29 replies to this topic

[joakwin]

My very first mot on my mini, it failed for a few things, the jam nut for the Track rod was hand tight, and one of the brake lights was acting up, the jam nut was ez and the ground for the light was dirty and after that was good

[AVV IT]

Maybe it's just me, but my mini doesn't really tend to ever come away with a big MOT failure list. Maybe it's different if you don't work on your mini yourself, but for me due to the significant amount of maintainance and servicing that they need, it's part of the nature of owning a mini that you tend to pretty much know what's wrong with it at any given time. For that reason I usually tend to know what is needed to get it through the MOT before hand and tend to get it all sorted before the test. There usually aren't therefore that many big surprises that appear on the test itself. If it does fail, it's usually on something daft or relatively minor that I've managed to overlook.

Modern cars are completely different though, because they need so much less care and attention than older cars do, I tend to have pretty much no idea as to what is going on with them until they actually go in front of the tester. I always dread the MOT on our other car, simply because other than routine oil and filter changes, it pretty much gets ignored and neglected for the rest of the year! (mainly because the mini gets all the attention!!)

[blackbelt1990]

I'd never part with either of mine, I've had enough reason to do so aswell! I'm in a fortunate situation now where I have a daily and my two minis can sit around when they need to... it's just a pain if my daily where to die.

to be honest, you shouldn't use the MOT as yearly maintenance, you should know it isn't going to fail before you take it and take it to a garage who don't do repairs

[miniman_7]

Part of owning a Mini is never giving up and having no idea where the line even is (probably hidden under old piles of rust)

I believe the line can be found at the end of the second page of the MOT failure sheet

[Tomfoolery]

This year mine passed OK but its history is pretty shocking. When I look at its previous MOT results on the government website its must have been pretty close to being given up on a number of times before I owned it. If someone paid a garage to repair this then it must have exceeded the value of the car. It wasn't much better the year after either.

These days its well cared for and there are no surprises at the MOT.

Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate
Nearside Side repeater not working (1.4.A.2c)
Nearside Front constant velocity joint gaiter split (2.5.C.1a)
Offside Front constant velocity joint gaiter split (2.5.C.1a)
Rear Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases (7.1.2a)
Nearside Inner Front Lower INNER SILL Seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded (5.2.6)
Offside Inner Front Lower INNER SILL Seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded (5.2.6)
Offside Front FLOOR Subframe mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.2)
Rear Sub-frame corroded and seriously weakened (2.4.G.2) **DANGEROUS**
Parking brake efficiency below requirements (3.7.A.10)
Nearside Rear brake binding (3.7.A.5a)

Advisory Notice issued
Offside Front suspension has slight play in a lower suspension ball joint (2.5.B.1a)
Nearside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)
Offside Front Tyre worn close to the legal limit (4.1.E.1)
Suspension joint nearside lower dust cover split/missing

[Tamworthbay]

Where do you find that info? I'd like to look at mine as I am very dubious abouts its last MOt to say the least!

[Tamworthbay]

Found it!

Look at the list for mines last MOT:

Nearside Front Steering rack gaiter split (2.2.D.2d)
Offside Front Steering rack gaiter split (2.2.D.2d)
Offside Front wheel bearing rough when rotated (2.5.A.2)
Nearside sill and floor area Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
Offside sill and floor Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
Nearside Front sill and floor area of Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
Offside Front sill and floor area of Body or chassis has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.3)
Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content excessive (7.3.B.2a)
Exhaust emissions hydrocarbon content excessive (7.3.B.2b)
Advisory Notice issued
Door mirror loose
Nearside front wheel bearing slightly noisey
Movement on offside ball joints
Perishing on brake hoses
Light switch sticking
Drivers seatbelt starting to fray
Corrosion on door steps and floor areas
Corrosion around boot floor areas
Corrosion on front subframe

I bought it as 'needing work' so I'm not complaining but I am suspicious of the MOT station as the inner sills were completely gone even though it had only covered 10 miles since the MOT and been garagred for the 4 months before I bought it.

[Tamworthbay]

This was one of the inner sills, the other was the same, plus other areas as well. Bear in mind this car had only travelled 10 miles since its MOT and had been garaged for 4 months. I have fixed this now and due to time elapsed between MOT and purchase I realise that the MOT station could come with all sorts of excuses so i am not pursuing it, but make up your own mind whether you would let a lady in her 70's drive home in a car with corrosion like this thinking she was safe with her new MOT-[attachment=117190:CIMG5323.JPG]

[GusRox]

Blimey!! Here's the fail Gus had:

Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate

Nearside Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively (8.2.2)

Brake pedal anti-slip provision missing (3.3.A.1b)

Both Front position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.2b)

Both Headlamp not working on dipped beam (1.7.4a)

Both Headlamp not working on main beam (1.7.4a)

Nearside Front top swivel Ball joint has excessive play (2.2.B.1f)

Nearside Front bottom swivel Ball joint has excessive play (2.2.B.1f)

