Mot Failure!

Post by **MarksMinor** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:28 pm

Hi Everyone "Aunty Mable" failed mot on the rear brakes, so I took her back to Barney my mechanic who is an absolute expert on minors,(he has 3). He had already put new copper brake pipes on her as well as a lockheed cylinder on the rear, and couldn't understand why she failed.
That was until he removed one of the rear drums and the adjuster fell out in 3 pieces.
His conclusion was the guy who tested her must have been too rough with her when he stamped on the brakes.
What I would like to know is,
Is this a common problem?
Has this happened to anyone else?
Should I complain to the mot centre if it happens again?
Thanks in advance
Mark and Aunty Mable(1961 2 door saloon)

Post by **aupickup** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:33 pm

hard on brakes, i would not have thought so, just the same as an emergency stop surely.

routine maintenence is the key though.

Post by **MarksMinor** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:39 pm

Yeah like I said b4 the brakes were done serviced etc etc,
Why would the adjuster brake into 3 pieces, if he hadn't been so rough with her!

Post by **aupickup** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 9:43 pm

well i have had to do a couple of emergency stops and quite a few mots to my moggies and never had this problem.
i doubt if you have any recourse with the mot station.

well of course brake adjusters can wear as well i guess.

i must admit that when i buy a new commercial i redo all the braking system complete

Post by **rayofleamington** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 9:29 am

His conclusion was the guy who tested her must have been too rough with her when he stamped on the brakes.

You can't break the adjuster with the force from the brakes - it must have been faulty in the first place. Brake adjusters won't wear unless they are fitted wrong (which is nearly impossible anyway) so most likely is a stress fracture caused by old age but I've never heard of that part failing before.

Post by **simmitc** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 12:59 pm

Strangely enough I had one fail last year. First time in 25 years. Clean break of the "cage" section into two halves. Oddly, it was a new adjuster rather than the original. I'd made the switch on the basis that new would not be at all worn. Silly really.

Post by **Kevin** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 1:19 pm

Why would the adjuster brake into 3 pieces, if he hadn't been so rough with her!

I dont wish to throw stones but that would apply to the last person who worked on her not the MOT tester, and I have not had it happen either it just sounds like a bit of old age as even 40 year old parts can go wrong, one other thing were all the broken sections clean or were the edges of the broken sections dirty which is a sign of fatigue ?

Post by **ianselva** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:29 pm

When you stamp on the brakes any load is taken off the adjusters by the pistons moving away from the stops. So it is just possible the adjuster was broken , just waiting for the hard aplication of the brakes to give it enough room to fall apart.

Post by **rayofleamington** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:55 pm

When you stamp on the brakes any load is taken off the adjusters by the pistons moving away from the stops.

Unfortunately not - on the Minor the adjuster takes the whole piston load as it sits in between the piston and the shoe.

Post by **bmcecosse** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 7:27 pm

Just be glad that's all that's wrong for your MOT ! And you can hardly be too rough with brakes - they MUST be able to take all you can throw at them. In my experience it's best to be nice to MOT examiners - provide cakes/bottles of beer - that sort of thing - and certainly not to criticise them !! If they really want to - they can fond all sorts of things that are 'not quite right' on any car !

Post by **les** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 10:10 pm

Yes, I think you're clutching at straws to blame the tester. Put it down to tough luck or a maintenance oversight.

Post by **mixerman** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:04 am

talking of mots my susie failed on welding under the car and the mot garage wanted daft money to repair it so i took it somewhere else he did it for half the price i took it back for a retest and he failed it again there was a tiny hole at the back wheel arch that tha welder missed unknowing to me the welder said that any bodywork that needs welding MUST be marked by the tester as a code of practice so if u do take it somewhere else for the work to be done the new man can see it and repair it
phil

Post by **rayofleamington** » Mon Mar 07, 2005 9:51 am

he failed it again there was a tiny hole at the back wheel arch that tha welder missed unknowing to me the welder said that any bodywork that needs welding MUST be marked by the tester as a code of practice

Yes - they ought to mark up the fail areas (I don't know if that is a formal requirement but it is daft if they don't). However they are allowed to re-inspect any part or all of the car for a re-test so it is rarely worthwhile to complain.
I've seen cases where they expected the car to be scrapped due to corrosion so they didn't do a very thorough MOT, and therefore at the re-test they had to do the job properly and found another half dozen things

Post by **bmcecosse** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 1:28 pm

A re-test is just that - it's a complete re-test - and they can find any number of additional problems, if they want to !!

Post by **Kevin** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:02 pm

A re-test is just that - it's a complete re-test -

Quite right too, just glad my local guy just looks at the failure ticket and just checks those areas / bits of the failure.

Post by **Matt** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 2:07 pm

Not Nessesarily, I believe there are somethings if a car fails on and it is brought back within 48 hours just those bits can be checked...

Post by **57traveller** » Tue Mar 08, 2005 3:26 pm

There is a list of items (about 25) that can be retested without a full examination only if the vehicle stays at the test station to be repaired or returns before the end of the next working day. Only one free partial test is allowed per full examination.
This has to be the test station which issued the failure notice.
Wheels and tyres are included in the list but at the moment not for Classes 1 and 2 (motor bicycles with and without sidecar).