Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

just going over my 944 s2 - which appears to have new outer sills fitted (good), however there is a rust hole (bad) on the inner sill between the suspension mounting point and the square jacking point (assembly line socket) - do I need to sort this for an MOT ? Bit annoying as it would have been easy with the outer sills off.

Yes you do as it is in the proscribed area for seat belt mountings. Mine was horrible here, needing a vast amount of fabrication.

Thanks Jim, thought that would be the case - just seems a shame to have to cut the new sills. Never mind.

Yes as Jim says..prescribed area as a failure.

it gets better, gone through all the suspension joints with a lever to look for free play. Drivers side front wishbone ball joint totally knackered. The car has done less than 3K miles in 3 years - so 3 MOTs, makes you wonder the quality of some MOT testers.

Nothing that surprising TBH! My old Stag had had a pass and no advisories for 5 years (including a Peugeot dealer) until I got it. OK, my mechanical know how could be better but it failed on things that have not been touched for years including:

Test date 5 October 2011 Test Result Fail Odometer reading 33,998 miles MOT test number 3055 5857 1412 Reason(s) for failure
Nearside Headlamp aim too high (1. - Sealed beams over normal lights
Offside Headlamp aim too low (1. - Sealed beams over normal lights
Windscreen washer provides insufficient washer liquid (8.2.3) - One way valve completely missing, and the bottle was shot when I got the car
Nearside Inner Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2) - I ended up changing an outrigger part of the floor and inner sill (part of) on both sides of the car
Offside Inner Vehicle structure has excessive corrosion, seriously affecting its strength within 30cm of the body mountings (6.1.B.2)
Rear Exhaust has part of the system excessively deteriorated (7.1.1a) - Clamp was missing and appeared to have been for years
Upper Steering column universal joint has excessive play (2.1.5) - It wasn't this (but the new unit did feel tighter despite the old one having no play) but the steering did have loads of play - you'd have thought it had a steering box!
Parking brake: efficiency below requirements (3.7.B.7)
Advisory notice item(s)
Steering system has slight free play detected at steering wheel (2.2.A.1b)
odd brake hoses fitted - I only fitted two braided hoses at the time ; the brakes between the last MOT and this one required a new wheel cylinder, brake hoses (they had collapsed, hence why I only changed two for diagnosis purposes), servo was leaking badly and the master cylinder was shot ; Yup, the car had practically no brakes when I bought it, but it passed every MOT before then for about 4 years.

I shouldn't speak ill of the dead but the car was owned by a well known owners' club member. So much for buying within the club...

To be fair, the tester may have thought the play was down to the bearing being a taper bearing. I know my tester was saying that taper bearings must have an amount of play (not much though) in order to operate and last ; I tightened mine on the 944 a little too much (but still able to move the spacer, just) so that there was near enough no play present).

You have to understand that an MoT test is a basic safety check, which for the most part is only valid on the day of issue. A ball joint, for example, has to be in danger of imminent collapse or seriously affecting the driver's control of the vehicle before being deemed a failure.

Definitely. However, most testers who spot something on the way out will tend to make it an advisory over the years at least, even a tester I have known for years follows this principle.

thanks for the replies - interesting answer re-condition of ball joint. Leaves a lot of wriggle room for the testers and probably explains why some testers think something is OK but another will say no. I would rather anything debatable was put on an advisory. Otherwise people don't really have an idea of the state of their car.

One small question...just how bad is the inner sill? I ask as it is possible to repair this area if it hasn't traveled up too far. You won't really know the answer to this until you start cutting metal but if not to far and if the work is thought out and done in the right order it is possible to repair the inner sill without cutting out the good front sill....

Pete

I have now removed all the outer sill. I thought (was told) it was new - nope - just bits of tin can welded(ish) and glued in with sealant and body filler (I should have known better) Anyway the inner sill is not too bad. Rot is just around the rear lifting point. I will cut it all back to the wheel arch and up above the floor panel to get a good starting point. Front part is just a little bit of surface rust now ground out with a dremel. Ordered new sills from classiccarpartsandpanels, not original but look pretty good.