Hi, car had its MOT yesterday and failed reasons being

1) Offside rear brake binding

Could be rusted up springs, adjuster seized, drum rusty, cable corroded.

Cost to repair : any competent mechanic will investigate BOTH sides for safety. So at least 1 hour's time.

Plus Parts which could be anything from zero to £say £25.. or more.

Minimum £75 I would say.

2) Front brake imbalance 27%

Could be partially seized piston or rusted pad in slides or only one pad working or clapped out disk. Both sides again.

Minimum 1 hour plus parts £0 to £60 (diskks and pads)

Minimum £60++++

3) Rear exhaust has major leak

4) Exhaust emissions lambda reading after 2nd fast idle outside specified limits

Now they have quoted me 70 quid to sort the exhaust and said this will prob fix the emissions problem, but couldn't give me a quote on the brakes as they said it need "investigating". What are the likely causes and can anyone give me a rough guess at how much its gonna cost me. Is 27% bad? car doesn't pull either way at all when braking not even with hands off the wheel

If front brake is out of balance and rar brake does not work to compensate for it.. you would not know until you braked hard at speed or in wet or on gravel.27% is BAD...enough to spin you round in difficult conditions AND impair braking distances.

To be blunt, driving a car in that state with a amjor exhaust leak shows a blatant disregard for your own safety , let alone that of others.. All you need is fumes to be drawn in via a defective seal on a long journey and you slowly fall dozy through carbon monoxide poisoning, try to brake hard and slew across the road .. and a serious accident.

Your insurance is probably invalid at present.

Edited by madf on 16/09/2010 at 14:56