New Mot Test Items

[fil4362]

As the title says a quick reminder that as of january next year the mot will be harder to pass. Vosa are bring in new "testable items". Track rod end/bottom joint/top joint dust seals will now be testable. If they are spilt they fail. If you have ever had any steering or suspension work carried out on your car and the garage use the 2 prong fork style joint splitters, chances are your car is going to fail its next mot.

As late as last week "mil" lights were being introduced. A recent update to vosa data base seemed "dubious" as to exactly what warngin lights would become testable, we currently await a new list due end of november. Its almost certain airbag lights or any srs seatbelt lights will become a fail, as will any pretensioner sylte seat belts that have been triggered.

Tow bars have been in the test for a while now but the electrics maybe become testable as soon as vosa can find and put together a list of "reliable" tester equipment usable by testers. Personally i find this test a tad stupid, allit test is that the electrics work on the tow bar, doesnt mean the trailer/caravan your plugging into it works!

will repost any updates as and when vosa send them out to us

[ormi]

yip 13 new testable items also more will be introduced in march or april

[dave1]

As the title says a quick reminder that as of january next year the mot will be harder to pass. Vosa are bring in new "testable items". Track rod end/bottom joint/top joint dust seals will now be testable. If they are spilt they fail. If you have ever had any steering or suspension work carried out on your car and the garage use the 2 prong fork style joint splitters, chances are your car is going to fail its next mot.

As late as last week "mil" lights were being introduced. A recent update to vosa data base seemed "dubious" as to exactly what warngin lights would become testable, we currently await a new list due end of november. Its almost certain airbag lights or any srs seatbelt lights will become a fail, as will any pretensioner sylte seat belts that have been triggered.

Tow bars have been in the test for a while now but the electrics maybe become testable as soon as vosa can find and put together a list of "reliable" tester equipment usable by testers. Personally i find this test a tad stupid, allit test is that the electrics work on the tow bar, doesnt mean the trailer/caravan your plugging into it works!

will repost any updates as and when vosa send them out to us

Towbar electrics are confusing me a little. 13 pin sockets will be tested but 7N & 7S will be subject to a "visual check" but what exactly is going to be achieved on a visual check? A few of the new testable items seem fine...HID level sensors, low brake fluid level light but some things, like engine remaps will probably be unworkable since they may well be changed back to standard for duration of test. As it says, the MOT is only confirmation that the vehicle conformed at the time of the test.

It will also be interesting to see whether there is any legal comeback on a garage if your car fails due to work carried out by them using "2 prong fork style splitters".

At the end of the day, no-one should fear the annual test, it is a good basic check on your safety and can be an early warning of potential future problems.

[ormi]

engine maps are not coming in to this no more and hid's will only req headlight washers on a standard car and nothing if the suspension is stiff...ie some sports cars have no washers or levelers so theyve come up with as long as the suspension is stiff enough it doesnt req anything else....i knew this would happen..just been on the vosa refresher course...

[fil4362]

As i have already mentioned the tow bar wiring test is and will be compleatly pointless as it test only the vehicle electrics. IF the trailer/caravan you plug into the car has bad wiring it wont matter what comes out of the back of the car, the lights wont work properly.

AS for re maps they are only talking about it at this stage as of last month ( when i attended an mot seminar on what was new coming up, the sencond one i have attanded this year) VOSA hadnt come up or even started looking for equipment cheap enough or reliable enough to actually test for a re map.

Once again the mot test is only a test of the vehicle on the day, any mod IE illegal spaced number plates and hids can be removed at the time of the test and be replaced before the car even leaves my car park and theres nothing i can do about it.

A station local to me marks the inside edge of tyres as he checks them to highlight the tyre size. He noticed the second black cab he tested that day already had the same markings. When the third and forth black cab from the same firm came in all marked the same way he realised the same set of wheels/tyres had been tested that day. Basicly the taxi company had one new set of tyres that they used soley for the mot test on all their cabs. For the perpouses of the test theres nothing he can do he can only test what he sees even if he has seen it 4 times a day.

[dave1]

As i have already mentioned the tow bar wiring test is and will be compleatly pointless as it test only the vehicle electrics. IF the trailer/caravan you plug into the car has bad wiring it wont matter what comes out of the back of the car, the lights wont work properly.

AS for re maps they are only talking about it at this stage as of last month ( when i attended an mot seminar on what was new coming up, the sencond one i have attanded this year) VOSA hadnt come up or even started looking for equipment cheap enough or reliable enough to actually test for a re map.

Still doesn't answer why there is to be the differencebetween 13 pin which will be tested and 7N & 7S which will only be "visually checked".

The suggestion on remaps seems to be that emissions could be used as a remapped engine would be unlikely to show the same CO2 as standard, although I can't see it working as I doubt if any car will conform to the CO2 level given for that car when it was new.

[ormi]

ive supercharged my car removed the precats and my co2 is 0.1 so they cant really go on exhaust gasses..

[fil4362]

Tow bar sockets 13 pin and 7 pin are totally diffrent beasts. The standard 7 pin sockets get "wired" into the cars exsisting wiring loom usualy via cheap scotch lock type conecters. In a 7 pin socket you can use any pin/wire colour for any light as long as your trailer matches its ok. I have know people to wire tow bars in then swap wires around on the trialer to match the car. There is no test equipment to account for this. Therefore only a visual check can be done.

I know,from experiance of fitting one, the new style 13 pin tow bar sockets are designed for the can bus controlled vehicle lighting systems and cannot be "wired in" they have to be plugged in.My breakdown van 56 plate astra has such a system. It required the designated wiring loom from vauxhall and the plug in control unit to make it all work. In short if your car has a 13 pin towbar socket,then it can only be plugged in and its easy to test with one test device.

There isnt a cross over device to test both system types.

Re maps on cars can only be tested with "plug in" diagnostic equipment. You cant test a re map on emmisions alone.The type of equipment required to re map or even read re map is very expensive and the governmet/department of transport/vosa dont want to force garages into buying such equipment by bringing it into the mot test. Every test station already has an emissions machine and as long as your car passes this test,as ormis car does,then your car is ok. Once again the mot test is a very basic test, as long as the emissions pass and save the planet from global warming no one is bothered how it passed. "plugging it in to read the re map" would only tell you whats been changed and what it should affect.if your car fails because of a re map thats not vosas or the testers problem so we dotn need to know. All the test is about is it ok or not ok not why..

Ormi on another note there is "part of the exhaust system missing" if you have removed the pre cats. I believe they are changing the wording slightly to include "missing cat" as technically it/they are part of the exhaust system. I could be worng but i am pretty certain this was mentioned. If the wording is left as is then it would still be debatable as to a de cat already being a fail.

[ormi]

the main cat is still in place and unless you know your way around the car 90% of people dont even know its got pre cats also the precats are covered by a shield so you cant see them...

but yes your correct you cant now run a decat even if the car passes the gas test

[steve2006]

I have just read in CM that vehicles fitted with LPG conversions will also be subject to a leakage test as part as the MOT, a gas leak detector spray will be used with the engine running on LPG, the article does not mention if a current installation certificate will also have to be produced at the time of the test.