MOT brake testing

i have been looking into transmission drive faults in the last few weeks just for curiosity, and was wondering,

1, how do they carry out the brake efficiency test on a permanent 4 wheel drive vehicle,,,, the testing centre i use only have a single axel tester, and i never see them road test ?

2, if they did try to test it on a single axel unit, i would have thought it could possibly damage the vcu/diff/ird drive train ,

anyone know what they do ?

They have a gadget they place in the vehicle and then take it for a drive. and apply the brakes. though some testers will just drive it forwards and brake hard if it stops it passes. they'll some times park on a slope to test the handbrake. or even apply the brake and a couple of em will try to push it. to see if it holds.

john is correct . . .if a two wheel test is done on any 4x4 then its possible for transmission damage . . . .also towing ,it can be toed but below 50 mph and wiff engine running [ird cooling] auto also ,but front must be orft ground and no more than er hour. . . .jist thought i wood tell you earthlings. . . . . . . . .oh un if it gets all fooked ming enterprises takes no responsibility fer nuffink [titter]

john t said:

i have been looking into transmission drive faults in the last few weeks just for curiosity, and was wondering,

1, how do they carry out the brake efficiency test on a permanent 4 wheel drive vehicle,,,, the testing centre i use only have a single axel tester, and i never see them road test ?

2, if they did try to test it on a single axel unit, i would have thought it could possibly damage the vcu/diff/ird drive train ,

anyone know what they do ?

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I took my son's Freelander for its test and was concerned about damage to the viscous coupling, the normal tester was on holiday so the garage owner did it. I pointed out my concerns and he said he would test it with a decelerometer. Two months later I took my Freelander to the same garage, the usual tester was there and dismissed my concerns and did the usual brake test using very little power and very slowly.
Obviously nothing is laid down concerning Freelander brake tests and you are at the mercy of tester with dubious knowledge. Personally I think testing by private garages is a farce and it should be replaced by proper testing at ministry stations in the same way HGV's are tested. Possibly starting tests at 5 years rather than 3.

JonFre said:

Possibly starting tests at 5 years rather than 3.

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5 years without a complusory test???? have you any idea how many more dangerous vehicles that would put on the road?

slob said:

5 years without a complusory test???? have you any idea how many more dangerous vehicles that would put on the road?

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wud love ta have that here....only do a test every time vehicle changes ownership....mine 4 example has had no test since i bought it in 2000

slob said:

5 years without a complusory test???? have you any idea how many more dangerous vehicles that would put on the road?

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Very few since most 3/4 year old vehicles pass first time as they have been serviced properly for warranty protection. Some need new brake pads at less than 5 years, an item that is rarely picked up at MOT since it isn't properly checked.
Ask your local MOT centre for the figures.

slob said:

5 years without a complusory test???? have you any idea how many more dangerous vehicles that would put on the road?

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Have you any idea of how many dangerous pieces of **** are already on the road with no tax, mot or insurance and a lot with no driving license..?

An MOT done by anyone isn't worth the paper its on, you could drive to the end of the road and feck up a cv joint, exhaust, shock, spring, tyre headlight, you name it all mot failures and drive all year like that and still having an mot would have made no difference to the saftey level...

You can buy 12 months road tax with a valid mot cert even if its only got a month left on it...so it doesn't stop you from taxing it...the only time they catch these fecks out is if the get spot checked etc...

Theres also so many ways people get around it, one of the local garages just got caught swapping vins between cars testing and passing them and then swapping them back over to the original vehicle, or 100* quid will buy you a pass at one garage i know of...

On paper an MOT might make vehicles safer, in reality when a large portion of drivers don't give a **** about the law etc its a waste of time..and as is normally the case its the honest folks who pay all the money for mot repairs etc whilst the really dangerous cars are driven by people bread from vegetables who don give a crap...

My mates family has run a testing for the best part of 3 decades and even he'll say its a money making racket nuthin more...

Methos.


* far a car that when you put the spare wheel in it goes straight through to the road...

JonFre said:

Very few since most 3/4 year old vehicles pass first time as they have been serviced properly for warranty protection. Some need new brake pads at less than 5 years, an item that is rarely picked up at MOT since it isn't properly checked.
Ask your local MOT centre for the figures.

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Rubbish,bald tyres/brake pads happen in the first year,warranty gone in three years.By which time most vehicles are in second ownership,if the pass rate shows a high pass rate its because its not strict enough.
Dont forget an MOT is a MINIMUM standard and is only a basic indication of the safety of the vehilce on the day of the test - many trucking companies had a "Test" set of tyres,lamp lenses etc.
It is said that at least one car in ten has at least one defective tyre,the number of vehicles I see for servicing that I advise of illegal tyres never ceases to amaze me.The MOT test is getting quite good now,but until it includes a road test up to the legal speed limit it will always be lacking.

