The NCT Miracle of Easter Sunday.

ebbsy

I brought the MERC to a NCT centre on Paddy's day.

It failed on 6 Majors, including "an engine defect".

The guy said it was "probably the diesel injectors".

I had 4 of them replaced and one repaired in January.

So I brought the sheet back to my mechanic. He said he was not looking at the car again, there was nothing wrong with it.

So I did a retest in a different centre on Easter Sunday........AND IT PASSED !!!!!!!!!

6541

At this stage the whole NCT thing needs to be looked at. Its a complete joke.

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120463930#Comment_120463930

It’s corrupt, that’s what it is.

ebbsy

You see, the previous NCT was 4 months ago (due to a delay). Failed on 2 front tyres.

So I knew the car was fairly sound.

The diesel injectors plus glow plugs and a few other bits cost me €2,700.

Is this one for Joe lads and lassies ?

User1998

So it failed on an engine defect, you got it rectified and then it passed?

I’m not seeing the issue here, other than the fact that NCT centres generally do not fail cars for engine defects, other than engine warning lights

godtabh

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464264#Comment_120464264

He did nothing between the two visits. The work had been done beore first viist/fail.

Oops!

I could write a book on situations like this..... So could most mechanic's/garage owners.

cml387

Unless I'm missing something this reads: car failed NCT, spend 2k bobs fixing now, now car passes NCT. Hardly the basis of a mini series on Netflix I would have thought.

mondeoman72

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464264#Comment_120464264

You misunderstand. He went back to the mechanic and he refused to look at it. Mechanic knew the car was perfect. So car went back to NCT and strangely enough, it, it flew the test. Absolutely an easter miracle.

ebbsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464280#Comment_120464280

No, the 2k was spent in January.

Girl Geraldine

And the first NCT where the car failed for a supposed engine defect was March

ebbsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464310#Comment_120464310

Paddys Day in fact.

kirving

What were the other 5 Majors?

For the likes of emissions, an engine being warm or cold, DPF status, EGR cleanliness, intermittent sensor reading, or any number of things could cause it to pass or fail on a given day.

ebbsy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464347#Comment_120464347

Ball joints

Brake Pipe

Side slip test ?

Parking brake (70% on fail - 50% on pass ??? )

Brake line

Obvious engine defect (I didnt have an engine light)

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058291891/the-nct-miracle-of-easter-sunday

Any chance you’d throw some photos of the fail and pass sheets up for us to peruse? Block out the reg and any other details that you don’t want us to see.

Cheers

ebbsy

A bit later certainly I will post them up

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120463930#Comment_120463930

Agreed. It's a money making racket too often. It should simply be to make sure cars and other vehicles are safe to drive and not emitting high emissions.

Furze99

We had a three month delay in NCT test entirely due to AppPlus backlog. Car tested, passed but have to go back in just 9 months, cert was backdated to when THEY should have tested it but couldn't or wouldn't. We're told they are overloaded with bookings, so how does above make sense at all, at all?

NattyO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464761#Comment_120464761

The whole backdating the cert thing is a pure scam - the car is meant to be tested either every one or two years, depending on age - so what sense does it make to backdate the cert, meaning the test now has to be redone in 6/9 months or whatever? It makes no sense whatsoever.

Hellrazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464607#Comment_120464607

A lot of the so called "testers" havent a clue what they are looking at.

The amount of times Ive had similar situations with customers cars is ridiculous.

One time I had a fail on the orange bulbs not being orange enough. Visual retest at the time.

Drove around the block, pulled back in and said that I had the bulb changed - I didnt. Different tester came out and passed it.

Theres no consistency in the NCT anymore. 2 weeks ago I had a fail on a ball joint cover supposedly ripped.

Put it on the ramp - cover was perfect. Passed last week without any work done to it.

Brake pipe "corrosion" is another scam one in my opinion. The slightest bit of even minor pitting and they fail them. Ive cleaned down probably hundreds of brake pipes over the years and sent them back in and theyve passed. Obviously if they are actually corroded badly Id replace but the ones Ive seen fail have had none to very little damage on them. Theres supposed to be a tool used to test for corrosion and I dont think Ive ever seen an NCT tester use one.

NCT needs to be scrapped and started afresh with purely road safety in mind. Id put up with a more extensive test if it was purely for road safety.At least then the insurance companies might start to insure older stuff again.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464362#Comment_120464362

Just because the second tester didn't see the corroded just about to fail brake lines doesn't mean the corroded just about to fail brake lines shouldn't be repaired.

