Thread: Advice - Pre-purchase inspection opinions - 1996 110

Originally Posted by Walshy25

I have just spoken with themechanic and here is where we are at cost estimate wise, he explained these areall safety certificate items in his opinion:

-Ball swivels seals leaking oil (6-7 hrs work to replace seals repackoil/grease)
- Tierod end boots split (replacement of tie rod ends)
-Front drive shaft uni joints worn (replacement of x2 joints required)
- Aframe ball joint boot split (replace)
-Water pump housing leaking at block (itemised at $400, gasket, shave and refit+ new coolant)
-Rear diff pinion seal leak ? (replace)

$2550total cost


Sound reasonable, considering I'll be asking the owner to cover most of this?

You could ask the owner all these need doing and reduce the price of the car to suit with his safety certificate .
Then approach said mob who did the safety test and inform them you want these problems fixed or you report them
You get your Defer cheaper and you get it fixed for nothing easy peasy

Originally Posted by rangieman

You could ask the owner all these need doing and reduce the price of the car to suit with his safety certificate .
Then approach said mob who did the safety test and inform them you want these problems fixed or you report them
You get your Defer cheaper and you get it fixed for nothing easy peasy

That's being a bit of a bell end don't you think. If you shaft testing garages like this you will encourage over zealous inspections, and I mean seriously ridiculous reports where they cover their ass on everything and render your old landy unsalable.

Negotiate a reduction on the sale price to cover the costs on the repairs you think are a must. You get a RWC, use it to transfer registration without kicking up a fuss with VicRoads+tester or it might come back to bite you in the ass.

I think 6/7 hours for front ball seals is a bit high, any one agree? You can unbolt the whole swivel from the axel with drive shaft still attached, slide on the seal from the back and bolt it back on.

Originally Posted by manic

That's being a bit of a bell end don't you think. If you shaft testing garages like this you will encourage over zealous inspections, and I mean seriously ridiculous reports where they cover their ass on everything and render your old landy unsalable.

Negotiate a reduction on the sale price to cover the costs on the repairs you think are a must. You get a RWC, use it to transfer registration without kicking up a fuss with VicRoads+tester or it might come back to bite you in the ass.

I think 6/7 hours for front ball seals is a bit high, any one agree? You can unbolt the whole swivel from the axel with drive shaft still attached, slide on the seal from the back and bolt it back on.

Not really it is their job when inspecting a car to do it properly before they sign off.
Clearly this mob is fraudulent and if they dont change their ways they will end up with a very heavy fine and loss of licence for testing

Originally Posted by manic

That's being a bit of a bell end don't you think. If you shaft testing garages like this you will encourage over zealous inspections, and I mean seriously ridiculous reports where they cover their ass on everything and render your old landy unsalable.

Negotiate a reduction on the sale price to cover the costs on the repairs you think are a must. You get a RWC, use it to transfer registration without kicking up a fuss with VicRoads+tester or it might come back to bite you in the ass.

I think 6/7 hours for front ball seals is a bit high, any one agree? You can unbolt the whole swivel from the axel with drive shaft still attached, slide on the seal from the back and bolt it back on.

Sorry dont agree at all. I am a fire fighter and go and pick up the pieces when it goes pear shaped. I was at the station today and a friend popped in and asked me to look at a Ford Bronco. It had a RWS and he said it looked good.. I went to look and the fire wall was made of bog right across the bottom you could have poked a screw driver threw. The carby was peeing petrol over the exhaust and the rad was leaking this was just in a 2 second inspection no idea what else could have been wrong. This was a death trap dodgy rwc can and do cost lives!!
I have seen gearboxes in the cab and rusted floor torn apart allowing this to happen no complaints for strict rwc here!!!
Chris

Originally Posted by cafe latte

Sorry dont agree at all. I am a fire fighter and go and pick up the pieces when it goes pear shaped. I was at the station today and a friend popped in and asked me to look at a Ford Bronco. It had a RWS and he said it looked good.. I went to look and the fire wall was made of bog right across the bottom you could have poked a screw driver threw. The carby was peeing petrol over the exhaust and the rad was leaking this was just in a 2 second inspection no idea what else could have been wrong. This was a death trap dodgy rwc can and do cost lives!!
I have seen gearboxes in the cab and rusted floor torn apart allowing this to happen no complaints for strict rwc here!!!
Chris

