Failed MOT....Aaarggh!!!

[Pedro]

Guys,

I am absolutely gutted, the old Elise failed it's MOT today, for...you will piss youself laughing....flies on the windscreen ....AND the tailgate catch, (I removed this completely as it kept sticking, and just lift and close it with no catch), don't believe this is fail tho

I took the car back and had a word, they agreed that if I wiped the flies off the windscreen, that would be removed from the fail, and that they would test the fuel emissions, (after I showed them how to lift the tailgate), I thought great it's a pass...BUT, they came back with more bad news...apparently they could not test the fuel emssions, as the engine overheated...they revved the engine up to 112 Degrees!! I can't believe they did that, but I went along with them and asked how they test fuel emissions, and the explained they run the car to running temp, (87 for an Elise I believe), BUT they said they run the car until the fan kicks in, then rev car 2000 to 3000 revs for 30 secs and test, (this is bound to overheat an engine no)...now what I said was that if they run the car to 87, then rev 2000 to 3000 for 30 secs that engine would be fine, and not even go over 90 degrees...they then went back to the tailgate catch fail, which I don't believe is a fail, but offered to duck tape it down to show it was securely closed...they weren't happy with this...I went home even more unhappy

RANT over

...So now I am stuck with an MOT fail!...I am thinking about going somewhere else for the MOT, is this possible guys...? Any advice appreciated...?

Cheers,
Pete

[hiscot]

Go elseware to somebody who knows of the elise as i think you may have problems with the garage you have used
your fan should of kicked in and brought the temps down , so check it is working if it did not kick in then the garage was 100 % right to stop at that point
the mot emmisions i always thourght was tested by oil temp not water temp but if the car is still hot then it should be ok
the slow and fast idle is controlled by their machine and does indeed take a while however they should of spent the full hour and carried on with the mot then gave you a list of fail"s or advisorys ( if they charged you for a mot )
a dirty car can fail and so will a loose boot / engine cover
good luck

[Pedro]

Thanks Bob,

That garage says they have done 23 Elises this year...and none overheated like mine during the emissions test I explained that the Elise's fans are not the best, and because the radiator is in front, with the engine in the back, the car tends to suffer from overheating...but he disagrees saying that Elises have never suffered from overheating problems

Agree they were right to stop when the temp was at 112, and obvioulsy the fan was f*cked, not sure why they didn't turn the engine off before then to be honest...but what really gets me is how did they get it to that temp, I mean I've run the car round the track, and never got it over 100 afterwards...they must have been sitting revving it up for ages to do that..

On that note, does anyone know how/where/who I can get the fan fixed on the car, on the cheap, as I am totally skint..? Pleaseee

Cheers,
Pete

[hiscot]

Pete he is right your elise should be able to pass an mot without overheating but the temps will rise quite rapid without any air flow thats when the fan should kick in and bring them down , the elise temp gauge is not the most accurate thats why he waited that bit longer
sadly its a clam off job to replace the fan so no cheap repairs possable the fan is also quite expensive however check all connections , wiring and fuse / power supply first , if your clam has a removable grill and you have power to the fan you can try turning it to unseize and run it for a good while but you will require power to the fan
if your not too sure what your doing pete , then your best giving it to a garage that does , burnt wiring is dangerous and can be expensive

[robin]

They are right, you are wrong.

The engine requires the fan to cool it down. If the fan has broken then the engine will overheat if left on a fast idle and no cooling (basic laws of physics ).

However, they don't need the fan for the MOT, so you don't need to get it fixed, provided you are happy to make sure you don't sit in traffic allowing the car to overheat (on S1's the cooling without a fan is good enough for almost all conditions, so you may get away with that depending on use). You need to explain to them that the fan isn't working and so they need to do their emissions tests once the dash says ~85 degrees or so - best if you book your MOT for a specific time, arrive 5 minutes before that having given the car a good run (this gets the cat good and hot).

To pass you only need to fix your boot release/catch so that it holds the boot down. You can do that either by restoring the original mechanism to working order or fit a couple of bonnet pins (very chav looking though).

I would take it back to the same place, as I think you'll get a discount for the retest, so it'll be cheaper.

Cheers,
Robin

[Pedro]

Thanks Guys,

Both good ideas, and since I am not confident working on the car, I think I'll leave the wiring alone, (or ask someone else to check it for me), and maybe try Robin's suggestion about the running temp for emissions test.

I might try and get a Bonnet Pin from Halfords today, and get it back in for a re-test, (don't think they charge for a re-test within 10 days).

Cheers,
Pete

[Pedro]

Hi Guys,

Just thought I would let you all know that the old Elise PASSED it's MOT yesterday afternoon Thanks for the tip Robin

I had to put a catch on the tailgate, and explain to the garage that the fan does not work, but to run the Emissions test at about 87 Degrees, (Elise running temp), which they agreed to, and although it did take a while to go through all the Emission Tests, it passed and the engine was at 103 when it was turned off after the Emissions test.

I did take it to a different garage for the MOT as I was worried that the first one would just overheat the engine again doing the Emissions test. The first garage in Glenrothes, RJM I think it was, were adomant that I had to fix the fan, as they run the car till the fan kicks in, and take that as running temp, (which is wrong), and also failed the car for having flies on the windscreen

So if anyone is looking for an MOT at an Elise friendly garage, go to D&G in Inverkiething, they were very thorough, and were prepared to listen to me explain about the running temp, and that the cooling fan did not work, so big thumbs up to them from me

Cheers,
Pete

[robin]

Yeah, they're wrong about the fan - 99% sure - on a cold winters day some S1's will run forever without the fan kicking in, unless they're revving it. I don't know how the MOT book defines "car up to temperature", but I would guess it isn't reliant upon the fan kicking in

Anyway, all tested now - GET THE FAN SORTED!!

Cheers,
Robin

[thinfourth]

So if they are right and can't do the emissions test till the electric fan cuts in they are going to have a damn long wait with the landy as it don't have one it just has a propellor welded to the front of the engine