JonFre said:

Very few since most 3/4 year old vehicles pass first time as they have been serviced properly for warranty protection. Some need new brake pads at less than 5 years, an item that is rarely picked up at MOT since it isn't properly checked.
Ask your local MOT centre for the figures.

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very few yer say... somehow i don't believe that.. there are a reet shed load of folk out there who do nothing to their cars until it has failed an mot. brakes that pull..ignored, bald tyres..ignored, faulty lights ..ignored. petrol leak (not so common)..ignored. no wipers..ignored,any and all mechanical faults..ignored.

they do nothing till after it has failed the mot then go about trying to fix it the cheapest way possible, usually borrowing from their mates or from the company car.

now you extend the no mot period to 5 years and you will have... oh! possibly 5 times as many faulty cars that are less than 6 years old compare the number you have now.

at least with an mot after 3 years there is a chance it will be remedied every 12 months from then.

or do you think tyres, brakes and lights don't need replacing for atleast 5 years?

as i've sed before on here, am pretty confident my cars will pass a MOT/road worthy test 'now' with no prep as i keep on top of any problems as they occur. so a test is a waste of time , however those that only do what is the legal requirement need to have them checked every 6 months and not passed by their brother in law down at joe's garage.


of course that int gonna happen so a year seem to be the comprimise

I asked the question regarding the VCU damage at my last MOT........

I was told that the rollers counter rotate and no more than 5mph

Northern Irelander said:

I was told that the rollers counter rotate and no more than 5mph

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Can't see that myself, on a single axle roller set it would mean that one set of brakes is being tested in reverse whilst the other is travellling forward, also on a Series, Disco or RR how the hell can they test the handbrake when its on the propshaft????

I've never seen a 2 axle set of rollers at any testing station i've been to, and never seen a 4x4 have a road test instead. All the testing gets done on a standard machine which drives 2 wheels at the same time in the SAME direction.

Dorset VogueSE said:

Can't see that myself, on a single axle roller set it would mean that one set of brakes is being tested in reverse whilst the other is travellling forward, also on a Series, Disco or RR how the hell can they test the handbrake when its on the propshaft????

I've never seen a 2 axle set of rollers at any testing station i've been to, and never seen a 4x4 have a road test instead. All the testing gets done on a standard machine which drives 2 wheels at the same time in the SAME direction.

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Only going by what I was told, will have a closer look next time,

the test is repeated for each axle, it does tend to kick the vehicle to one side or the other

this was the origin of my question,
is it possible or likley that the vcu can be fooked up or stressed during an mot test
i got reading some info on mot testing , it states that permanent 4x4 should not be tested in the usual way ie on a single axel rollers, but i never see them testing on the road with the decelarometer ,

JonFre said:

Personally I think testing by private garages is a farce and it should be replaced by proper testing at ministry stations in the same way HGV's are tested.

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All well and good if you live reasonably close to where the Man from the Ministry parks his Vauxhall Viva but not so good if you live further a-field.

Personally, I'm happy to carry on having my Landies tested at the local tractor tester in the town.

Hi all,

Got my invitation card for the annual mot test this mornign around 11 when I came back from some shopping, without stopping the engine I carried on towards the testcentre and around 13.00 I was back home with not a single remark, car ok for traffic until january 9th 2009. When they did the brake test I saw that the guy was using a kind of zapping device towards the brake installation and when doing the back wheels I saw the left side I stood turn slowly backwards, for the frontwheels I think it rotated just forwards, but not sure as I think he got 4 individual tests to do, anyway no remarks at all for the car (after all it's a LR, no?). Think I broke my personal record in reacting. Less than 3 hours after I got my invitation I was back home again with the car tested. It's so reassuring to drive a well built car. Didn't even check the lights, nothing. When a car is in good driving order it should pass the test without problem, contrary to other people driving a wreck through the year, go once to the garage to have the worst things fixed and go to the mot, ignoring they drive a potential killing device through the year.

During my MOT days the failure rate was about 30%, this was based in a dealer franchise so we saw majority of 1st and 2nd Mot's

Ref tyres there is on average a tyre opportunity on 1 tyre in every 4 cars

all mot testers should read the VT40 (what we use whilst doing the test) as it is printed off the computer at the start of an MOT test and it clearly states on there that Freelanders can only be tested using a decelerometer unless you have a 4 wheel brake tester, now if they do a Roller Brake Test using only a 2 wheel RBT they should be liable to any damage done to the drivetrain.

Only had 1 MoT so far on my Freelander, it was definitely road tested to check the brakes.

ye can do a roller teat on a gaylander if you have a non 4 wheel brake roller if you have contra rotating rollers, the drums spin the wheels in oposite directions spinning the axle on its self and keeping the prop still