Criminal MOT welding work by garage - opinions?

[ignoramus]

Hiya, I learnt to weld earlier in the summer to get my mk6 Transit through its MOT. It failed on a part of one of the rear leaf hangers the year before and a local garage welded it for me. They used self tappers to pin a plate in and then welded it in (or so it seemed) before undersealing over it. I took the self tappers out as they were in my way - and it turns out they hadn't even f***ing welded the plate on. With the screws out half of the patch was loose (as you'll see in the video below). Underneath the patch looked exactly how it did when it went in the garage - rust and old factory underseal. Half of the stitching was directly on to factory underseal. So it just burnt/melted that and didn't touch the steel underneath. I was promised they would chop out the old metal and replace with fresh stuff. They didn't even grind the underseal off let alone the rust.

That is bad enough but they also did two much bigger bits at the same time on the chassis rails, directly above the axle. I want to take that back to see what's going on but if I uncover something awful setting up the weld station is a big job and weather dependent, and I need to be able to drive the van. If you discovered what I did on the leaf hanger, what would you do? I'm 100% going to complain and fight for a refund on that. But should I grind back the chassis rail patches? Or have it inspected by someone else? I'm far from an expert in motors or welding.

Thanks in advance. I don't think I could have pulled off my MOT without this forum. Absolute legends

Photos to follow

 

[ignoramus]

This is what was underneath their patch on the leaf hanger

 

[Richard Stowe]

sounds like they need to be shut down

 

[ignoramus]

 

[tom2207]

Trust me ,, if thats the worst you encounter you are getting off lightly . Some of the repairs Ive seen on land rover chassis would make you weep.
Its clearer having watched the video ,,
Its whats known as '' Saturday Night Welding ''.


the rest of us call it Lack of Penetration . [lop] its an easy mistake for new welders as it actually can look ok when its cleaned back and painted .

 

[ignoramus]

Trust me ,, if thats the worst you encounter you are getting off lightly . Some of the repairs Ive seen on land rover chassis would make you weep.

It would be different if I bought the van and discovered previous bodges. But this garage failed the van on this bit, didn't even fix it, covered it up, and charged me £45 an hour for it plus materials. I honestly think you could do the job they did in 10 minutes.

They fail it because it's "unsafe." Then charge me, to not fix it, and give me a ticket saying it's "safe." I reckon that's probably actually criminal. If it was "dangerous" as claimed and then have me driving it around for a year without being fixed. If it wasn't dangerous they were milking the MOT for extra work.

 

[ignoramus]

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[tom2207]

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View attachment 417268

now that is extracting urine.

 

[ignoramus]

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[ignoramus]

now that is extracting urine.

I've always assumed there was an explanation for it looking so ****. Like they did a full seam weld and grinded it flat. Then put a few blobs on for... some reason?

This is such a major structural piece I can't quite believe they'd do such a visibly shoddy job of it. But then I wouldn't believe what would be under that leaf hanger patch...

 

[tom2207]

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View attachment 417269

Its a lot worse from that angle ,,the lower edges may actually not be as bad as they look , but the top row of spots would not be back in the original manufactures methods , I cant remember the exact words , but basically its like for like , ie if it was spot welded from new then it can be spot welded for mot ,, Over there .
Here its simple ,,, all welds must be seam welded and left bare for inspection on a retest. And now you can see why its that way.

 

[tom2207]

I've always assumed there was an explanation for it looking so ****. Like they did a full seam weld and grinded it flat. Then put a few blobs on for... some reason?

This is such a major structural piece I can't quite believe they'd do such a visibly shoddy job of it. But then I wouldn't believe what would be under that leaf hanger patch...

maybe there is a seam along the top , theres a row of something , maybe they plug welded a strip on and seam welded to the new better edge ,,, you wouldnt know until its cleaned back , but the day you do that is the day you will be repairing it properly ,,, its not a good job , but it got a ticket so in someones eyes its ok.

 

[ignoramus]

maybe there is a seam along the top , theres a row of something , maybe they plug welded a strip on and seam welded to the new better edge ,,, you wouldnt know until its cleaned back , but the day you do that is the day you will be repairing it properly ,,, its not a good job , but it got a ticket so in someones eyes its ok.

It was the same garage that failed it, welded it, and then passed it. The ticket is meaningless to me if that hanger patch turned my van from "dangerous" to "roadworthy." Given it was doing, literally, nothing.

