MOT Fail !!! Again

Hi,

My 1995 300 tdi failed it's mot a few weeks ago on the usual outer sills / rear drop links and the exhaust.

Today after finally getting the work done I put it in at a different MOT station and it failed on the front brake pipes and a corroded rear disc (neither were mentioned on the previous fail).

So is replacing the pipes an easy DIY job ?
Has anyone done this themselves ?

Thanks in advance

lots of wd40 over night make sure no leaks and bleed well after.pump brakes before you drive.They will have to be clipped as before to pass mot.best of luck.

Take it back to the original test centre, assuming its that not long since u had the 1st MOT done

dingwalldemon said:

Take it back to the original test centre, assuming its that not long since u had the 1st MOT done

Click to expand...

Unfortunately the first MOT station would not give me a firm price on the work that needed doing, at first it was £150 for the welding with me supplying the parts it then rose to £200 ish, I was having trouble getting the bolts off the rear droplinks so asked if he could do it and he wanted another £80 ish !.
I found out later that he doesn't actually do the work but farms it out to local garages and then adds on a little/lot for himself.

I got the feeling that he was going to rip me off so decided to try elsewhere, the 10 day retest ran out last Friday.

The new mot station doesn't do any mechanical work so I thought it would sail through.
I've had a look at the brake pipes and must admit I can't see any corrosion.
When he told me it had failed i was in shock, I've spent every spare bit of cash getting the parts and doing the work and with a baby due in July, I can't afford to pay garage prices to have this work done.

Ebay have a kit with everything for £30, if it's not too bad of a job I will give it a go.

Thanks
Steve

yep,

I fitted new pipes no probs... I made 'em myself
but any decent motorfactors can make you up a pipe while you wait for a few quid or you could take them off, bend the new pipe to the same shape and flare the ends with a flaring kit no probs.

It cost me about a tenna for the copper pipe a quid or so for the unions and I borrowed a flare kit from a mate. it's easy enough to do!

Would be interesting to see if the original MOT'er failed it again, do u have the advice notice, how long has it been from the 1st MOT to the last one?
They tend to check only the things they failed it on prev (lazy b'tards! although not all i will add to that!, im sure there are good ones on here!)

dingwalldemon said:

Would be interesting to see if the original MOT'er failed it again, do u have the advice notice, how long has it been from the 1st MOT to the last one?
They tend to check only the things they failed it on prev (lazy b'tards! although not all i will add to that!, im sure there are good ones on here!)

Click to expand...

The first fail was 3 pages long,

Advisories included inner sills slightly corroded, steering box slight leak and rear tyres at legal limit. (The guy that did the welding said the inner sills were fine)
I think if the first guy did the work he would have phoned to tell me the inner sills were shot and doubled his quote.

On the second fail only the tyres were on the advisory page

battenberg said:

yep,

I fitted new pipes no probs... I made 'em myself
but any decent motorfactors can make you up a pipe while you wait for a few quid or you could take them off, bend the new pipe to the same shape and flare the ends with a flaring kit no probs.

It cost me about a tenna for the copper pipe a quid or so for the unions and I borrowed a flare kit from a mate. it's easy enough to do!

Click to expand...

Did you have to replace them all the way to the master cylinder ?

Any tips for preventing fluid loss ?

Zeph said:

Hi,

My 1995 300 tdi failed it's mot a few weeks ago on the usual outer sills / rear drop links and the exhaust.

Today after finally getting the work done I put it in at a different MOT station and it failed on the front brake pipes and a corroded rear disc (neither were mentioned on the previous fail).

So is replacing the pipes an easy DIY job ?
Has anyone done this themselves ?

Thanks in advance

Click to expand...

You should have gone back to the original as you know now.

If it is the flexi pipes then the most difficult part is seperating them from the metal pipes and you could be looking at replacing lengths of metal pipes, and if you trace their route then it's obvious where they go.

If it's the metal pipes then you need a flaring tool to put the ends on them, new pipe ends, a length of pipe "comes in a roll", get kunifer since its easier to bend than steel, and a bottle of brake fluid.

Stick a piece of polythene over the master cyl then screw the cap back on, that helps stem the loss of fluid.

The pipes have different ends on them "nuts" and a choice of different flares, a single flare and a double. you must make sure you get it right.

I doubt you will get the ends out wif a spanner, usually two pairs of vice grips is the job, but you can cut them and put a ring key on them. measure the pipes with a length of string or summit but keeping the pipes in their shape to make it easy to bend and shape the new ones. It's likely that the pipe retainers on the body will break here and there so you will have to make something up, cable ties or summit. but they must be secure.

Don't heat anywhere near the flexes as they tend to blow right off with the gas created.

Once it's all back together and you have been lucky to get the bleeders slackened and they are working and it's all tidy and secure, then get somebody to hold the brake pedal down firmly wif the engine running and you must check that there are no leaks, I mean nothing not even a sweat.

