Good to see the part about the xenons. 'adjustment is made either by the headlight or self levelling'. Does say it needs a washer system, so i best start looking for the bottle and the jets

You still need the self levelling system:-"Therefore, in order to pass the MOT

test, vehicles fitted with after-market HID systems would also need to be fitted with headlamp

cleaning and self-levelling systems."

Iv been told I effects euro 5 onwards. so all us Fabia bods should be fine. It's all Chinese wispers till someone clarifies it

Matt

You still need the self levelling system:-"Therefore, in order to pass the MOT

test, vehicles fitted with after-market HID systems would also need to be fitted with headlamp

cleaning and self-levelling systems."

Mine aren't aftermarket, they are skoda xenon headlights

Just chating to my local mechanic earlier and VOSA decides to pop in.

Only managed to have a slight chat but here is what I managed to find out.

Any warning light on the dash including engine management light on is a fail or they will look into it until they find a reasonable safe explanation to why it's on.

EGR delete is a fail.

Decat is a fail even on diesel car.

Any play in ball joints, bushes - fail. (Even small amount of play will no longer be advisery, just a fail)

MOT and advisery will be on one sheet, not one stapled to the other.

Your pass certificate and advisory will be online to view. (Thought this already done though)

Gas converted cars will be checked for leaks.

Car will be MOT'd for an hour and no less (also thought this rule already applied)

That's all I managed to find out..

Probably a guide somewhere about the new rules but thought I'd just share a few things of what they said in person.

I think that you may have misintepreted some of what you heard. Engine, SRS, traction control and brake warning lights on will be a fail, inoperative main beam light will be a fail. For vehicles used after 01/01/12 tyre pressure warning lights on will be a fail - if they indicate a fault with the tyre pressure monitoring system, if it's on because the car has an under inflated tyre then it shouldn't be a fail. If the tester is reasonable he may inflate the tyre, if not he could abandon the test (and charge for it) as he could deem it unsafe to do a brake test.

An obviously missing anti pollution device, where one was fitted as standard will be a fail, irrespective of the emissions test result. Looking at the manual this is relevant for vehicles that require a full cat emissions check, I would interpret that as for spark ignition engines only and for cars that fail the basic emissions test and have to run to a full cat test.

There isn't a specific fail for an EGR delete, but if the engine light is on because of it, it's a fail. A tester isn't going to be looking at things like EGR valves and guessing as to whether the gasket has a hole in it or not.

The 2012 MOT testers manual mentions excessive play in ball joints, the same as it does now. A split joint boot will be a fail.

An hour and no less for a test? VOSA can't mandate a time for the test. My average time for a test is 58 minutes and I take my time, I might do a 3 year old car in 40 - 45 minutes as I won't be too concerned about scraping brake pipes and sticking my fingers through the sills, older cars take longer. Most testing stations book tests in hourly slots. VOSA have calculated that looking at all these new items will take something like an extra 21/2 minutes.

The new items will be introduced on 01/01/12, but there will be a 3 month probationary period for them where they will be advisory and failable from 01/04/12.

Plain paper certificates will be from 16/10/11, they will be A4 landscape size, with the certificate on one side and the advisories on the other.

The proposed 2012 testers manual is here, read that and you'll probably know more about the new testable items than many testers, the new items will have a vertical black bar next to them in the contents.

I asked about the egr delete. His words were 'if it's not there, it will fail yes'.

But as you said, if the light is not on, who would know.

As for warning lights, he pointed out on a convertible that the roof 'down' light was on even though the roof is up, he said that would fail.

Having read fordfan's link to the manual, I'd agree that a decat is still OK on a diesel. In the early draft copy I got from VOSA, the original wording was:

Method of Inspection:

1. Examine the condition of the whole exhaust system, including the silencers and mountings, for security, deterioration and completeness

Reason for Rejection:

a. A part of the system missing or excessively deteriorated

b. an exhaust system not adequately supported

c. a catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard.

Whereas the manual fordfan has linked to seems to suggest that the cat only needs to be checked for on vehicles that fail the basic emissions test, and since diesels still don't have an emissions test, it's not possible for a diesel to fail it. So that's good news and looks like I won't need to fit a cat (although I'll keep hold of it now I've got it for future use). Still need to put an airbag back in though, so no nice Momo wheel for me come next year :(

As for EGR valves, I'm more concerned about the fact I plain don't have one. It's been replaced with a straight pipe, but mapped out correctly so I have no EML. So from inside the car you wouldn't know, but look under the bonnet and it's fairly obvious that it's gone if you know what you're looking for (which I'm guessing an MOT tester would with the number of VAG TDIs they must see and they're all laid out pretty much the same).

7.1 Vertical black bar - Reason for rejection, a cat missing where one was fitted as standard.

Still worried about this as petrol's have always failed decats, so why does this mean it's new??

7.1 Vertical black bar - Reason for rejection, a cat missing where one was fitted as standard.

Only

On vehicles that qualify for a full cat emissions

test, check the presence of the catalytic

converter

Which if you read further along, isnt diesels.

7.1 Vertical black bar - Reason for rejection, a cat missing where one was fitted as standard.

Still worried about this as petrol's have always failed decats, so why does this mean it's new??

As I understand it, decats were fine on petrols IF you could get it through the emissions test. The problem being that there's hardly any engines that can pass the emissions test without one. But it wasn't the cat that was covered, per se, it was the emissions, and the cat was only required because it was pretty much the only way to get through the emissions test.

