NCT

Andrew Flexing

Just got a pre-NCT done and the mechanic said that I need new indicator bulbs in the rear as mine were "too White....not orange enough, it can fail for that".

Does this sound ok? has anyone else had anything like this said to them??

thanks

Jimdagym

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Just got a pre-NCT done and the mechanic said that I need new indicator bulbs in the rear as mine were "too White....not orange enough, it can fail for that".

Does this sound ok? has anyone else had anything like this said to them??

thanks

There are certain conditions that the indicators must meet, colour is certainly one of them. I wouldn't touch it. See if they actually fail first.

CiniO

Bulb costs only a euro or two.
No reason not to change it if it's not orange enough.

trixyben

yeah bulbs have to have an orange glow as oppose to a white one, sometimes the orange coating can peel off the glass on the bulb but as its so handy to change it why gamble on a simple fix...

BronsonTB

Yes, as stated what was said to you about bulb colour is perfectly acceptable. (Crazy doing a pre-nct test but that's a different issue)

unkel

Yep last time I did an NCT I failed on that. Both sides! When I took off the cover, in fairness the orange coating on the bulb had shredded to bits. Bulbs were €1 each in local motor factors and are easy to fit yourself.

jsd1004

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Just got a pre-NCT done and the mechanic said that I need new indicator bulbs in the rear as mine were "too White....not orange enough, it can fail for that".

Does this sound ok? has anyone else had anything like this said to them??

thanks

Why would you do a pre nct test. A re-test costs 28euro and you will know exactly what they want done. For instance i had a cracked wing mirror which i assumed would be failed but was not..good chance nct will pick up on something a garage will not and there is always the possibility that a fault will arise between a pre nct and nct. Waste of money and time (except for the garage). Any mechanic will tell you to test first and fix after, unless they are charging you for pre nct work or the test itself.

CiniO

jsd1004 wrote: »

Why would you do a pre nct test. A re-test costs 28euro

So if you get pre-nct test much cheaper than 28 euro it's surely worth it

and you will know exactly what they want done. For instance i had a cracked wing mirror which i assumed would be failed but was not

So are you driving with cracked mirror until today, just because they missed it on NCT?

mickdw

CiniO wrote: »

So if you get pre-nct test much cheaper than 28 euro it's surely worth it

No. Any pretest inspection is only the opinion of the mechanic doing it.
Assuming the goal here is to pass the test (properly maintaining a car is another argument), a mechanic might tell you to change something that the NCT guy would have passed or the mechanic might think something is ok and the nct guy will fail.
No matter how cheap a pretest is, its a waste of money. The only valid opinion is the opinion of the nct tester no matter how good or bad he is at his job. Again, Im only talking about passing the test. I dont want to get into the argument again here that if something is borderline, it should be replaced regardless.

CiniO

mickdw wrote: »

No. Any pretest inspection is only the opinion of the mechanic doing it.

This mechanic might as well use the equipment to check brakes, suspension, emissions, etc).

Assuming the goal here is to pass the test (properly maintaining a car is another argument), a mechanic might tell you to change something that the NCT guy would have passed or the mechanic might think something is ok and the nct guy will fail.
No matter how cheap a pretest is, its a waste of money. The only valid opinion is the opinion of the nct tester no matter how good or bad he is at his job. Again, Im only talking about passing the test. I dont want to get into the argument again here that if something is borderline, it should be replaced regardless.

My goal was to have my car fully roadworthy, but as well I wanted to pass an NCT.
I got my car for pretest where they checked brakes, suspension and emissions, on the same kind of equipment which is used for NCT.
This was a cost of €5 and gave result that my rear brakes imbalance was way too big.
I got it fixed and presented car for NCT. Car passed.

If I didn't do pretest, I would save €5 but would have to fork out €28 for retest.

msg11

mickdw wrote: »

No. Any pretest inspection is only the opinion of the mechanic doing it.
Assuming the goal here is to pass the test (properly maintaining a car is another argument), a mechanic might tell you to change something that the NCT guy would have passed or the mechanic might think something is ok and the nct guy will fail.
No matter how cheap a pretest is, its a waste of money. The only valid opinion is the opinion of the nct tester no matter how good or bad he is at his job. Again, Im only talking about passing the test. I dont want to get into the argument again here that if something is borderline, it should be replaced regardless.

Have to agree, if something is going to fail and you know it's going to fail just fix the part it's going to fail on. Do all you can to fix what you think it will fail on then leave the rest up too the tester.

YumDeiseMum

CiniO wrote: »

mickdw wrote: »

No. Any pretest inspection is only the opinion of the mechanic doing it.

