MOT's and mods opinions please

[h4pry]

Hi People,

My pride and joy ride is 4 years old on monday therefore the dreaded MOT has come around for the second time. The only visible non OEM mods I have are replica m3 mirrors and ccfl's.

Has anyone else put their car thru an mot with the ccfls in, and sidelights cable-tied in the engine bay?

Should I go thru the hasle of putting the sidelights back in just for the test?

Opinions would be appreciated [hmm

Paul

[BlackBimmerUK]

My car went through the MOT fine with my CCFLs, and I dont think you should have any problems at all. BMs come standard with Angel Eyes now. They shouldnt say anything about the bulbs in the engine either. I didnt fail any on of my mods, just my number plate :(

[Afif]

i was told you gotta shove your sidelight back in the hole to pass the mot [hmm.

[rossi46]

yep, you got to put the sidelight back in, i also think it could depend on which MOT station you go to.
the failed my MOT becos i didn't have the sidelight, i had to go back there with the sidelight put back in.
it'll only take minutes to put back in, so i'd rather then the hassle.
mind you i have to swap the whole light unit becos i had the projector46 with dde from the U.S which does not have sidelights. :(

[Stock323iSaloon]

so it will pass with side lights installed&functioning with ccfls installed but not turned on? what happens if you had BOTH ccfl and oem sidelights ON?

I'm currently using xenon 'look' side light bulbs (blue tint). Do I have to change them back to yellow oem bulbs?

[Chaos]

Any colour of sidelight should be acceptable. MoT regs state that there has to be a bulb on each side that functions seperately from the headlight, so CCFLs are bounced I guess because the rules are quite pedantic and they're not seen as 'bulbs', which is ludicrous as the 5 series has them as oem. :confused:

Personally I'd either pop them back in or, if they're cabled right down and would be a pain to redo (and depending on the MoT tester), I'd have a word and point out that you could put them back in if they really want to but you're taking them out again afterwards so what's the point. That's quite common on bikes with aftermarket skip-on exhausts and most testers will let it slide to save everyone some hassle. There's always some that want things 'as they should be' though..

[BlackBimmerUK]

I didnt seem to have any problems with my CCFLs. I think it down to the MOT station you got to.

[Tin]

had my mot a few weeks back and it passed fine, with all the mods on my car. I know a good mot station based in twickenham who are very good, real car nutters :)

[h4pry]

Thanks alot for the replys.

I think I am just going to push the side lights into the holes and fix them with some tape just for the test. That way I will not have to take the ccfl wires out and the tested should be happy :)

[CA Automotive UK]

We had a big ding dong with a local tester last year on this subject ...after much research and consensus of interpretation the conclusion was :
end of the day as long as the ccfl system is wired to come on with the side light switch then it is road legal ... MOT regs does not seem to differenciate between filament or other type of bulb so ccfl is classed as a sidelight bulb in this case .

Regarding leaving the sidelight on in the engine bay to defeat check control , there are no regs outlawing under bonnet illumination .

Our cars almost always pass MOT with angels fitted ( likewise with our xenon HID kits fitted ) .

If its not too much trouble though it probably is worth disabling the ccfl and puting in the side bulbs just in case MR " stick in the mud dont like new fangled technology " is on MOT duty that day ......

Here is another one we went through recently and seem to have resolved :

"is a car fitted with aftermarket DOT certified HID system road legal and MOT compliant if it doesn't have self levelling or headlamp power wash ?"

Anyone want to cast their opinion on this one ? Read the wording carefully if reffering to EU construction and use regs on this one .... :o

[Shuriken]

Oh dear, I hope it is ok. Having left the sidelight bulbs in place but cut the wires to hook up the CCFLs it would be an arse to have to get the sidelight bulbs working again.

To be honest, it didn't occur to me that ccfl's might fail an mot. In theory they shouldn't, because they act and fulfil the same duties as sidelights. Anyway, my brothers got his mot before me, so he'll find out for me. :p

Shuriken.

[h4pry]

For those that are interested....The car passed without a problem :)

The MOT tested actually said he liked the halo rings [cool

[BlackBimmerUK]

...thats good news :)

[Afif]

cool but did you have sidelight in the engine bay or the proper hole?

I need to put my halo back properly. They fell out cos of the rough driving on the way to pod and i didnt tape down the black box to nething [bang

[mysticm3]

If CCFL failed any MOT than should all OEM E39 angels...OEM E39 headlights with built in halos do not have any holes nor sidelight bulbs.

[h4pry]

cool but did you have sidelight in the engine bay or the proper hole?

I need to put my halo back properly. They fell out cos of the rough driving on the way to pod and i didnt tape down the black box to nething [bang


I did not bother putting the side light back in place. The ccfl's look so oem or better, I really dont know what I was worried about... :)