So I have aging old 17yr old 2001 fiesta with 1.3 Endura E Engine on 116k almost, its MOT is due in 2 months and my mechanic warned me for the past yr that they are condemning a lot of the old mk4/5 fiestas now at the MOT and mine does sadly have rot on rear arches as well as sills been welded once in 1 area at last MOT, should i be prepared for this to be condemn at the next MOT this year ?

 

Its the same as any car (not even going to say old car as plenty of new ones rot). So sort the rot or expect it to fail. Don't really know what answer you expected as the make/model is irrelvant - the same MOT applies to all

 

If your arches are rusty just put some duct tape over them. As long as there isn't any sharp edges they should be ok.

 

Yep, arches will be ok as long as there's no sharp edges, and if the sills/chassis rails are solid even if they've been welded they should be okay. I was talking to an mot tester not long ago and he said the amount of tranny vans they had in with rotten arches was unreal, but they can't fail them on that.