Fog light

[gaijin]

Failed the mot N Ireland Had the mod done to put the fog light into a brake light Worked fine Was told car failed,because the fog light is not 100mm from the next light ??? Argued for 25 minutes on this Manager showed me the (NI) regulations It makes no sense to me at all So now have to revert to an external lamp Not happy to say the least 

[Bender]

8 minutes ago, gaijin said:

Failed the mot N Ireland Had the mod done to put the fog light into a brake light Worked fine Was told car failed,because the fog light is not 100mm from the next light ??? Argued for 25 minutes on this Manager showed me the (NI) regulations It makes no sense to me at all So now have to revert to an external lamp Not happy to say the least 

Just go somewhere else 

[gaijin]

Government run here Bender Everything on the computer record I cannot fathom the reasoning of this

[rider]

The 1989 regs on fog lights do state there must be 100mm between lights which I assume the Supra lights meet as the UK spec cars have the same light clusters just with lenses in a different orientation. My jspec has one of the brake lights converted to the rear fog lights and it's passed every MOT like that since 1999. Time to get your ruler out and measure between the filaments which would be the centre of the bulb socket to the centre of the next bulb socket. That has to be more than 100mm otherwise UK spec Supras don't meet the regs.

Edited May 20, 2021 by rider (see edit history)

[chaoticentity]

26 minutes ago, rider said:

The 1989 regs on fog lights do state there must be 100mm between lights which I assume the Supra lights meet as the UK spec cars have the same light clusters just with lenses in a different orientation. My jspec has one of the brake lights converted to the rear fog lights and it's passed every MOT like that since 1999. Time to get your ruler out and measure between the filaments which would be the centre of the bulb socket to the centre of the next bulb socket. That has to be more than 100mm otherwise UK spec Supras don't meet the regs.

UK supras have the red lights in the clusters separated unlike Jspecs which have the two together (orange, red, white, red vs orange, red, red, white for the passenger side cluster). I assume because the distance needed to be increased to meet the regs. 

[gaijin]

You have a good point Rider Measuring between the filaments The regulation doesn’t state a physical gap between the actual lens;as the gap is between the lights, which has to refer to the bulb, as this is the light source Think I will be paying the manager of the centre a visit Thankyou Rider

[rider]

There is in the 1989 statute no requirement on the wattage just the it must be a red light and 100mm from any other light source. That is it. So unless the statute has been updated by the NI legislature then its all bollocks as there is no reason why they would not pass the MOT in England. If you read the government link I listed that details all requirements for fog lights under uk law which these days sometimes only means England and Wales.

[gaijin]

Oh feck Chaoticentity Thought the clusters were the same on j spec and U.K. Might have to swallow my pride

[chaoticentity]

3 minutes ago, gaijin said:

Oh feck Chaoticentity Thought the clusters were the same on j spec and U.K. Might have to swallow my pride

To be clear, I don't know if a Jspec with the two side by side reds are 100mm apart. Just that euro specs (And thus Uk specs) had the red lights separated. Worth measuring out and trying to argue the point if it's close enough. 

[gaijin]

I read the link Rider and it’s the same as the manager gave me a copy of Thanks for your help Have to get to the bottom of this 

[rider]

The lenses must be 4" and then there is a 1/2" gap between the lenses so middle to middle is going to be quite a bit more than 100mm. I can see people running LED Heckler style rears would have issues as they tend to have lights running around the outer of the lens so they probably only have 50mm between light sources and would be contravening the letter of the law.

[gaijin]

Thanks Chaoticentity I see the difference in the clusters I still don’t get it. The guys that look after my Supra at SSI have put umpteen cars through the mot with no problems Just my flamin’ luck! 

[gaijin]

Thanks again Rider I am going to put this to the manager It makes sense to me what you are saying I’ll measure the distance between the bulbs in the morning It’s bucketing down here and has been all day Fed up and annoyed 

[Swampy442]

Just get a cheap external one, stick it on for the MOT then remove it and chuck it in the boot, thats what Ive done for every import Ive ever owned. How often do you actually use your fog light anyway? 

[gaijin]

I had an external one until this year Looks like I might have to do this Swampy I have never used the fog light Never rains or gets foggy or misty here in N Ireland Honest!

[Wishieftrottle]

Just use a different mot station. Thats it. 

[mattdavies]

9 hours ago, Swampy442 said:

Just get a cheap external one, stick it on for the MOT then remove it and chuck it in the boot, thats what Ive done for every import Ive ever owned. How often do you actually use your fog light anyway? 

I do this. 

Grab an old number plate mount it off center with the fog light on, run the wires through a grommet into the boot. 

[Tyson]

9 hours ago, Swampy442 said:

Just get a cheap external one, stick it on for the MOT then remove it and chuck it in the boot, thats what Ive done for every import Ive ever owned. How often do you actually use your fog light anyway? 

Tell me about! I even heard some unscrupulous individuals drive theirs when it's raining, makes me wince

[gaijin]

Thanks to everyone for their replies I just happened to be the one a zealot took a fancy to Not sure how I’ll proceed with this 

[rider]

40 minutes ago, gaijin said:

Thanks to everyone for their replies I just happened to be the one a zealot took a fancy to Not sure how I’ll proceed with this 

You can measure your filament to filament distance, take some pictures and appeal the fail decision to the DVLA if it should clearly have been a pass. No one can argue against a ruler measurement compared to the 1989 regulations. You can even seek action against the MOT testing station. Its all outlined on the gov website though rules may be a little different in NI. 

[gaijin]

Thanks for the advice Rider I will check the appeal procedure out I know this not a big thing, but I really feel aggrieved about it The guys at SSI over the years have done scores of this mod for Supras all over Ireland: mine is the first fail Colin at SSI is now wondering if he can ever do this conversion again if my fail will be the norm Will let you know how I get on Thanks again

[gaijin]

Update on this Took the Supra for its mot today Passed no problem I had put the fog light back on the underside of the bumper It was a different tester I turned the light on ;he barely glanced at it said ok I then explained what had happened concerning  the mod for the fog light He looked both bemused and confused and couldn’t get why it hadn’t passed in the first place The mod in the light looked ok to him Now I’m confused  

[Annabella]

Good result, wouldn't waste any confusion over it

[Swampy442]

Problem with MOTs is its entirely subjective to the tester, 2 different people, same car, different results

[Annabella]

Like VAR Swampy! 

 

 

Going to stir the anti football crew now!