Defender rear access ladder failed MOT

My MOT tester is a mate, but every year

i remove the middle seat...No seatbelt
I take off the winter tyres as they touch the radius arms
I go round all the lights and check wiper horn etc.
i spray the chassis with waste oil at least a week pre MOT so he doesn't get it dripping on him

I don't ask for any favours,
With any advisories he will give me a suggested timeline for repair
occasionally he will book an advisory, and tells me verbally that it is a strong advisory which means take it home and fix it immediately.
Or if it is a fail will show me where and why etc.

Also if the ministry have paid the testing station a visit and gone through their records or checked one they has just tested, they have to tighten up a touch

If the average of pass results is way above national average then they get visited.

My mate has had them parked round the corner with the test now online they can monitor what time he started etc.

So could be you were just wrong day or week..

have seen some ladders out there that def are wider where the no. plate is.

Been thinking about LED headlights but have been made aware they can be an issue with MOT. So will leave that alone for now

lynall said:

Sure I read somehwere some less than reputable import gear was marked as CE but in their case it simply meant chinese export!

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Cavey_P38 said:

I take off the winter tyres as they touch the radius arms

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How do you get it to the test station without tyres on it?

Stops him driving it to do the brake test...LOL

Beneagles said:

Oh woe is me!!! How dare a fully qualified MOT-tester dare to fail me just because my numberplate is obscured, and/or my light pattern is illegal! Sheesh...they'll be complaining about bald tyres and rusty outriggers next!

I see a lot of Testers being called dickheads just for doing their job
It works both ways...if the customer is a dickhead, the car will fail

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Yours has just failed.

Seriously though, do you not believe the tester has been a bit of a dick with the ladder? Honestly?

The lights, I can agree with as pricks who swap halogens to LED/HID really **** me off (I know this isn’t the case here, but same principle).

Kevlandau said:

Looks like that is the answer but hate being ripped off. My LED headlights failed for the pattern even though they are CE marked and labelled. Another £200 down the drain!

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Interesting. I was thinking of getting LED headlights and did a lot (I mean a LOT) of on-line research. What I found was beam patterns that were all over the place, dips that were central or offset for LHD and almost no RHD offset dips. Went so far as the e-mail, phone or visits sellers claiming to have RHD offset dip LEDs and I never found one. Even the premium Phillips CE marked LED headlight bulbs for sale in Halfords showed a LHD offset dip beam pattern on the box. I queried that and got "people buy them they must be OK.." Don't get me wrong, I'm sure RHD LED headlamps exist, but from my research 99% of the sellers can't tell you what they are selling. What I also found was that if they were made in China the odds were they would be LHD offset regardless of what the description said because you could work it out from the LED shape, and I e-mailed them to confirm the unit was "exactly as per picture". At some point I think the MOT testers are going to be failing a lot of aftermarket LED headlamps, I can't see any other way.

To be fair, your Defender DID NOT FAIL on the ladder, that was an advisory, it failed on a 5hit load of other faults, the numberplate seems to be the least of your problems:-

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):

• Offside Front Brake pipe connection leaking on a hydraulic braking system (1.1.11 (b) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):

• Nearside Front Outer Track rod end ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Inner Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device ineffective STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device missing STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• FT STEERING SYSTEM LOCK NUT AND SPLIT PINS MISSING AND SLACK Dangerous
• REG PLATE COVERED BY LADDER AT REAR

Rougharse Racing said:

To be fair, your Defender DID NOT FAIL on the ladder, that was an advisory, it failed on a 5hit load of other faults, the numberplate seems to be the least of your problems:-

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):

• Offside Front Brake pipe connection leaking on a hydraulic braking system (1.1.11 (b) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):

• Nearside Front Outer Track rod end ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Inner Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device ineffective STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device missing STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• FT STEERING SYSTEM LOCK NUT AND SPLIT PINS MISSING AND SLACK Dangerous
• REG PLATE COVERED BY LADDER AT REAR

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Never trust a customer
Fur coat but no knickers.

