For Those About To Test (we Advise You)

[Topbloke]

Below is an statement issued by VOSA with regards to front suspension free play

 

The front suspension on several types of Ford vehicle has been the cause of a rising number of queries to VOSA, but the following vehicle specific information should help you out. John Stephenson reports

 

Testers of certain Ford Galaxy (1994 onwards), Ka (1997 onwards) and Fiesta (1996 to 2002) cars have faced a difficult situation when they've come to test the vehicles front suspension: some of these vehicles display what could be considered 'excessive movement' with the suspension hanging free.

 

What to expect

 

The front suspension top mountings on these vehicles are designed to self locate in the body as the vehicle weight is applied. There should be no free movement in these components when the vehicle is in its normal operating condition, with all four wheels on the ground.

 

However a certain amount of movement in all directions (vertical,lateral and longitudinal) is normal if the vehicle is inspected with the wheels clear of the ground . In this position , the maximum acceptable movement is 10mm vertically and 6mm laterally and longitudinally. This amount of movement is clearly in excess of what a tester would normally expect from componements of this type and could result in a incorrect assessment being made, even though the component clearly falls within the manufacturers tolerance.

 

As an indication , top mount assemblies which have more movement than they were designed for exhibit 'knock' when the vehicle is driven at low speed , for example, over roller brake testers or onto ramps.

 

This information hes been provided by the manufacturers. You should take it into account when you carry out an inspection using the methods defined in the relevant subsections of section 2.5 of the MOT Inspection Manual.

 

The above statement was issued in Matters of Testing (april edition) which is an internal publication for mot testers ,I believe that a forum member is haveing a similar problem at the moment, I hope this may be of some use to forum members in the future

[Guest vr6galaxy]

Does this mean that if I go back to the testing station that tested mine and asked how they tested the top mounts for excessive play and they say they had the car up on the ramps with the wheels floating I could bill them for the posibly not needed replacements?

[Topbloke]

take it back to them next year and when they fail them again tell them you had it done last year by them and they should refer to the said section 2.5 :lol: :D :D

[Guest vr6galaxy]

More like drop in saturday and let rip :lol: was in your place today in the body repair shop! cant wait to get behind the wheel of the courtesey car :D 1ltr 3 cylinder corsa :D bring it on :D

[seatkid]

3 cylinders are at least half as good as 6 six cylinders.......

[Dave-G]

:lol: Talking about testing :D

 

Glen was goin to have a look at file uploads over the w-end...according to a post he put on the cit citr citroe...that other side...so here's a test

 

 

The requested file upload failed. This is either because it was not in the correct format, or the file size was larger than that allowed. Please check the file you wish to upload and try again.

 

:D If it wasn't almost predictable I'd be speechless....time to bombard them with more pics to host :D

 

BUT THEIR'S SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN DISABLED TOO NOW...BUT PROPERLY SO IT DOESN'T LET YOU THINK YOU CAN DO IT!

Edited May 10, 2005 by Dave-G

[Masked Marauder]

Why only Galaxies? Does this not apply to Sharan and Alhambra derivitives too then?

[seatkid]

Why only Galaxies? Does this not apply to Sharan and Alhambra derivitives too then?

Of course it also applies to Sharan and Alhambra.

 

VOSA are as stoopid as some garages....

 

 

As for image uploads, as of today I also find that GOTO LAST POST DOESNT WORK.

 

Somebody PM GTEUK and tell him nicely to reboot his server or something......

[Guest vr6galaxy]

Over the week end I was getting pop ups telling me I had Private message's! not had those for a while! the pop ups that is :D but they too have now stopped! a long long time ago we had an active topics button, it was great all you had to do once you had posted a reply was click it and you returned to the active topics page, where as now you have open another page to post your reply on and keep refreshing the active topics page to get the new posts :D this site looses something with every upgrade :o it's a shame really as it's the most active site for the Galaxy although a couple of the other sites are sporadically starting to pick up :D maybe we should migrate to the picasso site and just post on there full time :lol: that would please joeblunt :D

[Masked Marauder]

This is mutiny I tell thee, we will all hang!