As I understand it, decats were fine on petrols IF you could get it through the emissions test. The problem being that there's hardly any engines that can pass the emissions test without one. But it wasn't the cat that was covered, per se, it was the emissions, and the cat was only required because it was pretty much the only way to get through the emissions test.

Exactly that as I understood it too.

Feel sorry fo french car owners, they all have iffy warning lights, Oh that's me as well :'(

I like advisories being on the same bit of paper. Stops the chuck the advisory certificate in the bin before handing over to purchaser thing continuing.

As for EGR valves, I'm more concerned about the fact I plain don't have one. It's been replaced with a straight pipe, but mapped out correctly so I have no EML. So from inside the car you wouldn't know, but look under the bonnet and it's fairly obvious that it's gone if you know what you're looking for (which I'm guessing an MOT tester would with the number of VAG TDIs they must see and they're all laid out pretty much the same).

is the tester allowed/required to remove the plastic engine cover? if not, and if the EGR's been mapped out, how would you know the valve wasn't there?

Good question. Don't know If you're looking from the right angle you can see that it's missing without removing the cover though, and you can see the disconnected vacuum line.

I don't care really, my MOT guy will pass anything, he knows I love my car and it's no expense spared, if there's anything dangerous he will let me know but otherwise he just passes it no matter what.

On my bike I went and had no mirrors, no indicators, no horn, no fairings (tons of sharp edges), bald tyres, etc... and he passed it because he knew it was all getting sorted the next day! Quality to have a MOT tester friend. :p

I don't care really, my MOT guy will pass anything, he knows I love my car and it's no expense spared, if there's anything dangerous he will let me know but otherwise he just passes it no matter what.

On my bike I went and had no mirrors, no indicators, no horn, no fairings (tons of sharp edges), bald tyres, etc... and he passed it because he knew it was all getting sorted the next day! Quality to have a MOT tester friend. :p

Agreed. Trouble is finding one, can't exactly just ring around and go "Hi, I need an MOT but I need you to only go through half the manual". I've got a good MOT tester I can trust to do a good job and not make up fails/advisories to get work, but he also does things "by the book" so it's no good taking a car to him with faults :(

I certainly won't be removing engine covers to carry out a test, it takes time to do and can cause problems if something breaks or it is not refitted correctly. In the new manual there is no mention (as far as I am aware by a quick read through) of the EGR valve. As long as the emissions are correct and the engine light isn't on, it can't be failed.

To give you an idea of what a tick box exercise the MOT is, I had a car the other week where if you operated the indicator control the indicators will work as normal, but it also made the dipped beam head lamps and tail lights operate. There is a failure for lights affected by the operation of other lights, but all the lights worked perfectly. After a call to VOSA I was told that this was not a fail and to pass and advise. In my opinion this could prove dangerous if you indicated to turn right and there was a car at the junction whose driver had just thought that you have flashed them to pull out.

I was wrong with my time of 2 1/2 minutes to check these new items, it's 54 seconds.

@Fordfan

What about FMICs and cut crash bars (5. Inappropriate Repair or Modification)?

If you saw a cut crash bar, would you fail the car?

I had a car the other week where if you operated the indicator control the indicators will work as normal, but it also made the dipped beam head lamps and tail lights operate. There is a failure for lights affected by the operation of other lights, but all the lights worked perfectly. After a call to VOSA I was told that this was not a fail and to pass and advise. In my opinion this could prove dangerous if you indicated to turn right and there was a car at the junction whose driver had just thought that you have flashed them to pull out.

I'll see that Highway Code Rule 110 and call.

Bloody good question, most of us here already know that the Fabia coolant sensor is twitchy and will come on even when their is no reason for it to be on.

Affects all VAG cars, not just Furbies. That said, it normally only happens when the engine is dead cold, and 1 minute of prong scraping cured mine a year back.

So even just a brake pad low warning light could fail? O dear

It's ok, just pull the led's off the circuit board in the dash panel. I might start up a business taking dash panels out of scrap yards, pulling warning light bulbs out, and selling them on.

I would say that a brake pad warning light should fail though, maybe unless it actually comes on for the first time during the MOT test (i.e. the tester could see that you hadn't had any prior warning that your pads were getting low and therefore no reason to change them).

The whole point of it is to point out that your pads are going, they probably have a bit more life in them but just like shaking a toner cartridge in a laser printer, you don't know how much longer it'll run and it's unpredictable when it'll fail. So it's probably better just to bite the bullet and buy new pads even if yours have a little bit left else you could be one harsh stop away from them failing altogether.

Coolant sensor not so much, that seems harsh, and if the fuel light counts as a warning light that would be harsh as well. But most warning lights on a dash are designed to indicate that something is wrong so if they're on, there could be an issue making the car unroadworthy. Not something you'd let slide when you're doing a test specifically designed to indicate roadworthiness at that point in time.

Of the cars iv seen with them they give you huge amounts of warning, with the pad having many miles left in them. Seems a bit harsh making pepole swap them early, obviously people with half a brain cell would check them fairly regularly anyway, so would know what condition they are in warning light or not.

The MOT has to cater for "lowest common denominator" though, and also only happens once a year. If your warning pad light is on now, the MOT tester can't guarantee that you'll change them within that year (arguments about low milage aside, if the light is on, it's doubtful that you'll get 12 months from them) so I think that they should fail it. They also don't know how long the light's been on, for all they know you've been ignoring it for 6 months.

As I said, I do think it should only be an advisory or whatever if the light came on during the test, meaning that the brakes had only just reached that point and could be verified by the tester. But without knowing your milage, driving style, how long the light had been on before the test, an MOT tester can't make any kind of guesstimate about how long those pads might last so I think they probably should fail.