Mot Today!

[celsteve]

Well dropped the car off this morning along with the thermostat that I had bought because of the problems stated in a previous thread. Was going to fit it myself but it's too damn hot to get under the bonnet!

Passed the mot with just a couple of recommendations :) - both front cv joint gaiters deteriorated and both front brake pads wearing thin. I can live with that, anyone know roughly how long to change the gaiters at a good garage or is it something I could do on a ramp without any specialist tools?

They fitted the thermostat and asked if i had had problems with overheating. I said no and explained the gauge wasn't reaching normal operating temp and he said that they reduced the coolant to fit the stat and then when re-filling the system it was boiling and was trying to spit it back out of the rad. I said never had any problems with overheating and he said it should be fine then. I said if not i'll be bringing it back! Didn't really know what to make of it really, on the very short drive home the needle was at halfway point and stayed there. Will give her a proper run tomorrow but now should I be worried about overheating????!!!

Passed the emissions test which I was worried about :) A Bosch NON-catalyst equipped vehicle metered check was carried out (though my car has a catalyst, what's that all about?) Readings of CO 0.44%vol and HC 212ppm. Anyone know if this is good or borderline?

Cheers chaps -all in all a good day, especially for a 12 year old car! Congratulations Toyota for making such a good car and also to the little Japanese chap who looked after her so well!!

[chris202]

Yep i'll second the Congratulations to toyota - Mine passed at the begining of the month , all that got done was swapping the tyres around ! I was also worried about the emissions but it passed fine :D

[Jinxed]

Glad for you it passed :) MOT time is scary if you know theres things not quite right... Hope the rest is ok/ gets sorted soon

[daktari]

Congrats on passing. Probably doesn`t need saying, but, Keep your eye on the water level for the first week or so. Don`t rely too much on the gauge. It`s possible that there may be an airlock to the heater matrix if they didn`t bleed the water system properly. Run the car for a few miles with the heater set to hot & make sure that heat is getting to the inside of the car. Also keep an eye open for leaks from the thermostat housing just to be on the safe side.

[fractured]

Congratulations on passing the dreaded inspection!

It might be a good idea to keep a close eye on the temp gauge. This far it sounds like everything's alright because like mentioned ealier, the needle should climb to halfway in a couple of minutes of drive and stay there. Something is wrong only if it goes any higher under normal conditions.

[celsteve]

Yep, all legal for another year!! :) Thanks for advice, I'll keep a close eye on it - I went out for a short drive this afternoon and it went to halfway within a few minutes and stayed there, so far so good!!