D

dog-man

Active Member
I have my MOT soon on my 06 TD4.
Whilst I was servicing it today, I have noticed that the battery clamp is loose.
Despite much swearing and threats to kick the car I cannot tighten, loosen or remove the bolt.
I can just about get my fingers to underneath the battery tray and it feels like it is literally a bolt that goes through a thread built into the battery tray. Is that right?

I wan't to be sure exqactly how it is before I use brute force to try and put pressure on the bolt head whilst trying to extract it. I can then look at modifying it to make the battery secure, otherwise it's an MOT fail. :D
 
You'll need to remove the battery, so you can access the battery tray mounting bolts. You can normally ease the battery clamp out enough to get the battery out.
Once the tray is out, you'll see that the brass insert in the tray is spinning. The best thing to do is cut the bolt between the clamp and tray itself, then push out the bolt and insert out. You can then fit standard long bolt to clamp down the battery. I glue in a coach bolt from below, which leaves a thread at the top, so a nut can be fitted from above to clamp the battery in.
 
Nodge68 said:
You'll need to remove the battery, so you can access the battery tray mounting bolts. You can normally ease the battery clamp out enough to get the battery out.
Once the tray is out, you'll see that the brass insert in the tray is spinning. The best thing to do is cut the bolt between the clamp and tray itself, then push out the bolt and insert out. You can then fit standard long bolt to clamp down the battery. I glue in a coach bolt from below, which leaves a thread at the top, so a nut can be fitted from above to clamp the battery in.
Click to expand...

What glue did you use?
 
Next year I will start pre MOT work much earlier. Left it late and am running out of time.
Bloody work gets in the way too much. Roll on retirement. :D
 
dog-man said:
Next year I will start pre MOT work much earlier. Left it late and am running out of time.
Bloody work gets in the way too much. Roll on retirement. :D
Click to expand...
I tend to let the bloke doing the test do that. He scribbles everything that's wrong down on a bit of paper, I fix it and then take the car back to get its sticker for the windscreen.

It does quite often mean a 2nd long wait in the queue, but the seats are comfy, the coffee's not to bad and I can get through a couple of games of Suduku on me phone :)
 
That bolt is a prime example for looking up the torque setting before winding it down. The clamp only weighs a few grams so the bolt only needs 12Nm to hold it in place, but because the battery weighs 20kg some folk swing on it like it was a wheel nut which results in the captive nut coming loose when trying to undo it later.
 
longdog said:
That bolt is a prime example for looking up the torque setting before winding it down. The clamp only weighs a few grams so the bolt only needs 12Nm to hold it in place, but because the battery weighs 20kg some folk swing on it like it was a wheel nut which results in the captive nut coming loose when trying to undo it later.
Click to expand...

Well said.
 
Are the mot rules different for a 1977 series. My landy hasn't had a battery clamp in all the time I've had it and it's never been mentioned at the mot.

Col
 
Battery clamp all sorted now. New bolt which I made secure by using a flattish nut inside the battery compartment.
Battery is now held solid again.
 
MOT passed with two advisories.
1: offside rear brake pipe corroded and covered in grease.
2: One of the front track rod ends a little worn.

I will do the track rod end myself but let the garage do the brake pipe.

Not sure where the grease has come from as I didn't apply any to the brake pipe and I have had the FL for around 6 years now.
 
dog-man said:
Not sure where the grease has come from as I didn't apply any to the brake pipe and I have had the FL for around 6 years now
Click to expand...

Maybe it was applied at the last MOT?
It's common practice to grease slightly corroded brake pipes to prolong the life.
 
Just picked up the FL from the garage and they said they do sometimes apply grease to brake pipes when having an MOT.
So it probably was them as I always use them of my MOT.
 
Nodge68 said:
You'll need to remove the battery, so you can access the battery tray mounting bolts. You can normally ease the battery clamp out enough to get the battery out.
Once the tray is out, you'll see that the brass insert in the tray is spinning. The best thing to do is cut the bolt between the clamp and tray itself, then push out the bolt and insert out. You can then fit standard long bolt to clamp down the battery. I glue in a coach bolt from below, which leaves a thread at the top, so a nut can be fitted from above to clamp the battery in.
Click to expand...
On mine the insert was missing, and a bolt was used with a nut under the clamp to keep it in place. I didn't like that arrangement, and put in a rivnut instead, and now the clamp screws down into that :)
 
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