I was under my vehicle recently, and I saw a brake line that caught me eye, as there was a bubble of rust on it, I just rubbed it will my hand and next minute it was dripping brake fluid, that's how weak it was. Had it failed on the road there was no chance or stopping. I took line off, and brought it in to get one made, and fitted it, so easy and cheap to do

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465270#Comment_120465270

Ger outta here with your ‘common sense’.

It’s a scam, they’re out to get us, it’s a racket, it’s corrupt, motorists are responsible enough to look after their car without a test, lad down the pub told me it shouldn’t have failed and he didn’t even have to look at it!

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464792#Comment_120464792

It makes 'perfect sense' - you'll have to NCT your car more times.

User1998

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464792#Comment_120464792

The idea is that if they didn’t backdate the test then you would get people putting off doing their NCT’s to get a few extra months out of it, whereas if they backdate it there are no benefits of putting it off.

Its the same with road tax, it gets backdated. Otherwise people would let their tax expire and get a free month or whatever

NattyO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465425#Comment_120465425

A good point in cases where the delay is the fault of the customer, however when the delay is due to the NCT operator, it seems a bit unfair, to put it mildly.

NattyO

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465303#Comment_120465303

True!

corsav6

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465270#Comment_120465270

The amount of pressure contained within the brake lines is immense. It would have broke the line long before it got to the stage of you just rubbing it with your hand and it leaking.

newmember2

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465449#Comment_120465449

Unless it was a car that hadn't been driven in a long time.

Tantalum73

As an experienced technician having worked for various manufacturers up to the highest level and a current vehicle inspector these threads on the NCT can give me some amusement as to the conjecture constantly spouted 🙄

tanko

The latest bullcrap in NCT centres is the lazy slobs refusing to even test the cars because they’re not “hygenic” enough for them and they might catch Covid from a few microscopic specks of dust on the floor of the car. NCT centres are staffed by failed mechanics who are too stupid to fix cars.

Hellrazer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465789#Comment_120465789

Care to explain why?

Ive also been in the trade for almost 30 years at this stage and its far from anecdotal evidence that Ive come across and experienced personally - 2 examples above.

I could start listing more where NCT falls down but the thread could go to a few pages long if I did that.

But heres one for you that particularly got my back up. When I worked in Fiat about 10 years ago I had a spate of around 20 customers puntos failing on emissions in one centre and couldnt figure out what was going on. They were testing perfectly on our equipment. After a while I decided to contact the NCT head office who basically said I was wrong and they were right and would not budge at all on that stance.

Eventually I got Fiat head office involved and it turned out the the NCT were testing at the wrong RPMs and the Puntos were failing on high idle CO2. I had to provide the data from Fiat to prove they were testing wrong.

I had to jump through hoops to get it sorted and it turned out that one of the NCTs "highly trained technicians" couldnt be arsed to read the testing procedure for the Punto and was failing them all in one centre.

Theres 20 customers who had to pay for retests due to the incompetence of the the NCT. Not one of them was compensated.

Theres stupid failure reasons that make people have no faith in the testing system.

Theres no consistency in it either. Ive had cars fail that I knew 100% would pass have a stupid fail reason or even a supposedly major fail reason only to carry out ZERO work on it and then get it retested only for it to pass with a different tester - care to explain that for me?

For what its worth I was actually a fan of it being introduced and looked forward to it taking unsafe cars off the road but as a service manager Ive lost complete faith in the NCT and its going to take a lot to get that respect back.

It needs to be scrapped completely and redone from the beginning with purely road safety at the forefront - Id even support a more extensive testing procedure if it was purely focused on road safety and not as it appears a money making exercise.

It should also run on a non profit basis. Last account pre covid showed a 6 million profit.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465425#Comment_120465425

I was trying to get car tested, went to book a month before due date on receipt of notification from NCT. So the delay of 3 months was their issue, not my choice. Then the company complains they are overloaded.. someone in management there needs the boot and/or competition.

BorneTobyWilde

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465449#Comment_120465449

Yes, you would think that, but I'm serious, all I did was rub the rust from it, and it was drip drip drip, vehicle was used daily

Tantalum73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120466528#Comment_120466528

I am certainly of the view if the fault is attributed to the tester or machine without any doubt than that is more than fair . Humans make mistakes and also part of the test is the subjective view of the tester and interpretation of the rules which is not going to be very consistent ... that can also be said for other walks of life .

If I brought a car with borderline failures to different garages , I am quite sure I would get varying responses as to what is required to be fixed . As for retests , the tester is probably going to be a bit more relaxed on judgement , giving the benefit of doubt if possible especially if they cant be sure nothing has been done to fix the car . If you feel the car has failed on something that it shouldn't , return the car to the centre for another opinion or take the independent AA appeals route . Sending cars back through and bemoaning the system doesn't really help at all.

How many cars have you had issues with that you have sent or prepared for NCT ?

