Ford Focus NCT failed

irelandspurs

Hi all, just looking for some advice.
Our 2003 focus 1.4 failed the nct on Thursday due to excessive exhaust smoke. I watched him when he was doing the emission test and when he was revving the car a lot of white smoke was coming out. Does this sound like an expensive fix like head gasket. Would a diagnostic show up what was wrong or would a mechanic have to strip it down. I don't want to spend lots of money diagnosing it just to be told its ****ed.

scudzilla

May help if u posted the readings that were on the fail sheet

irelandspurs

Should be attached now

Polo_Cluvie

Looks like head gasket tbh. I'd recommend starting there. Car needs to go to a mechanic though for proper diagnosis

daveville30

Dipetane will help use it for a few weeks before ur test.could be the cat.

punisher5112

Had similar with a 1.4 where seals went it seems common in the 1.4 especially lx model from what I have heard.

Had to scrap my one and only 100k on it obviously someone was skipping services.

Bigus

daveville30 wrote: »

Dipetane will help use it for a few weeks before ur test.could be the cat.

No , white smoke is head gasket . Focus engines readily available , and they don't give much trouble .

biko

Not a DIY effort, moved to main forum.

Mycroft H

What's it drive like? How's your coolant/oil level? What's the temp like?

irelandspurs

Mycroft H wrote: »

What's it drive like? How's your coolant/oil level? What's the temp like?

Coolant level is fine, serviced 2 weeks ago and oil level ok but does burn oil,top it up once a month. Temp is grand stays half way. 185000 miles on it though.

punisher5112

irelandspurs wrote: »

Coolant level is fine, serviced 2 weeks ago and oil level ok but does burn oil,top it up once a month. Temp is grand stays half way. 185000 miles on it though.

I would guess it stands you nothing at this stage and I would guess not worth pumping money into it either.

New car on the cards I would say.

irelandspurs

punisher5112 wrote: »

I would guess it stands you nothing at this stage and I would guess not worth pumping money into it either.

New car on the cards I would say.

yep had the car 9 years now would like to change it, is there a liquid seal of some sort that we could put in to get us by until we saved up for a new car and to get it though the re test as don't want to be stopped for no nct.

johnayo

If it is not using coolant then probably not the headgasket. Try the dipethane and get it checked on exhaust gas analyzer. Don't forget to give it a good hard drive on way to test.(obviously within the speed limit::D).

Mycroft H

It's well over the 200PPM limit for dipetane to work. Usually that would nose you under. But not 4 times the limit

irelandspurs

What does the HC reading mean?

punisher5112

irelandspurs wrote: »

What does the HC reading mean?

hydro carbons

irelandspurs

what would cause that to be high.

Mycroft H

Lots. Hydrocarbons are unburnt fuel going down the exhaust. You'll ruin the catalytic converter with levels like that.

Has it been serviced recently? Start simple; ignition timing/plugs/leads/coil packs.

irelandspurs

Yes was serviced 2 weeks ago. We get a very strong fuel smell in the car while driving not all the time but regular.

Mycroft H

irelandspurs wrote: »

Yes was serviced 2 weeks ago. We get a very strong fuel smell in the car while driving not all the time but regular.

The strong fuel smell is a symptom now. It could be a multitude of things. You could replace the cat and it would nose through the NCT but your not solving the problem; it'll only come back again soon enough.

Bring it to a independent garage. See what the issue is. Could be something simple like a dodgy coilpack.

How's it drive? Any stuttering under acceleration? How's it idle?

irelandspurs

There was a little hesitation but changing the plugs in the service seems to have solved that. When breaking at lights or roundabout etc the revs drop completely and if your not quick enough dipping the clutch the car will cut out.

irelandspurs

I've just looked under the bonnet and there seems to be a small hole in the manifold where the 4 pipes weld together into 1. would this be the reason?

punisher5112

irelandspurs wrote: »

I've just looked under the bonnet and there seems to be a small hole in the manifold where the 4 pipes weld together into 1. would this be the reason?

It sounds like a lot of money is needed.

The manifold wouldn't help as it would cause to run bad also but this wouldn't fix the issues.

26000 Elephants

irelandspurs wrote: »

I've just looked under the bonnet and there seems to be a small hole in the manifold where the 4 pipes weld together into 1. would this be the reason?

That would be your problem. Air being drawn through this hole is being picked up as a lean mixture by the lambda sensor, thus telling the ecu to over fuel the engine. Depending on how long its been like this, the extra fuel has probably killed your cat, so even welding the manifold will still hive you a high hc reading.

new cat, weld the manifold and to be doubly sure I would replace the lamda sensor, but may not be necessary.

Edit: No, just weld the manifold first, and see if a few days of driving doesnt bring thelevels back down. You might be lucky.

irelandspurs

Update- I bought new manifold and cat,car passed the retest today.

Toyotafanboi

Just looking at that fail sheet, have the NCT widened the goalposts to allow emissions passes?

It used to be a fail if the lambda reading wasn't between 0.97 and 1.03 but thaf form suggests a result between 0.95 and 1.09 is allowable?

irelandspurs

Not sure this is new test sheet, shouldn't it of failed on Lambda?

mickdw

irelandspurs wrote: »

Not sure this is new test sheet, shouldn't it of failed on Lambda?

Your lambda reading is spot on at 1.

dastardly00

irelandspurs wrote: »

Update- I bought new manifold and cat,car passed the retest today.

Nice one
How much did it all cost you?

irelandspurs

€200 for the cat and manifold from this place http://www.cats2u.co.uk/ about €30 for brake hoses. I fitted the manifold. Got a garage to fit the cat and brake hoses-€120.
Oh and I got an idle air control valve €45 which I fitted myself.
€395

26000 Elephants

irelandspurs wrote: »

€200 for the cat and manifold from this place http://www.cats2u.co.uk/ about €30 for brake hoses. I fitted the manifold. Got a garage to fit the cat and brake hoses-€120.
Oh and I got an idle air control valve €45 which I fitted myself.
€395

Result! Hope you get a lot more miles from it.