Book early - Due an MOT in March?

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Fri 2 Mar 2018 16:28
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - oldroverboy.

March 2015 new car registrations were the highest for more than two decades with 492,774 vehicles hitting the road three years ago.

If you are due an Mot book early, according to some "Fast Fit" chains..

Edited by oldroverboy. on 02/03/2018 at 16:29

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Fri 2 Mar 2018 19:49
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - Engineer Andy

I wouldn't like to be someone taking their car in for a service and/or (especially) MOT in the current weather conditions. They could fail it if the driver doesn't clear all their windows, lights and number plates, never mind if the screenwash bottle or jets have frozen up in unusually cold weather (mainly up north where its been really bad). I've always been very lucky when I get mine done (both service and MOT) in late Dec/early Jan - touch wood never experienced any similar road conditions.

It rarely snows around Christmas/New Year in the UK these days - most of the time it appears between late Jan - to early March and occasionally a bit in November. Weird. Always did every few years when I was a kid (more than 30 years ago).

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Fri 2 Mar 2018 22:51
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - bathtub tom

The tester seemed surprised my washers weren't frozen when I had mine MOT'd on Wednesday.

Some of us do use washer anti-freeze.

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Sat 3 Mar 2018 06:03
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - gordonbennet

The tester seemed surprised my washers weren't frozen when I had mine MOT'd on Wednesday.

Some of us do use washer anti-freeze.

Quite.

Chap trying to jump start a Corsa from a Clio in our works car park yesterday evening, wouldn't turn over, we tried the same leads from my battery still no good, got my leads out and added my other battery to the fray, still no good, you could see the fan belt starting to turn.

I then asked the question many here will have already thought of, have you got anti freeze in it? No.

Being a mechanic this weather must be horrible, MOT testing not so bad because its checking and not actually spannering, but we ought to give a thought to all the breakdown and recovery people and general mechanics, often working outside in these temperatures on lorries in particular.

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 11:21
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - Tester

The tester seemed surprised my washers weren't frozen when I had mine MOT'd on Wednesday.

Some of us do use washer anti-freeze.

I too use washer anti-freeze, at winter strength, but it's only good down to about -5 to -7 degrees even at that concentration. My car's washer jets froze last Wednesday -- why do cars not come with heated jets on the same circuit as the heated rear window, say, like the heated door mirrors are? It would be of much greater use than most of the gadgets that seem to be standard fittings, and would probably be a good contributor to safety!

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 12:19
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - madf

The tester seemed surprised my washers weren't frozen when I had mine MOT'd on Wednesday.

Some of us do use washer anti-freeze.

I too use washer anti-freeze, at winter strength, but it's only good down to about -5 to -7 degrees even at that concentration. My car's washer jets froze last Wednesday -- why do cars not come with heated jets on the same circuit as the heated rear window, say, like the heated door mirrors are? It would be of much greater use than most of the gadgets that seem to be standard fittings, and would probably be a good contributor to safety!

I used a 50% mix washer fluid -good down to -10C and water. Still liquid from jets at -7C..(froze on screen of course when moving)

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 13:38
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - RT

VW Group screenwash works down to -40C when used neat - even in 1 litre size it's no more expensive than other good screenwashes when diluted down to UK winter concentration, or indeed UK summer concentration.

Heated jets are no benefit if the fluid container freezes under the wing or wheelarch.

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 14:30
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - Manatee

Heated jets are no benefit if the fluid container freezes under the wing or wheelarch.

That's true but if there's a reasonable concentration of fluid, it usually stays liquid in the reservoir and freezes at the nozzle with the wind chill.

Easy to see this effect with those spray de-icers too. They melt the ice but then when the car is moving any spray left on the screen immediately freezes over!

I just use a high concentration (20-25%) of whatever they are selling in Costco in the winter and don't usually have any problems.

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 15:41
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - RT

Wind chill has limited effect on inanimate objects, the heat loss is proportional to the temperature difference so human bodies notice it a lot being at 36 degrees.

This winter I've been using Prestone Extreme at 50% or Triple QX All-Season at 100%, with half those concentrations last summer - these are much higher concentrations than recommended but necessary to get the job done.

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 20:14
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - Tester

The tester seemed surprised my washers weren't frozen when I had mine MOT'd on Wednesday.

Some of us do use washer anti-freeze.

I too use washer anti-freeze, at winter strength, but it's only good down to about -5 to -7 degrees even at that concentration. My car's washer jets froze last Wednesday -- why do cars not come with heated jets on the same circuit as the heated rear window, say, like the heated door mirrors are? It would be of much greater use than most of the gadgets that seem to be standard fittings, and would probably be a good contributor to safety!

I used a 50% mix washer fluid -good down to -10C and water. Still liquid from jets at -7C..(froze on screen of course when moving)

That's interesting, madf (well, as interesting as this conversation can be!) Do you use a particular brand? Are there differences between them?

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 12:31
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - FoxyJukebox

Might this just be "fast fit chains" trying to catch up with last week's lost business?

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Mon 5 Mar 2018 16:34
Book early - Due an MOT in March? - Avant

I've used VW Group screenwash for a long time: It's excellent and not particularly expensive. I've never had a problem with it freezing, and it seems to prevent smearing as well.

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