I can say in my time in the workshop the return of cars that I had dealt with would have been a very small percentage , where blame could be definitely attributed to the NCT . I have seen more cars return back to garages for failures from DOE/NCT that were not picked up during the "Pre NCT" , lads not spotting rust , not checking balljoints correctly or setting headlights incorrectly were common if you could say that.

Have some experience testing cars for a while and you will see just how poor mechanics and garages can be . It's a daily occurrence of catching shoddy workmanship from the average joe mechanic to the big name garages , it doesn't matter . This side of things isn't seen by the public , I wouldn't have enough time or writing space here to go through what I have seen . Again just like the testers they are human and make mistakes . I believe overall the standard of mechanic be it working in garages or testing cars is the same , there is no large divide there at all from my experience .

tanko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120468167#Comment_120468167

What a load of meaningless waffle.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464425#Comment_120464425

Any sign of those NCT sheets?

kravmaga

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058291891/the-nct-miracle-of-easter-sunday

Did you leave the €100 euro note in the glovebox or central console? haha :-)

Tantalum73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120464425#Comment_120464425

@ebbsy , if you dont mind posting them , thanks

harmless

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120473556#Comment_120473556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120476368#Comment_120476368

Not going to happen, it would spoil the miracle.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120478535#Comment_120478535

So my prayers will go unanswered….like all prayers

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120466528#Comment_120466528

😳 Have you seen my thread? 2 emissions tests with mad CO readings (8.84%), 2 private emissions machines saying my car was good. Eventually a clean test at another NCT centre (0.06%)

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121467206/#Comment_121467206

I now have someone in the thread telling me I have an intermittent O2 sensor fault. The odds of this seem like the lotto to me but Im interested in a 2nd opinion. If possible could you add a post? It would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Tantalum73

Lolz , not to chase you around the forum but the above story that is quoted is down to a tester not selecting an rpm exemption for the particular car and in no way correlates to your issue.

Anyways why bother , boards will be boards after all....

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121473245#Comment_121473245

Im not looking to offend. I saw your username in this thread before posting. Just looking for some opinions. What I will say is it was the same tester in the same centre that also tested another family members car the same day. We both went elsewhere and our cars passed.

Perhaps a coincidence but I find this really unusual.

Hellrazer

Im with tantulum - faulty O2 sensor but you also mentioned that one of your previous mechanics patched "a hole in teh exhaust" - that alone would bring the CO down.

Honest opinion you have a faulty O2 sensor - your lambda is borderline even in the test that passed @ 1.03

You got through the NCT by fluke.

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121473286#Comment_121473286

Damn. Fair enough.

What you think about a P1138 fault code? Currently logged in the car. Corsa UK forums say lambda sensor related. EDIT: Tantalum73 has advised me we're talking about same thing. Lambda / front O2 sensor.

Tantalum73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121473266#Comment_121473266

No offence taken at all . I would say that from your postings I would see no sound reasoning to apportion blame to the tester as to why your car failed on high emissions . Excuse me but I don't know the details of your family members car .

jj880

@Tantalum73

@Hellrazer

Just a final note on this. Im accepting its an intermittent fault now. Its just the sequence that seemed mad to me:

• car faulting at full NCT test
• car not faulting at 1st emissions mechanic 4 days later
• car still not faulting at 2nd emissions mechanic 1 hour before retest at same NCT centre.
• car faulting 1 hour later at retest at same NCT centre
• car not faulting 8 days later for retest at different NCT centre to get new NCT cert.

This was why I compared it to the lotto. Just seems crazy.

Anyway thanks for your replies on this.

Tantalum73

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121474644#Comment_121474644

It may certainly seem "crazy" to the lay person but to anyone with a professional experience with vehicle diagnostics , an understanding of component failures/problems and vehicle testing this is certainly not uncommon .

The NCT Maha test equipment goes through a self check and zero calibration before each test (like most emissions test equipment) , you simply wont get emissions figures like you did without the vehicle having an issue during the test .

jj880

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121475298#Comment_121475298

Amazing. Well this is why I hope Boards never dies. I'd say I'd never have gotten an explanation like that. Wouldve always been wondering. 👍️

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120465270#Comment_120465270

Of course you would have, dual circuit brakes have been mandatory for decades.

Hotblack Desiato

A couple of years ago I took the wife's Corolla to the NCT, it always sails through.

Not that time, fella says both front and back brake pads are excessively worn.

On this model Corolla it is NOT possible to determine brake pad wear without removing the wheels, which of course the NCT do not do.

I ordered replacement pads and on fitting them, the old ones were less than half worn and well above the service limits.

Go figure. Maybe your man's X-ray vision was slightly faulty.