lus7y

Hi

Just got back from MOT test station to be told that my car has failed due to catalytic converter missing.

I tried to tell him that it had a sports cat and it has passed numerous times with this on.

The strange thing is that it passed the emissions test The failure was 7.1.3 - Exhaust catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard.

My mechanic (not the tester) has said the easiest thing to do was to take it to a friendly mot tester he knows and it will pass no problem.

Just a bit miffed as that is £45 down the tube, but everything else passed, so the second test should be ok.

scoobynewbie72

iTrader: (1)

was the cat hot ? only they have to be red hot, if it was left there and had gone cold that could be the reason.
hth

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

It passed the emissions but It failed because of a non OEM cat ............. didn't think that was possible.

Anyway that was a bit mean

Shaun

lus7y

In all fairness it would of been cold, the MOT friendly tester is about 5 miles out so will get it booked in with them.

99greenwagon

iTrader: (39)

is it heat wrapped?,because surely if its heatwrapped no tester would be able to determine wether its oe cat or not.that seems rediculous.if it has a cat and it passes emissions then surely thats good enough?

Turbotits

iTrader: (2)

Thats this years new thing. Although i thought it was only advisory till march. Last year cars only had to pass emmisions test. This year all o/e cats are supposed to be visually there.

99greenwagon

iTrader: (39)

ok so how will they know if its oe or not if it is fully heatwrapped?,will they remove it and take the wrap off lol?

Turbotits

iTrader: (2)

I would guess the centre cat is missing on this car. Most of us tend to remove 2 or 3 cats dependand on model and replace with one sports cat. Was perfectly acceptable as cars passed emmisions. Now all cats need to be in place regardless of emmisions results

scoobynewbie72

iTrader: (1)

so yet again having a JDM is better ? only 1 in the downpipe standard, no 2nd cat to remove as it is done for you.

99greenwagon

iTrader: (39)

scooby-tuna

iTrader: (3)

As an mot tester myself it is quite funny tht he has failed it for that as if it didnt have a cat i would not stand a chance of passing an emission test, so a bit of common sense is needed lol,
The law changed on the 1st of jan this year and cars do have to have a cat fitted by law, as long as it has at least one cat it will pass, even if others have been removed!
i would have not failed your car!

Dirk Diggler 75

I have considered buying a sports cat under the impression they are M.O.T. safe..
won't bother now.......

r1c

iTrader: (9)

I wouldn't of failed it either! Appeal the test! Sport cat or oem cat, a cat is a cat! Should of passed.

99greenwagon

iTrader: (39)

+1

uk300scoob

iTrader: (24)

thats strange, mine passed with no cat at all full turbo back decatted system with up pipe and headers all wrapped

JohnD

iTrader: (5)

The tester's an idiot. If there's a cat fitted and it passed the emissions, all's well. All he had to do was to give the exhaust quick sniff to know there's a cat. H&S stops him from using a small piece of common sense, I suppose.
He's interpreted the new regulations differently to where I go!

JohnD

chopperman

Mine is a UK car and was only fitted with one cat in the down pipe as standard !

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Not a UK bug then

Shaun

Turbotits

iTrader: (2)

As above lol

Gigsy

Wording of the legislation is a bit vague... I suspect it was written by someone unaware that some cars have more than one cat, therefore "cat missing" = fail rather than "no cat" = fail.

(either that or someone used Google to translate the EU legislation on which the new requirements are based )

Turbotits

iTrader: (2)

Yup well i have mine to sort for mot in a couple of weeks. Hopefully my freindly tester is still friendly lol

Jsc.rotech

Ive just got my self a 93 import wrx it has a straight through exhaust on it. How many catalyst converters were on as original exhaust wasn't with car

All help welcome cheers

Gigsy

Indeed, what about PPP cars? Manufacturer approved option to remove one of the cats.... are all those about to fail?

If more MOT stations read the legislation as per the OP's, I may have to start a loan scheme for PPP owners using the ones I've taken off my cars and stored in my shed over the years

BlueBugEye

iTrader: (12)

Fortunately my Milltek system has a cat in the mid section and the resonator in the downpipe also looks like a Cat so as far as my testers are concerned it has 2 cats as std - fortunately they can't see/don't know about the up-pipe cat!

ukpaisley

iTrader: (4)

its not the cat or cats or emmissions, its now or very soon you have to have oem equipement on youre car, so no mods allowed !.
This is what its like in France and other parts of EU.

You need to get a special cert to modify the car from standard, time we left the EU , its screwed anyway, old cars are better !!! as they cant enforce the laws

lus7y

I'm not very mechanically minded and the sports cat was fitted before I purcashed the car (got paperwork for it, from previous owner). I can see wrapping around the pipe (when looking down from the engine bay).

Is it worth appealing or just bite the bullet and get it retested by someone else?

skinner

Hi VOSA now say if there is a cat missing were one was fitted as standard its a reason for rejection but how is a tester to know if there was one fitted as standard or two if there is still one cat pressent. VOSA tell you if in dout pass and advise.The other thing they say is its got to be eu approved eg not a cheap one you weld on.Its just like hid lights they have to be over 2000 lumens to fail how do you know this.

Gigsy

Indeed, the new stance is to bring the UK in line with Europe but as I understand it, it's to stop people from completely de-cating the exhaust - i.e. "if a car was fitted with cat(s), it must still have one", rather than "if a car was fitted with 3 cats, it must still have all three". The wording I've read is certainly vague enough to argue the former.

If it's the latter, two things will happen... people will just gut their catted pipes and de-cat manufacturers will wrap their pipes with heat shielding to look like catted pipes - which to be fair, is what happens when the PPP pipe is fitted by Subaru dealers.

As has been said above, why should an MOT tester be expected to know how many cats a particular car has?

Seems like pretty pointless legislation to me and hopefully one that the majority MOT testers will not be overly officious about so long as the vehicle has at least one cat and passes emissions tests.

I guess I'll find out what my MOT tester's interpretation is later in the year.

skinner

I think most testers will not know if there is ment to be one or two cats so its a pass.We had a sprinter van in were another test station had failed it for the break pedal sinking to the floor when all sprinters are like this but the mot inspection manual says it a fail.

daz1968

iTrader: (13)

This year is going to be a nightmare for a lot of people, my car is a jdm and only has the one cat in the downpipe, I understand my car as it is subject to a sva test doesn't need a replacement cat to carry the eu marking same as pre 2001 cars, so should be ok with a sport cat but looks like there is a lot of interpretation to be taken into account by the tester,

Same with my hid's with no washers, reading the not manual I should be ok as washers and levelling should be working if fitted, but depends how the individual tester takes the wording, and pointless disputing them as they won't pass it no matter what we do. Hopefully by the time mine is due in June things may have settled a bit.