So much for preventative maintenance & other gripes

[insanitybeard]

Whilst having a couple of front tyres renewed recently on the Galaxy I asked the local fitters to check for leaks on one of the rear tyres as it has lost air progressively over time ever since I bought the car. I was thinking/ hoping it was a dodgy valve, but oh no, the alloy has been buckled previously (probably by a pot hole on our excellent roads) and 'repaired' with a big hammer, cracking the rim on the inside edge. Whoever did this to the wheel was happy to refit it to the vehicle and let it go out in this state, equally the last reprobate who MOT'd (allegedly) the car didn't see it as an issue (or see it at all apparently), so I needed a new rim. Found somebody on offering refurbished wheels in tough powder coat in the right style, ideal, thinks I, my wheels have already been painted silver by a previous owner, no bad thing as the machined lacquered finish from the factory on the standard fitment wheels ages horribly, flaking and corroding underneath, so the new wheel should match my existing ones.

The wheel turns up, I'm very impressed by the quality of finish and head on down to the tyre fitters to get the tyre swapped, whereby they advise me that they don't recommend fitting the wheel because the bead seating surface on the inside edge is very uneven and completely the wrong shape- see the below picture, the left hand edge is the issue, it should have the same profile as the right hand edge! A wheel not fit for purpose. Back to square one.

[attachimg=1]

[attachimg=2]

Then, just to top it off, whilst doing an oil change I notice the beginnings of a coolant leak in the area of the crank pulley. Knowing that the only thing in that area that can be leaking coolant is the water pump (which I renewed less than 5000 miles ago when I changed the timing belt), I pull off the centre timing belt cover to confirm my worst fears:

[attachimg=3]

That looks to me like the core plug has started seeping as opposed to the shaft seal. The pump was a 'premium' quality Airtex one from GSF, it's got a 3 year warranty but that doesn't cover the new timing belt I'll have to fit to change it, nor my time! Plus I expect I'll have to spend out to by a new pump to get me away whilst the old one is returned for inspection (if they bother with that). I changed the damn thing so that I would have peace of mind and wouldn't need to mess about with anything to do with the timing belt again for several years!  I could try some sealer on the core plug I suppose, but normally I try not to resort to such measures. Otherwise next up it'll be a TDI timing belt replacement writeup for the reference library 

Thoroughly pi@%ed off! 

[Mirez]

Man that sucks, and the wheel OMG that's dangerous on both counts! It amazes me how some people just don't care, I inspected an MG for a mate once and the drivers rear calliper had been cable tied to the hub because the bolts were sheared!!! (We didn't buy it lol)

I suppose there's no chance it's leftover from when you did it last time? Coolant can hang around for a long time but tbh, probably not 5K's worth

[insanitybeard]

I'm not surprised by a lot of stuff I see on cars having worked in the industry, the bodgery to save time and money or just brutality by idiots working on the 'if in doubt, give it a clout' mentality, but that surely proves that the MOT 'tester' that passed the car before I bought it must have been buddies with the garage that sold it to me, to not fail it on a cracked wheel or the unusable seat in the back row, amongst other things. It's partly my fault for rushing into the purchase but I had too much faith apparently in the MOT tester doing his job.

And as for the refurbished wheel, they must have known that the inner bead seat wasn't up to scratch, I should've feared the worst before going to the fitters but I wasn't paying full attention to it, when I buy a wheel supposedly refurbished by experts I expect it to be fit for purpose!

Unfortunately, there's no chance that the coolant is residual, the whole area was bone dry after I fitted and bolted up the new pump , the irony is if I'd left the old one on there it'd probably still be working ok! I could shove some sealer on it but stuff like that bothers me so I'll probably end up changing it....... Gluttony for punishment! 

[insanitybeard]

Here we go..... how could an MOT tester who was actually bothering to carry out the required checks on a car before passing it have missed this?:

[attachimg=1]

In all fairness I was incorrect previously when I said the wheel had been buckled and hammered straight as I can't see any hammer marks to suggest this has been done (I thought I did see hammer marks when the tyre fitter showed me initially but I must have been mistaken), however I am surprised that a wheel would crack like this with no buckling/ deformation, in my experience the wheel usually deforms/ gives a bit first before cracking like that!

And secondly, how could somebody who specialises in alloy wheel refurbishment tell me that the (inside) bead seat profile of the left hand (refurbished) wheel he supplied in the below picture is perfectly ok, when it is so markedly different in profile to my old wheel and indeed even the outer bead seat of the refurb wheel? 'Your (old) wheel will be the same when you remove the tyre, this is just where the tyre wears against the wheel' was the refurbisher's explanation.   

[attachimg=2]

[Mirez]

BS, that's been ground down probably to remove some severe kerbing - a tyre won't wear metal!

That crack is scary, there is no way any tester should ever miss that. My local one has just passed a mates with an advisory that "Rear Left tyre is over ten years old". Since it looks ok they have obviously gone to some lengths to read the info off it and if they are that strict, your guy clearly wasn't! 
You could always report it to VOSA?

[insanitybeard]

I should have reported the testing station to VOSA as soon as I realised that they had passed the car with a load of defects to be honest Mark, instead I trusted the used car sales place I bought the car from to make good their promise to reimburse me for my expenditure involved in putting right the defects, which has yet to happen- they've only refunded me half of what they agreed to pay once I supplied them copies of my invoices for parts required. I think the test was too long ago now for VOSA to investigate (it was carried out at the start of last September).

I can see how a couple minor things might escape a tester but on this car, the things he should have failed it on were:

   -Cracked wheel
   -N/S/R seat unfit for purpose (wrong side fitment so seatbelt unusable)

And if not actually failed then at the very least advised (I'm not sure if the below are failable items):

   -Split inner CV boot on nearside (as in completely split with grease everywhere)
   -Windscreen washer pump connections reversed so when operating the front washers the front wipers
    would go but the water actually come out of the rear washer jet
   -spare tyre unusable- hole in sidewall, tyre unable to hold pressure
   - O/S headlamp leveling motor inop

The single advisory from the tester was 'front discs rusty on inside edge'!

With this list of defects you would be forgiven for thinking I didn't bother to check the car before buying it  , my problem was at that point I'd committed to selling my old car and had to find something fairly quickly, the Galaxy I had lined up had been sold before I had chance to secure it, so this was most suitable (so I thought at the time) within a reasonable distance 

Not an excuse, I should have known better, the warning signs were there if only I had pulled off the rose tinted specs! 

     

[gregers]

paul i think they may still be interested,even as you say it was last year they may well decide to either investigate or decide to put a bait car in there.

when i had a mk1 zaffy they gave me an advisory on a crack in a rear tyre WITHIN the tread

[insanitybeard]

The only explanation I can give it is that the tester was buddies with the used car place I bought it from and just turned a blind eye to the faults so they could get rid or he was in the habit of passing cars without even looking at them. The problem is proving the defects were present at the time of test, which I know full well they were, but have no means of proving it. I could only hope there have been other complaints about the same testing station.

[gregers]

still think its worth a punt m8,even if its to appease yourself