Corrosion advisories on Yaris service report

[Jaxx2]

So I had my 2006 Yaris serviced by KwikFit recently,I bought this car last year and it had clean MOT history with no relevant advisories.

in the new service report there are some advisories :

-Front suspension arm corroded

-Springs and shock absorbers corroded

-exhaust system corroded

what do you think? are these major issues or common with age? is repair necessary / worth it? and why these were not mentioned in the last MOT report? surely corrosion can't happen in just 11 months?

The car runs fine and in very good condition otherwise.

[FROSTYBALLS]

So did the Kwik Fit service include a new MOT, and were these advisories on the new MOT?

[Jaxx2]

1 minute ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

So did the Kwik Fit service include a new MOT, and were these advisories on the new MOT?

It wasn't a MOT,just full service that they did.and these advisories are on service report.

It still has 1 month MOT and MOTs are extended for 6 month due to pandemic.

[FROSTYBALLS]

I would wait to see whether advisories appear on the next MOT.

As regards MOT extensions due to COVID-19, any extension will be applied within seven days of the current MOT's expiry. So currently your MOT will still expire next month.

At present the extensions are for six months, but Government are able to change that period at any time, and they are currently looking at whether the extensions need to continue to be applied.

[Catlover]

13 minutes ago, Jaxx2 said:

It wasn't a MOT,just full service that they did.and these advisories are on service report.

It still has 1 month MOT and MOTs are extended for 6 month due to pandemic.

No matter you ha e 1 month left on the mot, no matter mot been extended 6 months, at ANY POINT IN TIME it is “your” responsibility to ensure the car meets all legal requirements.  
Now, the service at KwikFit. The comments they made are their observations, made by their trained mechanics. You can certainly ignore them, but would that be wise? I certainly not saying crash in and get the work done, but maybe worth looking into it some more by another mechanic of repute.

Did you know that if your Mot is due to expire in a months time you can have it Mot’d any time in that month and the new expiry date would still be 12 months from the original expiry date. So, you could take it to a different Mot centre to KwiKFit (like a Toyota dealer - the wife’s car is due for service/mot this afternoon at my Toyota dealer). See if they come up with the same “problems”.  Even if you take advantage of the 6 month mot extension, as I said before, you car still has to meet all legal requirements at any point in time, and that’s your responsibility. 

[Konrad C]

40 minutes ago, Jaxx2 said:

So I had my 2006 Yaris serviced by KwikFit recently,I bought this car last year and it had clean MOT history with no relevant advisories.

in the new service report there are some advisories :

-Front suspension arm corroded

-Springs and shock absorbers corroded

-exhaust system corroded

what do you think? are these major issues or common with age? is repair necessary / worth it? and why these were not mentioned in the last MOT report? surely corrosion can't happen in just 11 months?

The car runs fine and in very good condition otherwise.

All the things mentioned are things KwikFit do! When you go to get the MOT, you might need to go to a trusted independent test centre. Before that go to a garage and have them look at the components mentioned, for a second opinion. That way you will know for sure the report is accurate and the car is safe! 

Surface rust will come off with a wire brush, but corrosion is the oxidised metal is weak and chunks will come away. 


 

[sproutdreamer]

MOT 2018

Advisory notice item(s)

• Nearside Front Outer Anti-roll bar linkage rubber mounting deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
• Offside Front Outer Anti-roll bar linkage rubber mounting deteriorated but not resulting in excessive movement (2.4.G.2)
• Advise....Heavy corrosion to under body of vehicle , floor , chassis box sections front and rear , front and rear suspension components
• Advise....RH hand parking brake cable bracket broken / corroded
• Advise....corrosion to RH front inner wing adjacent to strut mounting / area
• Advise.....heavy corrosion to rear axle beam
• Advise.....corrosion to LH rear door lower section     

• The bushes took a couple of hours and a couple of days underneith with a finger grinding belt and underseal reduced the problem to:-

• MOT 2019

• Monitor and repair if necessary (advisories):

• Offside Rear Wheel bearing has slight play (5.1.3 (a) (i))
• Both front floors slightly corroded
• Rear floors and under sills slightly corroded

A couple more days with finger grinder and wire brush and underseal resulted in:-

MOT 2020

PASS no advisories.

The MOT history above is our 2004 Yaris with only 48K miles now. As has been said above there is a massive difference between surface rust and serious corrosion so you need to check if it is structural rot or surface rust and only you going under or a mechanic with no vested interest in creating some work.

Our car did look very bad but there were no holes and no rot  but a lot of rust scale so I caught it in time and the car should be good bodywise for another 10 years.

Some Halfords Branches have a terrible reputation for doing uneccessary work so I would find an MOT centre that has a fair reputation. It is a lot of work underside to fettle it so it depends on how valuable to you the car is, how much time or cash you are inclined to throw at it. My wife loves her 1.3 Yaris so it was worthile for me to do it.

