What's the worst you've ever failed an NCT on?

L-M

So many people seem to be dismissive of cars without NCT, but what's the most you've ever failed on?

My last Golf i got two pages for the NCT cert, but i ticked most of the bits off within 20 minutes and probably spent 100 euro on bits and pieces getting it sorted.

The way i see it, through it in exactly as it is, (clean, obviously) and get your exact list afterwards.

The only thing i'd check would be the level of lights, but i have the height of a new cars lights marked onto the shed.

woody33

Dunno about worst, but my Mrs' car failed recently because the wiring under the bonnet was "untidy".It won't be long before cars fail because of "unpleasant colour" or "not expensive-looking enough". (In fairness the wiring was indeed untidy due to the last owner fitting relays to the headlight loom, but I don't see "untidy wiring" listed in the NCT manual. And it failed on a balljoint anyway.)

FearDark

Failed because of a "hole" in one of my spotloghts on my Impreza. It was no more than 10 mil.

L-M

Lads, before we start, i'm talking about the fact that people would almost sell their cars because of an upcoming nct, and raising the discussion on how hard/easy it has been for you to NCT a car.

This is not an NCT bashing thread (Any anything connected with the price of the NCT, frequency etc.), any such posts will be deleted an users dealt with accordingly.

fanadman1

friend of mine bought a 94 bubble shape 1.6 sir vetc no test but he got it cheep
he sent it up and came back needing a handbrake cable . i thought that was pretty losys considering it did hold them

Andrew33

They tried to fail my car on additional electrical accessories not having a fuse within 18" of the battery! I asked to see where it stated the fuse must be within 18" of the battery and the guy realised he was on a hiding to nothing and got back onto the computer and changed it to a pass. Bizarre.

WOrst for me was the 430 euro merc, headlight alignment, abs light not coming on at all, loose battery, handbrake was weak, think that was it, nothing major. The abs bulb had been pulled.

eth0

A side indicator not being amber enough, the plastic having faded a bit.

I reckon if the car is over a certain age they'll keep looking until they find something to fail you on

justbored

This post has been deleted.

mufcboy1999

failed me on wheels one day, i had to switch them around.

eth0

Stinicker wrote: »

My BMW failed the NCT for corrosion on the brake line, there was tiny spec of rust about 1cm which was so tiny, it cost me €150 to have them renewed and my mechanic said they were nothings by a shower of @%$£;'s to fail the car on it and the reason I failed it was because I hadn't left something in the ashtray.

bit of sand paper and maybe a lick of paint on the brake line would have sorted that.

bazz26

I think there is a big difference between being dismissive of buying a car that has failed an NCT with a fail sheet listing what needs to be fixed and buying a car that hasn't been NCT'd where the buyer has no idea why it hasn't been NCT'd other than the seller giving the excuse that they don't have time.

The majority of people out there are not car savy and they will act on their gut instinct, which is on the side of cauction and won't buy a pig in a poke. Imo if you are selling a car without a NCT because it needs work, that's fair enough, then at least produce the fail sheet to any potential buyer.

php-fox

I slept through my NCT once.

mattjack

Stinicker wrote: »

My BMW failed the NCT for corrosion on the brake line, there was tiny spec of rust about 1cm which was so tiny, it cost me €150 to have them renewed and my mechanic said they were nothings by a shower of @%$£;'s to fail the car on it and the reason I failed it was because I hadn't left something in the ashtray.

My BMW failed on that as well.

dgt

One of the Bravos failed on emissions... Not because it was too high or too low. The tester couldn't hold a steady foot and couldn't hold the revs. We weren't impressed when he said that :mad:

You get some serious idiots in the DOE too... Failed my dads van on handbrake, ball joint and some rust. Fair enough, these things don't sort themselves. Asked about the rust, he said just weld it and he'd pass it. Got all the jobs done. Now he wants an engineers report for the welding (previously not said)... For a miserable little line on the sill of the sliding door? Made worse by his "intelligence" on the matter "that's a load bearing, structural point" :rolleyes: went to the engineer anyway, said that's the biggest load of shíte he ever heard as the van has a seperate chassis (body sits on etc). Told us to cut our losses and go to another centre. Passed!

