Freelander 1 Failed MOT :( - Some Advice Please (Lower front wishbone arm)

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Fritz

Active Member
Posts
183
Location
Surrey
So the vehicle failed its MOT this morning on the following:

Split left outer CV boot
Ball joint dust cover damaged on lower front wishbone (both sides)

So nothing too dramatic - and they only want £ 540 to fix it :rolleyes: so clearly they won't be doing the work.

When I get a chance I'll get under to have look. They are either damaged or not but I want to check because I don't trust them.

This wasn't the usual place I go for MOT's - it was a freebie offer from Halfrauds and the reason I don't trust them are as follows:

- whilst there I was earwigging on a conversation the bloke behind the desk was having with another customer. He was telling this lady that she needed new pads all round because the rears were down to 8 mm and the front down to 5 mm. Really!!

- 2 or 3 weeks ago I got some new tyres and the fitter ( a friend of mine) did his usual vehicle check. He particularly checked the front and back end suspension for me because he new I had the MOT coming up and I hadn't MOT'd this vehicle before. Now obviously something could have happened between then and now but at that time all was good.

Anyway its the ball joint dust cover I'd like to query. They've told me I need to renew both lower wishbones (as in the entire assembly) . Does that sound right? I mean to have to replace the entire assembly, can the ball joint/ dust cover not just be replaced?
 
Fritz said:
He was telling this lady that she needed new pads all round because the rears were down to 8 mm and the front down to 5 mm. Really!!
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Crooks.:mad:
Fritz said:
Anyway its the ball joint dust cover I'd like to query. They've told me I need to renew both lower wishbones (as in the entire assembly)
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They probably would, as it's an easy job for them.
Fritz said:
Does that sound right?
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For a fast fit place like Halfrauds, yes.
Fritz said:
I mean to have to replace the entire assembly, can the ball joint/ dust cover not just be replaced?
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The dust covers are available, you just need to measure the size you need.

Or the ball joints are also available, but the cold rivits need drilling out to fit those. The new ball joints are fitted, and the rivits replaced with bolts.;)
 
Hey thanks for the quick replies.

I stopped at my mates on the way home from work. He pretty much said what you guys posted.

So for the ball joints (dust covers only) + cv boot 3 hours labour + £ 15 for parts.

So that's about £ 135 all in. A little better than £ 540.

One thing though. He can't do the work for about a week. My MOT doesn't actually expire until the 6th April. Am I allowed to use the car?
 
There are many reasons to be ashamed of Northern Ireland at the minute but this is not one of them. Our MOT centres are council run and if a car fails it is 99.9% genuine. They have no hidden agenda and are not involved in any repair work.
 
I work for highways so always use our depot workshop for my MOTs. They don't do work for non fleet vehicles so have no interest in "looking" for work but will be reassuringly thorough. By a coincidence, at my last MOT in Feb I had a ball joint cover fail. Nice cheap fix!
 
kernowsvenski said:
They don't do work for non fleet vehicles so have no interest in "looking" for work but will be reassuringly thorough.
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The MOT tester I used for 20 years (I used to work with him) had no interest in working on cars, so he always did an unbiased MOT.

My new test centre seem ok, but I do think they'll tout for work, if they think they'd get away with it.
 
Fritz said:
Hey thanks for the quick replies.

I stopped at my mates on the way home from work. He pretty much said what you guys posted.

So for the ball joints (dust covers only) + cv boot 3 hours labour + £ 15 for parts.

So that's about £ 135 all in. A little better than £ 540.

One thing though. He can't do the work for about a week. My MOT doesn't actually expire until the 6th April. Am I allowed to use the car?
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No I don’t think so as it has now failed an mot the old one stop being valid
 
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Yep there seems to be a bit of a grey area about failed MOT with a current one still live.

The .gov site says I can use it up to the 6th April but shrouds it in caveats.

I even tried Surrey Police and they couldn't give me anything definitive. They basically said if I'm stopped then the relevant officer may or may not consider the car un-roadworthy. If they do then it can get ugly fast.

TBH I'm worried about the CV boot anyway. If there's no grease left in there then I don't want to use it.

Fritz
 
Fritz said:
They basically said if I'm stopped then the relevant officer may or may not consider the car un-roadworthy.
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It's a ball joint boot. I can't see many Police officers grovelling on the floor to take a look at those. Besides, if the joint is still functional and not loose, then there's no safety issue anyway. In years gone by, the boots weren't part of the MOT, but the condition of the joint was. So it was quite common to see worn ball joints on cars, but I doubt many incidences were caused by them.
 
By any chance does anyone know the top and bottom hole size for the ball joint dust covers.

Many thanks

fritz
 
Just wanted to update you all.

Had the work done and thus passed on the retest.

I did unfortunately get an advisory "Clutch pedal has a heavy feel to it" which they could look into for me if I wanted.

So I asked if the clutch was part of the MOT and the answer was "I'm no good at cars but I'm good at selling, that tester loves to write things down".

So if you want to be absolutely 100% certain with bells and whistles that your car is safe to drive then go to the test station I used because if there's even the remotest chance they can grift some work from you they will.

If on the other hand you just want to be sure that you can drive the family and friends safely from A to B then don't.

Fritz
 
Fritz said:
Just wanted to update you all.

Had the work done and thus passed on the retest.

I did unfortunately get an advisory "Clutch pedal has a heavy feel to it" which they could look into for me if I wanted.

So I asked if the clutch was part of the MOT and the answer was "I'm no good at cars but I'm good at selling, that tester loves to write things down".

So if you want to be absolutely 100% certain with bells and whistles that your car is safe to drive then go to the test station I used because if there's even the remotest chance they can grift some work from you they will.

If on the other hand you just want to be sure that you can drive the family and friends safely from A to B then don't.

Fritz
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OMFG! :eek: - You have already worked out the answer - don't go again.....

Find a place that does "trade" MOT's - I.E. you turn up at the allotted time and they do nothing more than the test. Do NOT use a place where you take the vehicle to the "test centre", and leave it there all day for them to "play" with in whatever way they want :mad:

It seems that for every good, honest and honourable garage, there are, er, "several" that are exceptions that prove the rule .... I'm being nice ......
 
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