I don't was mine often, which means I don't have to fix it to often. :D
I don't wash mine, cos I then get bullied into washing all the other cars to!

Not that I'd want to wash it that often anyway - only when its going to be used for tour bus duties.
 
I might treat mine to a wash and polish later if the rain clears up. I need to wash and polish the wheels anyway, as I want to keep them in the current pristine condition.
It's been slinging it down for the last hour here, so sat in the van drinking coffee:)
I might treat mine to a wash if I get the brakes sorted on Saturday. Bought the cylinder rebuild kit as I'm skint and couldn't afford 2 calipers, even the refurb ones:(
Least it'll keep me out of trouble for a few hours.
Mike
 
Mot'd my 1.8 a few days ago and it failed on a defective rear number plate lamp, unsupported exhaust and a deteriated gaiter on a drag link thingy. Not much of a problem, got them fixed and it passed ok but it was the advisories that I was a bit alarmed about. Floor sills and chassis all corroded, brake pipes corroded badly, fuel tank straps corroded badly. When we put the car on my mates lift and had a good look underneath I was pleasantly surprised how decent the floor and chassis looked, especially for a 15 year old vehicle. The exhaust was quite rusty but still fairly solid and it is the original. My main concern was the badly corroded brake pipes but we couldn't see any that looked bad. I think they add these advisories to make it look like they are doing something for the £54 fee. The problem is, it puts off potential buyers. (Not that I'm selling it)

Col
 
Well, not today exactly but the past couple of days......

Fitted new rear shock absorbers and springs and strut mounts, rear flexi brake hoses and fitted new clips on all the rear brake union mounts on the daughters TD4 for it's MOT then m(f)ucked about with the handbrake to get it to work better...after much giggery pokery I ended up doing the adjustment on the adjusters by hand...seemed to work okay. Haven't had much success with the Bill Haynes/official way of doing it. Hand brake cables are level in all positions.

Had a quick look at the front brakes, pads okay but removed slider pins and gave them a good cleaning(they were marginal and need replacing if I am honest) but after working my magic, lots of wire brush action and application of the correct grease all went back together again without issue. Flushed out the old fluid for new (I have quite a bit of fluid in my van so best use it) then after thinking about it decided that I had too much trouble releasing the bleed nipples on the rear so yesterday they were replaced and again bled the rears. The MOT was a fail on the following though.

1. Offside headlamp low (needs adjusting)...(Now adjusted)
2. Number plate light inoperative..(Now fixed with a couple of blobs of solder to correct continuity issue)
3. Near side rear brake inefficient and showing imbalance. (Handbrake passed on both sides but L/H had a value of 100....R/H was reading 300....whatever that means?) So now thinking that the rear cylinders are maybe sticking or something and maybe that's why the officiail handbrake adjusting method is not working for me?

Just for reference the MOT station (MOTATEST/Cupar, Fife) doesn't do any vehicle repairs nor recommend other garages so is generally regarded as impartial. Think they do supply tyres if needed but not directly for MOT failures(?) and if you fail you have 14 days to return the vehicle.

I also removed the propshaft last week as the bearings were 'fecked' (have mounted new ones on VCU/need to replace the front prop UJ will replace whole assembly when I can)and the TD4 is in 'Mondo' mode ('or should that be 'Mongo mode'?) much to my embarrassment even though no one except you lot, the MOT tester and I really know that. (It was mentioned as an advisory on the sheet)

Yesterday, other than the MOT failure bits mentioned above, I finally got around to replacing the window regulator in the drivers door, repaired the speaker casing for the 'tweeter' that some monkey had snapped the retainers off and welded( using a soldering iron and plastic tie) a small bit back on that said 'same monkey' had glued on to the window rubber.

Will be going out to check on the rear cylinders after another cup of tea. I feel that I could strip and replace the rear brakes in my sleep the amount of times I have done that recently....

Any sage advice regards the cylinders would be appreciated.....Oh, one other thing is that my cylinders are made of aluminium(I think:confused:) is that normal or aftermarket? One thing I will mention is that the effects if two different metals in such a location isn't a good idea and I noticed that the bleed nipples I removed had a bit of snotty stuff in the bleed holes although they weren't totally blocked...

Cheers...
 
Last edited:
Mot'd my 1.8 a few days ago and it failed on a defective rear number plate lamp, unsupported exhaust and a deteriated gaiter on a drag link thingy. Not much of a problem, got them fixed and it passed ok but it was the advisories that I was a bit alarmed about. Floor sills and chassis all corroded, brake pipes corroded badly, fuel tank straps corroded badly. When we put the car on my mates lift and had a good look underneath I was pleasantly surprised how decent the floor and chassis looked, especially for a 15 year old vehicle. The exhaust was quite rusty but still fairly solid and it is the original. My main concern was the badly corroded brake pipes but we couldn't see any that looked bad. I think they add these advisories to make it look like they are doing something for the £54 fee. The problem is, it puts off potential buyers. (Not that I'm selling it)

Col

Mine had that as an advisory last MOT(not in my ownership) wasn't mentioned this time around and I have been under the car to have a looksee....used an MOT certified(?) brake pipe inspection tool to scrape at the worst areas I could see and none on the pipes mentioned in last years MOT were that bad. My main area of concern were the ones that come down from the tank area and under the chassis rail to the rear brakes. I cleaned mine off with fairly coarse grit paper and painted the ones nearest the drums. Again, no mention of any serious corrosion on this MOT. I will be restoring the underside of 'our' TD4 in due course. There are areas of rustiness under there but none is structural in our case but needs doing.
 
