MOT diesel testing

This site contains affiliate links for which LandyZone may be compensated if you make a purchase.

TR3a

Active Member
Posts
139
Location
Lincolnshire
Yesterday I collected my 19J from being rebored and the crank reground. So when it is all finished I will have to get an MOT. The 110 is a 1989 model.
The engine will be virtually new and have zero miles.
How much damage will be done on the emissions test. I assume that the tester will want to run the engine flat out. Seems unfair to an engine that has not been run in.
 
Yesterday I collected my 19J from being rebored and the crank reground. So when it is all finished I will have to get an MOT. The 110 is a 1989 model.
The engine will be virtually new and have zero miles.
How much damage will be done on the emissions test. I assume that the tester will want to run the engine flat out. Seems unfair to an engine that has not been run in.
If you go to a classic friendly mot centre rather than quick fit or similar they will be gentle with it as a matter of course due to age and even more donut if has not been run in. Find a small village garage preferably by recommendation. Where about are you there may be someone local who Can recommend somewhere. I go to a one in a village which does a lot of classic cars and sees a lot of old farm land rovers. So they are sympathetic to how a Land Rover works and feels.
 
Thx for this......I do go to a local village garage.....I shall advise him that the engine is newly rebuilt and see what he says.
It does pose a question though. Anything over 3 years old with a rebuilt engine could be caused serious damage.
I might limit the revs on the throttle stop for good measure.
 
Thx for this......I do go to a local village garage.....I shall advise him that the engine is newly rebuilt and see what he says.
It does pose a question though. Anything over 3 years old with a rebuilt engine could be caused serious damage.
I might limit the revs on the throttle stop for good measure.
Some of the way some places do mots are imo very brutal. One place I went very shortly after rebuilding the 110 hammered all along my brand new still shiny galv chassis with a pointed crowbar. When I objected pointing out it was clearly new the guy said these are prone to rust so need to check, and then ignored me when I pointed out the dents he was leaving and a gently tap and visual inspection should be enough to establish the chassis is new and not rusty. This was the same place that tested the brakes by locking up my brand new bfg's and sliding several times across the carpark. Did not go back there after this, they were also a place that red lined the engine for the emission test. Finding a garage that knows land rovers is very worthwhile otherwise you will get things like advisories for wheel bearings because they do not know what a taper bearing should feel like and are used to modern cartridge bearings.
If it is not somewhere you know and trust I would certainly wind the pedal stop as far out as it will go to limit movement, adjusting the cable is a tad extreme but is easy enough to do if you are really worried about it.
 
I am surprised that the tester used a pointed crowbar, I thought that they were only allowed to use the approved testing tools....to tap and probe without causing damage.
It was on a big board saying "MOT tools" but the best way I can describe it is a pointed crowbar. was the saem bar he used to see if there was play in wheel bearings and bushes etc. I did not go there again I was very unhappy.
 
It was on a big board saying "MOT tools" but the best way I can describe it is a pointed crowbar. was the saem bar he used to see if there was play in wheel bearings and bushes etc. I did not go there again I was very unhappy.
That tool is called the tyre lever but is, as you say used for testing for play, NOT for testing for rust.
Guy is a liar, simple as!
 
Name and shame that tester. Where is he located? Could it be Bedrock? Did they not have a rolling road? Think I would have been taking pic's and clamming for new rubber
[ Bedrock, Flintstones home town ]
 
Name and shame that tester. Where is he located? Could it be Bedrock? Did they not have a rolling road? Think I would have been taking pic's and clamming for new rubber
[ Bedrock, Flintstones home town ]
It was a place in Warwick but I was under the impressions that on a permanent 4x4 like a defender (different for a series vehicle) you should use a decelerometer for the brake test rather than the rollers to prevent diff wind up. I know there is an argument that for the short duration the rollers are fine and will not be an issue, but I thought by the book their method of testing was correct, it was just the way they carried out the test (hard acceleration at high revs, and then lock up and slide across the carpark) and then repeat it more times than I believed was necessary. My objection to the whole experience was the complete lack of mechanical sympathy for a vehicle that at the time was 25 years old and had just had some very expensive new parts fitted that I did not appreciate being treated like that.

I now use a little independent village garage in Pillerton which I cannot recommend enough. Not the cheapest but it is a fair MOT, and most importantly they are used to vintage cars and old to land rovers. They have a 6 cylinder 109 with a Harvey Frost recovery crane parked at the back of the shop that used to be the garage recovery truck until the regulations change. Every time I go for an mot and ask it is not for sale although last time I went it has £3000 finger written in the dust on the side window, but it would need a lot of work as has been parked up unused since the regulations outlawed recovery with the crane.
 
It was a place in Warwick but I was under the impressions that on a permanent 4x4 like a defender (different for a series vehicle) you should use a decelerometer for the brake test rather than the rollers to prevent diff wind up. I know there is an argument that for the short duration the rollers are fine and will not be an issue, but I thought by the book their method of testing was correct, it was just the way they carried out the test (hard acceleration at high revs, and then lock up and slide across the carpark) and then repeat it more times than I believed was necessary. My objection to the whole experience was the complete lack of mechanical sympathy for a vehicle that at the time was 25 years old and had just had some very expensive new parts fitted that I did not appreciate being treated like that.

I now use a little independent village garage in Pillerton which I cannot recommend enough. Not the cheapest but it is a fair MOT, and most importantly they are used to vintage cars and old to land rovers. They have a 6 cylinder 109 with a Harvey Frost recovery crane parked at the back of the shop that used to be the garage recovery truck until the regulations change. Every time I go for an mot and ask it is not for sale although last time I went it has £3000 finger written in the dust on the side window, but it would need a lot of work as has been parked up unused since the regulations outlawed recovery with the crane.


That is called a tapley test, or nowadays a bowmonk test.
They are doing it wrong, as you dont want locks, any tw at can get locks, locks dont tell you feck all, you want controlled pogressive strong braking.
I do it quite a bit at work on some of the oddball trucks that cannot go on the rollers.
 
Hi dag019, Glad you have found place sympathetic to older vehicles. My 90 has been going to the same local station for 26 years. He does a very fair test giving info about any possible up coming issues like rust spots, spit boots on joints ect. The "toffy hammer" as he says is not for bashing the chassis, it is a sound making tool and the noise made informs him of possible rot areas that need further investigation. However, people who take in a truck covered in crud in the hope of hiding something can expect the very large screwdriver to come out.
There is no problem with testing brakes on a two roller rolling road just as long as the centre diff is open as it should be for road use. [ mine has been done this way for the years above ] It is all low speed stuff and the centre diff will do its stuff . Cheers.
 
Since I've lived here I've used the same place for mot's, they are pretty fair but one year I used a different place cos I needed new tyres and the tyre place did mot's. It failed on the handbrake which wasn't much of a surprise. They asked if I wanted them to fix it and I said no cos Kia sorrento hand brakes are tricky to set up and I can do it myself. Anyway, I adjusted the handbrake and took it back for retest the next day. They drove it across the carpark like they were shooting a scene from the Sweeney, yanking the handbrake on and skidding to a stop. They passed it. When I asked them why they tested the brake like that, they said they didn't have a rolling road. The thing is they didn't do that on the original test, never went there again.

Col
 
Make it so it can't rev up.
Screw out the throttle stop bolt at the pedal if fitted.
Adjust the throttle cable so at pedal to floor, it only goes half throttle or whatever you choose.
Hi we used to do this with H.G.V's to get them through the test so it's a well known method.
 
Permanent 4x4 is fine on a two wheel roller as long as the xfer box is in neutral. Mine is done like that every year (a mate owns a garage) and no harm is ever done.
Gives a better read than a tapley aswell. His setup (digital) showed up a partially seized caliper front left that wasn’t that detectable from driving. So got it changed out and good to go. I also like knowing my brake efficiency and that everything is tip top.

no roller is BS - it’s a requirement I thought??
 
Back
Top