Rougharse Racing said:

To be fair, your Defender DID NOT FAIL on the ladder, that was an advisory, it failed on a 5hit load of other faults, the numberplate seems to be the least of your problems:-

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):

• Offside Front Brake pipe connection leaking on a hydraulic braking system (1.1.11 (b) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):

• Nearside Front Outer Track rod end ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Inner Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device ineffective STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device missing STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• FT STEERING SYSTEM LOCK NUT AND SPLIT PINS MISSING AND SLACK Dangerous
• REG PLATE COVERED BY LADDER AT REAR

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I like it.

Slam -dunk....

Kevlandau said:

Yep, the lights were from a shop. No names cus I use them a lot and generally they're excellent

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They look like the Britpart Lynx types, I had some emails going to their tech dept asking to confirm they are legal in UK which they are (there are LHD and RHD types, I think the RHD E11 marked are the ones I have)
Never had a problem at MOT time

Rougharse Racing said:

To be fair, your Defender DID NOT FAIL on the ladder, that was an advisory, it failed on a 5hit load of other faults, the numberplate seems to be the least of your problems:-

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):

• Offside Front Brake pipe connection leaking on a hydraulic braking system (1.1.11 (b) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):

• Nearside Front Outer Track rod end ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Inner Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device ineffective STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device missing STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• FT STEERING SYSTEM LOCK NUT AND SPLIT PINS MISSING AND SLACK Dangerous
• REG PLATE COVERED BY LADDER AT REAR

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#micdrop

Beneagles said:

Oh woe is me!!! How dare a fully qualified MOT-tester dare to fail me just because my numberplate is obscured, and/or my light pattern is illegal! Sheesh...they'll be complaining about bald tyres and rusty outriggers next!

I see a lot of Testers being called dickheads just for doing their job
It works both ways...if the customer is a dickhead, the car will fail

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I dont think they are dickheads but are definitely inconsistent. Why do some testers check an item that others dont.

Some things are open to discretion, some testers have more experience than others and some, especially those who are not mechanics, don't have as much exposure.
Just my opinion

Those headlights look identical to mine which have been through 3 MOT`s now with no problem and mine were 80 quid ebay specials.
From experience some MOT testers seem to fixate on certain items, used to have a guy who would fail nearly everything on brake pipes, just a case of finding a balanced fair tester i suppose.

Kevlandau said:

You wont find any rust on mine!
I bet theres stax of landies out there with the same ladder...
Bye all and thanks for all your replies.

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Might not be rusty but the steering is sha99ed

Oh and you've got the headlight equivalent of nookie bear

mudmut said:

Those headlights look identical to mine which have been through 3 MOT`s now with no problem and mine were 80 quid ebay specials.
From experience some MOT testers seem to fixate on certain items, used to have a guy who would fail nearly everything on brake pipes, just a case of finding a balanced fair tester i suppose.

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I think that is because most mechs/testers are special in one way or another, and I include myself in that statement

Rougharse Racing said:

To be fair, your Defender DID NOT FAIL on the ladder, that was an advisory, it failed on a 5hit load of other faults, the numberplate seems to be the least of your problems:-

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects):

• Offside Front Brake pipe connection leaking on a hydraulic braking system (1.1.11 (b) (ii))

Repair immediately (major defects):

• Nearside Front Outer Track rod end ball joint dust cover insecure so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt (2.1.3 (g) (ii))
• Nearside Front Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Inner Steering locking device ineffective (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device ineffective STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Offside Front Steering locking device missing STEERING BOX (2.1.3 (d))
• Nearside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))
• Offside Front Headlamp aim projected beam image is obviously incorrect (4.1.2 (c))

Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• FT STEERING SYSTEM LOCK NUT AND SPLIT PINS MISSING AND SLACK Dangerous
• REG PLATE COVERED BY LADDER AT REAR

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Is that genuine....?

Landyfox said:

Is that genuine....?

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Yes
Just google car mot checker, takes you to gov website (if it does not say gov dont click on it) enter reg number and click okay, tells you current mot status, then click on mot history and that tells you the last few years mot pass/fail and what it failed on/advisories etc, all public access stuff, no security questions etc
I use it quite often, great for vehicles you are interested in, uncovers some horrors as well.
Also quick way to check your own cars mot date, as we always forget ours every year!

It can also tell you the cars back story, the defender in this thread for example ran out of mot in 2016, so the owner has either been driivng it with no test for 4 years, or more likely (as it looks tidy) been rebuilding it.

Very useful thanks!