Re: MOT Failure: Part Two
Well today it was back to Hertford Tyre and Exhaust to complete the 2nd part of my MOT servicing via a detour to Mr T in Enfield, where I picked up two tins of AHC fluid (£65.06 inc VAT).
Now I know that Dave who runs Herts T&E wouldn't mind me saying this about him (and if he does mind it's too late) but his attention to detail is almost too painful to watch, verging on the anal. Before a single tool was raised in anger, Dave picked over the car with a fine tooth comb in his quest of identifying anything that raised concern. He would be the first to admit that he doesn't know everything about Cruisers, preferring to reserve his talents for his beloved Ford Mustangs (if you want someone who is, then Julian at Overland is your man) but he is a damn good mechanic of the old school variety. What needed to be done, was done and if something didn't need to be touched, it was left alone. Just the way I liked it. Plain common sense. No blinding science. As part of his standard service, he dumps all the air in all of the tyres (including the spare) and then re-inflate them with NITROGEN. Now that's what I call service!
When I brought the car a year ago I was assured by the seller that it would be fully serviced on purchase. Well it was pretty evident today, that the car hadn't been serviced for a very long time. That just pisses me off! And that's why parts alone (ex VAT) cost me £259.07p! The good news is that I'm now on top of my car and that hopefully this will be money well spent as part of my long term investment in my car.
With most of the mechanicals now well and truly sorted, it was time to turn our attention to the rear number plate, which had been hanging off the Spare Wheel Carrier since the thing was fitted to the car, last year. Dave came up with a great solution which would have put the great Jon Wildsmith to shame. This involved much bending, welding and drilling of metal but we still had the leave the spare wheel off the carrier so that the car could finally pass it's MOT, which it passed with flying colours. The wiring still needs a bit of work (as well as a extension) but I'm very pleased with the overall result.
So what has all this, getting the car through it's MOT, cost me, over the last three days. £770.29p to be precise. That's a lot money by anybody's standard but given that a single used Mr T sphere was recently advertised on ebay for £500 each:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Toyota-landcr ... 8134726407
I really can't complain I suppose. It could have been a whole leap worse but alas, it still hurts!
PS: Thank you to everyone on this forum who has helped getting me through this process. If it wasn't for you guys, I would have blown a load of money on the advice of a "professional" on shocks that I didn't need and which would have resulted in my car STILL failing it's MOT. It seems some MOT's are really not worth the a4 white paper they are now printed on.....
John