FAILED M.O.T - ADVICE PLEASE

[the blue dragon]

car failed its mot yesterday on emissions, guy said to get a diagnostics check on it as it was 0.4 over the allowed limit, but a mechanic mate said to get cata clean, which i did. re-test on monday but i was wondering if anyone knows if this will work to get the levels down and also when should i use it in relation to taking the car for its re-test? (Also failed because of no horn but i reckon thatll just be a fuse) any advice or other recommendations would be appreciated.

thanks all

iain

[st3ph3n]

Are you running with cats in place or not?

Take the car out for a while to get it warmed up before taking it for testing if you know they'll do the emissions check straight away. 

[the blue dragon]

yes mate the cats are there and im not sure if they will be doing it right away or not, but i was goin to put the cata clean in and fill up with petrol about an hour before then take it for a quick spin, dyou think that will do it?

Iain

[RA Dunk]

if the cats are still in like ya say, deffo give it a good run before you take it in and ask them to test it as soon as ya bring it in

[steven_williams]

On the bottle of cataclean there are instructions for the use of it, do it tomorrow and have some fun whilst out to get the cat upto temperature and allow the cataclean to do it's work. Had my MOT a couple of weeks ago, I normally run a GEMS ECU so fitted the OE ECU and took the car for a good run. I had chosen a MOT station 20+ miles away so the car was nice and warmed up. He did the fast idle test then the idle test car passed so I was happy. Hope you get it sorted. Steve 

[the blue dragon]

will do. many thanks for that steve [Y]

[sammot]

if it failed on the lambda readings this could also mean a leak in the exhaust as co and hc readings too high mean fueling probs which a forte gas treatment is a cheap quick fix £10_£15 put this in your tank on your way to mot station with a brisk run and if the anti big bore exhaust police fail it again give me a call at central mots 01324 849 500 [] 

[the blue dragon]

thanks for that. it passed the lambda readings ok,( 1.018 at second fast idle)

itfailed on all 3 co readings, .593 fast idle, .518 2nd fast idle and .806 at natural idle.

does this mean a major problem or a quick fix with cata clean?

[sammot]

your looking for about 0.2% on the co to be honest most scoobys struggle with emmissions especially with aftermarket systems even with cats, i swear the forte gas treatment which you can get from most big dealerships is bottled by god himself and should solve your problem for the test.co readings are affected by cars running rich or faulty lambda sensors  if the cat was on its way out it would show up on the lambda test results,i think your problem is in the fueling side of things but dont worry about it if the car is running fine it may need to be a bit rich to cope with boost levels[au]as long as the gas treatment does its stuff and all those numbers turn green[]

[the blue dragon]

cheers for that,think ill get me some. [Y]