Remember bleed all the brakes, most brake systems are split diagonally so disturbing the front will have compromised the rear as well.

You need to replace both brake discs and the pads, I always thread lock brake components, bolts, nuts, but not the permanent type though, comes in a little bottle.

partco has all the items you need, a nice little hand flaring tool by draper and all the nuts and bits, but shop around.

It sounds long winded but it's not that bad really, hard bit is getting everything off, and the bleeders slackened and working, if the bleeders are not passing fluid take them right out and stick a small drill by hand in them to clean out the ****, then look at the side at the bottom, this is where the hole is for the fluid to get into the bleeder clean it out as well and give it a blow.

I'll keep an eye out for you, if you get into trouble.

Cheers guys,

I've ordered all the parts, so should be able to get started Tuesday or Wednesday.
I'll let you know how I get on
regards
Steve

Changing brake pipes is not a great hassle, I changed all mine ('94 300) last Sept. Be careful pulling old pipes out of plastic clips, or get new ones before starting!

well, I managed to fit the new rear discs and pads to the car without any major hassle, however when it came to doing the brake pipes / lines, I chickened out, It's now booked in to have new pipes fitted on Wednesday
(£50) and the retest on Thursday.

Zeph said:

well, I managed to fit the new rear discs and pads to the car without any major hassle, however when it came to doing the brake pipes / lines, I chickened out, It's now booked in to have new pipes fitted on Wednesday
(£50) and the retest on Thursday.

Click to expand...

Better if not sure to skip it, good call mate.

I wouldn't let an apprentice do brake components unsupervised.

I have a p38 Range Rover which just flew through it's M O T, but I also have a Ford Galaxy in pristine condition. It's an R reg, but failed the M O T last week on two things. I had checked it over the previouse day and couldn't fault it.

When I went to pick it up the chap was just making the fail notice out. He laughungly sprouted " It's failed " What on I asked. Two items he said.
1st you have an obstruction to your view through the windscreen.
This was a magic tree smelly

2nd your rear upper brake light is broken, and doesn't work.
It wasn't broken yesterday when I went over it with a fine tooth combe I said.

Why didn't you cut the magic tree off I said. I'm an M O T inspector he replied. I went bollistic and the place was full of other customers, buyers and people wanting repairs and M O T's.

I must have done good, because he changed his mind and said if you'l remove the magic tree and mend the light I'll pass it, which of course I did.

Bloody jobsworth. It's a well known franchise too. Arnold Clark

Ok,

so all the work has been done and today I took it in for the retest !
Just as I indicated to pull into the test centre the off side indicators started to flash as though a bulb had blown, I checked the bulbs and they were all flashing. So I just left i with the MOT guy and didn't say anything.

So for the retest do they just check the previous fail points ?

Yes if it's bought back within a certain time.

nephro said:

I have a p38 Range Rover which just flew through it's M O T, but I also have a Ford Galaxy in pristine condition. It's an R reg, but failed the M O T last week on two things. I had checked it over the previouse day and couldn't fault it.

When I went to pick it up the chap was just making the fail notice out. He laughungly sprouted " It's failed " What on I asked. Two items he said.
1st you have an obstruction to your view through the windscreen.
This was a magic tree smelly

2nd your rear upper brake light is broken, and doesn't work.
It wasn't broken yesterday when I went over it with a fine tooth combe I said.

Why didn't you cut the magic tree off I said. I'm an M O T inspector he replied. I went bollistic and the place was full of other customers, buyers and people wanting repairs and M O T's.

I must have done good, because he changed his mind and said if you'l remove the magic tree and mend the light I'll pass it, which of course I did.

Bloody jobsworth. It's a well known franchise too. Arnold Clark

Click to expand...

I had this when I had the mondeo. My girlfriend had a disabled daughter and when I left the car outside the garage it was on double yellow lines so I put the Blue badge on the dash and propped it up. He failed it on the same grounds. and said I would have to pay for a full retest. Till I pointed out that your not allowed to drive a vehicle with the badge displayed, and he had been breaking the law if he drove the car without moving it first. He changed his mind when I asked him for the VOSA's telephone number and address for lodging an appeal. Fooking scamming bastids.

redhand said:

I had this when I had the mondeo. My girlfriend had a disabled daughter and when I left the car outside the garage it was on double yellow lines so I put the Blue badge on the dash and propped it up. He failed it on the same grounds. and said I would have to pay for a full retest. Till I pointed out that your not allowed to drive a vehicle with the badge displayed, and he had been breaking the law if he drove the car without moving it first. He changed his mind when I asked him for the VOSA's telephone number and address for lodging an appeal. Fooking scamming bastids.

Click to expand...

It's a wonder he didn't fail it on my lifting dashboard ! lol

just have to say when i changed my front brakes pipe. 3weeks after mot both time!! but thats another story they were a bastard to bleed. had to back bleed them in the end.

UPDATE:


PASSED !!!!!!!

Thanks to everyone........