Passed Mot Again.

[fastbob72]

Hello folks, haven't been on here in ages, had mobile and PC problems for ages.

Anyway, thought I'd say hello and report that my 52 plate 1.8 vvti passed it's MOT again yesterday. It did need a fair amount in the end. From a complete brake overhaul. Discs n pads all round, a rear caliper but I had to strip the other 3,fit new seals.Get another year out of the pistons by carefully cleaning them with the finest wet n dry and autosol.

Also a complete exhaust system from the cat back and a bit of welding to the boot floor. I got them to adjustnthe handbrake n turned out a front spring was cracked so it cost me around £130 but I 'd shudder to think what the garage would have charged to do the work I did myself. I suspect it wouldn't have been cost effective probably more than the cars worth :(

Anyway, now it's through, the emmisions figures were pretty good btw, I can start making a plan of attack to wring some useable power out of the vvti motor :)

[Konrad C]

That is great.

Where in the boot did the welding need to be done. Was it because of water ingress?

The middle/rear exhaust is usually a very long piece and mostly made from stainless steel part from a few inches, from the joint flange to the middle silencer. This small bit is made of mild steel. This is where the corrosion takes place. The exhaust was Walker (from factory). Do you remember what caused you to change your exhaust?

What brand and where did you source your exhaust. Mine is Karius from Euro Car Parts and is has this fruity sound, especially with the windows down. Not loud, and only on mid/heavy throttle. Also the whole system had to be re-aligned the get noise/harshness/vibration down to close as before.

The suspension seems to be more come failures these days, speed bumps and pot holes the main cause. My brother '08 Renault had a broken spring last year, so your much old car is doing well.

The main thing is you did all the work yourself, therefore saving on garage fees.

Well done.

[sproutdreamer]

Well done-it is always a worrying time getting an older car through the MOT, particularly the emissions tests which can suddenly reveal a problem that you were unaware of!

My car 08 avensis passed ok recently but had 2 strange advisory notes to the effect that access to underside components was difficult due to undertray that is fiited and access to engine compartment components was difficult due to engine bay covers? Both sets of covers look standard enough so that puzzled me!

[Konrad C]

Well done-it is always a worrying time getting an older car through the MOT, particularly the emissions tests which can suddenly reveal a problem that you were unaware of!

My car 08 avensis passed ok recently but had 2 strange advisory notes to the effect that access to underside components was difficult due to undertray that is fiited and access to engine compartment components was difficult due to engine bay covers? Both sets of covers look standard enough so that puzzled me!

I thought that the tester can only check what can be accessed without having to remove anything bolted to the car.

The advisories for engine access should be ignored, and if they are standard, that tester needs to be updated and be aware of the fact. The tester will look silly putting his/her name to an advisory on engine covers, unless they are ill-fitted or about to fall off.

Get them checked by somebody familiar with the car and show the advisory for a piece of mind. They will confirm any issues.

More cars have top and bottom covers, plus some cars you cannot even get to the engine (Audi A1).

Anyway you passed the MOT and that is all that matters.

[fastbob72]

I really can't complain,,my only advisory was for the OS front tyre, she sailed through the emmisions,not even near for HC and CO, O2 sensors bang on.

I couldn't tell you what make of exhaust it is cos I got my old man to get it through his work for trade price. My backbox was rusted through n the mid section no better. You're right it's a huge mid section and backbox section. I did mine on the driveway with backend up on axle stands. was a total nightmare and I'm sure it's not fully aligned cos I can feel the vibration through the floor at times.

The boot was full of water so I took both the plastic bungs out to drain out the water.When the exhaust n rear brakes were off I got a sanding disc for the grinder n attacked any flaky or rusty areas underneath before rust treating it and waxoyl it.

Was later on when I pushed the bung. back in from inside I found out the metal was paper thin. By the time I managed to find solid, clean metal the hole was bigger than a CD case. Was the rear half of the spare wheel well, one of the easier jobs.