To give some balance to this I had already replaced all springs and rear shockers (previous advisories). I took off my front struts intending to replace them but they worked fine and just rusty to cleaned them up and painted with black Hammerite..

 

 

 

[Jaxx2]

1 hour ago, Konrad C said:

All the things mentioned are things KwikFit do! When you go to get the MOT, you might need to go to a trusted independent test centre. Before that go to a garage and have them look at the components mentioned, for a second opinion. That way you will know for sure the report is accurate and the car is safe! 

Surface rust will come off with a wire brush, but corrosion is the oxidised metal is weak and chunks will come away. 


 

That's one of my concerns, either the KwikFit service report is exaggerated or the last MOT is one of those "dodgy" ones.(previous owner's MOT)

I can't see how corrosion in multiple parts couldn't be there at all same time last year,and all happen so quickly within 1 year.or it could be that KwikFits service lookup is more strict than a standard MOT?

regarding safety ,it's safe. even kwikFit didn't say anything needs immediate repair or is unsafe.they have this green/yellow/red marks system so the stuff I mentioned were marked yellow.

I agree the best way is to get a second opinion from another mechanic, although it's not easy to do considering the current situation and limitations.

 

[flash22]

There's a moral to this, Don't use Kwikfit, i wouldn't trust them to service a lawn mower let alone a car, they constantly upsell and overcharge for work what doesn't need doing

most independent garages are open, i can get an MOT booked for a few days time if needed at my local place i use

[FROSTYBALLS]

Kwik Fit has had a reputation in the past for highlighting work that doesn't immediately need doing.

[Jaxx2]

4 minutes ago, flash22 said:

There's a moral to this, Don't use Kwikfit, i wouldn't trust them to service a lawn mower let alone a car, they constantly upsell and overcharge for work what doesn't need doing

most independent garages are open, i can get an MOT booked for a few days time if needed at my local place i use

 

3 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Kwik Fit has had a reputation in the past for highlighting work that doesn't immediately need doing.

Yes I'm aware of their bad reputation.

however they are within walking distance from my house,and do online booking/payment (virus safety concerns) and I didn't want to leave my car in a garage far away (no one does full service while you wait), and I don't feel comfortable using cab or public transport at the moment..

 

[sproutdreamer]

To be fair some Kwik Fit must be ok just not all. They would be up for replacing shock absorbers, springs and exhaust system like a shot. The mechanics are probably under pressure to upsell further services. I think the comments are spot on to leave until the MOT is due and then see what a QualifiedTester has to say before you do anything, so you have 7 months to think about it.

[FROSTYBALLS]

25 minutes ago, sproutdreamer said:

see what a QualifiedTester has to say before you do anything, so you have 7 months to think about it.

The MOT extension isn't activated until around 7 days before the expiry date of the current MOT, so at present the OP's MOT is still sometime in September. The current legislation also allows Government to change the MOT extension, whether that is in terms of time (ie a shorter extension) or to curtail the scheme early, and they are currently reviewing the extension scheme.

[Jaxx2]

35 minutes ago, sproutdreamer said:

To be fair some Kwik Fit must be ok just not all. They would be up for replacing shock absorbers, springs and exhaust system like a shot. The mechanics are probably under pressure to upsell further services. I think the comments are spot on to leave until the MOT is due and then see what a QualifiedTester has to say before you do anything, so you have 7 months to think about it.

That's what I'm going to do.

Do you happen to know how much roughly it costs to replace those parts?

[Billyboy81]

A 2006 car without any corrosion on the bits underneath would be a rare beast. Go somewhere else when you decide to get the MOT done. Probably won't even mention it. 🙂

[sproutdreamer]

You can buy a pair of rear shockers for £40, springs all round £60 and an exhaust £80. The front suspension units probably need a wire brush but you need to get them off to fit new springs anyway.,and paint. The springs and shocks are easy DIY the exhaust maybe a garage but they do not have a big mark up for fitting. .

[Stevie J]

The exhaust can be very expensive depending on what parts need replacing. The factory fit exhaust has the front catalytic converter as part of the manifold (called a maniverter). These hardly ever need replacing. Below the maniverter, the front and mid section are all one piece, and comprise a second catalytic converter and centre silencer box, this section joins to the rear section just in front of the rear axle. The rear section goes over the axle and contains the rear muffler and tailpipe. Usually the first section to fail will be the rear muffler, as mine did 3 years ago (I have a 2006 Yaris as well). The muffler broke off the pipe at the welded joint and dropped down onto the road, broke off the rear rubber mount and was left behind in the road. It went with a huge bang as it hit the bodywork under the rear bumper. I replaced the rear section myself and the part of exhaust needed was about £60, but it is a pain to do with rusty fixings and they dont supply the bolts and springs to connect to the centre section. Having Kwik Fit to do this job would have been over £100 for the backbox alone.