Needless to say, the other centre has lost a customer that has been going to them for years

pred racer

Ive had a c5 fail on front brake imbalance, rear brake imbalance, smoke test, headlight alignment and emissions.
The only thing i can put it down to was that the car was sitting idle for 3 weeks and i presume my mate (mechanic) didnt bother his arse driving it or warming it up properly.
Drove it for a week, Bottle of injector cleaner and it passed everything. Even the headlights which i checked but didnt adjust.

Basq

A power washer in my local Esso washed away a little of the EU flag on my back reg..

:rolleyes:

andrewg82

i failed for my front headlight being out....ragin!

carchaeologist

I've a Capri that passed with a visibly bent front chassis rail..

A buddy of mine got a 'failed dangerously' sticker and wasn't allowed drive the car away,had to get it trailered!! Some part of the suspension was hanging off.

If you get one of those stickers your in an exclusive club.

vickers209

An old corsa misses had we said we just stick it in and see what needed doing your man came out during test when he had it up on the lift brought me in under the car and showed me 3 engine mount bolts missing:eek::eek: was being held in by 1 bolt was able to push engine up tester couldnt belive it!!!

L-M

My entire point of this thread has been completely missed...

MajorMax

didn't fail it but I had a deactivated colt 45 in the boot and I was asked some very pointed questions

rebel.ranter

Limerick man wrote: »

My entire point of this thread has been completely missed...

Did carchaeologist get what you had intended? i.e. The failed dangerously sticker?
Was the question:

A) What is the worst fail report you have seen for a car that you have owned? (i.e. a car that had lots of actual problems)
Or
Was it what was the prettiest thing you have failed the NCT for? e.g. The bulbs not being amber enough.

Pa Dee

Limerick man wrote: »

My entire point of this thread has been completely missed...

The OP is very badly written in fairness I still can't make head nor tail of the last 2 sentences

L-M

What i meant was, people are turned of by buying a car because it has no NCT.

And i'm saying what is the worst your car, or an NCT less car you've bought, has ever failed on. And the associated cost with that.

carchaeologist

This is what happens when I crawl out from under the classic cars stone.

I better slink off again...

L-M

carchaeologist wrote: »

This is what happens when I crawl out from under the classic cars stone.

I better slink off again...

We need more posters like you this side of the pond!

lac007

carchaeologist wrote: »

I've a Capri that passed with a visibly bent front chassis rail..

A buddy of mine got a 'failed dangerously' sticker and wasn't allowed drive the car away,had to get it trailered!! Some part of the suspension was hanging off.

If you get one of those stickers your in an exclusive club.

PMSL at that:D

Limerick man

Limerick man wrote: »

.......... but what's the most you've ever failed on?.............

..

RoverJames wrote: »

WOrst for me was the 430 euro merc, headlight alignment, abs light not coming on at all, loose battery, handbrake was weak, think that was it, nothing major. The abs bulb had been pulled.

Limerick man wrote: »

My entire point of this thread has been completely missed...

Limerick man wrote: »

.......

And i'm saying what is the worst your car, or an NCT less car you've bought, has ever failed on. And the associated cost with that.

I demand a recount :pac:

Popoutman

(at various times with various cars I've had)
Non-automotive electrical cabling for aftermarket front foglights. I couldn't get automotive cabling of a higher standard than what was used, but had to show the receipt . This one was silly. The insulation on the automotive was a lesser quality and thinner too.
ARB droplinks, front.
ARB droplinks, rear.
Control arm bushings.
Tyres too close to minimum (i.e. , a warning not a fail)
Sticky bonnet catch, worked perfectly until he went messing at it...
Dipped light aim.
Welding required to cover a sharp edge on a damaged doorsill.
Tester unable to locate a rear seatbelt catch.