This mechanic might as well use the equipment to check brakes, suspension, emissions, etc).

Assuming the goal here is to pass the test (properly maintaining a car is another argument), a mechanic might tell you to change something that the NCT guy would have passed or the mechanic might think something is ok and the nct guy will fail.
No matter how cheap a pretest is, its a waste of money. The only valid opinion is the opinion of the nct tester no matter how good or bad he is at his job. Again, Im only talking about passing the test. I dont want to get into the argument again here that if something is borderline, it should be replaced regardless.

My goal was to have my car fully roadworthy, but as well I wanted to pass an NCT.
I got my car for pretest where they checked brakes, suspension and emissions, on the same kind of equipment which is used for NCT.
This was a cost of €5 and gave result that my rear brakes imbalance was way too big.
I got it fixed and presented car for NCT. Car passed.

If I didn't do pretest, I would save €5 but would have to fork out €28 for retest.

Where did u get all that checked for €5???

CiniO

YumDeiseMum wrote: »

Where did u get all that checked for €5???

Here

msg11

CiniO wrote: »

Here

EST fuel cost 301.34 €

CiniO

msg11 wrote: »

EST fuel cost 301.34 €

That must be one way I suppose

YumDeiseMum

CiniO wrote: »

YumDeiseMum wrote: »

Where did u get all that checked for €5???

Here

I walked into that one didn't I lol

jsd1004

CiniO wrote: »

This mechanic might as well use the equipment to check brakes, suspension, emissions, etc).



My goal was to have my car fully roadworthy, but as well I wanted to pass an NCT.
I got my car for pretest where they checked brakes, suspension and emissions, on the same kind of equipment which is used for NCT.
This was a cost of €5 and gave result that my rear brakes imbalance was way too big.
I got it fixed and presented car for NCT. Car passed.

If I didn't do pretest, I would save €5 but would have to fork out €28 for retest.

Not necessarily. The nct might have passed your car and you would have saved 5 euro plus the cost of getting your brakes fixed. But you will never know as your car passed anyway. Remember they do pre tests for free or minimal as they know they can get some more money out of you for something which may or may not fail.

pred racer

unkel wrote: »

Yep last time I did an NCT I failed on that. Both sides! When I took off the cover, in fairness the orange coating on the bulb had shredded to bits. Bulbs were €1 each in local motor factors and are easy to fit yourself.

I have been failed for this also!

PrettyBoy

Andrew Flexing wrote: »

Just got a pre-NCT done and the mechanic said that I need new indicator bulbs in the rear as mine were "too White....not orange enough, it can fail for that".

I know it's too late now but in future don't bother with a pre-NCT test, total waste of money, just let it go through the test and see what needs to be done for it to pass.

djimi

Definately dont bother with a pretest. The only things they can guarantee you will fail on such as lights and things like that can be checked by anyone prior to the test. The rest is pure speculation. Put it through the test, let them tell you what needs to be fixed, retest is almost guaranteed to come in a lot cheaper than a pre-NCT check.

CiniO

jsd1004 wrote: »

Not necessarily. The nct might have passed your car and you would have saved 5 euro plus the cost of getting your brakes fixed.

My rear brakes were not fine and this was obvious, as you could feel it during driving.
I could only do handbrake u-turn to the left, and not to the right.
So I needed to have my brakes fixed anyway, no matter if they would fail or pass nct (i'm nearly 100% sure they would fail)

But you will never know as your car passed anyway. Remember they do pre tests for free or minimal as they know they can get some more money out of you for something which may or may not fail.

I did pretest in different place, and got it fixed in different place.

tinofapples

CiniO wrote: »

This mechanic might as well use the equipment to check brakes, suspension, emissions, etc).



My goal was to have my car fully roadworthy, but as well I wanted to pass an NCT.
I got my car for pretest where they checked brakes, suspension and emissions, on the same kind of equipment which is used for NCT.
This was a cost of €5 and gave result that my rear brakes imbalance was way too big.
I got it fixed and presented car for NCT. Car passed.

If I didn't do pretest, I would save €5 but would have to fork out €28 for retest.

Out of curiosity what kinda work/cost involved in rectifying a rear brake imbalance, have recently purchased a car without NCT which failed on rear brake imbalance of 38%

Mar4ix

tinofapples wrote: »

Out of curiosity what kinda work/cost involved in rectifying a rear brake imbalance, have recently purchased a car without NCT which failed on rear brake imbalance of 38%

Need some maintenance on rear brakes. ... new pads, clean and grease calliper, bleed brake system.