Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

With regards to the foglights I understand if one of them works both of them have to work, the same with the foglights. Of course you can have a case where neither of them work, but of course the sidelights have to work unless you want a daytime MOT...

Is your car a square dash or oval? With the ovals or at least my 951 and possibly the S2 from what I remember the front fog switch has to be turned on in order for the rear foglights to work. With this being the case I'd be tempted to leave the foglights on in that case at all times in case the tester does get picky (i.e the switch works and light illuminates but the lights do not).

However, Simon (944 Man) has a fair point . But OTOH there is no mention of front fog lights in the manual...

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/

The only lights you need on a modern car to pass an MoT test are:

2 x front position lamps showing a white light.
2 x dipped beam headlamps producing the correct beam pattern and correctly aimed.
2 x main beam headlamps. There must be a telltale inside the car for these.
2 x rear position lamps showing a red light.
2 x stop lamps showing a red light to the rear.
If a centre stop lamp is fitted it must be working.
A rear fog lamp fitted to the centre or offside There must be a telltale inside the car for this.
A number plate lamp, if more than one fitted, all must work.
An amber direction indicator flashing at the correct rate on each corner. There must be a telltale for these.
A hazard warning function for the indicators with appropriate telltale. If fitted they must work.
An amber repeater lamp on the front nearside and offside flashing with the relevant indicator.
If any individual lamp contains more than light source (bulb or LED) at least 50% of them must work.

No other lamps are testable, pre '86 cars don't have to have repeaters or hazards, pre '80 don't need a rear fog lamp.

An interesting discussion. As a slight diversion, my '84 944 failed it's MoT because the headlamp washers didn't work. Are they required on that age car, or is it again a case of "if it's fitted it has to work" ?

Neither, assuming it hasn't got HIDs or LEDs, it is a muppet MOT tester, get him to read the manual!
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_170.htm

Maybe I am reading it wrong but if the car came with headlamp washers they have to work after reading the reasons for rejection. It does not state there whether they are HID specific or not.

OTOH would most testers notice, and if you were that worried how much effort would it be to knock up some blanking plates?

No, they're only testable if they are fitted in conjunction with LED or HiD dipped beams.

Wow, if that's typical of the standard of wording, I'm not surprised there's confusion, particularly if so many testers are muppets ! Under Information it says "where such systems are fitted they must work" - not explicitly restricted to HID/LED lights. But then under Inspection there's no instruction on how to test except for HID/LED but then again Reason for Rejection could be read to apply regardless of whether HIDs/LEDs are fitted.

And no car is required to have high beam lamps, or to have that function in a headlamp.

Really?

Section 1.7.3

"Check that the vehicle is securely fitted with obligatory headlamps as follows.

a matched pair of main beam headlamps and

a matched pair of dipped-beam headlamps"

They can be combined into one unit of course.

What reasons for refusal does it list? I have MOTd cars which have only had dipped beam lamps fitted.

"A missing, insecure or obviously incorrectly positioned obligatory headlamp"

Plus a list of defects.

On a 944, of course, you have two pairs of lamps that could be tested as main beams. If the ones in the bumper were missing, this would not be an rfr as long as the ones in the pop ups are operational.

The definitive manual the tester uses is available for all to see here....

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... hicles.pdf

It's not a top secret document, all car forums should have this link on a sticky.

Thanks for all the advice on this.

Looks like I will be safe provided the MOT guy knows his stuff.

Just need to coax both my wiper washers to perform for the day!