Going For NCT

robobobo

Hey Guys,

My little 01 Ford Fiesta is going for it's NCT in 2 weeks or so. The car was NCT'd just before I bought it back in October 2010 but it was backdated a good bit which is why it's due again already.

As far as I can tell the car is pretty much in the same working order as when I bought it as far as brakes and clutch are concerned

I just have one or two concerns, the alternator belt has started squeaking especially when it's cold and I hear it when I'm changing gears sometimes, particularly the lower ones. I doubt it's been changed ever on the car, theres 61k miles on it now. Would this be a reason for it to fail the NCT? Should I get a new one or could it just need to be tightened?

The other concern I have is one of the plastic lens's on my rear tail light has been cracked, I was able to stick it back together and it's rock solid but it is obvious there's cracks in it. Would I have to get a new lens to pass the NCT or would it be fine as it is?

I read somewhere that it's generally fine as long as there is now sharp pointy bits exposed, is this true?

Thanks for your help

jimmyw

The belt does not count as regards the nct, but it needs to be done otherwise though.If you can see light between the cracked lens or its separated then its a fail, otherwise no.

robobobo

Thanks so much for your reply,

So I won't fail for the belt at least, I wonder if it just needs to be tightened up again as it doesn't show any signs of fraying, but I reckon it is the original on the car and it's done 60k miles +

Oh another question I had was about the fog lights,

There is two fitted on the front of my car, but only one of them works - bulb must be gone in the other haven't checked,

But since I got the car only one has ever worked so it must have passed the nct before with only 1 working, could this be possible?

Cheers

laughter189

probably best to buy a bulb , but if it did fail on this alone , you would only need to return for a visual inspection , which is FOC.

jimmyw

Where auxiliary lamps are found to be inoperative, this should not be considered a reason for failure.
2. A broken glass on an auxiliary lamp or fog lamp is not a reason for failure unless the crack or break is
large enough to insert a sheet of paper as used in the test.

From the manual

robobobo

Oh really that's interesting!

So even if one of the fog lamps isn't working I should be ok :-)

I had a look at it today to see if I could change the bulb on it and I noticed that the whole thing was actually unplugged, I don't know if that was on purpose or by accident

So can i just confirm, i wont fail because one of the two fog lights isn't working on the front.

With regards to the rear lens, does the sheet of paper fitting into a gap apply to that or is that if you can see daylight through it? because I could always put a bit of tape over it

MinnyMinor

robobobo wrote: »

Oh really that's interesting!

So even if one of the fog lamps isn't working I should be ok :-)

I had a look at it today to see if I could change the bulb on it and I noticed that the whole thing was actually unplugged, I don't know if that was on purpose or by accident

So can i just confirm, i wont fail because one of the two fog lights isn't working on the front.

With regards to the rear lens, does the sheet of paper fitting into a gap apply to that or is that if you can see daylight through it? because I could always put a bit of tape over it

there is an 'invisible' clear tape you can get for around five euro. I think it also comes in red for tail lights and orange for indicators as well but clear seems to work fine on all colours. i have a small crack going from tail light to reversing light and put the clear tape over both and it works fine. The crack is really narrow/ hardly visible though and was mostly to prevent moisture getting in i put tape on

I had a look at it today to see if I could change the bulb on it and I noticed that the whole thing was actually unplugged, I don't know if that was on purpose or by accident

can you not get bulb and plug it back in?

slimjimmc

robobobo wrote: »

Oh really that's interesting!

So even if one of the fog lamps isn't working I should be ok :-)

I had a look at it today to see if I could change the bulb on it and I noticed that the whole thing was actually unplugged, I don't know if that was on purpose or by accident

So can i just confirm, i wont fail because one of the two fog lights isn't working on the front.

With regards to the rear lens, does the sheet of paper fitting into a gap apply to that or is that if you can see daylight through it? because I could always put a bit of tape over it

No, although you may not fail just because one fog light isn't working, you could fail for defects affecting the other fog lamp, for example if it is aimed too high.