MOT Rip Off

[irmscher]

Shame you are not nearer steve sounds like very fair prices and a great service

[samuria]

my local garage +mot place only charge £35 and no charge
for a retest. also does my bike as well

[Cam]

My wife's 78000 mile Focus has just failed on emissions and apparently it smoked the workshop out. Strange..I had never noticed excessive smoke before although I did have to top up the oil at regular intervals. Asking for some sort of diagnosis I was told that it could be anything from needing a new valve stem oil seal to a new short engine. My suggestion that a compression test might help was fobbed off.
As we now have a car with a failed MOT we cannot use it depite the old MOT having a week to run. As our regular garage has just relocated some 15 miles away this was the first time that we have used this establishment (and the MOT was only £32)
It does sound a bit tappity when starting up
Would the plug in diagnostics reveal anything?
Is it worth me doing a compression check, assuming that my tester fits the plug holes?
Shall I sell it on the cars for sale section?

Well, we've been having a problem with Gill's Mondeo MK3. The glow plug lamp kept flashing and then the car would cut out. This is regarded as a 'minor fault'. as opposed to the engine management light which denotes a 'major fault'. After a lot of mucking about and changing bits of the Diesel injection system (the fault code said fuel pressure problem). We came to the conclusion that it was clogged up as we don't drive it hard. So the MoT place stuck some cleaner additive in the fuel and it helped for about a week then started doing it again.

Anyway... at out local classic friendly MoT place, I noticed an advert for Terraclean and it was supposed to completely clean everything out really well and it was £90 + VAT, so in desperation I booked it in for a session.

They do an emissions test prior to the clean and the Mondeo failed. Then after the test it was massively improved and of course passed! But the interesting thing is that the car has not had the problem since (about 5 weeks of driving now). And it feels much more responsive and more powerful.

Might be worth a try? Seems to have worked for us...

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

Hi Cam, sounds like you need an 'Italian tune-up', i.e. a session of hard driving. Try and take the car on the motorway a few times a month and allow the engine to idle for a few mins. after a long run and any towing, to allow the oil to cool the turbo. Lots of expensive problems in modern diesels are now resulting from the cars not being allowed to fully warm up, and the complex emissions system gets clogged. This can often be overcome by avoiding short runs.

[dp]

Our MoT test's are £40 at the moment purley because thats what our competitors charge. I like to think we have the edge on service and the way we conduct our family business.

EG BmCeosse's car would have been 3 small bulbs inc fitting (£2.50 ea) Jubilee clip on cv boot as long as boot was in good condition about £5.00 fitted the origonal test £40 No retest fee (for any retest within 10 days left station or not) I would have done those repairs whilst car was booked on test (it's called PRS) the VTS device would then issue a pass and a fail during the printing of the cert
All above prices INCLUDE VAT so it would have been £52.50 Thank you Sir!

PS If a new boot was req I would have fitted a new car specific boot, not one of those stretchy over the joint ones, by removing the CV joint about £30 plus cost of the boot, but I would try a jubilee clip first.

Above is no advert. Since you have a Minor in you sig, what work do you do on Minors for customers and where are you based? Answering questions is also no advert:)

[drivewasher]

Thats my own van I'm doing at the moment
We MoT all cars mainly moderns but a few classic. Never done a Moggie. This year Ive tested 2 triumph heralds a Spitfire bmc mini, MG midget, VW Karmann Gia and a VW transporter pickup crew cab 1980 ish.
We are just North of Warrington Cheshire

[MarkyB]

Blimey

Never done a Moggie

Things must be grim up North

[bmcecosse]

final feedback on my original story...when I went to change the oil and filter I realised yesterday that they had not dropped thye undershield since I was lat in there (two years ago) - so could not have drained the old oil - and the oil filter was the one I fitted 2 years ago - they had not changed it either. They must have sucked the old oil out via the dipstick hole (because it did have clean oil in at the time - I did check that) - but now I wonder what quality of oil they used........ BTW - I used full synthetic 5W30 from ASDA - has all the correct numbers (A3 and C3) at £20 for 5 litres. I noticed in my local garage they sell same spec oil at £59 for 4.5 litres...........how do they get away with it???

[Matt]

well did they charge you for a filter change?

Sucking the oil out isn't that uncommon now... Its something I need to get sorted to stop spilling used oil all over the garden!

[JOWETTJAVELIN]

The silt and sludge, plus a large quantity of old oil, stays in the engine if you don't remove the drain plug. It is comical to suck oil out through the dipstick hole.

[drivewasher]

Smart cars & some rovers dont have a sump plug, the engine dipstick & tube are designed so as to use the only available option that is a suction tool. The engine oil has to be hot for the sucker to work efficiently

OR if the rougher section of the trade would remove the filter and run the engine untill oil stopped coming out then the engine is deemed empty of oil SHOCK-HORROR

[MarkyB]

The silt and sludge, plus a large quantity of old oil, stays in the engine if you don't remove the drain plug

True enough for a Minor but engines and oils have changed a lot since then.
Service intervals have got longer and engines last longer, you can't really argue with that.

[bmcecosse]

The 'deal' was for a 'full service' and MOT. Now I never expected them to change air filter etc......but I did ask about the oil filter and the grade of oil to be used.....and was assured filter would be changed and 'correct' oil used.... Unfortunately the filter is very hard to get at - or even to see without removing the nearside front wheel - and I foolishly took them at their word.. Never again!

[Matt]

Air filter would be part of a full service!

Oh and lots of modern gearboxes no longer have drain plugs (and some rear axles/diffs)

[drivewasher]

The 'deal' was for a 'full service' and MOT. Now I never expected them to change air filter etc......but I did ask about the oil filter and the grade of oil to be used.....and was assured filter would be changed and 'correct' oil used.... Unfortunately the filter is very hard to get at - or even to see without removing the nearside front wheel - and I foolishly took them at their word.. Never again!

A full service here is ALWAYS
*Change engine oil AND filter
*change air filter
*change fuel filter on diesel
*top up screen wash water plus additive
*check all legall required lights
*check brake pads and or rear shoes
*Check & report tyre tread depth
*check & adjust if req tyre pressures
*remove all wheels blow dust from brake pads after brake cleanering (new word) refit wheels with copperslip on hub spigott ONLY, then torque wheel bolts to spec so as customer can get them off in event of a puncture with the manufacturers tools when broken down on the hard shoulder!
*Pollen filter is extra if req.

ALL that for £95 Plus vat
We use only the exact spec oil not just wether synthetic, semi synthetic etc or viscosity.
In some cases EG some VW or Audi engines that require a more expensive oil there is a small surcharg usually £10 or £15

[bmcecosse]

Of course it is.......but I never expected any of that (I do all that myself) - I DID expect a new oil filter - and new oil.