That's my fear about going digging under there. Setting up my weld station is a big job and weather dependent.

Edit: however the sooner the better I make my formal complaint

 

[gaz1]

did you ask them to get it through for you this time just to get back on your feet

end of covid you needed the vehicle

and what was the cost of the so called welding

pre covid van same comment cost 1000.00

 

[gaz1]

some more pics and the external sill wanted doing as well down the side of the van

 

[Gritineye]

If they MOTed their own work I'd be sending those pics to whoever has power to prevent them doing any more MOTs.

 

[tom2207]

trouble is that doing '' nice '' repairs takes time , time equates to money ,,
now if the customer wants a nice job and will spend money , no prob , if the end product is worth the repair rice everyones happy .
throw in a low value vehicle and a customer wanting a cheap patch just to get another year and the rules change .
I personally repair to one standard , mine. If folk want to pay the price I want to repair to that standard thats great , if you want cheap and nasty there are two Polish guys working out of a barn down the road , that will get you by . But as Ive mentioned often here , all mot testing is done in government run test stations so theres no back handers etc etc .
Some days I curse the system here but its a lot less corruptible , Ive just spent 3 days doing front sills on a little Dihatsu sporty thing , and the repairs came to half the value of the car ,,, was it worth it ??? well to the cars owner yes.
I often point to the welder and explain to people

Its a welder ,,, not a wand.

 

[ignoramus]

did you ask them to get it through for you this time just to get back on your feet

end of covid you needed the vehicle

and what was the cost of the so called welding

pre covid van same comment cost 1000.00

There was no agreement of bodging it or minimum work for minimum price or anything. It failed on those three bits, I asked for a quote to repair them. I asked if the quote was to patch over the rot or to chop it out and replace. The owner said they never patch over stuff as the rot will just creep around it. The welding ended up costing just over £250 in labour and materials. Cheaper than I was expecting. But doesn't excuse the workmanship.

I also got a quote to have the whole thing undersealed. £100 they said. No chance that'll be a proper job I thought, so said just repair the rotten bits and I'll underseal it myself some time.
When I got it back, they had undersealed it. I wasn't over the moon but at first glance looked good and I thought at least its protected now. Paid them for it all. Later on actually had a proper look and it was an embarrassingly bad job. No prep whatsoever. There was wet mud and grass underneath the underseal. I demanded a refund. They eventually gave me 80 of the 100 back.

 

[ignoramus]

trouble is that doing '' nice '' repairs takes time , time equates to money ,,
now if the customer wants a nice job and will spend money , no prob , if the end product is worth the repair rice everyones happy .
throw in a low value vehicle and a customer wanting a cheap patch just to get another year and the rules change .
I personally repair to one standard , mine. If folk want to pay the price I want to repair to that standard thats great , if you want cheap and nasty there are two Polish guys working out of a barn down the road , that will get you by . But as Ive mentioned often here , all mot testing is done in government run test stations so theres no back handers etc etc .
Some days I curse the system here but its a lot less corruptible , Ive just spent 3 days doing front sills on a little Dihatsu sporty thing , and the repairs came to half the value of the car ,,, was it worth it ??? well to the cars owner yes.

I agree 100%. Working on my van has shown me what a pig of a job it can be. But what's in that video is not "cheap and nasty" it's literally not been done. You cannot call that a repair in any sense of the word. It did not make a jot of difference structurally. It's the equivalent of filling holes with filler and underseal.

They failed my MOT on it, charged me to cover it in ****, while being no stronger than before, and then said it was roadworthy.

 

[tom2207]

I agree 100%. Working on my van has shown me what a pig of a job it can be. But what's in that video is not "cheap and nasty" it's literally not been done. You cannot call that a repair in any sense of the word. It did not make a jot of difference structurally. It's the equivalent of filling holes with filler and underseal.

They failed my MOT on it, charged me to cover it in ****, while being no stronger than before, and then said it was roadworthy.

While I may , or may not agree its not my opinion that counts , in their eyes and certified opinion it changed enough to go from an un roadworthy state , to a roadworthy state ,,, and they issued the cert to prove it.
Be that right or wrong , its how it is.

And no Im not just looking for an argument ,,,, this sort of thing hacks me off but its how some folk make a living day in and day out.