Nearside Front bottom nut/joint Ball joint deformed and unserviceable (2.2.C.1c)

Nearside Front rear mount Sub-frame attachment rubber mounting deteriorated resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.3)

Nearside Rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.2)

Offside Rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.2)

Nearside Front rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.2)

Offside Front rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is deliberately modified which significantly reduces the original strength (2.4.A.2)

Nearside Front shock Suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessively corroded (2.4.A.2)

Offside Rear Shock absorber has negligible damping effect (2.7.5)

Nearside front/rear Brake pipe inadequately supported (3.6.B.1)

Nearside Rear sidewall Tyre has ply or cords exposed (4.1.D.1b)

Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content excessive (7.3.B.2a)

Parking brake efficiency below requirements (3.7.A.10)

Both Rear brake recording little or no effort (3.7.A.4a)

That's why it took a month!

[GusRox]

Actually, I've just been reminded...

On the first MOT, Gus failed on the following (among the rest of the list):

Offside Front rear Subframe mounting prescribed area is deliberately modified which significantly reduces the original strength (2.4.A.2)

Offside Rear Shock absorber has negligible damping effect (2.7.5)

For his second MOT we hadn't touched them because (a) no one could see what the examiner was banging on about regarding Gus being 'deliberately modified' and (b) do mini shocks really actually move that much? Both sides seemed the same to me, and to a couple of more mini minded mechanics.

What kind of bothers me is that these things weren't mentioned in the second test, which either means the first test was making some stuff up, or the second test wasn't thorough.

???

[oliver122]

mine :

failure list (red paper):

1)nearside front track road end ball joint has excessive play ( had a new track rod end about a month ago)
2)nearside front suspension has excessive play in lower suspension ball joint **dangerous**
3)nearside front suspension has excessive play in upper suspension ball joint **dangerous**
4)offside front (front mounting) subframe attachment rubber mounting bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement **dangerous**
5)nearside front (rear mounting) subframe attachment rubber mounting bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement
6)offside front (rear mounting) subframe attachment rubber mounting bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement
7)exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content excessive

orange paper :

measurment
brake advisories: rbt front brake imbalance 22%

adivosry items:

8)front exhaust has a minor leak of exhaust gasses
9)front brakes only just met the front brake imbalance requirements. it would appear requires ajustment or repair(its had new calipers , dics and pads on not long ago )
10)suspension joint nearside lowerdust coversplit/missing
11)oil leak **dangerous**
12)nearside knuckle joint boot insecure
13)vechile has had numerous repairs and its heavily undersealed ( i ony put one can of wax oil on)
14)offside front lower bumb stop missing
15)nearside front lower bump stop missing
16)unable to carry out full inspection in boot area due to modifications / cover panels fitted ( boot lining kit )

[GusRox]

A bit of a resurrection of an old thread, but after that HUGE fail list a couple of years ago, Gus has his MOT today... fails on...

 

Windscreen wiper

Fog Lamp

Emissions (as usual)

 

He always fails on emissions.  Every year they have to turn the throttle down, and then retest him.  ;)

 

So after that huge massive list, there's always hope. 

Edited by GusRox, 22 July 2013 - 11:59 AM.

[Lamb123]

Here is mine;

 

 

Reason(s) for refusal to issue Certificate

Offside Side repeater not working (1.4.A.2c)

Nearside Headlamp has a product on the lens so that the light output is severely reduced (1.7.5a)

Nearside Headlamp insecure (1.7.3)

Nearside Rear position lamp(s) not working (1.1.A.3b)

Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3)

Nearside Rear Trailing arm has excessive play in a pin/bush (2.4.G.2)

Offside Rear Trailing arm has excessive play in a pin/bush (2.4.G.2)

Drivers seat fore and aft adjustment mechanism not functioning as intended. (6.2.A.3)

Nearside sill Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)

Offside sill Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Front floor Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)

Offside Front floor Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)

Nearside Rear sill Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)

Offside Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.2.C.1c)

Nearside Track rod end ball joint dust cover excessively deteriorated so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.2.C.1c)

Nearside Front Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)

Advisory Notice issued

Vehicle structure has slight corrosion (6.1.A.1)

Nearside Rear Shock absorber has a light misting of oil (2.7.3)

Offside Rear Shock absorber has a light misting of oil (2.7.3)

Rear registration plate deteriorated but not likely to be misread (6.3.1d)

[GusRox]

Bit of work to be done there, Lamb!  Good luck.

 

Just looked at the emissions sheet - they failed Gus because they tested him as though he had a Cat.  Every bloody year we have to explain that these Minis didn't have cats.  Every bloody year!!

 

Still, I think they realised their mistake, and he's now passed...

[ShaunaFTW]

3 years fail free and never an advisory . Only one of those is on the mini though. I dread MOT times, even though I thoroughly check my car I'm always so anxious about them. Whenever something is wrong I fix is asap anyway unlike some people who just leave it until it fails an mot :/