NCT tomorrow. Will service help?

goz83

I have engine oil and oil filter. Air filter, spark plugs and new wipers. I won't be able to do the engine oil, because my back is splitting with pain and I have no help on hand. I reckon I can manage the sparks and air filter for now and the wipers can wait. I filled the tank today and poured a bottle of redex fuel treatment in for good measure. Will changing the air filter and spark plugs improve the chances of a pass? Was thinking it would help with emmisions.

Atlantic Dawn

At this stage just bring it in for the test and see whst happens. Do you have any reason to believe it will fail on emissions?

challengemaster

How long is a piece of string?

If the spark plugs are in there 10 years and are practically aesthetic at this stage, then changing them would improve emissions. If they're still perfect - then no...

The car will never be worse off after having a good service. The question is - is it in a fail state now, and is it in that state because of said service items? Who knows!

goz83

I only bought the car a month ago, so I don't know exactly what's been done. Its a 2003 Merc E200 1.8 k with 140k miles. She is running just fine. No dash lights. It could maybe fail on front suspension, as it feels a bit worn going over those steel speed bumps. I received new lower support arms and joints in the post this morning, (its a full kit) so that's on the to do list, but it might be alright.....

I Always worry about emmisions. I have put a few FTOs through the nct and worrying about emissions is now a habit. NCT is valid til May, so it's not the end of the world if it fails, as long as the car isn't terminal :pac:

H3llR4iser

Frankly, I don't see what harm could a good service be - especially since you have most of the materials already. I mean, it's still something you'd need in any case, as you got the car recently and really don't know how it was treated - it could say "serviced 1000 km ago", but they put in she cheapest of the cheap oil.

goz83

H3llR4iser wrote: »

Frankly, I don't see what harm could a good service be - especially since you have most of the materials already. I mean, it's still something you'd need in any case, as you got the car recently and really don't know how it was treated - it could say "serviced 1000 km ago", but they put in she cheapest of the cheap oil.

I plan to service it anyway, but was just wondering if it not doing the service would make the car more limely to fail an emissions test. The previous owner says it was serviced in November and as the car is running, I don't doubt it. It was just time being tight and a back injury makes it very difficult to do most anything without help.

I ran her through as she was and she failed on the drivers side wing mirror having a double image (due to a faulty dimmer mechanism) and the passenger side front ball joints. I planned to replace the mirror anyway, but I didn't think it would fail. The lower front suspension kit arrived in the post yesterday, so more than the ball joints will be replaced on both sides. I just need to get upper ball joints and I will need to get it tracked after this of course. Emissions were spot on and the tester said she is in great condition. Happy with that.