MOT Failure on Silly Rubber Dust Caps!!

[monkeybrain1234]

Can't believe it,

Failed on Anti-roll bar rubber dust caps missing x 2

Failed on front suspension rubber dust cap missing x1

Rest of the car is fine!!

Apparently these are new 2012 regs!

My Mechanic is not sure if you can get a universal dust cap to fit it, may have to put new parts in!

What a joke. I can understand if it was broken or worn, but the rest of the arm and links are fine! Just annoying to be honest.

A warning to the rest of you about MOT.

[nelo1110]

Ah great, looking forwards to next month when I take mine in.

Here is a link to the AA site with the new tests for 2012 :

www. theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-servicing-repair/mot-changes-2012.html

Be interested to know if your tester actually removed the covers in the boot to access the battery, not such an easy check on the GTV.

The cynical side of me checked the list looking for items which are there to encourage drivers with older cars to visit the showrooms.

[CGTVs]

Originally Posted by monkeybrain1234

Can't believe it,

Failed on Anti-roll bar rubber dust caps missing x 2

Failed on front suspension rubber dust cap missing x1

Rest of the car is fine!!

Apparently these are new 2012 regs!

My Mechanic is not sure if you can get a universal dust cap to fit it, may have to put new parts in!

What a joke. I can understand if it was broken or worn, but the rest of the arm and links are fine! Just annoying to be honest.

A warning to the rest of you about MOT.

You can get the rubbers on their own, I had one fitted recently, not sure where from though...I was told they come from Belgium!!?? I can't ask the mechanic as he's in hospital after a motorbike crash, best do an internet search.

Clive

[Pud237]

Do you mean the protective rubber boots that cover the ball-joints on the ARB droplinks & lower wishbones are split? I can't see how they'd be missing unless one that was split had been physically removed by someone intentionally.

[jim hazell]

Ball joint rubbers dont usually split, they can be split or damaged by a mechanic using the easy way out to split ball joints using a fork splitter.Your car has probably had a ham fisted mechanic do previous work on the car.Some rubbers are impossible to get as a seperate item or so be wary of false info.

[CGTVs]

Originally Posted by CGTVs

You can get the rubbers on their own, I had one fitted recently, not sure where from though...I was told they come from Belgium!!?? I can't ask the mechanic as he's in hospital after a motorbike crash, best do an internet search.

Clive

Originally Posted by jim hazell

Ball joint rubbers dont usually split, they can be split or damaged by a mechanic using the easy way out to split ball joints using a fork splitter.Your car has probably had a ham fisted mechanic do previous work on the car.Some rubbers are impossible to get as a seperate item or so be wary of false info.

They can & do perish then split, they could be hit & split by a stone.

One of the failure items on a TS Spider in March of this year was, & I quote from the failure sheet: 'Nearside front lower suspension arm ball joint dust cover excessively damaged so that it no longer prevents the ingress of dirt'.

The mot tester gave me a rubber dust cap from a selection he had in stock, hence why I don't know exactly where to source them from. Another mechanic/workshop fitted it whilst carrying out the mot work required.

Clive

[normy gtv]

hi there

universal boot covers on ebay are around £3-£5

just need to check the size you need

have fitted quite a few over the last few months.

[CGTVs]

Originally Posted by normy gtv

hi there

universal boot covers on ebay are around £3-£5

just need to check the size you need

have fitted quite a few over the last few months.

Thanks, here's a link:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/Vehicle-Pa...covers&_sop=15

Clive

[seadart]

You can get them from a company called "south wales propshafts"..
they have a site..

[neil182]

Hi All,

pleased i found this thread, mine failed on the same thing today!

does anyone know what size fits the front lower wishbone balljoint on a 2.0TS?

[monkeybrain1234]

I reaplaced the parts, however I have been told that there are kits avaiable which will fit any car. Worth checking with the MOT place, they seem to be stocked quite well as regs are very new.

[IanA]

I have a kit car on which the TREs are exposed to sunlight (and UV!) and the rubber boots perish within 12 months. I kept taking them back to the shop who replaced the the whole part FOC. Eventually I got tired of this and replaced the boots with polyurethane ones which last >5 years in the same situation.
They don't seal as well so leak some grease but the fact that they aren't split is more important in the MOT.

[sykes]

if you think you got it bad try putting the car through a manx test before people ask its like an english mot but you only have to do it once in the cars lifetime

i had one car fail due to cracked hub cap but through test again failed again this time on washer bottle being empty and one screw missing from number plate
the last car i put through i was watching him do it he put the lights on and the bulb blew (how unlucky) and instead of letting me replace it with the spare bulb set i had in the boot he failed it

[spike60]

I would think a decent service or a check before MOT would highlight the knackered boots instead of complaining later about failure on safety related items. The joints life will be cut very short running full of mud instead of grease, a ball joint popping off at any speed not worth thinking about.