Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[postman]

Hi guys, im new and livid, I just took my car for MOT 1999 T MV6 and it failed on 5 things 3 easy straight forward things to fix, but the 2 that has got me into a fuffle is the tester hass reported "Nearside and Offside rear coil spring incomplete".
 I just whipped my car up to have a look and the springs both look perfectly fine to me, with nothing missing. Anybody got and ideas to what might be wrong? I phoned the garage up and spoke to the guy whos told me a "little spring has broken off both sides".
 Im totally confused, my car is ex police so has not got any fancy rear suspension, just straightforward oil dampers with coil springs, incidentally both coil springs are fully there, no bit has snapped at the top or bottom.
 Please help me  

[HerefordElite]

If you're sure the spring is fully there i'd take it back to the test centre and ask them to show you.

unlikely they's make a mistake on both sides but you never know :-/

[postman]

Well, just phoned them again, and now he is saying there is a 'small gap' at the base of the coil spring!? To me everything looks identical to when it has passed before on 2 occasions, but he seems adament that something has come off the bottom of the spring assembly at the base and 'if i feel around the base I will feel a gap' but surely anything missing or broken would cause a rattle or clonking to which there isnt. The garage is shut now im im shafted for using my car to get to work over the bank holiday.
 If I went for an mot at a different garage, would the same faults show up on the new garage system before they check it over? I really feel like the garage has shafted me  

[JamesV6CDX]

Seems very odd to me!

[deecee]

just done mine both sides, bottom of coil spring say last coil snaps off falls away about 2in of coil but sits itself back on rubber can be broken ages before u know mine was not a big job ,drop rear subframe 4 bolts springs come out, bit more to it than that but nothing to be scared, of hope it helps, cheers dave.

[jonathanh]

some thoughts to help:

it is difficult to spot that a spring has broken on the omega.  my local VX dealer failed to spot one.

They break towards the top ot the bottom so you really need to have a close look at the end of the spring to see if there is a break.  

the good news is that they are easy to replace: a couple of hours work at an easy pace and relatively cheap to get hold of.  bI replaced mine today

Pm me with your email address and I'll email you a picture of my broken spring: you'll then know exactly what to look for.

Where bout's are you.  if you are in the midlands I'll have a look for you.

as to the MOT, I'm pretty sure you are road legal until the prev one has run out.

[big-o-bob]

as to the MOT, I'm pretty sure you are road legal until the prev one has run out.

If you're previous MOT has not yet expired, you are covered to use you're car.  However, if you have an accident (Unlikely, I know), because the defect is recorded on the database and you are aware of it, you may be liable, and you're insurance may not be valid.  This is what I was told, when I contacted the DVLA anyway.

When my coil springs broke, it still passed it's MOT.  So either they are difficult to spot, or my local garage is'nt as competent as he should be.  I knew they were broke though, cos I heard it snap, frightened me to death  Good luck

[postman]

Well bit the bullet and nipped down to euro car parts, got a couple of cheap springs and I now admit, the mot guy was right, I have lost about 2 cm of spring from the bottom of both mine   just had a look at the how to guide so will crack on and get em changed, although i'm gonna be scrapping the car in a month or so, maybe even ebay it as it has xenon lights, lsd etc.
 Incidentally, when I was driving about 4 months ago, I did hear one hell of a bang in my nearside rear wheel arch but I just assumed i'd flicked a big stone up, maybe that was the bit of spring? Hope the car following didn't collect it on their window  
 Thankyou all for your help, if I make a mess changing the springs, i'll be back, thanks again!