The Panic Mechanic Blog

Hi everyone, it’s been a while since my last blog and boy, haven’t I got a lot of advice, stories and tips to tell you, just like this one…

I was busy servicing a family member’s car last week, (I am sure some of you can sympathise with the family freebies), and the car was due for its MOT. I took it to a garage I have used before, when suddenly at the end of the MOT I was told that the car had failed. Quite to my surprise I asked how it failed. It turns out that the MOT failure was due to the brakes needing to be changed. Well I immediately knew something was wrong since the breaks had been changed not so long ago and should have passed. When I quizzed the garage and we all took a trip out the back where I asked them to re-check the breaks in front of me, low and behold, I had proved that I was right and the car should have passed its MOT without any hesitation.

Quite surprisingly, the MOT engineer had not check the breaks properly and somehow “assumed” they needed to be changed. I am sure you can imagine that I was not impressed!

Since it is my job to repair all sorts of vehicles I make it my business to get to know the history of my customer’s car or bike and what potential areas could fail an MOT. I was able to question this garage because I have mechanics knowledge. But what if that was someone else who does not know about cars. That person would have paid out unnecessarily for a set of brakes.

Okay, this may not sound like good news, so what can you do to make sure you are not a victim of a bad MOT?

One simple thing is to ask to watch the MOT from an MOT viewing area. Most if not all garages have an area that the owner can stand or sit to watch an examination. At least then you know what is involved and how thorough the examiner is checking your car. But if you have no time to wait around and watch you could do two things: ask your own mechanic to take your car in for an MOT, or, have your car checked by your mechanic before your MOT to assess what the potential failures could be and possibly fix.

If anyone else has a similar story, please feel free to share?

Let me set the scene…my wife meets up with an old girlfriend at the pub after work. She parks in the carpark directly opposite her friend’s car. The girls have a light beverage, then leave the pub and walk to their cars only to find that my wife’s car has rolled forward and into the front of her friend’s car…oops!

This example shows that you need to pay particular attention to the the tension of your handbrake. My wife said that she thought she had pulled the handbrake all the way up, but in fact it was just one click away from the top. It came to light that for a while she was parking without the handbrake on full because she thought that she had raised it high enough according to how tight it felt to her. That last click would have been very tight and so she never knew there was a “last click.”

So how do you know if your handbrake needs adjustment? The average number of handbrake clicks from down to up should be between 5 and 8. Anything above 8 could suggest that your handbrake needs to be made tighter and likewise, less than 5 clicks means it’s too tight and can cause your rear brakes to drag.

The next time you are parked on a slope make sure you have your handbrake all the way up, otherwise you could end up in an embarrasing situation like my poor wife!

I should probably say that if you have parked on a slope and realised your handbrake needs adjustment, keep you car parked in gear to help prevent it from rolling…then give me a call

Just a quick blog today. You may have noticed we are all currently going through a typical British Summertime weather system. Baking hot for days followed by rain for days, followed by sun for days, and it goes on. This is the time to be aware of the hidden dangers caused by this dry and wet period. The first showers after a dry spell will bring the oil that has accumlated on the road to the surface, this makes it potentially slippery so please take care. Even though there may not seem to be many puddles, the oily wet surface can be just as bad. My wife, who happens to be a good driver, (brownie points for me), had a slight scare today, which could only be oil on the road, I am glad she is okay.

Watch your speed limit and drive safely!

Welcome to my new blog.

This is the first of a series of posts offering mechanical tips, do’s and don’t's and a little bit of fun to! If your a bit of a piston head I invite you to post your comments and any tips also. If you have any useful advice for other readers or for the novice mechanic, your comments and pictures would be helpful.

I would love to hear from anyone who is doing their own engine conversion, or customising your car. How is it going? What problems have you encountered and what advice can you give others thinking of doing the same. Send me your comments and any pictures.

Look forward to blogging some more soon!

The Panic Mechanic