SilverVti Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 Hello I wonder if anyone can help. My S reg VTi has just failed it’s MOT for the first time in 10 years. It failed on 1 point emissions. I suspect the reason is because of a combination of things1) It was first thing in the morning and the engine/cat had not fully warmed up2) The engine management may be a bit out of sorts as I ran out of fuel a week ago and it’s currently running a bit lumpy3) The test station are trying to sell me a new cat for £120I’ve had a look through the forum and have got some inspiration from this post viewtopic.php?f=62&t=46 that talks about resetting the ECUand this one viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3210 where Rich and Paul made some suggestions. The test was run 1st thing in the morning and the car was cold. The garage ran the tests twice – first time they hadn’t got the printer turned on and it failed. They then took it round the block to try and re-tested it. These are the 2nd set of results. Fast idle testEngine Speed 2450 – 3050 Result 2587 rpm = PassCO Max 0.3% result 0.59% FAILHC 21 ppm PassLambda 0.99 PassSecond fast idle test Engine Speed 2450 3050 Result 2796 rpm PassCO Max 0.3% result 0.33% FAILHC 7 ppm PassLambda 0.99 PassNatural idle test – passed Engine speed 650 – 1000 rpm 743 PassCO 0.26% PassThe second set were somewhat better but not enough to pass. The tester spoke to a colleague who said that it was more than likely the cat and quoted £120 for a new one fitted. These are the options I see at the moment. Option 1 Add Fuel system cleaner and drive round in the hope that it cleared the lumpiness and/or clogged fuel / cat.Option 2 Reset the ECU as described here viewtopic.php?f=62&t=46 in the hope that the ECU re-calibrates itself to normal after having a fuel outage.Option 3 Give it a caning and get it to a friendlier test station for a re-test. (£40 for full test)Option 4 get a new cat and get it re-tested at the same station for £130 (£120 + £10 re-test)I have booked a new test with a friendly station tomorrow and have to figure out what to do today. Any suggestions / clues are most welcome.ThanksSilverVtiPs I’ll work out which MA/MB/MC I have when I’m not under the kosh for an MOT (I suspect it's an MB6) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civicturbo79 Posted August 25, 2010 Share Posted August 25, 2010 you should never do a cat test when its cold . At the end of the day it was 0.03 % out i would have took it out and drove it as hard as i could and put it back on with the cat red hot it would have passed then im sure . If the cat was not working the co2 would have been 2-3 % . Rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverVti Posted August 25, 2010 Author Share Posted August 25, 2010 Hi Rich, Thanks for your comments. I'll see if I can locate the diagnostic plug tomorrow and see if there is anything else going on.ThanksSteve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverVti Posted August 26, 2010 Author Share Posted August 26, 2010 Phew, what a joke !I went to another test station today, and they revved it up to around 5k for 20-30 sec before starting the emmissions test. It then passed with no problem. I went back to the original garage and demanded to know how they could justify recommending a new catalytic convertor that didn't need replacing. Initially got loads of excuses but stood my ground. After demanding a chat with a manager around the area of "recommending unnecessary work" and "ability of tester to put the car in a favourible condition for the test" they gave me my money back.Job done. Not going there again. Robbing gits ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
civicturbo79 Posted August 26, 2010 Share Posted August 26, 2010 Well done mate , just shows what standing your ground can do . Rich. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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