NCT Emissions fail Ford Focus

Hi All,

I know there's been a lot of threads on this but if anyone can help it would be appreciated.

My NCT emissions figures for a 2002 1.6 Ford Focus:
Engine/oil temperature 99 C

Low Idle

CO 0.31 vol% PASS

HC 227 99m PASS

High Idle

Lambda 0.88 FAIL

CO 3.99 vol% (pass not above 0.30%) FAIL

HC 620ppm (pass not above 200ppm) FAIL

Car is running fine, nothing other that normal servicing done since last NCT, but is burning some oil (not a lot for a 12 year old car with 155K miles)

I noticed when I got home that when I checked the spark plugs for carbon deposits they were soaked in oil. Could the a leaking rocker cover gasket have caused the oil burning and led to such bad emission figures?

Thanks for reading.

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Those fail figures are quite far above the acceptable thresholds (and the usual methods of "throw in dipetane, italian tune up etc won't fix it).

I would say that the plugs being soaked in oil is a symptom of the underlying issue. If you've already seen that the rocker cover gasket is leaking why not change that anyway?

boardsuser1

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Hi All,

I know there's been a lot of threads on this but if anyone can help it would be very helpful.

My NCT emissions figures for a 2002 1.6 Ford Focus:
Engine/oil temperature 99 C

Low Idle

CO 0.31 vol% PASS

HC 227 99m PASS

High Idle

Lambda 0.88 FAIL

CO 3.99 vol% (pass not above 0.30%) FAIL

HC 620ppm (pass not above 20099m) FAIL

Car is running fine, nothing other that normal servicing done since last NCT, but is burning some oil (not a lot for a 12 year old car with 155K miles)

I noticed when I got home that when I checked the spark plugs for carbon deposits they were soaked in oil. Could the a leaking rocker cover gasket have caused the oil burning and led to such bad emission figures?

Thanks for reading.

Had a similar reading with similar issues to yours a few months back OP I tried everything from a full service, dipetane to the good oul Italian tune up,it all failed, the engine was fcuked,it needed a rebuild

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Cleveland Hot Pocket wrote: »

Those fail figures are quite far above the acceptable thresholds (and the usual methods of "throw in dipetane, italian tune up etc won't fix it).

I would say that the plugs being soaked in oil is a symptom of the underlying issue. If you've already seen that the rocker cover gasket is leaking why not change that anyway?

Yeah needs changing anyway (just not sure if it's worth my while if the problem is bigger), in a car of this age might be time for it to meet its maker:(

martinr5232

Its burning oil so there is no quick fix im afraid burning oil is a common problem on these cars with milage like yours.

handyman2

take air filter out and come back for re test

boardsuser1

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Yeah needs changing anyway (just not sure if it's worth my while if the problem is bigger), in a car of this age might be time for it to meet its maker:(

I was quoted €1k for a rebuild if you went to a reputable scrap yard you could pick up another engine for 2/300 fitted for about the same, I am open to correction on that however, but you can get cars cheap enough anyway nowadays, is the car in overall good condition for the year mileage?factor all those in,if the figures are too much, time to meet its maker as you say

martinr5232

martinr5232 wrote: »

Its burning oil so there is no quick fix im afraid burning oil is a common problem on these cars with milage like yours.

Yeah, looks like this is the case.

handyman2

handyman2 wrote: »

take air filter out and come back for re test

Now that's my kinda fix :-)

Cleveland Hot Pocket

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah needs changing anyway (just not sure if it's worth my while if the problem is bigger), in a car of this age might be time for it to meet its maker:(

It's not that big of a job, the last rocker cover gasket I bought was less than 15 quid delivered. Labor is the biggest cost and even then there's normally online tutorials.
Didnt even get around to fitting it in my case as the car died of other issues in the interim and is now in a scrap yard in the sky (or exported to Africa most likely)

George Dalton

The leaking cam cover gasket has no bearing on the emissions readings. So IMO it's pointless changing it until you have decided whether the emissions issue is worth fixing or not.

George Dalton

George Dalton wrote: »

The leaking cam cover gasket has no bearing on the emissions readings. So IMO it's pointless changing it until you have decided whether the emissions issue is worth fixing or not.

Thanks for confirming this is unrelated to the emission failure.

Could the leaking gasket be causing the oil burning or is that also unrelated?

martinr5232

Deleted User wrote:

Could the leaking gasket be causing the oil burning or is that also unrelated?

Burning oil is causing your emissions failure a leaking rocker cover gasket will not cause burning oil internally weather its around the spark plugs or not.
Your problem is wear inside the engine so your choices are

1 cut your losses scrap it and buy something else.
2 replace the engine with a second hand one which might be no better than the one you take out.
3 rebuild your own one but that depends on what the rest of the car is like.

Those are really your only options really im afraid.

martinr5232

martinr5232 wrote: »

Burning oil is causing your emissions failure a leaking rocker cover gasket will not cause burning oil internally weather its around the spark plugs or not.
Your problem is wear inside the engine so your choices are

1 cut your losses scrap it and buy something else.
2 replace the engine with a second hand one which might be no better than the one you take out.
3 rebuild your own one but that depends on what the rest of the car is like.

Those are really your only options really im afraid.

Thanks couldn't be clearer, I think I'll try to see if I can sell it with the NCT report details and if not just scrap it, may be of worth to someone who could swap the engine themselves (not worth it for me to pay someone to do it!)

Thanks to everyone who replied!

Stoolbend

There's a rubber hose running through the inlet manifold. Have a close look and see if it's split.

Is the engine management light on and does it come on with the ignition?

Stoolbend

Stoolbend wrote: »

There's a rubber hose running through the inlet manifold. Have a close look and see if it's split.

Is the engine management light on and does it come on with the ignition?

Thanks for reply, management light works alright at ignition but shuts off when running as normal.

Will take a look at the hose for any damage.

Thanks.