Hey guys, really bad news from the garage, my first mot (6n 1.4 8v) 109,795 miles...

about a year ago: bought it for £475, had to replace engine... cost me like 450 so yeah i haven't had great value for money with this thing...

Only had my car for a year, hardly drove it to be honest,

a measly 1,800 miles in it... anyway heres what its failed on...

1. RBT parking brake efficiency: 14% (lol)
2. Lower steering column universal joint has excessive play
3. Parking brake lever has no reserve travel
4. windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid
5. nearside front tyre not fitted in accordance to side wall instructions
6. offside front tyre not fitting in accordance with side wall instructions
7. Nearside rear brake binding
8. Nearside rear (wheel baring) not tested (due to the binding brake)
9. exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content at idle excessive
10. parking brake efficiency below requirements

Really really really annoying :(

my mate is meant to be round tomorrow to have a look at it, said we can buy parts to fix most of these problems for around £100... what do you think?

said the emissions thing could just be a change of spark plugs?

what the hells with my ''tyres''? i bought some 14" wheels, got rid of my steels, are they too big for the car??

if so am gona have to sell them and get some shitty steels back...

(by the way the garage quoted me around £500... and said parts were expensive...

oh and theres a chance the clutch may be on its way out!

so, do i scrap it or try work on it? I've got no garage or driveway, so in all honesty, I've been absolutely F***** over

Any advice, or comments are much appreciated!!

Edited 29 January, 201115 yr by Simple_Jim

[*]nearside front tyre not fitted in accordance to side wall instructions

[*]offside front tyre not fitting in accordance with side wall instructions

what the hells with my ''tyres''? i bought some 14" wheels, got rid of my steels, are they too big for the car??

Just means they're either rotated the wrong way round.

If the tread is in an arrow pattern it needs to be aimed towards the front of the car. It will say on the sidewall if it's rotational, OR it could just say on the sidewall "inside" or "outside".. look at the sidewalls and you'll see what I mean..

Most of that stuff doesn't sound too bad to be honest.

Apparently you only need 15% to pass the parking brake efficiency (does anyone know the exact figure?) It's quite low anyway!

Hi i will give you some idea on what these all mean as i am a mot tester and a mechanic,

Numbers 1,3,7,8 and 10 you will probably get away with stripping the rear drum's off cleaning your drum's out with clutch and brake cleaner and giving your brake shoes a quick rub over with some emery cloth/ sand paper and readjusting your handbrake cable and your shoe's.

Number 2 you may need to change this as this is saying that you have play in your steering and these are not adjustable i may be corrected on this but i don't think they are too hard to change?

Number 4. silly question but have you got any washer fluid in you bottle as it could be as simple as that, if not the washer jet's are probably blocked and just need cleaning out with a pin or take them out and try blowing them out with a air line or just blowing through them?

Numbers 5 and 6 as tris said they are probably directional tyres that are on the wrong side's?

Number 8 the only reason they have out this is because they can't rotate the wheel to check if the wheel bearing is ok and as i said should be easy fix but just check that when you have done the brakes that you can turn the wheel's ok and when you spin them there is no rumbling or roughness or freeplay as he/she will possibly fail it for that.

number 9 this could be due to lack of servicing or lack or use had the car been used much before it went for mot ? and how far was it out ? they should have given you a print out you can normally get away with a either a good service which is slightly more expensive or try some fuel cleaner i normally use redex the best way i find is chuck the required amount into the tank and remove the spark plugs put a little bit of redex down each of the plug hole's and place a rag over the hole's as it will squirt everywhere and spin it over a couple of time's replace the plug's wipe down any mess replace lead's and fire it up it will smoke like F**k just give it some rev's and go give it a good ragging this normally i find sort's it out.

Hope this is of some help .

hand brake needs to be 16% to pass, as dan says a clean will make them pass. The quote they have given you if its just to get it to pass the mot is rather excessive, id either learn as you go or find a decent honest mechanic.

Nice one guys, yeah my mate has sorted most of it out, just have to sort out the steering column and I'm away!

was not as bad as made out, as i didnt go down to the garage, my dad did to get all the paperwork, the emissions was only just over, used some catacleaner and just going to go for a decent drive before my re-test and all should be alright,

got some new brake shoes, a bastard to change, but thats all done now!

the rest were little things (stupid on my part) to be honest, but I've learnt alot in the past couple days!

will get back with my re-test results (monday)

thanks everyone.

Glad you got it sorted mate :-)

I genuinely hope the Cataclean works, but I'm a bit sceptical:

http://www.asa.org.uk/ASA-action/Adjudicat..._ADJ_41571.aspx