Emissions Fail.. What to replace/fix
 

In short, its failing on fast idle test, where CO is concerened. Looks all good apart from that.

it says:

Test One:

fast Idle test Limit Actual Value

CO =<0.2% 0.51%
HC =<200ppm 38ppm
Weird symbol 0.97-1.03 1.004

Test Two:

fast Idle test Limit Actual Value

CO =<0.2% 0.41%
HC =<200ppm 22ppm
Weird symbol 0.97-1.03 1.002

Natural Idle Test

CO =<0.3 0.12%

What would this indicate? Faulty CAT?
If anyone can help, its much appreciated. Need to get it re-tested on Friday. Can't see me getting it fixed in time :(

Is it a sports cat? They need to be warm to work.

It's only failing on CO (by not much).

As above, you need to give the car a good thraping so as to 'ignite' the cat and then get it on the machine asap.

That tactic worked when I had the same situation (on my old WRX).

Bugger, left those details out.

Its a turbo 2000 (my00) with PPP. So i imagine prodrive have fiddled with some element of the exhaust system. Ive no idea though. All standard as far as I am aware.

The car was warmed up properly and re-tested, but still failed, so temperature doesn't appear to make much difference.

So we think a proper rag about is the answer?
NO worries on that :D

When I had mine done, Zen Performance put it in to the MOTer on my behalf.

Paul Blamire, gave it the 'Italian driving' method :D, and it lowered the CO to almost zilch! :eek:

And this was only on a small centre cat too - swapped in place of the 3" decat centre pipe, just for the MOT. ;) (The downpipe was a full decat job and left in place).

Make sure you haven't got a hole in your exhaust somewhere, I had the same problem, MOT testers spanner monkey covered small hole with a rag and hey presto emissions came back into tolerances...............

...Of course, your CO 'issue' could be related to other items, such as the lambda sensor, plugs or MAF.

This strikes me as the most obvious solution.
Its failing, but not by much. I think a general tighten up of everything tonight, then a run out.
Is it worth resetting the ECU before taking it for a rag? Maybe if it re-learns it might re-learn more efficiently :D

And thanks for the help. Well done team! :D

Take it for a good high speed run , if you have been driving round a lot short journeys off boost it will need a good blow out ! mine was the same at mot time !! i was on a good run day before and it sailed through this year ! other than that take it to a frendly mot man , who might give you a donor car for the emmisions !!;):thumb:

Silly question, whats a "good run" ? I did 30 miles of back roads the night before last emission test. still failed. :(

Of course it's going to fail, the sports cat needs to be very hot when the emissions are tested.

Antilag will heat it up nicely. Or find a friendlier tester.

So we've confirmed I have a sports cat?

If it is 100% PPP then yes you have a sports cat. As long as a previous owner has not removed it.

Ah. Nice one man. Didn't realise. good stuff.

on the drive to the MOT give it a hard drive, as people have said my sports cat failed 1st time round. went to another mot place warm and it passed.

My car doesn't have a cat now but it still seems to do OK on emissions :thumb:

maybe you need a better MOT place

I've had the same issue a few times .. it was all about the heat of the Cat.

Warm just isn't enough - it had to be scorching to pass

Sounds like a cue for an Al Stewart song. ;)

Annoyingly, its 2 mins from my work, so no chance. However, Ive planned properly this time. Shall be doing a fair few junctions up the motorway before hand.

Fingers crossed for tomorrow. Shall post the results. Thanks for the help.

Retested. Failed :(

Took it out on a 30 mile fast motorway journey before hand, so nice and warm. Best result was 0.48% CO.

I guess new cat?

:luxhello: .. and what a great song too ...

You're into guessing territory really.

Best to start changing the cheapest things first:

1) Second-hand OEM catted downpipe (cheap as chips - unless you must have the Prodrive PPP one).

2) New plugs (around £30-40).

3) MAF (MY99/00 OEM ones just require the sensor cassette @ c.£80).

4) Lambda sensor (pukka OEM ones are around £250-300! - but will last). You can test to see if the lambda's voltage is cycling correctly; just do a search and it'll become clear.


...Or sack all the above and simply go seek out a 'empathetic/sympathetic MOTer.'... ;)

:thumb: