Mot Advisory Help

[MOTA]

Hello everyone,

I am seeking advice and opinion on my Focus LX Mk1 Auto 1.6 with regard to advisory repairs. (Miles 49500)

What will the estimated cost of this years advisory items be? Is it worth carrying out these repairs or move the car on and purchase a newer model?

I an not sure if i am chucking good money after bad with this model.

I paid £2000 for it in Feb 2012. It has limited service history by previous owners, so perhaps it is not a surprise these repairs are coming to light.

MOT 2013 done at reliable and reasonable garage, they previously carried out the advisory work that was needed from 2012 MOT costing £155 which included new Wiper Blades.

Advisory Items: MOT October 2013

002 Offside rear (front) trailing arm synthetic mounting deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)

003 Nearside front brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)

004 Offside front brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)

005 Nearside rear brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)

006 Offside rear brake pipe slightly corroded (3.6.B.2c)

MOT 2012 done by a different garage, this advisory work was not carried out by this garage. They did carry out a full service plus replaced both rear hub bearings costing £285.18

001 (both front) brake disc worn, pitted or scored but not seriously weakened (3.5.1i)

002 Offside outer track rod end ball joint has slight play (2.2.B.1f)

In summary £2000 + £285.18 + £155 + £??? for this years advisory items.

Total spend so far £2440.18

All advice will be appreciated.

[wase16ll]

way i look at it, forget the cars value for a min, if you spend an average on 500 per year on car repairs,then thats a reasonable cost for any car more than 10 years old/50k on the clock.

you could go out and spend another 2/3k on later model, but i doubt it will come without needing repairs within a year

brake pipes are cheap to make, labour will depend on whats involved but doubt it would take more than 2 hours max including bleed..trailing arm bush is something ive never done so sure others will have an idea.. but a rough guess will be 300 in total at a reasonable garage rate..bearing in mind you can break the work up over the year before the next mot, then not too bad.

car will have lost a few hundred in value, plus a bit more for what was advised which will be printed on certificate,so would think you would need at least 1k to get a reasonable part ex

[Stoney871]

Looking at the low mileage and the fact that any pipes exposed to the elements will show slight corrosion any other more pressing jobs (track rod ends / bushes etc) are dirt cheap to do I'd say hang in there.

If the car drives well, stops and starts like it should and looks tidy then keep it going for a lot longer.

[higgsy]

If you have to pay even £500 in repairs a year to keep it on the road then that's cheap motoring. Just think what you would lose on a new car, or you could buy another car fork out a load of cash and still have to do repairs. The thing listed are things you would expect to happen on a car that age. As said before if the car is reliable generally and not letting you down then do the work. The time yo start thinking if its worth it is if something major goes wrong that's gonna cost like £1000 to fix, at that point its probably time to cut your losses and get rid.

[ferretfloozy]

they're advisories ..so im assuming its passed ..inspection is at the discretion of the tester at the time of the test ..he has to make you aware of any items that could make the vehicle unsafe at a later date ..i had a mk3 fiesta that had an advised rusty cill for 7 mots and i never changed it .( rust bubble ).put yourself in the position of the tester ..he wants to cover himself should you have reason to complain about his work at a later date ...( he's written it in black and white on mot cert).. mot is only gaurantee of vehicle road worthyness while its in his garage ..minute you drive away you could blow a bulb ..( mot fail ) ask the tester if any of the work is essential or will it last another 12months ..if you clean up the rusty pipe and paint it he will advise on next inspection that brake pipes have been painted ( coving himself incase of rust undermeath).. for a 10yr car i say its doing well

[wase16ll]

if there is corrosion issue on brake pipes...change them,

ive seen far too many pipes burst through corrosion when you'd be hard pushed to find rusty spots beyond the point it actually burst...cleaning and painting wont rid that pipe of rust...not worth saving a few pounds on

[jamesm182]

I would say get the work done. The car is relatively low mileage for the year so I would imagine the engine is still sound. Won't cost you as much as changing to something newer!

[ferretfloozy]

not advising just pointing out if he did they would add another advisory next year to say they had been painted - 10yrs is time fluids were flushed ..do pipes and have it all done same time

[artscot79]

brake pipes can be done by any back street garage as can the front ball joint buying these parts youreself from eBay and have the garage fit them will save you money the only sod of a job is the rear trailing arms but you could likely get another year out of them there is an ld trick which is to fill the rubber bush with mastic both sides and it gives them a bit longer but thats up to you

[stevegtuk]

At the end of the day advisories, are as they are called. "Advisories". If the car has passed then you can drive it another 12 months then at the end of it, either get shut, or take it in for a test again and see what they say.

