MYSTERY MOT ADVISORY ITEMS

[collywobble]

Had the car MOT'd yesterday and am mystified by some of the advisory items!  I have been meaning to do the headlamps for ages now so at least I have a years grace!

It's the following items that are a mystery to me:

Advisory 003 - Nearside rear direction indicators affected by operation of another lamp.
When I got home I had SWMBO sit the drivers seat and try all the other lights in combination with the nearside direction indicator - all worked perfectly - both sides flash at the same rate using the hazard lights and no warning message on the SID regarding light bulb failure.

The interesting advisories are 006 - Under-trays fitted obscuring some underside components and 007 - Engine covers fitted obscuring some components in the engine bay.

Why are these advisories made - should the under-tray and engine cover be removed before taking the car in for MOT or is the tester not familiar with modern cars?

Has anyone else had these unusual comments on a recent MOT certificate?

[mikeloadsasaabs]

Direction indicators can sometimes be affected by operation of another lamp, when there is a bad earth a bad earth at that lamp, and the tail lamp comes on alternately with the indicator. But I would have thought that would be a straight fail. Perhaps there is a loose connection and it's intermittent (like the old joke "yes they're working, no they're not, yes they are, no they're not...."  ), might be worth checking this, and also removing all the bulbs, checking the contacts, and replacing any dodgy ones.

As to the other ones, they sound quite bizarre!I can't believe you'd need to remove them for the MOT, the Saab is no different to every other car on the market, most of them have covers to protect either them, from the elements, or you, from dangerous bits on the engine. Might be worth speaking to the tester.

[Audax]

Do you have a towbar fitted, that might be the cause of the first one as they are supposed to test towbar electrics now (I think).

For the other 2 that's just the tester covering himself and makes perfect sense to me, the advisory isn't just for you it's also reported back to VOSA, if he wrote he couldn't see something because of covers then it means if there was something wrong he has covered himself.

[collywobble]

Thanks Audax,

No tow bar fitted so possibly a loose connection or the bulb on the way out?

I guessed that the nanny state has now permeated its way into the MOT - it's just that I have never had those comments on previous MOT'S but this was a different tester at the garage from the one who has done the MOT for the last few years.

[wrighar]

I've had various 'cover' advisories....

MOt station isn't allowed to remove them, so cover their 4R53 but advising they couldn check under/behind.

[Norfolk Jim]

Since we bought SWIMBO's Volvo V50 we have had the same advisory each year for 5 years saying unable to check sills as sealed covers fitted!!!!!  For goodness sake the plastic sill covers are factory fitted from new and the car has some ludicrous warranty against rust.

I looked once when it was on ramp and there is no way you can get them off easily and they have a rubber seal all round to prevent water getting in!!

[Audax]

For goodness sake the plastic sill covers are factory fitted from new and the car has some ludicrous warranty against rust.

That still makes sense to me, the advisory is stating that they are not checked because they can't see. The tester has no way of telling if the car has been crashed at some point and badly repaired with bits of biscuit tin under the covers and may be rotten.

[mikeloadsasaabs]

I remember when I had my first car, which was a Mini, I tried to get away with pop-rivetting replacement sills made out of aluminium sheet  on. Unsurprisingly it failed the MOT! I was a bit green then, and the reason I did it was that during the pre-MOT check I was giving it for the first MOT after I bought it, I found the sills had been stuffed with newspaper, some sort of coating put on the outside, then undersealed in black.  I took it back to the same MOT station that had passed it the year before, and when he failed it on the pop-rivetted sections I pointed out that he'd passed it the year before with newspaper stuffed in them. His response was "We wouldn't have done anything like that". Obviously backhanders going on between the garage that sold me the car and the MOT station. 

[TomPaine]

I remember when I had my first car, which was a Mini, I tried to get away with pop-rivetting replacement sills made out of aluminium sheet  on. Unsurprisingly it failed the MOT! I was a bit green then, and the reason I did it was that during the pre-MOT check I was giving it for the first MOT after I bought it, I found the sills had been stuffed with newspaper, some sort of coating put on the outside, then undersealed in black.  I took it back to the same MOT station that had passed it the year before, and when he failed it on the pop-rivetted sections I pointed out that he'd passed it the year before with newspaper stuffed in them. His response was "We wouldn't have done anything like that". Obviously backhanders going on between the garage that sold me the car and the MOT station. 

Did some very similar bodging with my old 1980s Datsun Cherry. The bottom of the doors used to flap when you closed them; I took to climbing in through the window to minimise wear and tear, Dukes of Hazzard style.