I agree in theory but it sure is nice to find a... ahem "lenient" inspector when needed especially for a Tdi that is functionally good but needs a bit of love to be presentable

Originally Posted by squizzyhunter

I agree in theory but it sure is nice to find a... ahem "lenient" inspector when needed especially for a Tdi that is functionally good but needs a bit of love to be presentable

Just to clarify that is only when buying and doing the cert for yourself!
Should be very strict if selling and most will ask the circumstance and I have appreciated a bit of leniency in the past. There are people that will lie and say they are keeping the vehicle when asked on inspection and get a "lenient" cert. For me I really like that there is still this oldschool mentality of help a battler out if he looks like he will be the one spinning the spanners on the truck and I get really annoyed when people take advantage of that unwritten oldschool bloke etiquette. Thats one aspect of it though and technically I agree that they should be 100% safe when put for sale and you should not have to second guess when buying a car with a RWC... but I love that this archaic relic of etiquette still happens from time to time in this over legislated world.
That's just my simple irrational opinion rant for the day though

Originally Posted by cafe latte

Sorry dont agree at all. I am a fire fighter and go and pick up the pieces when it goes pear shaped. I was at the station today and a friend popped in and asked me to look at a Ford Bronco. It had a RWS and he said it looked good.. I went to look and the fire wall was made of bog right across the bottom you could have poked a screw driver threw. The carby was peeing petrol over the exhaust and the rad was leaking this was just in a 2 second inspection no idea what else could have been wrong. This was a death trap dodgy rwc can and do cost lives!!
I have seen gearboxes in the cab and rusted floor torn apart allowing this to happen no complaints for strict rwc here!!!
Chris

Even as a firefighter I would be very surprised if all your cars passed a RWC from an overzealous tester. That's not to say you are driving an unsafe car. Of course the car needs to be safe, but in this case we are talking about a specific list of issues on an old defender that could be very minor indeed. I've not seen them, so I don't know.

Let me just say that the OP is doing the right thing getting it independently looked at. Thing is, a sweaty seal or an oily underbelly on a defender is not uncommon and so long as it is not slicking up the road it is not dangerous. Play in his TRE's might be so minimal as to be undetectable to everyone but the person who flagged it. If they are obviously shafted and missing it at the test was a true sin then yes complain. My point here is that you should not kick up **** if the pass/fail on these items is borderline.

I'm not talking about a death trap ford bronco or justifying any of this against emotive scenarios encountered by a firefighter. Let's not go there.

Take your car to one tester and challenge another tester to find something they missed. They will find something EVERY TIME. Keep passing that challenge along and maybe after 100 tests you will have a list so frigging long you will never have to buy toilet paper again!

Originally Posted by manic

Even as a firefighter I would be very surprised if all your cars passed a RWC from an overzealous tester. That's not to say you are driving an unsafe car. Of course the car needs to be safe, but in this case we are talking about a specific list of issues on an old defender that could be very minor indeed. I've not seen them, so I don't know.

Let me just say that the OP is doing the right thing getting it independently looked at. Thing is, a sweaty seal or an oily underbelly on a defender is not uncommon and so long as it is not slicking up the road it is not dangerous. Play in his TRE's might be so minimal as to be undetectable to everyone but the person who flagged it. If they are obviously shafted and missing it at the test was a true sin then yes complain. My point here is that you should not kick up **** if the pass/fail on these items is borderline.

I'm not talking about a death trap ford bronco or justifying any of this against emotive scenarios encountered by a firefighter. Let's not go there.

Take your car to one tester and challenge another tester to find something they missed. They will find something EVERY TIME. Keep passing that challenge along and maybe after 100 tests you will have a list so frigging long you will never have to buy toilet paper again!

You honestly have no idea
The OP stated several oil leaks that is a safety hazard to all on the roads and im a m/bike rider i know how dangerous that can be
Tie rod ends if they let go look out , Front drive shaft how would you like that letting go and taking someone out a stranger or a loved one.
Really if someone with no idea bought that and kept driving it under the impression all was good and then one of these items let go and a poor innocent was injured what then
All these can cause serious injuries if not fatal to someone