Ive had the same two brake pipes slightly corroded in the advisory for the last three MOTs. The garage I get the car serviced at have had a look and say theres nowt wrong with the pipes. They gave them a clean one year before the MOT and the tester still gave the exact same advisory

Id suggest having a look at the pipes yourself and see how bad they are, if its just surface oxidisation, then give them a rub over with a bit of sand paper and either grease them or paint them and see what happens next year.

[btmaldon]

Depending on how bad the corrosion on the brake pipes is (often its just a bit of surface rust) I would wire brush them the coat in waxoil.

[artscot79]

they are advisories but for example ignoring the rear bushes will result in the rear end of the car completely losing control when the bush seperates from the metal spline ignore a brake pipe at youre peril i did once and it burst on the motorway coming up to a junction off the slip road at 70mph a hairy experience to say the least and should you have an accident these advisories are on the database and will be used to show the car was in questionable condition its easy to check the pipes youreself as above if they are okay wire brush and waxoil them as for the rear bushes an easy way to tell is find a quiet bit of raod and at 20mph turn the steering side to side if it feels like the rear is sliding around the bushes are well worn

if like me you have kids in the car i have a gargae check out the advisories theyre happy to let me under the car to see myself though i havent had any for years now i once a year waxoil the underside anyway and keep on top of maintenance with the weather changing its worth having it checked out be safe or be sorry

[Stoney871]

If the brake pipes were likely to fail suddenly or wete dangerously corroded they would fail the car.

Advisories are just that, it just means keep an eye on them.

The updated MOT criteria just provides more specific advisory categories, if you are concerned about the advisories then get the car looked at again at another garage.

I had advisories for worn discs 2 years in a row and on using a different garage the next time around they said the discs were well within tolerances.

Remember that garages are businesses thay want to make money and there's no better way than putting a scare up you.

The MOT is a snapshot of the condition of the vehicle at that particular time, as soon as you drive out the paperwork means sod all.

Sent using Ford OC mobile app

[MOTA]

Thank you all for your advice I will take it all on board. I really appreciate it.

It did pass the MOT.

MX-5's are fun to drive,affordable and they look great too!!!! They have stood the test of time. But hey, I don't mind driving a girls car!!

One thing i did forget to mention in my post. The car loses power, it has happened about three times recently. I was on a slip road to the motorway, on trying to build up speed it really struggled. I floored the pedal but it only managed to get up to 50mph. It did pick up a bit after a mile or so. It still not not feel right as I attempted an overtake it struggled again. Lost confidence in it then....i joined the caravans & arctics in the inside lane for the rest of the journey!!!!!

It has happened on two other occasions on 30 mph roads going uphill, struggled again. My wife was in it on one occasion, she pulled in for a moment, then set off again...she said it seemed fine after pulling off.

[artscot79]

stoney mate mine was an advisory....it was about 2 weeks after the mot that it burst as the garage said youre not allowed to scrape at it so you have no real way of telling how bad it is but in my case it didnt look that bad but under the corrosion the pipe was weakened a good dab on the brakes was enough to push it over the limit and pop

losing power can be many things first check it for fault codes also when this happens do you notice anything on the dash such as red lights or the speedo dropping to zero

[stef123]

To add to the above, it's not just the external area of the pipe you need to worry about but also the internal which cannot be inspected. Any advisories on brake pipes I would be looking to replace as soon as practical.

I have had to replace both rear pipes on the mondeo this year as they were very badly corroded (no advisory the year before) and when inspected closely you could see how pitted and weakened they were very easily so I wouldn't risk it for what it's worth.

An average price depending on car is probably about £60 per pipe.

[MOTA]

stoney mate mine was an advisory....it was about 2 weeks after the mot that it burst as the garage said youre not allowed to scrape at it so you have no real way of telling how bad it is but in my case it didnt look that bad but under the corrosion the pipe was weakened a good dab on the brakes was enough to push it over the limit and pop

losing power can be many things first check it for fault codes also when this happens do you notice anything on the dash such as red lights or the speedo dropping to zero

No warning lights appeared on dash. The speedo did not drop to zero, it would not go above 50 mph on slip road.

[wase16ll]

seen a number of eg's with over zealous adviseries...but brake pipes are something that should never be ignored, looking for a second opinion is encouraged, but i wince when i see/hear people talking about cleaning them up and giving them a coat of something..really isnt a good idea

talking from over 30yrs experience..have seen many pipes go over the years, most of which are obviously in a bad state, but you'd be shocked with amount of pipes ive come across that look serviceable throughout its length, apart from one minute spot that cant be seen with the naked eye...[ very rarely you can see the full length let alone full radius of the pipe) so any sign of minor corrosion should not be ignored, as it may well be worse in an area you cannot see without actually removing the pipe.

[MOTA]

Thanks to everyone for advice. Appreciate experienced views.

I will get the brake pipes replaced and keep the car going.