As for broken suspension, I borrowed my mothers Clio for a week or so while mine was off the road.... you guessed it snappped a coil spring. It's the state of the roads nowadays. They are mostly patches, repairs and potholes with white lines if you're lucky lol

[fastbob72]

Here's a view from when I was tacking the plate in place,the floor had a step in it originally so I tried to make one similar in the plate to aid fitting

[Konrad C]

I really can't complain,,my only advisory was for the OS front tyre, she sailed through the emmisions,not even near for HC and CO, O2 sensors bang on.

I couldn't tell you what make of exhaust it is cos I got my old man to get it through his work for trade price. My backbox was rusted through n the mid section no better. You're right it's a huge mid section and backbox section. I did mine on the driveway with backend up on axle stands. was a total nightmare and I'm sure it's not fully aligned cos I can feel the vibration through the floor at times.

The boot was full of water so I took both the plastic bungs out to drain out the water.When the exhaust n rear brakes were off I got a sanding disc for the grinder n attacked any flaky or rusty areas underneath before rust treating it and waxoyl it.

Was later on when I pushed the bung. back in from inside I found out the metal was paper thin. By the time I managed to find solid, clean metal the hole was bigger than a CD case. Was the rear half of the spare wheel well, one of the easier jobs.

As for broken suspension, I borrowed my mothers Clio for a week or so while mine was off the road.... you guessed it snappped a coil spring. It's the state of the roads nowadays. They are mostly patches, repairs and potholes with white lines if you're lucky lol

Here's a view from when I was tacking the plate in place,the floor had a step in it originally so I tried to make one similar in the plate to aid fitting

I can assume either the exhaust was made with a lesser quality materials or the car has been subjected to the conditions of the area. I could say the boot suffered from the conditions and the water did not help at all.

French cars especially Renault suffer from broken springs.

Pattern parts never seem to fit as good, but when I replaced the whole exhaust, it took several attempts to dampen the vibrations. The metals seam to work better once exhaust has warmed up. Before getting the correct alignment of the exhaust, every time the car went on the motorway for more than an hour, it developed a different vibration/resonance that was loud. I have not done a long run yet, but going to NEC photography Show soon. That will test the setup.

Anyway I will inspect my car very soon.

[fastbob72]

It definitely wasn't an OE exhaust cos Toyota wanted crazy money for it. I got mine for under £100 but it was a complete nightmare. I just couldn't get it to line up properly. If it was square at then back then it was out that much at the front it put far too much stress on the front clamp and when bolted up fully parts of the mid section were pushed hard against the floor. Lined up from the front clamp with the rearmost mounting point unbolted from the floor it the clamp was almost an inch out when trying to refit the rear hanger, couldn't get the bolts near where they should be. Was worse cos I was lying on my back under then car which always makes things worse, ended up with it slightly out at both ends but it's starting to sort itself out now thankfully.

Yeah the boot floor was suffering from all the mud and salt although it wasn't apparent until those plastic stoppers were removed. I spent a good week or more on going over the entire underneath and right up in the rear arches wire brushing it, taking any rust spots or flakey rust protection back, rust treating it all then redoing the underseal. It's at that stage where it's still solid and worth treating but leave it another year and I reckon the rot will have taken enough of a. hold that it becomes a losing battle, been there too often with cars in the past lol.

You're right I broke the springs on a Laguna I once had lol.

Tell me about it, it felt like either something was. loose.with the rear.suspension or about to fall off haha. Had to put the spare steel on the back and the alloy won't clamp into the wheel well so that was adding to the vibration and noise, plus my front window has stopped working a half inch open so that doesn't help either.

Yeah.a.good.motorway run will. let you know.if anythings out of true lol

[fastbob72]

Update located what was causing all the rattling at the back,tthere may be some exhaust rattle but most of it is down to the rear bumper or more to the point, the lazy fool who just reattached it at the main mountings but not the wheelarch liners and all the other seemingly insignificant plastic parts that clearly give it some degree of rigidity round the bottom edge.

What a Twat.lol