MOT Help

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BostonTar

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Doing up this old abused 300tdi original defender. Welded the chassis, done some all round general cleanup.

I have a question, what are the common MOT failure points for a defender? ... Making a To-Do list

Cheers!
 
Tbh like any old car, everything is a potential fail point.. rust and emissions being two.
On the emissiosn front find the under bonnet seticker that says 1.30 or similair and remove it, no sticker means the tester has to enter 3.00 (baseline turbo diesel) as the min reading which a 300 will easily do.
I would do the best you can and stick it in for test, of it fails fix it and move on.
I often think fresh grease a few new parts and some obvious tlc goes a long way with testers on old motors.
 
With my disco I always do my own pre MOT check, so where possible check every thing an MOT tester would.
Steering ball joint gaiters including the A frame ball joint, number plate illumination, wipers and washers are just a few easy ones.
Good luck :)
^^^This.
Most stuff is straightforward.
The fun begins when you find a 1/4" rust hole in the bottom of the sill and start poking......
That said, the only part of an MOT that I do worry about on any of our vehicles is the emissions - anything else is just spannering/welding.
 
Fortunately emissions have never been an issue with my disco :)

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On the emissiosn front find the under bonnet seticker that says 1.30 or similair and remove it, no sticker means the tester has to enter 3.00 (baseline turbo diesel) as the min reading which a 300 will easily do.

I was speaking to a mot tester after I had put sticker over emissions plate for that reason
He had been on recent training and was told if blatantly obvious is malicious and is an offence
But if scuffed by accident and unreadable then they go by the standard reading
 
Tbh like any old car, everything is a potential fail point.. rust and emissions being two.
On the emissiosn front find the under bonnet seticker that says 1.30 or similair and remove it, no sticker means the tester has to enter 3.00 (baseline turbo diesel) as the min reading which a 300 will easily do.
I would do the best you can and stick it in for test, of it fails fix it and move on.
I often think fresh grease a few new parts and some obvious tlc goes a long way with testers on old motors.
Is there an emissions checking machine I can pick up?
 
Is there an emissions checking machine I can pick up?

Expensive bits of kit
Puff on start up and little smoke low rpms but full throttle will most likely mean its fine for test
Make sure its hot and had a run before dropping if off for mot
 
I was speaking to a mot tester after I had put sticker over emissions plate for that reason
He had been on recent training and was told if blatantly obvious is malicious and is an offence
But if scuffed by accident and unreadable then they go by the standard reading

I wonder what the offence would be, and how they would act on it?
 
Is there an emissions checking machine I can pick up?
Find a nice friendly garage and they will take care of it for you..... settle for losing 40 quid on a first test which shows the issues. No decent garage would cold test an older 200/300 TDI for emissions they would usually give it a run to get it warm, I know mine always have.

It could fail on anything...... I once dotted all the i's and crossed the t's so I thought and it failed on lack of screenwash ffs. I think it was something like marked as "in-operative" and they didn't bother filling it up. The MOT is a bare minimum test so you need to be thinking the basics, is it strong structurally and roadworthy, starting, stopping, nothing obvious leaking/holed/missing etc. Seatbelts, steering, indicators/lights, play etc.

I always like to come back to the mindset of brakes for example, it doesn't matter if your brakes are 98 percent worn its if they stop on the rolling road which matters. This isn't about suitability for going for a drive for an adventure its about a snapshot in time. Keep that in mind when taking it away with a pass as well.
 
I use redex pre mot fluid,seems to do the trick.just pour the whole bottle in a full tank.Wilco do it for £8.
Good luck
I'd take it for a decent run on a fast road rather than pay money on cleaner. Literally blow the cobwebs away witha bit of right foot.
 
Doing up this old abused 300tdi original defender. Welded the chassis, done some all round general cleanup.

I have a question, what are the common MOT failure points for a defender? ... Making a To-Do list

Cheers!

You can download a MOT test list. Just go through that.
 
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