After a few recent discussions on the forum i have decided to write a few of the more trick questions to answer
Lighting
rear foglights
rear must be present if only single must be on the midline of the car or towards the drivers side. must show red
front foglights
these can be fitted and not functional. they are not included in the test
indicators
must illuminate orange no matter what colour of housing.
spotlights.
if fitted these must be functional and operate with the main beam
reverse light
you do not need one as it is not part of the mot test
all lights (this one i think is great)
if all lighting is disconnected or blanked off it will not be taken into account on the MOT and you will pass. although driving at night is at your own risk
braking
abs
if abs system is fitted the dash light must fucntion correctly
if the abs system has been removed the dash light must function correctly but when removed it will light up permanently, this is beacause it wrk on a normally closed loop, so simply bridge the connector and it will work fine
front brakes
pads must not be worn to less than 1.5mm
discs must not be heavily pitted, grooved or lipped
any cracking etc of the disc will result in immediate faliure
rear brakes
must work and have no more than a 45% bias to the rear.
hand brake
must have adequate reserve travel and must physically stop the wheels
lines
these must not be kinked dmagaged or heavil corroded
common question
my car failed its MOT on braking performance but the garage wont give me a precise estimate to fix it!
This is beacause no dismatleing is allowed during the MOT so unless the damage is visable it could be many unseen things
mechanical
Lower arms/ball joints
if your lower arms are knocking and are deemed to be excessively worn you will fail.
CV joints
any leaking or incorrectly seated CV joints will need replacing to pass an MOT
structural
arches
if your arches are rusted to the point that they are flaking you will fail as this is a hazard
rust
excessive rust (full penetration) withing 30cm of load carrying suspension mounting points will need corrective work
excessive rust within 30 cm of seat belt mounting points will need corrective work
cills
any full penetration rust will need corrective work
floorpan and major rust patches bigger than 10cm in diameter will need corrective work
seat belts
if fitted from factory rear selt belts have to be present if the seats are still fitted to the car
harnesses.
aslong as they are fully uk road tested and carry suitable certification it will be fine if in doubt anything FIA spec is usually fine
Anything else you can think of post up and either myself or the admin will update the post
HTH Tony
