W123 rot after recent MOT!!

[NUTTYNICK]

I bought my latest W123 about a month ago, and it had the usual water in the footwells. I lifted the carpets but it was so mucky I couldn't really get a good look at how much rot was there. Having been MOT'd at the end of September I thought it wouldn't have much. Once I'd drained the water and sealed the sunroof I pulled al the carpets out and found lots of holes, even more when I got the rotary wire brush out! Not happy with the last MOT though so I'll be giving it a very good look over! Then it'll be off to the welders asap

 

[star]

To be fair, unless all the carpetsand plastic trims were removed at the time of testing, how could the tester see the rust??

 

[brandwooddixon]

Testers only check for rust in chassis and body from the outside.
It doesn't look, to me, as if any of your holes have perforated to the outside of the vehicle.

 

[NUTTYNICK]

If he'd lifted the carpets and had a poke around he'd have found them easy, the carpets weren't stuck down over the rot. I thought they would have checked around the area of the seat belt mount as it's an MOT failure?

 

[jberks]

If he'd lifted the carpets and had a poke around he'd have found them easy, the carpets weren't stuck down over the rot. I thought they would have checked around the area of the seat belt mount as it's an MOT failure?

On most cars this area isn't visible and MOT stations can't start stripping down the interior trim, so their seatbelt checks will probbaly entail a quick tug on the attachments. If it doesn't come away in their hands, it passes.

 

[stever]

Well, my W123 failed its MOT a couple of years back for precisely this problem - corrosion to the inner sills close to the seatbelt mount. I guess my tester was a little more thorough!

Happily, welding in new inner sills wasn't particularly expensive. I also fixed the water leaks to prevent a repeat of the problem.