NCT Pass or fail

[kadman]

The yearly quest for a roadworthy vehicle is a journey we all travel.

Yesterday I took in my sons Fiat Doblo. A great workhorse for the last 10 years, but getting nearer to its end of life certificate, if the NCT has its way.
Its got 300k kilometers under its belt on its 1.3 multijet diesel engine, and is a real miser on the diesel. I spent that last week or more with oil changes and filters, eger valve clean , rear exhaust silencer pipe replaced with a new fabbed connection, both rear bumpstops replaced, along with a deep clean inside and out.

I have had a couple of egr codes over the last 6 months, so was expecting emissions to raise its ugly head at the test centre. But it didn't. All the mechanicals I worked on over the last week, passed with flying colours. But it failed, due to some small corrosion on the rear inner sills. I would have preferred anything but repairing and welding on the rear inner sills. All because they dont have repair panels so I have to make them. I have not had a chance to get a good inspection of them over the pit yet, until Friday .

Its 18 years old so has served us well, and if I can get access without stripping the back end, I will repair it.

Funny thing is I expected it to possibly fail on emissions, but I am pleased it didn,t. I also noticed 4 testers working on a 2 lane testbay, which was unusual. And of the 8+ cars ahead of me, only 1 passed. Which was fairly rigid I thought. I had to laugh at the guy in front of me who failed for a long list of things, from no headlamp bulb and damaged discs, and he was giving out stink to the tester.

So hopefully I will make the retest date

[BrianD3]

Rust is always the thing I fear most and often signals the beginning of the end for the car. I am able to do a fair amount of work on my cars if it involves replacing parts - but rust, fabricating sections and welding - no.

IME some of the testers love to see an older (20+ year old) car in though and I think will give it the benefit of the doubt if it's a borderline fail. Last time I had my 99 Megane in the tester was creaming himself "Jaysus, great yoke"

[mrmercedes]

NCT is a joke
They failed one of my old cars as they couldn't open the boot.
They were pressing wrong button...

[kadman]

Ha ha. I had the boot thing on the Doblo before too. The window and door seals are so good there is no way to close the rear tailgate as the air pressure in the cab is positive pressure build up, when you try to close it. Secret is to leave a window open an inch, problem sorted. Tester still wouldn't pass it on that day when i showed him. I was coming back anyway for a head lamp alignment and told him it was fixed. Job done. It is a joke, but if you argue with them, they will brake your heart in future with constant fails.

[Fratello]

No bother to you Kadman after your white VW welding.
My crappy 08 Corrolla made it through last week. I should go at it with a wire wheel underneath and a tin of hammerite or similar. I have a year to do that. Hardly using it now with work from home.

I bought a 1992 classic from NI that is due the first NCT. I had the last NI MOT as my NCT for the past year. Did a few jobs to it. Handbrake is the last thing that needs doing I hope. My first time working on a car. Prior to that it was bicycles and railway locomotives.

[kadman]

Hey Fratello, hows things. railway locomotives, I can hear Del drooling from here. Thats an interesting thing to be working on alright. As for your NI car, has that had any mot bodywork done on it before. Usual mot fixes were , a paths, on a patch, on a patch if you get my drift. I am not sure the nct go for those sort of fixes, then again they can throw you a curve ball on occasion that will catch you on the hop.

On an older vehicle such as the Doblo I reckon they are keen enough to get them off the road as quick as possible. I was surprised that it flew the emissions test. And they are vigilent when it comes to a rust pinhole. But like i said , if I can get to it, then I can weld it.

[kadman]

Well many weeks after the Doblo failed the nct, i have it repaired and headed for the test earlier today. Not having welded any car for an nct re test, I was unsure what the normal standard was. Tester told me to make sure the welds are visible for testing. So armed with that knowledge i knew I had to keep the repair noticeable enough and just a lite coat of primer.
Given that the repairs were tricky enough to get access to without removing the axle, I chose to remove the diesel tank in case of explosive fumes igniting from a spark........boom.......and then no more kadman, nor workshop, nor house.

So welding done good enough to show no more rust, and new metal in.....off I went.

Tester gave me the thumbs up on the repair which I purposely left basically unfinished as per their direction. Happy days

[marhay70]

Well many weeks after the Doblo failed the nct, i have it repaired and headed for the test earlier today. Not having welded any car for an nct re test, I was unsure what the normal standard was. Tester told me to make sure the welds are visible for testing. So armed with that knowledge i knew I had to keep the repair noticeable enough and just a lite coat of primer.
Given that the repairs were tricky enough to get access to without removing the axle, I chose to remove the diesel tank in case of explosive fumes igniting from a spark........boom.......and then no more kadman, nor workshop, nor house.

So welding done good enough to show no more rust, and new metal in.....off I went.

Tester gave me the thumbs up on the repair which I purposely left basically unfinished as per their direction. Happy days

How times have changed, not so long ago on most Fiats, you wouldn't have found two pieces of metal close enough to weld. Fiats and Nissans kept Araldite in business.

[kadman]

How times have changed, not so long ago on most Fiats, you wouldn't have found two pieces of metal close enough to weld. Fiats and Nissans kept Araldite in business.

Fear not, we are fast approaching the time when manufactured repair panels are now of such an inferior quality that their lifespan is now 10 years max on some panels. Over the last 10+ years the steel quality has plummeted. The Doblo in question had 2 25mm diameter holes at the drain site on the sills that were blocked and caused the initial rust problem. All the corroded metal that I saw was removed and became a piece of metal 200mm long by 50mm wide. Cut out and replaced. True enough fiats years ago were rusty piles of shite, so were vw's, more so toyotas, minis, austins ect,ect

But my Doblo has a new lease of life until May 2025 however that came about for an 18 year old vehicle.

[kadman]

I left some of the welds unfinished as the tester instructed me to do, in order to inspect and test the welds. So reluctantly I did this as I would have preferred to make them finished as best I could.
And I was curious to see what would pass and what would fail, as it was 18 years old I was sure it would fail due to its age and the fact that there is a preference for the NCT to see older vehicles off the road.
I was also aware that I could be asked for a SQI report on the weld strength in relation to the weld repair itself. And at 250-300 euro for someone to look at an inner sill patch, I wasn't going to do this.

Given that I have spent some 20 years in steel connection design for the construction industry, as well as 40 years restoring cars, I was confident I could sign off on that form. Except the fact that I am no longer a paid up member of a professional body in relation to the said qualifications, there in would lay the obstacle.

So I was fully prepared for them to say no, but they said good job. Some other techie said to me, they dont have to be pretty, they just have to be rust free.

[kadman]

These are typical fails that were presented to NCT

[CelticRambler]

... I chose to remove the diesel tank in case of explosive fumes igniting from a spark........boom.......and then no more kadman, nor workshop, nor house. ...

Yebbut - it would've made for a great video!

[kadman]

Yebbut - it would've made for a great video!

Very little detail in a 200 foot crater