Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Morgan Aero 8, 2012< Plus 8, SuperSports, Coupe & Aeromax Morgan's & MOT's

My hardly driven +8 has had another MOT failure today.. 5 years old, 19,000 miles and 4 MOT failures under it's belt.

1. Parking brake
2. Parking brake
3. Main beam tell-tale not working
4. Parking brake/windscreen washer (never used)

This is the same number of fails as my 15 year old 140,000 mile Range Rover.

Maybe it's a Morgan thing?

I rarely use the parking brake - no need. Could this be the reason it regularly fails as 'efficiency below requirements'?

Parking brake is a common issue on the Aeros as it is a different caliper/disc I am afraid. I would hesitate to say my local MoT garage allows a degree of latitude on some points (side pipes being one of them) however this might be one they have seen before.
Cabling behind the dash is very tight and so the tell tales will sometimes glow when the car is off among other things. Dropping the dash is a task for the brave (with really tiny fingers)
Parking Brake/windscreen washer ? How are these linked ? If it is just the windscreen washer then that is also common on the earlier cars as the pipes used to come apart and dribble the water into footwell, refill the bottle and look for wet carpets and around the bulkhead on the floor.

Yes it is a Morgan thing. We all get a little leaky in our older age apparently.

I had a similar thing with the parking brake on my Jaguar XK120 years ago.

I found if I drove it to the MOT station with the handbrake dragging ON for the last few hundred yards it would heat up the shoes enough to improve their performance while they were being tested.

It would only work if you have a booked time slot though as they cool after a while and revert to being crap!

Not linked - just failed on 2 items.

I wonder what adjustment is made to enable the parking brake to pass an MOT and whether this could be done before each MOT?

It is usually a simple cable tighten and check. They also often get a bit rusty if you have not used them.

Prior to taking the S2/Coupe into the MoT bay I give it a good hard run and use of the brakes. As part of it I use the handbrake to slow me down a few times, this cleans off the surface. Then I ask them to adjust the brakes prior to the MoT. They are friendly and have been doing the small stuff on my cars for ages so they do the sensible thing, but never brake a rule as they value the MoT revenue.

Think you have summed it up in "hardly driven"

Brakes need to be used to keep them in good shape.

Well I am not going to trust it to keep the car still in the garage over any period, that would be just plain silly. Bricks do a more reliable job and avoid the brakes grabbing or the pads sticking to the disc etc etc. So when you do come to use them in anger (like at the shops when its running) then they can be a little fussy

I love it really, the same way the ever patient wife loves me.

First MOT coming up end of next week for the N plus 8 , see how KH deals with any issues , everything works but handbrakes on most cars are rubbish !

Everyone should have e a friendly MOT guy Neil

and a deaf one if you have dual sidepipes.