6 trouble free months, MOT now due...

[coolasacucumber]

My wife has thoroughly enjoyed the first 6 months ownership of her 1.6 CC, especially with the weather being such at the moment!

The MOT is due in 3 weeks, so I am planning on being a good boy and getting it done early. I'm booked into one of the local council MOT centres after hearing lots of good things about them, i.e, they aren't a repair garage, so have no reason to fail the car with the hope of securing the repair themselves. It's booked for next Thursday.

The slight downside is the MOT is £54. if it fails on something minor, I can do it & take it back for the re test the following day without charge. If it needs something more major, you have 10 days to get it sorted and then have to pay 50% more of the MOT fee to get it re-tested.

The other slight spanner in the works... In my ignorance, I assumed that the service was due annually. It was last serviced in early Aug '12, on 101k. It is now only on 105k, and 11 months later. I was going to use my local friendly mechanic who I've used for years, he comes to me etc etc, takes it for the MOT, and sorts whatever needs sorting, and to service it at the same time.

I'm now in a bit of a quandry of what to do. I know that the exhaust is blowing a bit (taking it to National Auto Centre for a diagnosis), it sounds like one of the brakes is seized on (a slight metallic squeal), but there is nothing else that i know that needs attention.

I may have to replace the exhaust, or just tape it up if possible, and the Auto Centre can advise on the brakes, but should I ask my mechanic friend to give it a good once over, to hopefully save the £27 re-test fee?

And I guess it doesn't need servicing then as the book says 2 years or 20k miles? Although I may do an oil change just to be on the safe side...

Any words of wisdom would be most gratefully received!

[EdmundIJones]

My mechanic mate who does this for me always books the car in for an MOT first thing, finds out if it fails, then fixes the problems that get flagged and takes it back to be checked the next day to pass. All things being okay he then does the service, but I've started doing that bit myself now on the Pug as it's all quite easy - just takes some confidence.

[coolasacucumber]

Thanks for the reply - is the service interval of 2 years ok, especially with the mileage being over 100k? Feels like a long time to leave it! I may have a go at servicing it myself, just need to work out when to tackle it...

[coolasacucumber]

So good I thought I'd ask twice...

[EdmundIJones]

It should tell you when it needs a service in miles on the dash, however, I'd still service it every year to be safe.

[GrandadMonkey]

Ours has done 29,000 miles, i.e. less than 4,000 miles p.a. It gets an oil and filter change every year using Total Quartz 9000 5w40 oil and a genuine Peugeot filter. Brake fluid should be renewed every 2 years but ours gets done every 3 years. The pollen filter has been renewed once (just hoovered at other times), the spark plugs and air-filter should last 4 years or 40,000 miles and I replaced them this year. Tyre pressures get checked monthly when I top-up the washer fluid too. The air-con was serviced at 4 years old and it still works perfectly. Wiper blades have been replaced once but I leave them off the screen when the car is in the garage to avoid blade deformation - it works. So as you can see there isn't an awful lot to do.

As you are aware of brake and exhaust issues why don't you get your local friendly mechanic to do an oil and filter change and give it the once over and arrange for the MOT as you usually do. If there is work needed on the brakes and/or exhaust I'm sure he'd do it before taking it for the MOT test. Basic things like lubricating door hinges and inspecting drive shaft boots can be done at the same time.

The only other thing, but an important one, is the cam-belt. Has it been renewed along with the pulleys, water-pump and fresh coolant? If not it needs doing now. Every 10 years or 100,000 miles on the 1.6 whichever comes soonest.

[coolasacucumber]

Grandadmonkey, what a fantastic reply, very comprehensive, thank you.

The service history that I have shows that the cam belt was changed at 80k, but doesn't mention the pulleys & water pump, but to be fair I don't have a receipt, it is just written by the garage stamp in the service record book.

I think what you recommend is a good course of action. I'm going to take it to the exhaust place this morning to ask them to check it out, if it just needs a new hanger or a bit of gungum I'll give it a go, but the brakes I don't feel qualified to tackle, so I think asking my mechanic to give it a going over & oil change would be for the best.

Funny that you mention aircon, this has never been cold since we bought it (but in January it's tough to check if it's working properly...!) Are these systems known to suffer badly from leaks/cracks etc, obviously it would be nice if it 'only' needed a re-gas, but, my wife never uses aircon, like, never, so I'm not sure it's worth looking into.

[GrandadMonkey]

If you don't use the air-con then the seals in the system dry out and the air-con won't work then. The air-con should be run for at least 10 minutes at least once a month to stop this happening.

If it hasn't been used for 6 months then I doubt very much that a re-gas would sort it - you'd probably be wasting your money but at £50 you may think it worth a try. But if you're unlikely to ever use it why bother?

If the cam-belt was changed at 80k I wouldn't worry about the pulleys and water pump now. If you get any strange rattles or coolant loss just bear in mind that they may not have been renewed.

Good luck with the MOT, let us know how you get on.