Hi all,

Just had my MY00 fail it's MOT, emissions are all over the place. The car is a standard untouched UK spec, so I was quite surprised when it failed, as was the mechanic who tested it. It could of course be the ECU, cat, lambda sensor etc, but the ONLY thing that's different about the car from when it was tested last year is I've been running it on V-Power for the past 8 months or so. There are no other symptoms at all, so it's all a little odd. Does the ECU of an MY00 'learn' the octane rating etc of fuel, or would it be set to run on 95 RON?
I can't feel any difference using V-Power, but do get a couple more mpg from it...

cheers
Slim

 

Probably just the Lambda sensor has failed.
Quite common...you can pay 335 - £135 depending on what brand you use.
Cheap universals are about £35, A Bosch Universal is about £60 and the Bosch/Subaru item is about £135.

All will pass the MOT if yours it at fault.

 

Thanks Scott,
The Bosch one it is then- I'm not keen on giving Subaru UK my hard-earned after the service bod at Conders in Peterborough said they wouldn't even plug my car in as it's an Euro import and they don't have the software to touch anything that isn't pure 100% UK. Nice friendly start to a new dealership, guess I won't be getting my cambelt done there now...

cheers
Si

 

At least check that it is the lambda sensor before forking out on one, they aint cheap!

 

I never check it now. I put a new one in every year for the test.