Club 80-90 Forums

Caravelle failed MOT today.

Failed on no front-side lights when ignition is off. They do work when ignition is on. So if they work through ignition but not otherwise where should I be looking? (They may not of been connected properly when pre owner had respray) Annoying as I run round checking all the lights but obviously the engine was running!

Failed on corruded brake pipe from the two rear wheels to the central connector. Would VW carry this or is it something I'd have to get made up?

Failed on (annoying little thing) tell-tale light not working on Fog-lamp switch. If I removed switch, is it a pass?

hmmmm, not great with electrickery but....brakes :-
VW may do but best get copper pipes made up (any good motor factors will have the pipe and 'flaring' tool to do them) Cheap to do too....

Hi, the only way to do the brake pipes is to make them up yourself or take them off and get a garage local to make them up for you.
As for the fog lamp switch, it needs one for the MOT and it has to have a tell tale for the MOT. New switch is the only way really.
IAN

sidelights go through same switch as headlight switch. Can understand them failing you on that since you wouldn't be able to put sidelights on in the dark without key in and lights switched on. You could as a fast measure wire those via a small dashmounted switch but better sorted really.

Pipes - yep, get em made up.

As for fog lamp, if fitted they must work so removing switch won't help there.

You could always replace the bulb in the switch...!

For the sidelights, check the grey/black and grey/red leads from the sidelights are connected to fuse numbers 1 and 2 (The sidelight fuses), in that order.
Sounds like they have been connected to 3 and 4 instead (The Headlamp fuses).

Have you checked the right sidelight bulbs. Get this one all the time and people have change headlight bulb not knowing the sidelights are a 5w peanut bulb. Just a though. If bulb o.k do you have feed to bulb holders. Contacts corroded etc.
Tell tale needs to work, could wire up a seperate light to indicate the fog is on. cheap and easy fix. only need the feed from fog switch and earth. mount it on the dash. job done.
Brake pipes are easy fix as. Take pipes of and take to local motor factors/garage and they will make them to your existing ones.
good luck.

Check the fog light connection under the dash housing hasn't just gone fluffy from condensation and little use!

..unless your one of the millions of people that put their fogs on at the slightest mist and then NEVER turn them off.

Unless you can make them (successfully) yourself or know you can trust the garage ... there really are good ones out there ... often it's best to ask for a quote for the garage to replace the iffy ones and if you're thinking of the future perhaps replace the lot so you know they're OK for years to come. Then grease the flexy hose ferrules every now and then as part of your service routine and they should outlive the rest of the van.

Sorry can't help on the lights.

Ian

I have never actually heard of a brake pipe failure, but corrossion on them is best avoided. These old buses will inevitabily have a few areas with a few scabs. Best clean them up a bit with some wire wool, then paint with waxoyl underseal, then they will look as good as new, and will pass an mot as they are.

Give us a shout if you need pipes making as all the stuff here.

Try to avoid just cleaning and painting brake pipes. This will not repair already corroded pipe. Brake pipes do and will burst and then try stopping your bus. If they have failed the test then they need changing, might be a pain in the ass but you need to get them done. Of course this is just my opinion from my own experiences.

Like big red bus says metal brake pipes do and will pop. I have been an MOT tester for longer than I can remember and have had metal brake pipes pop on the rollers a few times. Don't clean them up, if corroded and pitted change them, you never know just how deep the rot is..
IAN

I was talking about scabs, not corrosion. But covering them with waxoyl stops the corossion, with an mot there is a visual inspection and the application of waxoyl improves the overall impression of the vehicle.

Scabs and corrsion are the same thing surely? Yes waxoyl makes everything look better but can cover dangerous things up too. On the MOT test we are able to carry out 'light scraping' to assess metal brake pipes.
Sometimes to much underseal/ waxoyl just makes you that little more suspicious.

I hate changing brake pipes at the best of times and in fact, two days after I first got my Caravelle, I changed every one for copper ones and got the whole job over and done with in one go. Never regretted it. With most cars its hardly worth the effort since lots trade their cars in within two years but I knew damned well I'd be hanging on to the wedge for a good few years so £50 for a copper set seemed a wise investment.

Pig of a job though - some of those long pipes are in awkward spots to get at, but at least it won't be a repeat exercise in say two years time. My advice is fit copper throughout if you can afford it - at some point. And yes, after doing so many pipe changes dating back to mid 80s, I've seen several fail almost catastrophically. Cut corners where you like, but NEVER EVER on safety. I like to know I can stop in one hell of a hurry if I really had to.