my brava ( 1.6 elx 97 r reg 72,000 miles )has just failed its m.o.t badly ! it failed on these points !
1,front drivers seat insecure ( have been told the frame has gone and have been quoted £400 for a new seat )
2,nearside headlamp aim too high
3,nearside front shock has negligable damping effect
4,offside front shock has negligable damping effect
5,nearside front brake pad less than 1.5 mm thick
6,offside front brake pad less than 1.5 mm thick
7,parking break lever,pawl mechanism pivots or mountings insecure
according to a main dealer this will all set me back around £700 ! is it worth getting it fixed or give it up as a bad job ? engine is sound had a new exhaust on it a couple of months ago

right, for the shocks and pads get yourself on www.buypartsbuy.com and get them, combined should be no more than £50 squids or thereabouts. the headlight, pop the bonnet and look directly above it there is a white phillips screw rather large and plastic... wind it down a bit and your adjustment is such an issue (or ask the mot tester to do it and bung him a couple of quid of a pint) the seat is a scrappers job, should be about £40 quid max and you can do it yourself, 4 7mm allen bolts, 2 front 2 back. and the nand break could well be resolved yourself again, its a case of taking the centre console out, not too hard (look on www.fiatboo.co.uk for a guide in the repair / modding guide section) or possibly from underneath the car, i cant rember from when ive had the interior out. but hopefully it should just be a case of tightening the bolts that hole the lever and mech in.

if you are fairly competent with a spanner you can do all of it yourself nice and easy, the hardest part would be the front shocks, so pay a small garage if you arent that confident, abut £60 - 70 should cover it.

if you were closer id offer tyo help for some beer tokens if you got the parts together and could look at the hand break situation and advise much better.

just dont go main dealers, as you can see they want to dry rape your wallet (excuse the terminology but they are)

1,front drivers seat insecure ( have been told the frame has gone and have been quoted £400 for a new seat )

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Scrapyard. Use your seat on a replacement frame.

2,nearside headlamp aim too high

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Adjust it.

3,nearside front shock has negligable damping effect
4,offside front shock has negligable damping effect

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www.shop4parts.co.uk - reasonably easy repair, if not its a kwikfit type job

5,nearside front brake pad less than 1.5 mm thick
6,offside front brake pad less than 1.5 mm thick

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www.shop4parts.co.uk - Buy it some new pads! Get them changed while the front shocks are being changed, the brakes will be off already

7.parking break lever,pawl mechanism pivots or mountings insecure

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Check the bolts are tight. Replace any missing ones.

That's a pretty good fail sheet. Nothing major on there. There are plenty of Bravas in breakers yards so you could get the whole lot from there, but I'd reccomend you get new brake pads and shocks.

thing is i am useless with a spanner and as i am relatively new to lincoln the garages up here hear a cockney voice and think pound signs ! i was quoted £16.74 for the headlight,£102.22 for the pads,£27.90 for the handbreak and the shocks were £324.30 ! the seat is stable nothing wrong with the bolts but the inside frame has gone !

lincolnbrava said:

thing is i am useless with a spanner and as i am relatively new to lincoln the garages up here hear a cockney voice and think pound signs ! i was quoted £16.74 for the headlight,£102.22 for the pads,£27.90 for the handbreak and the shocks were £324.30 ! the seat is stable nothing wrong with the bolts but the inside frame has gone !

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how much for the pads and shocks thats day light robbery!!!!

i tell you what, if you were more local id have done the lot for the price of the pads if you supplied all the parts, if not less... im guessing thats a main dealer garage?

if your not that confident then im almost certain there is someone on here thats relatively local to you that would do the work for some spending money if you got the parts, try putting a post in the leisure lounge or similar asking for locals to help

I'd offer to help too but even if you were local I'm almost fully booked for the next month of weekends with work, marshalling, family and friends cars..

thats not a bad MOT failure at all.

learn to use spanners quickly and you'll be sorted in no time (although headlight is a screwdriver job )

for the brakes and suspension you could get quotes from all the local garages in your area. this may take a bit of time and effort but it will save you loads of cash. for front pads and front shocks i'd expect to pay £150-200 supplied and fitted.

do the headlight yourself, no excuses its easier than making toast.
then you need to be brave and buy a scrapyard seat. if you find one the same as yours (easy unless you have an hgt) at a scrapyard it'll cost £15-25, and fitting involves only 4 bolts and half an hour.

the handbrake will require a bit of assessment to figure out whats wrong with it, but its usually only 1 of the 2 bolts that is missing from the bottom of the handbrake lever.

that was from campions a peugeot garage.ilkeston co-op ( specialise in fiats) have just quoted me £762.00 as im completely crap at anything mechanical it might have to be a sell it job

Has its MOT ran out?

My Marea was from down Lincoln way - I'll look through its receipts when I get home to see who did what and if there were any good garages there. It's not worth selling as you'll lose more money in a sale (car with no mot). It's almost worth me coming down... If only I had the time.

m.o.t ran out on october 27. theres a garage called italian car services but the bloke in there is as helpful as a chocolate fireguard last time i went there for a new rear wiper motor he sent me to ilkeston co-op so he isnt a lot of cop !

dont go to anywhere that claims to 'specialise' in a certain make. they usually have dealer drop outs working there. instead find a small local garage, brakes and suspension are their bread and butter. i'm sure you'll pay less than half your quotes so far.

But locals often don't know what they're doing unless its got a Ford or Vauxhall badge on. Like changing the MAP sensor on a JTD that had a defective MAF sensor.. and fitting a sedici cambelt 2 teeth out on the inlet cam, and a balancer 90 degrees out!

Hellcat said:

But locals often don't know what they're doing unless its got a Ford or Vauxhall badge on. Like changing the MAP sensor on a JTD that had a defective MAF sensor.. and fitting a sedici cambelt 2 teeth out on the inlet cam, and a balancer 90 degrees out!

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i've had worse at FAST. even using their examiner they struggle to find faults. i sometimes wonder if they actually worked at fiat or if they just bought an examiner off ebay.
anyone who cant fit a sedici belt with the aid of some tippex should not be working at a garage.

Suprising though, I've had several cars into FAST and never had a problem, not even with said examiner.

Hellcat said:

But locals often don't know what they're doing unless its got a Ford or Vauxhall badge on. Like changing the MAP sensor on a JTD that had a defective MAF sensor.. and fitting a sedici cambelt 2 teeth out on the inlet cam, and a balancer 90 degrees out!

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You wanna try living in Wigton, here I have the benefit of the experience of Jordan's dad who's owned enough Fiat's to start a dealership and is speedy and efficient Or when all else fails (when he goes on holiday at MOT time ) there's another indy that knows their stuff in town.