Things that were passed perfectly that I was expecting to fail:
6000k HIDs in dips and front fogs (ellipsoidal housings in both sets before the nazis come out to play. Perfectly aligned without glare as well)

Single most expensive fail? Probably the control arm bushing - requires a complete control arm on the Passat/a4 at ~€150 each.

I do think that some of the testers should be more consistent in what is considered to be worthy of a fail, based on my own experiences anyway, but that's a discussion for another thread.

Senna

I'd say about €300 is the most any of my cars needed after a fail.

I have a 96 106 sitting at the house, not moved in 3 years and it was pretty ropey then. Often thought about putting it through an NCT just to see how many faults it could rack up, but i just wouldn't pay the €50.

MarkR

A friends brother failed because his car was actually two cars welded together. Cut and shunt.

oleras

Limerick man wrote: »

My entire point of this thread has been completely missed...

What's the worst you've ever failed an NCT on?

I failed it on a friday once, twas terrible, ruined my weekend ! :pac:

Syllabus

ive got mine in the morning!!!

Frynge

risk of electrocution from having no radio

Livelong

I failed because not return with my driving licence to collect my passed NCT cert on time

theavenger

1 missing wheel nut
Also just recently my rear passenger door decided not to open :-(

danoriordan1402

Failed NCT on a small tear in the drivers seat fabric - he must have seen my face so he explained that a spring might pop through and affect my driving..... drove to a Centra and bought a needle and thread set and sewed it together (dog rough), brought it back and it he passed it.

Agent_47

danoriordan1402 wrote: »

Failed NCT on a small tear in the drivers seat fabric - he must have seen my face so he explained that a spring might pop through and affect my driving..... drove to a Centra and bought a needle and thread set and sewed it together (dog rough), brought it back and it he passed it.

Unreal!

Failed on a leaking rear brake caliper, never touched since the manufacturer sent it out of QC, Fe**ing Swedish. How and ever better to know, tighened the nipple and it passed with flying colours. Now due next year so fingers crossed....

Jimbob 83

Having this in my CD changer

The shame

dgt

I may aswell post in here again

Some posters may have seen this before buuuut for the rest.... A small drip (barely wet) from the bellhousing led to:


A fun day :pac:

GreeBo

My 98 Avensis passed earlier this week.
I was thinking about scrapping it as I assumed it wouldnt pass.
Failed because the passenger side side light was gone and the rear tyres were not the same size (65 & 60)
I had spare bulbs so fixed them at the centre.
Spare tyre was a 65 so I switched them, they then failed me again as the spare was a directional thread and it was pointing the wrong way.
(I knew but hoped they wouldnt notice)
Ended up changing 3 wheels in 25 mins in blazing sunshine in fonthill before heading back to the office a big sweaty mess.

I guess the OP's point is that some people wouldnt touch a car without an NCT however the vast majority of time cars fail for small enough items...right OP?

iCosmopolis

On my old micra a few years back I was failed on a back to front wheel nut, aside from that everything was fine-the tester in the centre was about to put me down for the fee retest (where you failed but pop back in to show them it's fixed) and then says" ah here, ya have your wrench with you come out back..I can't touch the wheel but I can tell you what to do. I didn't have the physical strength to undo the nut but he waved a random guy over to help, and did it for me. So 10 mins later we went back in and I got my cert 3 months later the the clutch fell apart :mad: they should include THAT in the NCT!

David09

@ DGT, was it engine oil or clutch fluid?

Worst fail I've ever seen was on a old car a mate had been given for free. It appeared to be a really clean car, driving well and so he thought he'd put it through to try his luck. For some reason the rear door wouldn't open and after the test it turned out the car had been rear-ended and the chassis was kinked.

So back at base an attempt was made to "repair" it. A forklift and chain was attached to the rear towing eye and the forklift revved up and driven away to pull out the damage. Suddenly the door opened perfectly and the box section underneath looked straight.
Ahh, sure, we'll go again, just to be sure to be sure. This time the chain breaks off taking 12 inches of chassis box section and rear valance along with it.

The epic fail cost him 50 quid. The price of the test. Needless to say the car was scrapped which it should have been in the first place.