Car failed on emissions, what's wrong?

Moneymaker

Hi guys,

I have a VW Golf Mk4 1.6(2001) that was in for it's NCT today. Went well apart from the emissions test and some minor wear and tear items. Readings are a bit off the wall so i'd appreciate some help making sense of them before I bring it to a specialist.

They said i'd need a new cat but my old man thinks it could be something else as the readings are kind of all over the shop. There's no warning lights at all.

Many thanks.

http://i.imgur.com/3WJjNw7.jpg?1

biko

So it failed on high CO and high HC.
Sounds like you're running too rich (too much fuel to air ratio).

When was car last serviced?

Moneymaker

biko wrote: »

So it failed on high CO and high HC.
Sounds like you're running too rich (too much fuel to air ratio).

When was car last serviced?

Been about a year or so i'd say, apart from regular oil top ups.

biko

Perhaps it's just something small like the sparkplugs.
Change them, get a fresh air filter and throw a whole bottle of Dipetane in the tank. Then drive like mad for a day and get readings done by a local mech.

Or you may want to start with the mech

Hopefully cat is not already ****ed.

Toyotafanboi

How frequent are the oil top ups?

Macker1

Moneymaker wrote: »

Hi guys,

I have a VW Golf Mk4 1.6(2001) that was in for it's NCT today. Went well apart from the emissions test and some minor wear and tear items. Readings are a bit off the wall so i'd appreciate some help making sense of them before I bring it to a specialist.

They said i'd need a new cat but my old man thinks it could be something else as the readings are kind of all over the shop. There's no warning lights at all.

Many thanks.

http://i.imgur.com/3WJjNw7.jpg?1

I had issues with emissions recently and it was the Air Flow Meter that was faulty along with a sensor. May been worth suggesting to your mechanic to check.

Moneymaker

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

How frequent are the oil top ups?

Every 1000 miles or so. Oil light comes on and i'd heard old VAGS burn oil.

evosteo

Piston rings possibly failing and burning oil on combustion

KenjiOdo

104˚c for oil temp high? Mine was 81˚c on results, (Needle at 90 when parking at centre) 02 MkIV Golf 1.4.

mullingar

Thats a very high HC level. How much oil are you topping up every 1000 miles?

If its a good litre every time, you are burning far too much oil.



Try changing the air filter & spark plugs and give it a hard drive and retest first.

Waterson

A few questions for the OP
1) Is the exhaust excessively smokey with a blue tinge to it?
2) Does the car sit at a steay idle on the tachometer, should be around 850 RPM once it has warmed up.
3) Does it seem sluggish or hesitant when driving?

This will help us out with diagnosing which direction to go in.