I see alot of people pointing out the brake pipes should really be replaced (i know this) but the guy at the garage told me to just try cleaning them up first as thats what he does and its usually enough. If it fails on them again then obviously i will change them, and even if it passes i will change them asap.

I love your "get the job done attitude" this is a car, not your master and you are a boy who needs his toys, you are no slave to this piece of metal. I hope you pass the MOT !

Those ford zetec engines are usually some of the best in my opinion, I work at a breakers yard and every single one I've stripped down has the honing marks still on the cylinder walls with no lip at the top of the bore from wear. If you get your finger and feel the top of the bore a worn engine would have a lip usually about one cm down where the rings don't quite rub to the top. The always have smooth cam lobes as well, I've taken apart some with over 200k on the clock and they always amaze me how good they are inside, same with the black top and st170 engines. Seeing it first hand they are some of the most reliable engines imho.

That is some dirty looking oil for a petrol car looks like it's a diesel and I've never seen a filter as rusty as that must be 5 years plus I think the emission will be way better with just new oil

I get where your coming from on the brake lines, however after years of driving, there are two things on any car you should never try save money on, both items are tyres and braking system. Last defence between you and the road. Nice little motor!

I’m not trying to be one of those know it all KZread commenters but if I would have seen that oil filter when buyer that car I wouldn’t have touched that car with a barge pole looks to me the oil hasn’t been changed in 5 years or so probably done irreversible internal damage

Hi, my comments are based upon my being an MOT tester for over 20 years. Years ago a corroded brake pipe would fail if pitted by corrosion. Then as is the case either someone complains or whatever about them failing. The argument was how far do we know the corrosion has gone. So we then were told to advise. The criteria is now excessively corroded. Yours were clearly not excessively corroded. A simple advisory was required. The emissions. You did not state what the print out said. If it passed the hc co and lambda to the limits the only other criteria is if after the fast idle on return to idle that the engine emits DENSE blue or black smoke for over 5 seconds, and also during fast hard acceleration the engine produces excessive blue or black smoke which obscures other road users vision. Now that's an awful lot of smoke and in reality an engine that bad would likely fail all the other required limits. So from my point of view it is like certain testers are taking their own personal view and not just applying the correct standards. I suggest when you take a vehicle and are presented with a list of failure items that you go to the government website and read the failure items. Then discuss it with the tester. If you have brake pipes for instance ask the question are they EXCESSIVELY corroded? If they say no, then you are in your right to object. As far as your car if they failed for excessive corrosion and you clean and paint them. It is obvious enough that they are the same pipes. So if he decided they were excessively corroded before how can he pass them after? The answer is they weren't a fail in the first place!

Rough brake pipes can 'pinhole' or fracture where the wall of the pipe thins out due to corrosion. Fairly straightforward job to replace them on the Fiesta.

It amazes me that some people still don't recognize the necessity of changing the oil in their vehicles. I agree with you, that oil change was done at least two years ago, and now the engine smokes as a result.

You should really take the oil filler cap off when draining the oil to lessen the chance of a vacuum in the engine preventing all the oil draining out.

I would say that oil filter ia between 4 and 8 years old, that's the problem, people cut corners to save money.

That oil looks like the oil I see when I drain my TDIs, and that is bad for a petrol engine. Also I have never ever have seen an oil filter with that amount of rust. BTW when I get a "new" (used ofkorz I cannot afford a real new car) the first thing I do is an oil change. Also do not forget to replace the air filter.

Unipart went bust years ago so I'd say it's probably at least 5 years since it had an oil change if not more

change them brake lines you wont believe how thin they are when they go rusty give em a good shake to see if they break

Something worth doing with oil changes is having a funnel of some kind so you don't spill oil all over your engine. You could buy one, or you could use an old 2l bottle and some superglue like I did. Cost me nothing and keeps the engine nice and clean. All you do is cut the top off, then cut a bit of the middle out and stick it through the hole in the top, then glue it together so it seals and doesn't leak. Stop smoke does work though, I had to use it on my old diesel when it started smoking and the wynns cleared it up. Good luck with the retest.

Interesting adding that oil additive. Making the oil thicker makes me just think why not just buy 10w-30 instead of 5w-30? Unless it works differently then what I am thinking.

That oil didn't look like it has been changed for years so I'd have recommended a flush to get a lot of the gunk out. as the engine is pretty high mileage for that type of engine it's best to go for a thicker, high viscosity oil

They will still fail the car on the corroded brake pipes mate regardless of new paint they will want to see new pipes installed guaranteed .

The lack of regular servicing will most likely explain the smoking. The old oil will have broken down and got thinner with age so you might not have needed the stop smoke additive. Please change the air filter ASAP as that will probably be clogged for the same reason. It WILL help with the emissions (not to mention the fuel consumption). I change my engine oil every 6 months (I'm about to do the oil change on the Citroen) and the annual service and fuel treatment just prior to the MoT. Don't forget to chuck a bottle of Redex in the tank to clean out the fuel system.

Congratulations on the MOT pass today!! Well done mate the failure sheet always looks worse than it is.