Nct fail on corrosion

Alijjoy

Hey Guys,

So my 2001 ford focus went through NCT today and it failed, I knew it was going to fail as i have a problem with the handbrake. But it also failed on rust, i am actually freaking out because i'm worried its going to cost a fortune to fix.

So this is what the report said,

Primary structure corrosion - floor panels offside and Nearside
Primary structure Corrosion susp mountings offside and nearside also, ( axle mount & trailing arms ) he put a note beside it for me, I'm a girl no idea what any of this means

Now it also failed on a worn ball joint, But its the rush i'm worried about

Any ideas if this is a big job and if its going to cost me a fortune ??

Skatedude

The rust on the suspension mounts and axel mounts would be the main and most expensive issue to fix as they are structural .
It will probably cost a few hundred to get sorted and the car may only be worth up to a grand or less.

We cant tell you for sure without pictures, but best bet is to simply get a quote from an independent garage first.

Idbatterim

as above, get two quotes and decide from there whether it is worth while repairing or just getting another car...

Skatedude

a good 2001 focus is about a grand to 1200, a bad one is 400 or less, Is yours worth it?

savagethegoat

Get a local mechanic to have a look. It could be surface rust that can be brushed off and painted, but might well be worse. I'd say it wouldn't be worth getting it fixed, with the other issues, if it is in need of major welding

biko

Get a few local quotes, then decide if it's worth it.

Del2005

biko wrote: »

Get a few local quotes, then decide if it's worth it.

Not forgetting that sometimes the lowest quote isn't the best, especially for structural repairs.

Wibbs

savagethegoat wrote: »

Get a local mechanic to have a look. It could be surface rust that can be brushed off and painted, but might well be worse.

Very much this. Maybe because the testers can't do damage to someone's car(which is good) some can err on the side of caution, or some can be completely arseways with their notions of rust. I personally know three people who were failed on brake line rust that was entirely dirt, with zero corrosion involved. It may be structural, but as Savage said it might only be surface. And I say that as someone with an anti rust fetish that borders on the paranoid. :D

Alijjoy

oh i hope so guys, i'm so worried about it as only bought 4 months ago, i'm getting somebody to look at it tomorrow so ill know then how bad it is, i'm hoping that the NCT guy was over reacting and thats its not going to be a total disaster.. I have had no luck with cars

Alijjoy

Yesterday evening i brought the car to a garage, he said that its too bad, would cost too much. more than the car is worth. he was able to touch the inside of the boot through one of the holes underneath and said something about being able to put his hand in and touch the chassy ? But basically i'm gutted i only bought the car 4 months ago.

The thing i dont understand is how it passed the NCT in december, 2 days before i bought it, that amount of rust needs more that 4 months to build up. I guess someone in the NCT center was paid off!!!
i'm fecked now. start saving for a new car and buy from a garage this time.

Thanks for all you advice

punisher5112

You need to get the car looked over by a mechanic even if the car has nct so the next car you look for will be OK.

Was the car originally from the north or UK?

Check out the bangeromics thread on buying section in motors there does be some cheap and cheerful cars on that.

Also someone selling a lovely 2005 corolla for around 2k and looks decent.

savagethegoat

Alijjoy wrote: »

Yesterday evening i brought the car to a garage, he said that its too bad, would cost too much. more than the car is worth. he was able to touch the inside of the boot through one of the holes underneath and said something about being able to put his hand in and touch the chassy ? But basically i'm gutted i only bought the car 4 months ago.

The thing i dont understand is how it passed the NCT in december, 2 days before i bought it, that amount of rust needs more that 4 months to build up. I guess someone in the NCT center was paid off!!!
i'm fecked now. start saving for a new car and buy from a garage this time.

Thanks for all you advice

ah now that's unfair. You should have had it looked at by a mechanic, and not relied on an NCT

Wibbs

Alijjoy wrote: »

he was able to touch the inside of the boot through one of the holes underneath and said something about being able to put his hand in and touch the chassy ? But basically i'm gutted i only bought the car 4 months ago.

The thing i dont understand is how it passed the NCT in december, 2 days before i bought it, that amount of rust needs more that 4 months to build up.

It most certainly does. No way you go from surface rust to structural holes in 4 months, even if you tied the car to a submarine. I have found the NCT to be getting more variable rather than less over time. Recently I had my car fail with two faults that should have pretty bloody obvious yet another tester the previous month had passed the car on those areas. Faults that apparently happened in under 200 miles of local 30 mph driving. Not. Either the first guy missed them, or the second guy oversold them as faults. Or both. Other than the lambda value there wasn't a single reading that was the same on the same car, a month and 200 miles apart.

To be fair, with rust because the testers aren't allowed to get too aggressive with their poking about, it can be easy to miss, particularly if bodged and covered up. What may have happened is that the previous owner/seller covered up the rust with filler and paint/underseal, but the rust continued eating away under all that bodge as rust will and at some point between tests the bodge detached and fell off, revealing the holes.

This kind of "rust repair" is all too common. Hell I have a Haynes restoration manual from 1990 that advises the reader to sand away the worst of it, hit what's left with "rust killer", cut out some steel to fill the hole and rivet it in(or glass fibre over it), then filler, then paint. That kind of "repair" would last a couple of years at best. The only way to stop rust is to remove it entirely back to good steel and if there's a hole, welding in new steel, priming with high zinc primer and painting.

punisher5112 wrote: »

Was the car originally from the north or UK?

They can suffer really badly from the tinworm alright, but it seems of late we've been copying them and the level of salting has gone up. I check under mine every summer and in the last 3 years the corrosion has accelerated. My road is one of those that would always get the gritting trucks out as a priority.

savagethegoat

My own vehicle went through the test the first time round and I subsequently found the chassis rails by the engine mounts (a common area on this model) were corroded to the point where one of them had snapped in half completely. It was all buried under a lot of underseal etc, there's no way you'd see it without digging in, which is how I found it investigating a very minor bit of rust adjacent. I wouldn't dream of blaming the tester for not seeing it.

Del2005

Alijjoy wrote: »

i'm fecked now. start saving for a new car and buy from a garage this time.

Thanks for all you advice

Even when buying from a garage get the car inspected before you buy it.

Skatedude

Always get a mechanic or a AA inspection to check a car before buying,