Car emissions

DarraghR

Hi there. Can anyone tell me is there any point putting my car through another NCT. I was quite close to failing on emissions. Can I do anything to counter this and decrease the levels?

Atlantic Dawn

Do you regularly service the car?

In order of cheapness how to bring the figure down here's what I'd try...
Drive the car at high revs prior to the NCT (Free)
Add Redex to the fuel and drive it at high revs in the week prior to the NCT (Around €7)
Service the car, oil change, air filter change and change the spark plugs (Do yourself around €70, get someone do to it for you around €150-€200)

rex-x

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Do you regularly service the car?

In order of cheapness how to bring the figure down here's what I'd try...
Drive the car at high revs prior to the NCT (Free)
Add Redex to the fuel and drive it at high revs in the week prior to the NCT (Around €7)
Service the car, oil change, air filter change and change the spark plugs (Do yourself around €70, get someone do to it for you around €150-€200)

This particular problem has nothing to do with those. OP because the lambda reading is 1.00 as seen by the test probe then the rise in CO has to do with how effective the cat is with dealing with the gasses. Now it may be the case the car was just a little cold for the second test or it may be an indication the cat is slowly on its way out, becoming less and less effective.

biko

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Add Redex to the fuel and drive it at high revs in the week prior to the NCT (Around €7)
Service the car, oil change, air filter change and change the spark plugs (Do yourself around €70, get someone do to it for you around €150-€200)

This is what I would do too.

DarraghR

A full service seems to be the way to go. I did the last one myself. Spark plugs, air filter, oil filter and oil change. What about the catalytic converter. How much would a new one cost and could I fit it myself?

EDIT: Just checked. Looking at 230 - 300 euro

Del2005

DarraghR wrote: »

A full service seems to be the way to go. I did the last one myself. Spark plugs, air filter, oil filter and oil change. What about the catalytic converter. How much would a new one cost and could I fit it myself?

EDIT: Just checked. Looking at 230 - 300 euro

I'd spend the €55 on the test before doing more than a service, something else might fail.

damon5

NCT is a joke according to their website the test has to be done with engine oil temp under normal operating temperature.A couple of times i just scrapped through on emisions with the temp around 25 degrees where previous results at around 85 degrees all was fine,would automatic chokes as we have now in cars have a bearing on the results when doing the test with a cold engine as i see too your engine oil temp was 0.degrees which contradicts what they state on their website.

rex-x

damon5 wrote: »

NCT is a joke according to their website the test has to be done with engine oil temp under normal operating temperature.A couple of times i just scrapped through on emisions with the temp around 25 degrees where previous results at around 85 degrees all was fine,would automatic chokes as we have now in cars have a bearing on the results when doing the test with a cold engine as i see too your engine oil temp was 0.degrees which contradicts what they state on their website.

That just means the probe wasn't put into the engine, not that the engine wasn't hot, in your case the test lane was probably 25 degrees ambient They dotn often use the probe because it doesn't fit down many oil filler tubes and they had issues with them getting caught in the crankshaft

damon5

rex-x wrote: »

That just means the probe wasn't put into the engine, not that the engine wasn't hot, in your case the test lane was probably 25 degrees ambient They dotn often use the probe because it doesn't fit down many oil filler tubes and they had issues with them getting caught in the crankshaft

On a previous test mine was done after sitting outside for more than half an hour in cold weather,so your saying .........That just means the probe wasn't put into the engine, not that the engine wasn't hot, in your case the test lane was probably 25 degrees ambient They dotn often use the probe because it doesn't fit down many oil filler tubes and they had issues with them getting caught in the crankshaft[/QUOTE] but they state that the test has to be done with engine oil at normal operating temp,if probe doesnt fit some cars for the test how can they have a non biased test outcome and i would be led to believe that emission checks on a cold engine would be differant to that of an engine at normal operating temp ...

rex-x

damon5 wrote: »

On a previous test mine was done after sitting outside for more than half an hour in cold weather, but they state that the test has to be done with engine oil at normal operating temp,if probe doesnt fit some cars for the test how can they have a non biased test outcome and i would be led to believe that emission checks on a cold engine would be differant to that of an engine at normal operating temp ...

Most certainly the car should be tested while hot but 30 mins outside in the cold wont be a problem for a healthy engine and cat, the problems start when maybe the cat gets older and needs to be at its peak temp to work effectively. Its not a perfect system but it is reasonable I feel, especially compared to other countries!

jimbis

To the op, get yourself a bottle of diptane. Add the required amount stated on the bottle (it's not that much) but make sure you give it at least a weeks worth of driving to work through. Give your car a good high revving drive on the way to the nct.
If that doesn't work then you need to visit a mechanic.

Stravos Murphy

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