Car just passed the NCT but I'm not happy

Dempsey

Right, just back from getting my 97 Civic through the NCT and it passed 1st time. The results compared to the last NCT have me alarmed though as they are getting closer to tolerance limits and I dont want to wait for something to break before fixing it, well not on my car anyways

Side-slip/Alignment

Has gone from F(-1m/km) R(0m/km) to F(-2m/km) R(-9m/km)

I suppose get the tracking done?

Suspension

Has gone from F(30Mm/31Mm/3%) R(37Mm/37Mm/0%) to F(44Mm/46Mm/4%) R(58Mm/61M/5%)

Brakes

The brakes have been giving my trouble in the last year, (the last NCT did give me an early warning too) with the back left calliper not releasing properly. I changed the brake pads last summer but the back left wore out recent and upon inspection the back right wasnt catching the disc properly and both were more worn than the front brakes which were all changed on the same day. I replaced that calliper, both rear brake pads and brake discs. There was +150 km done on the car since I done the job and before the test.



I think I should replace the back right calliper to reduce the 14% Imbalance at the back.

I've noticed that they have somehow added 37Kg to the weight of the car. That extra weight has me baffled, how could their machine be off by that much without needing recalibration?

Recently changed the spark plugs, oil & oil filter (even the air filter!) and the car was off for about 30 minutes before the test, roughly the same as the last time and there is bit of a difference in that. Just a sign of wear and tear or something else?

Also that is quite a jump in the emissions, I have NCT results going back to 2002 here and all of them until this one always scored 0ppm on low idle and were (19,31,24,47 & 80 ppm) on the high idle

Only 96,000 miles on the clock and I know the 2 previous owners and they were very good to the car so I think I could easily get it through another NCT if I keep on top of maintenance.

I know I've thrown a load of information into the post but any advice/2nd opinions would be very much appreciated.

daveharnett

As to the brakes, I wouldn't worry about those results. In my experience, brake test results are inconsistent from one lane to the next, let alone from 2008 to 2010. The extra weight could be a full tank of petrol, or just another anomaly in the testing rig.

I wouldn't read too much into emissions either given that neither test is taken at the engine's normal operating temperature.

Leonard Hofstadter

Cars generally tend to emit slightly more as they get older and there is additional wear and tear etc.

The Lambda value is spot on(in fact you can't do any better than a lambda value of exactly one), so I doubt that you have anything to be really concerned about tbh OP there either.

The only thing I would say is next time you get it tested to properly warm it up and thrash it on the way to the test centre. The oil temperature is too low, it should be up in the 90s.

It probably could do with being tracked but again I don't see anything to be unusually concerned with. Maybe the shocks could be on the way out but I'd be of the opinion that they should be replaced when necessary.