note ,he informed me that I had a problem with the rear lights when side were switched on 2 lights either side lit up but when foot brake was applied one side light went out ,I said it loos like an earth problem or bad connections ,he replied he did not want to fail it just for that, and as he agreed with me about bad connections bad earth he would pass it,if I rectified problem up on my return home..He then proceeded to blow up my tyre as it was not punctured ,but the valve extentions caused it,he recomended flexible ones ,but I've read on this site to the contrary.
I'd rather wait on the labour ward ,at least you can tell her to get on with it...........Dave

PS unless anyone knows better lola

PPS Long day.


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Well done, Dave. No more worries for another year, eh?

Bit surprised about getting you to operate the thing. I thought it was illegal, as he doesn't know what you're doing in the cab to get things working properly.

Had mine done a couple of weeks ago. A hellish wait, trying to stay calm (especially as the tax was running out, and didn't have much time to get everything done. Anyway, ours passed too. Relief and beer all round.


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## 99181 (May 12, 2006)

same again all round...lol i came out full of **** and he was clean as a whistle...lol
dave


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Congratulations Dave...
Ours went in Friday AM, just before driving up to the Peak District :roll: :roll: :roll: 
Went straight through thankfully..... :lol: :lol: :lol: 
Why is it that MOT's always get your heart rate up????????????
:lol: :lol: 

Keith


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

The prospect of having to spend money Keith!!!! Thats why mine goes up

stew


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## zaskar (Jun 6, 2005)

lugnutt said:


> Hi All,
> I'd rather wait on the labour ward ,at least you can tell her to get on with it...........Dave
> 
> .


Tell me about it! 
Weeks of preparation & checking, not to mention all the regular checking and fettling through-out the year..............and my heart still ends up in my mouth  
Suppose we should just accept it as part of the lifestyle but that argument does tend to wear a bit thin! :?


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## 91502 (May 1, 2005)

Congratulations on another years MOT! 
This year I decided to take my MH two months early to avoid the July MOT just before we want to go away. 
It passed with no problems as did the scooter on the same day. 
So there is me happy for another year thinking what a great idea I had come up with moving the date. 
Guess what three weeks later and we trade it in for a newer one. 
Doh!!! 
And guess what a July Mot date. 
Well maybe next year I will !!!!! 
James


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## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

> he replied he did not want to fail it just for that


Foolish Foolish Man, putting his livelyhood in jepordy for what would have taken 10 mins to rectify
He had No choice in the matter it was and is a failure 
I would not want a person with such poor judgement inspecting any vehicle of mine ,what else in his opinion was ok and-------- not 
Two side to every story I supose


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## 98547 (Apr 8, 2006)

Hello there,with regard to MOTs I have just had my Santara tested and it failed on emissions.The man who did the MOT preparation for me was with me,so he adjusted the pump and I took it back in and it passed.My sincere thanks go to Damondunc of Starspangledspanner.co.uk He did a brilliant job. John


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Wow, thats good news John
I will ask Dunc if he wants to swing by Northampton next year when mine is tested again...... :lol: :lol: :lol: 
Agree with Geo, I would have been less than happy with that tester for the same reason... What else did he let go that may display itself to you when you least expect it 8O 8O 8O 

Keith


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## solentviews (May 9, 2005)

Had my van mot'd today. It failed on the handbrake being at the extent of its travel which they adjusted free of charge as they had recently rebuilt the back end of the van. What I wonder is why produce a fail certificate and an advisory just to pass it when adjusted? Surely it would have been easier just to adjust and give it a pass! Ne'er mind I have another year to worry about it.
Ian


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Hi Ian
It is called bureaucracy mate....
Computerise things and they seem to take longer to do and generate 10 times the amount of paper, just to justify an action :lol: :lol: :lol: 

Keith


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Rules is rules, Ian. They'll probably blame the computer system, the DVLA, anything. Ahh, for the old days when the tester used to take it for a spin round the block to test the brakes 8) 

Gerald


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## 99181 (May 12, 2006)

Hi All,
I cannot understand why everyone is calling the MOT inspector ,it was'nt a case of letting anything go he went over it with a fine toothcomb took me down in the pit ,to show me problems that may occurr,he also said that once the owner has been underneath he can see for himself he has more of an idea when probs occurr ie.funny noise ect.then the owner thinks I know what that may be ,giv'es the owner more confidence once he's been underneath and seen the layout for himself.With all due respect how many of you has had the Mot inspector let you go in the pit to see underneath your vehicles and for see problems that may occurr in the future for warned is fore armed.As for the back light I repaired it myself on the car park at the Mot station ,he came over and checked it ,prior to printing out my Mot certificate ,Mot inspectors are there to test the vehicles , not to repair them ,so why is everyone getting on their high horse,I would NOT jepoardise the safety of anyone who travels in my vehicle.
Dave


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## 88927 (May 10, 2005)

Hi Dave
No-one is disputing the benefit of getting under a vehicle mate, BUT.....
You said in your original posting that the MOT tester was prepared to let you fix the fault at home..... That means that he would issue a certificate to the effect that your vehicle had met and passed all the checks and tests that make up an MOT, when clearly it had not.... You didn't tell us that you had fixed the fault before either leaving the test station or receiving your certificate.
I would also question whether the guy had appropriate insurance to allow you to go underneath a vehicle whilst on his premises???

At least one of the respondents to this post is an MOT tester, which for sure is why he made his comments mate....

Regarding the faults he showed you underneath, I would get the cabling and the exhaust heat shield sorted PDQ to avert any problems...

Good luck with them Dave

Keith


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## 99308 (May 19, 2006)

[align=justify:7de6564bc6]Hi all

I took my RV in for it's annual MoT on the way back from the Stratford Show. I thought the power seemed to be a bit flat on the way but hoped that it was just because it was the first real outing of the year.

I always have a pre-mot check done by the garage prior to them taking it for the test just to ensure that all is well. Good job I did this time as the mechanic found that both exhaust manifolds had shrunk, snapping a couple of bolts in the process. First time I had ever heard of this happening on any vehicle. The cost is pretty stiff as you can imagine, replacing both manifolds + labour does not come cheap. Still waiting on the parts coming over from the States before I get the rest of the bad news.
Although it is good news for the person that buys it as it is money they won't have to spend.

I'd be interested to hear if anybody else has had a similar problem.[/align:7de6564bc6]


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

RVman said:


> [align=justify:c75c5da8e9]both exhaust manifolds had shrunk, snapping a couple of bolts in the process.[/align:c75c5da8e9]


How peculiar. I've never ever heard of this before. Are they made from some exotic material? Cast iron doesn't shrink. Does it?

Gerald


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## olley (May 1, 2005)

Hi in all my years in engineering no, in fact as 99% of engine blocks are cast iron, if it happened there would be alot of seized engines about.

Olley


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

> Ahh, for the old days when the tester used to take it for a spin round the block to test the brakes


Hi all,

Apparently, if you have a six legger, they have to take it up the road to test the brakes, using a floor mounted brake gauge.

That's how ours was done, and I was given the opportunity to go underneath for a good look at the underside.

Unbeknown to us, (not driven at night yet), our dipped beam was set up to the right for Europe. The tester used some black insulating tape to alter the beams, so that it would pass.

A few minutes later he called me over, and showed me the label on the rear of the headlights which read "LH, RH, indicating that they could be adjusted to suit the law applicable to the country.

Only one of two testing stations that I can take ours to in our area, and I chose the right one. The other is the VOSA HGV/ PSV testing station in Peterborough. Having been there with coaches in the past, I wasn't keen to take the MH.

Jock.


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## damondunc (Feb 14, 2006)

*CHEVROLET 454 MANIFOLDS*

Hi folks,
although it may appear that your manifolds have shrunk, I presume because you cant line up the bolt holes to refit the manifold, in fact most chevy manifolds are like this you normally have to warm the manifold prior to fitting! to get the holes to line up. There is a modification for these manifolds to try to prevent heat distortion,cut the webbing between the lower bolt holes with a hacksaw giving more room for heat expansion and increase the bolt hole size in the end most bolt holes to 12mm. also make sure the mating surfaces are 100% CLEAN AND FLAT and refit the manifold using molybdenum grease on the jointing surfaces and believe it or not dont use a gasket. These manifolds get so hot in normal usage that they can expand about 10mm in length quite often snapping the bolts clean off, also wrecking the original gaskets. Chevy's are not the worst for this problem ford 460's do it for a pastime, at least with the chevy the manifolds are not too difficult to remove and refit. Cheers Duncan.


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## 99308 (May 19, 2006)

> although it may appear that your manifolds have shrunk, I presume because you cant line up the bolt holes to refit the manifold, in fact most chevy manifolds are like this you normally have to warm the manifold prior to fitting! to get the holes to line up. There is a modification for these manifolds to try to prevent heat distortion,cut the webbing between the lower bolt holes with a hacksaw giving more room for heat expansion and increase the bolt hole size in the end most bolt holes to 12mm. also make sure the mating surfaces are 100% CLEAN AND FLAT and refit the manifold using molybdenum grease on the jointing surfaces and believe it or not dont use a gasket. These manifolds get so hot in normal usage that they can expand about 10mm in length quite often snapping the bolts clean off, also wrecking the original gaskets. Chevy's are not the worst for this problem ford 460's do it for a pastime, at least with the chevy the manifolds are not too difficult to remove and refit.


Apparently the manifolds shrunk to such an extent that they sheered off 3 bolts to such an extent that it required 12 hours labour and the refit of 2 new manifolds at a cost of over £1000. Not being mechanically minded I have no option but to believe what I am told and pay up. I was also told that he had 2 or 3 other RV's in waiting for the same repair.

How do I know that he hasn't heated up the old manifolds and put them back on? Is there anyway of telling?


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## 89278 (May 18, 2005)

Weeeeee, I also had my MOT pass yesterday, How much fun that was. Its not so much the prospect of shelling out money to fix things, that I can live with, its more what they do to my poor little van that upsets me.

Prodding and poking it, Making an awful racket on the roller thingies and general making me nervous. I half expected to see smoke pouring off the brakes  Oh well if its going to break or catch fire Id rather it happened on the test bed than on the motorway :lol: 



Thankfully it passed with no problem


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## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

Woo hoo, Andrew. Another MH on the road for a year. Well done to you!  

Gerald


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## damondunc (Feb 14, 2006)

*chevy manifolds*

Hi RVMAN,
the answer to your question,without seeing your RV is no you cant really tell if the manifolds have been replaced apart from asking any parts that have been removed be retained for your inspection after the repair, if you have no old parts to examine you have to trust your mechanic.
cheers Duncan.


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## Superk (Aug 22, 2005)

Can anyone comment on how the testers have dealt with the parking brake? On my V10 Ford chassis it operates on the prop shaft and is purely for parking and clicks on but testers insist on testing it like a handbrake operating on the rear wheels or a Mercedes foot operated parking brake that also operates on the rears. They wind up the roller speed with the parking brake locked fully on and test its capacity to stop things. I have tried to explain its not like a regular car brake and there's a potential for damage but they get bolshy and say there's no choice other than driving down the road and locking it on.


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## 97993 (Mar 5, 2006)

We only have 4 options available to us 

1 standard test on rollers 

2 down the road with the on board deacelarometer or (drive on brake plate same thing)

3 Refuse to test due to the likley hood of damage to vehicle or equipment 

4 Fail due to unable to test as the vehicle does not comply with Uk testing standards 

Which would you prefer sir


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## JockandRita (Jun 1, 2005)

Hello George,

Option No 2 for us please. Thankyou.

J & R

(Edited due to fiinger trouble)


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## 97661 (Feb 11, 2006)

hi RVman,
I have got a Damon Daybreak with a 454 chevy had a similar problem on the manifold, when i took the manifold off there was several hair line cracks, phoned a main UK supplier wanted £400 for one manifold, got a new replacement manifold from the US from this web site www. stevensparts.com costs were 120$ plus 90$ carriage with all new gaskets. exchange rate equivelient to £140. On the manifold there is a part number and a casting number. This company is based in Texas very helpful received the part in nine days. The job itself is not that difficult, I did this job myself and i'm only a DIY mechanic so called.

Mick


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