My 100HP is going in for its annual service and MOT tomorrow, however I noticed today that that bump stop on the passenger side is totally loose inside the spring .

I can't get the bumpstop out (the coils of the spring are too close together) and the other side is still attached.

According to the VOSA inspection manual for class 3-7 vehicles, a missing bump stop rubber is not a reason to fail an MOT. However, unsurprisingly, it doesn't mention bump stops being trapped in your spring:
http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s02000401.htm

Does anyone know if I'm about to waste my money bothering to have it MOT'd whilst the bump stop is loose? I guess I could just get the garage to cut it in half and chuck it away during the service, which will obviously be done prior to the MOT.

Any advice on the matter will be greatly appreciated.

Two bump stop queries in two days! I glued my bump stops back in before my Panda was due it's first MOT. The garage told me that bump stops are not on the MOT check list and were they loose it would not matter. However, like you I found that they rattle around inside the coil spring and have a tendency to fall between two coils. My hunch is it would depend on the tester. Good luck!

Agreed, shouldn't fail for this reason. Mine has never been an issue..

Thanks for the advice, guys. I'll go and see if we've got any strong glue around and give sticking it back on a go.

If not, I'll just have to leave it where it is and instruct the mechanic to remove the loose bump stop if he would otherwise fail the car due to it.

Job done, I found some "no more nails" in the garage and glued the offending bump stop back in place. Hell knows if it'll actually hold it in the long run, but it'll definitely do until the car has had its MOT tomorrow.

Once again, members of the FF saved the day !

Any news as mine is same and goes for it this next month? Did it pass?

minimotokid1990 said:

Any news as mine is same and goes for it this next month? Did it pass?

Click to expand...

The ball joint was well past it on the front nearside suspension, so that needed that fixing, however there was no mention of the fact the rear nearside bump stop was held on with "no more nails". I have no idea if you'd get away with it rattling around inside the spring, hell, I have no idea if they even noticed mine was basically glued on, I didn't want to risk it by asking. My advice to you would be to spend 10 mins crawling about under the car sticking it back on, I managed to do it (with a bit of struggling and swearing) without raising the car at all.

The only other thing the the MOT pulled up was the fact the outside skin of the exhaust back box is rusting away, which I knew about already and I'm not too bothered about. It just seems to happen with Panda, or maybe Fiat, back boxes. Even the MOT tester said the advisory was more of a formality than anything to worry about or bother fixing.

The final, non-MOT related comment the mechanic had was how hard the ride is, but how nice the 100HP drives !