Question about front bumper and MOT

[grussell]

I am about to take my cat C BMW Z3 in for an MOT.

I am about to replace the cracked bumper with my new one but realised the new one is from a 2002 Z3 and has holes where the parking lights should be. My 1997 Z3 does not have parking lights and has no holes where they should be either.

Will it fail it's MOT because there are two holes where lights should be? Every other lights work as they should.

[BladeRunner919]

They're sidelights rather than parking lights, and yours will be built into the headlamp unit. As long as those work, you'll be fine.

[Hairyscreech]

Early Z3s had marker lights on the side of the bumpers, these are only accessory lighting on the UK MOT and are a US requirement.

I am not even sure if these fall under the "if fitted, must work" rule, I believe it's only an advisory for marker lights not fitted.
As said you still have 2 working side lights.

The 3rd brake light is like this and you can pass with an advisory that it is not functioning as long as the ones in the tail light work.

Like front fog lights, if not fitted then fine. If fitted and not working then at worst an advisory as they are accessory lamps and not included in the test.

How well do you know your tester? Might be worth giving them a quick ask before you go.

[Robert T]

In the UK, all Z3s had sidelights mounted on the front bumpers except for the pre-facelift 1.9.

If your sidelights in the headlamps work, then I would simply cover the hole in the bumper with tape, as holes can be seen as exposed sharp edges. Later you can either fill the holes or rewire the lights.

As to the third brakelight, I am sure I read on here very recently that it waa a failure if more than 50% of the bulbs in them are out.

Cheers R.

[Hairyscreech]

Slightly different failure there.

3rd brake lights are a bit odd, The rules state 2 working stop/tail lamps.
3rd brake light IF CONNECTED must work.

If it is totally out and "not connected" then its ok, if only 50% of it lights then it is connected and non functional so thus a failure.

Thanks to a broken wire by the boot hinge I found this out on the last MOT.

[pingu]

If it is totally out and "not connected" then its ok,

Correct, but it must be completely missing. It's the same with front foglights and rear wipers. Just disconnecting is not good enough. It must be removed and any sharp edges made safe.

if only 50% of it lights then it is connected and non functional so thus a failure.

The rule on multi-bulb lights and LEDs is if >50% are U/S it is a fail, otherwise it's a pass.


As long as the sharp edges are made safe AND there are other working side-lights, it's a pass.

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s01000101.htm - Sidelights and marker lights

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s06000101.htm - see Inspection of Body Condition

[Hairyscreech]

For the sake of clarity should anyone come across this later on.

Section 1.2 of the test manual on accessory stop lights.

"Additional stop lamps fitted and connected must be tested. Where extra lamps are fitted and there is doubt as to whether they are connected, the benefit of this doubt should be given to the presenter."

Additional stop lamps have to be both fitted and connected for them to be a test item.

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s01000201.htm