The one I used was £54 too

That's an expensive MOT. I've never paid more than £40 and the garage I used for 20 years only does MOTs.
I recently started using a different MOT test centre which does do repairs if needed. They only charge £40 for the MOT, but don't have a reputation for failing vehicles just to get the work.
The maximum any MOT test centre can charge is £54.85, but most places down this way charge £40. Halfords charge just £29.99 if you book and pay online for the test. Weather you trust them to do a proper test is up to you.
 
Boring I know but don't forget guys under these newish mot regs you CAN'T use your car legally if it's failed the test,
Ie you can't rely on the previous test, once it's failed it will need immediate repair/retest before you use it !
 
Finished wiring up the winch contactor and cut off, so it now runs from a remote connector under the bonnet or the unused sunroof switch in the cab.
 
Boring I know but don't forget guys under these newish mot regs you CAN'T use your car legally if it's failed the test,
Ie you can't rely on the previous test, once it's failed it will need immediate repair/retest before you use it !

Yes, it's a major pain in the arse.:mad:
 
Well, not today exactly but the past couple of days......

Fitted new rear shock absorbers and springs and strut mounts, rear flexi brake hoses and fitted new clips on all the rear brake union mounts on the daughters TD4 for it's MOT then m(f)ucked about with the handbrake to get it to work better...after much giggery pokery I ended up doing the adjustment on the adjusters by hand...seemed to work okay. Haven't had much success with the Bill Haynes/official way of doing it. Hand brake cables are level in all positions.

Had a quick look at the front brakes, pads okay but removed slider pins and gave them a good cleaning(they were marginal and need replacing if I am honest) but after working my magic, lots of wire brush action and application of the correct grease all went back together again without issue. Flushed out the old fluid for new (I have quite a bit of fluid in my van so best use it) then after thinking about it decided that I had too much trouble releasing the bleed nipples on the rear so yesterday they were replaced and again bled the rears. The MOT was a fail on the following though.

1. Offside headlamp low (needs adjusting)...(Now adjusted)
2. Number plate light inoperative..(Now fixed with a couple of blobs of solder to correct continuity issue)
3. Near side rear brake inefficient and showing imbalance. (Handbrake passed on both sides but L/H had a value of 100....R/H was reading 300....whatever that means?) So now thinking that the rear cylinders are maybe sticking or something and maybe that's why the officiail handbrake adjusting method is not working for me?

Just for reference the MOT station (MOTATEST/Cupar, Fife) doesn't do any vehicle repairs nor recommend other garages so is generally regarded as impartial. Think they do supply tyres if needed but not directly for MOT failures(?) and if you fail you have 14 days to return the vehicle.

I also removed the propshaft last week as the bearings were 'fecked' (have mounted new ones on VCU/need to replace the front prop UJ will replace whole assembly when I can)and the TD4 is in 'Mondo' mode ('or should that be 'Mongo mode'?) much to my embarrassment even though no one except you lot, the MOT tester and I really know that. (It was mentioned as an advisory on the sheet)

Yesterday, other than the MOT failure bits mentioned above, I finally got around to replacing the window regulator in the drivers door, repaired the speaker casing for the 'tweeter' that some monkey had snapped the retainers off and welded( using a soldering iron and plastic tie) a small bit back on that said 'same monkey' had glued on to the window rubber.

Will be going out to check on the rear cylinders after another cup of tea. I feel that I could strip and replace the rear brakes in my sleep the amount of times I have done that recently....

Any sage advice regards the cylinders would be appreciated.....Oh, one other thing is that my cylinders are made of aluminium(I think:confused:) is that normal or aftermarket? One thing I will mention is that the effects if two different metals in such a location isn't a good idea and I noticed that the bleed nipples I removed had a bit of snotty stuff in the bleed holes although they weren't totally blocked...

Cheers...
When I did my rear brakes I was surprised how cheap the cylinders were. Not sure why anyone would go aftermarket when the OEM ones are so cheap.

WOFs (MOTs) cost about $50 (£25) here. Mind you it works out the same price for pre 2000 cars cos they need doing twice a year - which is a good thing in my book - lots can happen to a car in 6 months.
 
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Boring I know but don't forget guys under these newish mot regs you CAN'T use your car legally if it's failed the test,
Ie you can't rely on the previous test, once it's failed it will need immediate repair/retest before you use it !
Coppers will be sitting outside MOT stations nicking everyone driving off who ain't looking happy.
 
The law still allows you to make your way to an MOT test centre via the shortest and most reasonable route and back again or to your garage for repairs though.
 
Boring I know but don't forget guys under these newish mot regs you CAN'T use your car legally if it's failed the test,
Ie you can't rely on the previous test, once it's failed it will need immediate repair/retest before you use it !

As I understand only change from previously is if it is a Dangerous class of failure then it cannot be driven, otherwise you can drive it to be repaired , similar to previous but must be roadworthy...same BS as before.
Cheers
 
Nope if it fails then you don't have an mot.
Please correct me if I'm wrong but I think that's how many people are being caught out.
 

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