MOT failures

Volvo240GLT wrote: Ok, my dodgy '89 failed on eight counts and three advisories. Failures ----- ....002 Both rear brake discs excessively pitted WHAT?!?!?? How's that a MOT failure? And why? And what could cause this?

The surfaces of each disc is where the pads "grab" onto under braking. If the car is not in regular use, disc surfaces can corrode. If dirt or grit finds its way into the pitted sections, then these will be "grabbed" by the brake pads, and may lead to scoring and premature failure of the disc.

Needs replacement, basically.

003 Centre ball joint has excessive play....Can this be adjusted or do I need a replacement part?

Replacement part again.

007 Nearside idler steering arm has relative movement at its fixings .... what's an idler steering arm?

One of the links that regulates your steering.

 

...Also where do I get a new exhaust for it that doesn't cost 700?

You could invest at least that much and consider going stainless steel...

Volvo240GLT wrote: ...Considering that I only plan to keep it for a few years then I don't really want to spend that much.

Ah, does that mean one of us will have to take it over when you've tired of it?

IMHO you could fix the lot for about 140quid in parts;

ball joints and brake discs- replace.

brake pipes and fuel pipes- replace

weld repair exhaust in short term.

It sounds like they went hard on you at the MOT; in my experience they will do exactly this if you present a car with numerous obvious faults (ie rusty (even if it might be superficial) brake and fuel pipes, rusty exhaust, missing mountings, etc etc). If it had even looked as if you or someone, anyone had taken a look underneath and done some repair work to these items they might feel more comfortable about you driving around in a ~20 year old car that is certain to develop all kinds of issues from time to time.

Sorry if that sounds brutal but to put a 6er in for the test with no prep work is highly optimistic to say the least....

cheers

astonishingly, my 635 passed an MOT after 10 years of standing around, and only being started about once a year!!!

The only thing I had to replace were the tyres, which I did before hand.

That was back in 2004. Although it did have the bare minimum of attention, like fluids and cleaning - and I did do various bodywork maintenance over that time - but absolutely nothing electric or mechanical.

I kept the battery disconnected 99% of the time, and the bodywork stayed fairly good, only the dreaded wings and inner sills/ jacking points went a bit, but not that bad considering it was outside the whole time.

In fact when my father bought the car in 1993 it had 128K, and now its got 133K (about 2K of which have been done this year).

I remember my dad getting the whole thing undersealed as soon as he bought it, and I think that has been a contributing factor to it not going too bad.

The paintwork has taken a hammering from all the UV over the years, and it could do with a respray (which it will get soonish).

In fact the picture makes the paint look great, but its not that good - you can see where the front wing has been repaired just about, and for some reason my TRX's have become coated in a brown rubber type stuff?????????? It comes off if you scrape it with you nail, all 4 have gone that way - I initially thought it might be algae, but I cant see how they would survive there.

Ah the Shabbat tyre polishing service in action as it were.

I reckon that even the rubber compound that the TRX's are made of is rubbish - I have older tyres than that around, and they have stayed in good condition.