The centre section can appear to rust quite badly on the section under the rear seats, where it connects to the rear section, but unless it is blowing, replacement is not necessary, as the centre section has to be cut with a saw between the front cat and the centre silencer, and the replacement section will not come with the front cat. This job is best left to a garage to do, and would likely be over £100 also.

If the front cat (under the engine bay) fails, this is where things get expensive - I dont know off the top of my head what a new one would cost, but to have the cat replaced at a garage would likely be well over £250. So the complete system from the maniverter to the backbox could set you back over £400 fitted.

My car still has the original exhaust bar the back box - as i say, corrosion on the exhaust is common, you only need to worry when you hear the exhaust start blowing, but then you need to get it sorted quite quickly, as the rear section can fall down onto the road, due to not being well supported at the front of the muffler, The break is usually the point where the pipe and muffler meet.

 

Corrosion of springs is common on old Yaris - my last Yaris (Mk1, 1999 CDX) had advisories for this every year, but they only fail if they are fractured or broken, so corrosion will almost always be just an advisory unless the spring is damaged. The same goes for shock absorbers - corroded is common, but they will only fail if they fail to have any damping effect usually when they leak.

Corrosion of the front arms also common - but again not a failure unless there is excessive play in the rubber bushes within the arm (also called a wishbone). It is not that expensive to replace a wishbone if it does fail an MOT, but just because it is corroded does not mean an automatic MOT fail.

The real areas for concern on a Yaris where corrosion is concerned is the inner and outer sills, inner rear wheel arches and the underbody chassis and suspension mounting points at the rear of the car - once corrosion sets in here, it progresses quickly, and if its not addressed, it will result in a failure of the MOT, and it can be expensive if large areas of rotted bodywork need cutting out and new areas of metal welded in. Many cars over 10 years old can fail MOTs for corrosion in these areas, so not just a Yaris issue.

[Jaxx2]

16 hours ago, Stevie J said:

The exhaust can be very expensive depending on what parts need replacing. The factory fit exhaust has the front catalytic converter as part of the manifold (called a maniverter). These hardly ever need replacing. Below the maniverter, the front and mid section are all one piece, and comprise a second catalytic converter and centre silencer box, this section joins to the rear section just in front of the rear axle. The rear section goes over the axle and contains the rear muffler and tailpipe. Usually the first section to fail will be the rear muffler, as mine did 3 years ago (I have a 2006 Yaris as well). The muffler broke off the pipe at the welded joint and dropped down onto the road, broke off the rear rubber mount and was left behind in the road. It went with a huge bang as it hit the bodywork under the rear bumper. I replaced the rear section myself and the part of exhaust needed was about £60, but it is a pain to do with rusty fixings and they dont supply the bolts and springs to connect to the centre section. Having Kwik Fit to do this job would have been over £100 for the backbox alone.

The centre section can appear to rust quite badly on the section under the rear seats, where it connects to the rear section, but unless it is blowing, replacement is not necessary, as the centre section has to be cut with a saw between the front cat and the centre silencer, and the replacement section will not come with the front cat. This job is best left to a garage to do, and would likely be over £100 also.

If the front cat (under the engine bay) fails, this is where things get expensive - I dont know off the top of my head what a new one would cost, but to have the cat replaced at a garage would likely be well over £250. So the complete system from the maniverter to the backbox could set you back over £400 fitted.

My car still has the original exhaust bar the back box - as i say, corrosion on the exhaust is common, you only need to worry when you hear the exhaust start blowing, but then you need to get it sorted quite quickly, as the rear section can fall down onto the road, due to not being well supported at the front of the muffler, The break is usually the point where the pipe and muffler meet.

 

Corrosion of springs is common on old Yaris - my last Yaris (Mk1, 1999 CDX) had advisories for this every year, but they only fail if they are fractured or broken, so corrosion will almost always be just an advisory unless the spring is damaged. The same goes for shock absorbers - corroded is common, but they will only fail if they fail to have any damping effect usually when they leak.

Corrosion of the front arms also common - but again not a failure unless there is excessive play in the rubber bushes within the arm (also called a wishbone). It is not that expensive to replace a wishbone if it does fail an MOT, but just because it is corroded does not mean an automatic MOT fail.

The real areas for concern on a Yaris where corrosion is concerned is the inner and outer sills, inner rear wheel arches and the underbody chassis and suspension mounting points at the rear of the car - once corrosion sets in here, it progresses quickly, and if its not addressed, it will result in a failure of the MOT, and it can be expensive if large areas of rotted bodywork need cutting out and new areas of metal welded in. Many cars over 10 years old can fail MOTs for corrosion in these areas, so not just a Yaris issue.

Thanks for your detailed response.

I think I will wait until the next MOT and see what happens, most likely nothing that requires urgent fix from what I understand.