hi

 

i have owned my 300zx for 3 years now and it has just failed its mot. here is what it failed on

 

1. rear n/s brake line showing signs of corrosion

2. o/s front shock absorber leaking

3. fog light not working

 

the garage has quoted 2 days work and £650 to repair this but I think he's taking me for a ride. I use the car to get to work everyday and cant afford that bill or to be without my car right now because my girlfriend is about to have our first child.

 

is any of this work easy enough to do myself (i'm not the best at car mechanics though), is £650 reasonable for this kind of work or do you think i should try getting it an mot at another garage? i am not bothered about taking it back there for a retest i just need it to be legal so i can drive it.

 

thanks in advance

 

ted (tedturbo@rocketmail.com)

Edited June 29, 200916 yr by TedTurbo

I know the brake line is an arse so a plan-

 

Jack it up and underseal the whole car making sure you paint the brake line, get a 2nd hand shock with spring from a breaker on here. Then get a MOT done somewhere else as going back for a retest the undersealing won't be good enough for the corrosion and I think that is the expensive job. Should be under £100 and less than a days work.

 

Welcome to the club by the way!

Hi Ted

 

I would try another garage TBH The shocker will only take an hour Max, That is on the drive doing it your self.

 

you can get a 2nd hand one off jeffTT on hear (Trader)

 

 

fog light is most likly to be the bulb. And the brake pipes on the fronts are an easy fix

 

I would say it could all be done in less the 3hrs :)

Near rearside pipe failing though Dave. Bit of a bitch of a job. But if it's surface scab, then a cleanup should suffice. If the remarks are the testers remarks, then something like that would have hinted at an advisory if it was 'showing signs' rather than 'excessive'

Hi Ted

 

I would try another garage TBH The shocker will only take an hour Max, That is on the drive doing it your self.

 

you can get a 2nd hand one off jeffTT on hear (Trader)

 

 

fog light is most likly to be the bulb. And the brake pipes on the fronts are an easy fix

 

I would say it could all be done in less the 3hrs :)

 

Brake line is the rear which is an arse to do!

If the tester listed brakepipe as showing signs of corrosion this should not be enough to fail the car, shocks are fairly straight forward to change, basic tools jack etc fog light is either the bulbs blown or could be a fuse, check the obvious and work from there, try cleaning the brake pipe with fine wirewool to remove the surface scab and check for pitting and any signs of a leak, get a quote from another garage for the work if you want a second opinion and if you know any mechanics ask them to take the car in for its retest the MOT tester is less likely to try it on with someone who nows what he/she is talking about.

If the tester listed brakepipe as showing signs of corrosion this should not be enough to fail the car, shocks are fairly straight forward to change, basic tools jack etc fog light is either the bulbs blown or could be a fuse, check the obvious and work from there, try cleaning the brake pipe with fine wirewool to remove the surface scab and check for pitting and any signs of a leak, get a quote from another garage for the work if you want a second opinion and if you know any mechanics ask them to take the car in for its retest the MOT tester is less likely to try it on with someone who nows what he/she is talking about.

 

Corrosion on brake pipes is a failure and cleaning them isn't good enough to pass a retest.

Near rearside pipe failing though Dave. Bit of a bitch of a job. But if it's surface scab, then a cleanup should suffice. If the remarks are the testers remarks, then something like that would have hinted at an advisory if it was 'showing signs' rather than 'excessive'

 

Brake line is the rear which is an arse to do!

 

 

Yep my bad. sorry i thought it was the front :nana2:

 

Yes the rear is a pita to do. ussaly the rear subframe needs to be droped to get at them as the pipe goes over the top :(

 

Still should only be a day to do

wellcome to the club mate:)..sounds like the tester was a bit hard there,try taking it to another testing station;)

they are brake lines, they may save your's or somebodys life one day, £650 sounds about right for brake lines, the rear subframe has to be dropped and can be a pain in the ass, i have just had mine done, would check the brake lines where the retaining brackets are as that is where mine went, luckily i was only going slow at the time

Had mine fail on brake Pipe's not long ago , but after having a few separate garages apart from the tester look at them all have agreed it cannot be considered excessive ! , so gonna go down the cleaning route and them get them treated , i will however get them to fully check under the clamps etc for corrosion.

 

will be early July when i book it in though, hope it’s the same for you if someone has another look?, and can be considered not to be excessive and can just have the same done

 

Chris

they are brake lines, they may save your's or somebodys life one day, £650 sounds about right for brake lines, the rear subframe has to be dropped and can be a pain in the ass, i have just had mine done, would check the brake lines where the retaining brackets are as that is where mine went, luckily i was only going slow at the time

 

Exactly!

 

JeffTT (Zedworld) has just replaced mine for the MOT - he does it for £400 plus VAT;)

 

Richard

Wait.......the fact that it specifies a single brake line - "rear n/s brake line", says to me that it is not the difficult to replace metal brake lines that from the length of the car and under the subframe, but instead it sounds like the metal hardline that comes of the caliper and joins the rubber line, which is simple and cheap to replace.

 

Can you get clarification from MOT tester ?

 

Also, "showing signs of corrosion" is not the same as "excessive corrosion".

thanks for the answers fellas it is much appreciated.

 

i think i am just going to take to somewhere else and get a second opinion. i still have 3 weeks left on the current mot luckily.

 

ted (tedturbo@rocketmail.com)