You know once you put heat wrap on it, your get another advisory on next mot,, ✌️
That'd already crossed my mind Chris.
I've now terminated my long standing MOT relationship with the village garage- not just because of the incorrect advisory on the blue one, but as I gave them a hard time over that, they took it personally (as people in small communities do) and absolutely flayed the VSE with advisories when I took it in a couple of weeks later.
It now carries in its MOT history:
"Corrosion to rear offside and nearside chassis, cross member, panhard mounting bracket and shock absorber mounting brackets"
"Corrosion" in this case was the terminology they chose to use for some paint flaking off. Advisories being free text entries, they can use whatever words they choose.
It's now condemned to carry in its history that it's rotting away underneath, which it bloody isn't!
Interesting reading https://mattersoftesting.blog.gov.uk/giving-the-right-advice/ its quite clear that advisories are supposed to refer to "items that any items which are near to, but which have not yet reached the point of test failure". Some of the tester comments beneath are, um, illuminating.
Flaking paint round the back of the chassis seems to be a standard fit on the later P38s by now. But has anyone heard of a ordinary road use one failing due to corrosion actually eating through vital things. I've peered under some pretty ropey old ones and no sign of structural issues. Minor brackets well past their best yes but not visible chassis & suspension parts.
I've got a similar stack on mine which I put up with for walk round the corner convenience.
Clive
Thanks for that Clive
If I were to present the car for MOT next year to them (which I won't be) with a beautifully de-rusted, treated, primed, painted and stone chipped underneath, I'd probably get an advisory along the lines of
"unable to verify the chassis structural condition due to a recent heavy application of paint"
I've seen that actual advisory on a car that was scrupulously restored by a colleage in the Classic Car community
I've taken an import in that had never had underseal on it from day 1 so it had been undersealed. That had an advisory similar to the one you mentioned. The Ascot has had an advisory for the last 3 or 4 tests for engine oil leak. Since when has that been a reason for failure? There's nothing in the MoT testers manual that says a car will fail if the puddle of oil under it is greater than 6 inches diameter after 10 minutes at idle. It can be peeing it out like the Torrey Canyon and they still can't fail it.
I’m lucky, my tester is a LR owner and a friend, I just get told of any possible future problems, I’ve got to do my rear brake lines at some point, he mentioned an oil leak when I was getting my ticket, when I said it was the self lube chassis, the guy behind the desk actually though it was a genuine LR system fitted to it, I walked out laughing to myself 😂 I haven’t got the heart to tell him it means an oil leak,, thankfully since the new lump went in I’m dry as underneath 👍
Gilbertd wrote:
It can be peeing it out like the Torrey Canyon and they still can't fail it.
No, but they can call in the Fleet Air Arm to attempt to bomb it, and mostly miss :)
I presume that's the one you bought OB?
My mid to rear clamp has disintegrated and is now making all sorts of interesting noises... thankfully the o2 sensors came loose without a fight (ala red P38 and the gas axe fun), so the only thing that may need some love is the clamp on the end of the cat section.
That's the one Sloth.
It's a bit of a pain to fit together and have the tail pipes at the same height and sticking out the same distance without either hitting the panhard rod mount, spare tyre well or getting perilously close to the air bag. I used heat wrap where it passes the bag as insurance anyway.
Mounting bars on centre section required trimming. Supplied bolts didn't fit the flange at cat end.
I do feel that it was well worth the £250 though, and would buy another, if I needed one!
That's the one I've been looking at for when the time comes but it doesn't include the Y piece. I noticed that the system being sold by Eurocarparts doesn't either (I've got one of their centre boxes on at the moment and it's a lot better than the Britpart one that fell off). Where does one get the Y piece from?
Y piece on my car (the 02) is part of the cats, so I guess I'd have to replace the cats as well. Fortunately mine, although mild steel, had been replaced a few weeks before I got it.
Yeah the Y piece is another part on its own. Mine look ropey and the clamp to the mid section is going to need some loving/replacement, but its solid.
Ordered :) Hoping it doesn't sound too quiet compared to what I have bodged together now - or that little middle silencer might have to disappear in the future!
It isn't quiet, by any stretch of the imagination :)
Ah, mines like this https://bearmach.com/front-exhaust-pipe-catalyst-esr3697 with sliding joints after the cats, rather than https://www.lrdirect.com/WCD000860-supplied-by-bearmach-branded-bosal.html which is all in one lump. That's probably why I've been puzzled when people have said they've had to remove the crossmember to get it off.
Excellent :) I need burble to cover up whatever is making the rattle in the engine!
Starting to think it might be valve gear noise, perhaps a summer time tear down is in order.
Sloth wrote:
Starting to think it might be valve gear noise, perhaps a summer time tear down is in order.
Yay! Summer Camp!
I've looked at these exhausts on eBay several times, if they're not that bad to fit then I might take the plunge. Our 97 needs an exhaust as it's blowing just behind the drivers side rear wheel.
Both of the VSE's are ok at the moment thankfully but at that price, it's not worth fitting a mild steel one.
David.
dhallworth wrote:
Our 97 needs an exhaust as it's blowing just behind the drivers side rear wheel.
That's a favourite for taking out the line to the air bag!
Great! I'd best get that sorted sooner rather then later then!
The list of jobs on P38's around here seems to be getting longer rather then shorter!
David.
Keep Bailing!!