NCT fail structural front cross member

ednwireland

now it is rusty but solid (you cant poke a screwdriver through it ) nct tester said its completly rotten what BS.
well i suppose its one way of getting old cars off the road (98 primera btw)
doubt i can afford to get it fixed or ge a new car, on my bike i think.

thanks nct for scrapping a working car (i could be wrong)

Mr Benevolent

Doesn't look rotten really. If it passes the screwdriver test then it should be ok. A wirebrush (or grinder) should improve the appearance no end.

leex

When I saw the thread title I was wondering was it a Primera!

My late 01 Primera (not on road till Jan 02) failed NCT in Sept for same item except mine was much worse than yours - very holy!

Cost to source, spray and fit in a body shop was around 350euro if I recall correctly. Passed the NCT after that. If that's the only item the car failed on and the car is running well then it is worth doing it. My regular garage was charging 250'ish just to patch/plate it and I'd no guarantee it would pass NCT even after that. For 100eur extra I had it replaced which was good peace of mind.

Latest rust now is on the front pillar on drivers side where wing is screwed on - can stick the key through the hole at this stage. Same bodyshop as above is to take it in next week to weld.

ednwireland

yeh but how does cleaning it get it through the nct ? surely if its failed for been rotten they are going to want to see some repairs ?

leex wrote: »

When I saw the thread title I was wondering was it a Primera!

My late 01 Primera (not on road till Jan 02) failed NCT in Sept for same item except mine was much worse than yours - very holy!

Cost to source, spray and fit in a body shop was around 350euro if I recall correctly. Passed the NCT after that. If that's the only item the car failed on and the car is running well then it is worth doing it.

Latest rust now is on the front pillar on drivers side where wing is screwed on - can stick the key through the hole at this stage. Same bodyshop as above is to take it in next week to weld.

unfortunately the cars quite ratty (all the laquer is off the bonnet )the only other things it failed on the flexible brake pipes and a fromnt bearing (somewhere) and a cv boot

yep seen a few p11-144's fail on here (now !) www.npoc.co.uk

it'll be something i'll be looking for (seen an advert for a very cheap 01 p11-144 with 14 months nct tempted)

BrianD3

According to the NCT manual, rust on primary structure which leaves pitting when removed is a reason for fail. I would imagine if you were to cleanup that crossmember, there would be some small pits left after the rust was removed. Seems harsh though. I have seen cars pass with rust on primary structure which looked worse than that. Then again your crossmember might be worse than it looks in the photo.

If it is sound and you were to clean it up and brush it with several coats of Silver POR-15, any small pits would be filled and it should take several years (at least) for rust to appear again. Not sure how the NCT would react to that sort of repair though, perhaps they look for evidence of new metal/welding in the retest?

leex

Maybe there is a hole on the inside of it?

Mine looked like yours from the top, however the bottom was a totally different story with a large hole.

mickdw

I thought this was going to be about an almera as they had serious problems passing the NCT at 4 years old due to front structural member collapse from rust.

Esel

Confab wrote: »

Doesn't look rotten really. If it passes the screwdriver test then it should be ok. A wirebrush (or grinder) should improve the appearance no end.

Define 'rotten'?

ednwireland

esel wrote: »

Define 'rotten'?

exactley i was expecting to be able to see holes in it, thats the problem with nct fails like this they are pretty subjective, had a previous car fail on brake lines and when they were taken off there was 2 1 cm patches of surface rust (same guy actually you dont want him testing old cars seems to be on a one man mission o get them off the road :rolleyes: )

Cosmo K

What does the other side of the cross member look like? Its usually the inner side (the side thats facing the engine), where the real rot is.