[Guest vr6galaxy]

Whats the worst he could do? ban us from the site! :o then what we do in the evenings? ah well back to watching telly and bidding on Ebay all night, now whats the pass word to my paypal account? :huh:

[Guest MATT]

...even now, this is a far better forum than any other ive been on.

 

matt

[Guest vr6galaxy]

I see the admins been into the picasso site! :o double posts all over the forum! and error messages appearing every where :o maybe we shouldnt ask them to sort out the forum! :lol: lets just be happy that it's still working abiet in limited form! :D

[sad_git]

Why only Galaxies? Does this not apply to Sharan and Alhambra derivitives too then?

Yes, this only applies to Galaxys, VOSA can only act on manufacturers information and input so until VAG and SEAT submit the same info it doesn't apply to these models.

 

As for going back to the MOT station to complain, how can they be responsible if the vehicle was tested before the information was published (this publication went out near the end of last month).

[Topbloke]

i was not advising to go back and complain now but if they try to fail them next time, i would think that you are in the "trade" yourself from your comments

[sad_git]

Wasn't having a go at you topbloke, I was referring to vr6's post.

 

I'm an MOT tester, so it's a subject I can really get my teeth into!

 

I was going to post the same article but you beat me to it, you in the trade too?

[Guest vr6galaxy]

I see from the repeat postings that the admin have been working on the server :huh: could be that they are trying to get the picture posting to work! :D

As for going back to the MOT station to complain, how can they be responsible if the vehicle was tested before the information was published (this publication went out near the end of last month).

 

Thats a shame as mine tested just before it was released <_< funny how it was tested at two seperate testing stations and they both found different things to fail it on!

[sad_git]

Thats a shame as mine tested just before it was released  funny how it was tested at two seperate testing stations and they both found different things to fail it on!

 

Unfortunately this happens regularly, sometimes defects are missed, some testers interpret the manual differently. I suppose this is inevitable as the manual can be vague at times and testers have to use their own discretion. This discrepancy isn't limited to testers, having dealt with numerous VOSA staff I have seen many different opinions on the same issues.

 

I think one thing we must remember is that this directive doesn't mean that Galaxies cannot be failed on play in strut mountings, only that the manfacturers information should be taken into account. The method of raising the vehicle with the suspension hanging hasn't changed either, this type of suspension must be checked this way as play in other components could be masked by loading the spring.

 

This isn't the first time a manufacturer has said that a relatively large amount of play is acceptable in a suspension component, it usually happens when a component is failing due to premature wear on a regular basis and it is costing loads in warranty replacement! In all the cases I have witnessed a new component has no play and should therefore be considered as the norm.

[Guest vr6galaxy]

posted on the piccaso site!

 

Sorry,

 

Had to lock down server due to a file finding its way onto the server although standard precautions were taken, a total of 400GB of bandwidth has been stolen from the server and although I was told that this server was behind a firewall I have today been informed otherwise

 

I have had to take precautions for now and block all none nec ports, I have decided that 1&1 dedicated servers are not dedicated as I can not do what I want with them and pay the price by being vulnerable, Cheep yes, chearful ? certainly not.

 

So back to old school More expense for going back to fully dedicated server where I have fingers on the button.

 

Sorry for this but the fully configurable 1&1 server is not fully configurable and the experience has been far from pleasant . I thought I would get the server because I no longer do hosting but wanted to keep a few sites up and running.

 

Over the coming days things will change AGAIN (sigh), I know all this moving must make you dizzy but it has to be done, I will ensure nothing (and I mean nothing) is lost in this move except a couple of hours on the best site in the world.

 

 

 

--------------------

 

Glen

 

 

at least no error messages or double posts this time :huh:

Edited May 13, 2005 by vr6galaxy