Failing the SVA

[saviller]

After all the clutch problems I had prior to the original SVA date, I finally got down to VOSA in Southampton for my test last Weds.
It wasn't long before the news came that the car had failed - thankfully not on a great deal, but lots of little niggles.
1) All exposed cables need to be enclosed in convoluted tubing - YES - everything regardless of whether it is already in cable wrap and cable tied - all headlamp/indicator wiring - all ingition system wiring - even the wiring in the boot for the number plate lamp because it goes across the body to boot lid gap.
2) It failed on the skid test - I now need to fit a brake balancing valve - in several attermpts, the rear brakes locked up before the front brakes - this is with a standard Sierra set up, disks front, drums rear. It did pass on the longtitudinal test on the test machine, but failed on the visibal test - Now, it may be down to having new disks, pads amd calipers, but I thought I had bedded them in OK. Not a long job but a hassle.
3) Seat belts - I had the floor pan lowered by Pilgrim, and bolted the seats directly to the floor, as I quite tall - this meant that the catch and stalk were higher than they should be resulting in the sealt bely going across the stomach, rather than across the pelvis - this is now sorted - THANKS to Pilgrim, they sent me a set of catches with a shorter stalk FOC.
4)Dashboard failed due to lower radius - I think I stretched the leather too tight, thus squashing the foam, making the dashboard too hard - simple job to fix - I'll put additional foam under the leather for the test.
5) Brake pipes need protection if fixing the wiring to them using cable ties. I did this when routing the speedo sensor wires - I need to remove cable ties, wrap brake pipe in rubber and re-fit the cable ties.
6) I got done for the radius on the end of the read nudge bar - foam and cable ties needed there.

All in all, nothing disasterous.
Pleased that all the major stuff was fine - Speedo no problem (used ETB disk) Noise OK - 99Db

[ti]

Hi Everyone

SVA this morning and guess what-It BL**DY Failed

The one thing it failed on ? The one thing i had no control over
the speedo calibration :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry: :angry:

Still i will put the ETB Daisy wheel in now and the retest is for Friday morning :thumb:

[gareth08]

Terry,
Sorry you failed but at least you know what it is and it's an easy fix. :thumb:
Another story of cr*p Pilgrim stuff again.

Good luck on Friday :thumb:

[ti]

Cheers Gareth

As you say it could always have been worse !!

Just a bit frustrating, i guess i can't complain too much though :thumb:

[snake_bitten]

good luck with the retest.:thumb:

and well done for everything else........was it just the speedo? and did the gear stick get through?

[ti]

Originally Posted by snake_bitten

good luck with the retest.:thumb:

and well done for everything else........was it just the speedo? and did the gear stick get through?

Hi John

Yes just the speedo-i have just got back from my local rolling road
after fitting the ETB daisy wheel and every thing is spot on-no other
adjustments were needed !!!
The gear stick did get through too :thumb: :thumb:

[Revets]

Another and quite novel reason for failing which I've just covered in a new thread but thought I'd add it here as well;

I've got the std Sumo dash with the glovebox on the passenger side and decided to leave it open, ie without a flap. I'm happy its a glovebox, the tester's happy its a glovebox but the man from the Agency isn't. Apparently it's a shelf!
So during the 15 minute coffee break the tester & agency bloke ring Swansea, 30 mins later the official decision is "it's a shelf" and guess what, the regs are different for a shelf and it fails. Easily remedied but I would not much chuffed if this had been the only fail point. I've spoken to Pilgrim and this is the first time they've heard of this interpretation of what is or isn't a glovebox.
Anyone planning to do the same by not fitting a flap risks the same fate.

Best of luck to all who have yet to take the test!

Steve

[Bernie]

I was wondering - why does a "shelf" - like mine - fail?

[TheUnixKid]

it's to do with radiuses. I don't think the distance between the bottom of the glovebox/shelf and the bottom of the dashboard is big enough?

[Revets]

Yep, that's right. According to the tester the 'shelf' failed because "dashboard shelf has a part facing into the vehicle that is not 25mm high and edges not rounded to a radius of curvature of not less than 3.2mm" It was the 25mm high that was the problem.

Steve