New Year , same car giving me headache.........grrrr!

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mikeyb1983

Member
Messages
160
Location
Warwickshire
So after the long hard winter and fixing some of the issues on the V thought it must be ready for MOT now......morning of MOT driving to test station and brakes non-existent tried breaking hard on the way only for ABS light to come on again.....Arrived at test centre got and and saw a small amount of smoke coming from the bonnet vents. So advised the tester that brakes were non existent. Couple of hours later went to see how 'poorly' it was and the tester advised that the smoke was from an oil leak that appears to be going on to the exhaust so will need sorting asap but the more important things are the fact that it completely failed the emissions part of MOT and brakes were due to fluid leaking out of each caliper. He kept it over weekend and has looked at it today with the intention to try and bring the emissions down if they can so has advised that there is no CAT fitted (over winter i have fitted a new Lambda Probe - in manifold) and has advised he did not want to start doing things and for me to end up with a big bill and still be in the same position.

Question is does anyone know with the CAT not fitted would it completely throw all aspects of the emissions part of MOT out??

Does anyone have a CAT 'laying around' that i could use to see if this cures the problem??

All help would be appreciated......................i just want it back on the road before my birthday (end of the month!)
 
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D1andonlyantman

Member
Messages
147
Location
Near Cambridge
As said above, the decat will definitely make it fail the emissions test. I don't know what your exhaust is like but on mine the mid pipe with the cat in is completely detachable, so if yours is the same you just need to find a mid section part for your exhaust system that has the cat in assuming they made one. Another option is to buy a universal cat and either have it welded into the pipe you've got on there and consider it job done, or buy another pipe and weld it onto there and just swap over for your MOT and then go back to decat after. I just had a quick look on eBay and saw a universal cat for 80 quid and a decat mid pipe is normally around 50 quid, so if you could get them cut and welded together at a good price, doing it that way doesn't have to be expensive. Yet another option is to find an MOT tester who is 'emissions friendly' and will turn a blind eye. Also keep in mind that if your car was mapped with a decat on, changing back to cat would mess with the map a bit and it would probably want a touch up

Sorry for the essay, I hope that's some help
 
M

mikeyb1983

Member
Messages
160
Location
Warwickshire
As said above, the decat will definitely make it fail the emissions test. I don't know what your exhaust is like but on mine the mid pipe with the cat in is completely detachable, so if yours is the same you just need to find a mid section part for your exhaust system that has the cat in assuming they made one. Another option is to buy a universal cat and either have it welded into the pipe you've got on there and consider it job done, or buy another pipe and weld it onto there and just swap over for your MOT and then go back to decat after. I just had a quick look on eBay and saw a universal cat for 80 quid and a decat mid pipe is normally around 50 quid, so if you could get them cut and welded together at a good price, doing it that way doesn't have to be expensive. Yet another option is to find an MOT tester who is 'emissions friendly' and will turn a blind eye. Also keep in mind that if your car was mapped with a decat on, changing back to cat would mess with the map a bit and it would probably want a touch up

Sorry for the essay, I hope that's some help

That is really helpful thanks.........UPDATE:

I have had CAT fitted now and garage is saying that emissions were at about 6.0 and should be .2..?? So with the CAT fitted the ECU needs mapping does this sound like it would cure the CO2 being at 6.0???

How is it best to get it mapped if the car is not able to be moved??
 
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