MOT Failure on Emissions

[Ganglandboss]

LooneyTunes said:

OP: Not sure if you meant to do this, but you've blanked out the VIN but left the reg!

I'm not too fussy about people knowing my reg number - some people even have their reg as their user name on here and anyone can see it when I'm driving. I'd have thought quite a bit of harm can be done if somebody knows both numbers.

[Kickstart68]

Ganglandboss said:

I'd have thought quite a bit of harm can be done if somebody knows both numbers.

Can appreciate the concern, but not unusual for cars to display the chassis number against the windscreen

All the best

Keith

[anonymous-user]

Emissions tests can be a bh.

If your car is functioning correctly and is fitted with a Cat etc and it still doesn't pass then what can you do? You are screwed.

My girlfriend used to have an Audi S2 Coupe which despite being in full working order including a Cat would always overshoot the emissions test.

I started taking it somewhere they would 'overlook the emissions issue' each MOT for a couple of quid.

Problem solved.

[Electric Beaver]

I had a similar problem on my k series car, it was the lambda sensor (cat was new the previous year and had done under 10k). Definately worth getting the oil upto temp before the retest!

[OdramaSwimLaden]

NinjaPower said:

Emissions tests can be a bh.

If your car is functioning correctly and is fitted with a Cat etc and it still doesn't pass then what can you do? You are screwed.

My girlfriend used to have an Audi S2 Coupe which despite being in full working order including a Cat would always overshoot the emissions test.

I started taking it somewhere they would 'overlook the emissions issue' each MOT for a couple of quid.

Problem solved.

That'll be a lot harder now.....rightly so.












eta......I might have done the same a few years ago!

[LooneyTunes]

Ganglandboss said:

I'm not too fussy about people knowing my reg number - some people even have their reg as their user name on here and anyone can see it when I'm driving. I'd have thought quite a bit of harm can be done if somebody knows both numbers.

No worries - just thought you'd blanked the VIN out for future resale-related reasons and had missed the fact that the reg was still there.

[Nick3point2]

NinjaPower said:

My girlfriend used to have an Audi S2 Coupe which despite being in full working order including a Cat would always overshoot the emissions test.

Overshoot?

[Ganglandboss]

I've just spoken to the garage - the tester wasn't there but the bloke I spoke to was with him as it was being done and knew a lot more than the bloke I spoke to when I picked it up. Apparently the car was brought up to temperature; he said they don't dip the temperature probe in the oil if they can get a reading in the car and the 18 degrees on the printout is the ambient garage temperature. He said he had a look in the tail pipe where he saw bits of broken up ceramic material so it looks like I will be taking it out this weekend for a look.

[StevelKinevil]

Bugger. They should have told you about the ceramic bits to start with as this would have cleared matters up instead of just suggesting it could be the cat.

[Ganglandboss]

StevelKinevil said:

Bugger. They should have told you about the ceramic bits to start with as this would have cleared matters up instead of just suggesting it could be the cat.

There is a world of difference between yesterday's "With those readings, you're probably looking at a faulty cat" and today's "There are bits of lumpy st in the tail-pipe - that screams catalytic converter to me!".

[neiljohnson]

Cats don't just break up if it has which is what it sounds like then it's likely been destroyed by fuel getting to it caused by running rich which the reading suggest I've seen elise's running rich before for no apparent reason last one I saw had to be remapped ro cure the issue but it's likely a sensor gone wrong I would suspect lambda sensor

[morgrp]

On a slightly different train of thought - I really would be replacing that expansion tank ASAP - the cooling system will rely on it being sealed and pressurised to work effectively - if not you'll risk boiling in the cylinder head and either cracking it or blowing the head gasket - as they are so cheap and easy to replace I'd get it sorted

[the_stoat]

Also check the coolant temp sensor easy to do with a multimeter and a pan of boiling water.

[Egbert Nobacon]

OdramaSwimLaden said:

NinjaPower said:

Emissions tests can be a bh.

If your car is functioning correctly and is fitted with a Cat etc and it still doesn't pass then what can you do? You are screwed.

My girlfriend used to have an Audi S2 Coupe which despite being in full working order including a Cat would always overshoot the emissions test.

I started taking it somewhere they would 'overlook the emissions issue' each MOT for a couple of quid.

Problem solved.

That'll be a lot harder now.....rightly so.

Depends how far up the exhaust you put the probe really .....

[Athlon]

Egbert Nobacon said:

Depends how far up the exhaust you put the probe really .....

Hmm, probe to far out. lambda fail..

[vrooom]

Maybe that mot tester "ooh, fancy lotus, let mug him for money..."

[Ganglandboss]

vrooom said:

Maybe that mot tester "ooh, fancy lotus, let mug him for money..."

Funnily enough, they didn't even ask me if I wanted them to look at it. They failed it a while back when I was wrongly advised it would pass without a cat (there wasn't one on it when I bought it, which I only discovered when I had to take the undertray off) and for excessive play in the n/s/f lower ball-joint. When I went to collect it, they had a quote ready for the ball joint but he just sucked his teeth and said I'd have to go to a specialist to sort the emissions problem.