MOT fail, no hazards or indicators

Took the 996 for an MOT this morning and it failed! Arrrggghhh The thing that baffled me was it failed due to no working indicators or hazards, I haven't checked anything yet but as far as I was aware they are both on different circuits? I would have sworn they were working on the way to the MOT station, I'm sure I would have noticed if they weren't but saying that I can't be 100% sure and I only did three turns in the 2 miles to the station so I may not have noticed? They were definitely working recently though. I'm going to go through it this afternoon but unless 2 or more fuses have blown or maybe a relay has failed I can't see why they both wouldn't work? I had a thought in my head that both circuits may go through the hazard switch, is that correct, maybe the switch has failed? When I lock/unlock the car all the indicators all light up so I know it isn't anything to do with bulbs? It also failed on emissions, I hadn't ran the car for a couple of weeks and I sat in traffic all the way there so I'm hoping a run (Italian tune up) may cure that?

I found the issue yesterday, the indicators must have worked on my way to the MOT but as they tested the hazard switch it stuck halfway out and because of that the hazards didn't work and neither did the indicators. So as I thought the hazard switch can affect both circuits. As for the emissions I had 1/4 of a tank of fuel so put some Cataclean in it and went for a 70 mile drive to hopefully clean the emissions system, it could be snake oil but was worth a go, they suggested that's what I should do to get the emissions back into range? I'll drop it back on Tuesday for a retest so I'll see if that works or not. I also a tank of V-Power in ready to go. One other thing it failed on was the horn, they said the noise was grating and it is a major fail on the MOT? I took the bumper off and tested both horns, both worked and both sounded fine to me. I'll ask exactly what they mean by grating as they are standard factory horns, although BMW, same manufacturer and type, so shouldn't be a fail, I can't personally find an issue with them? It was my first time at the this MOT station, last minute booking, so I wondered if they were trying it on for the work as I also got a long list of advisories on brake pipes and discs being corroded? And when they called to tell me it had failed they had not got a price together yet for all the repairs to be done, that's when I told them I do all my own work :?:

What were they expecting Dixie or La Carcacha :dont know: I've got some type of 'Maserati' air compressor horn on the MG that'll make a late night reveller drop his kebab from 50yards and never had a problem.

Since I started using an MOT place that does only MOTs and no repairs I have not had a single fail, or even an advisory from memory, on any of my cars.

:mrgreen:

:thumbs:

I know, never even knew it was a fail to have a certain type of tone? I was looking at just replacing them both with a pair of Amazon specials just so I can get the bumper back on but most that would fit say "super loud" in the advert, I'm not sure he'll like that either :dont know: And I would then need to change the wiring connectors.

I would like to find somewhere like this local to me as I hate advisories now they are documented on the cars online history and they mention the most petty of things.

I used a place like that for the MOT on my new 996 as I needed one booked to drive it home. Decided that a no pass no fee place was ideal as it was win-win situation and allowed me to drive a car with no MOT the 100 miles to home. In the end passed fine and even some previous advisory items weren't listed.

With regards to the Cataclean, don't fill up before the MOT, leave the Cataclean fuel in it when tested. It does wonders for lowering emissions for testing. I seem to remember a lot of these things are Kerosene based with heavy detergents.

I've taken it back for a re-test yesterday and it passed on everything apart from the horn again. :x I had a chat and he said if I disconnect the failing horn he will pass it just on the single horn. I have also now realised it is only not sounding perfect when it is warm and the reason when I was testing it at home it was cold and sounded fine, once the radiators around the horn warm it up it starts to fail. Either way I decided the remove the bumper again yesterday and I went to Halfords to buy a pair of new snail shell horns, it just meant I had to re-do the wiring to take a spade connector but it sound better now and the MOT tester should be happy with the it. I'll drop it back for a re-test in the week.

I have taken it back today for it's second retest, it has now passed, the horn worked as he expected, about bloody time, and the emissions was spot on 1.0 on the Lambda, the goal being between 0.97 and 1.03, it was failing at 1.12. I did clean the air filter with compressed air and made sure there was no air getting into the exhaust system, I did suspect one of the joints leaking a little, so got a tube of Firegum paste and put it around the two silencer joints to make sure they were sealed.