NCT refused to test - 2003 Rav4 issues & fix

Payo10

2003 Rav4, 1.8 petrol. Bought it in Feb, a local mechanic was driving it and didn't need to NCT it under garage while repairing etc. Anyway I bought it just after it passed NCT in Jan. It had a 6 mth NCT with retest due last week. I hadn't put many miles on it really, and was told all fluids had recently been changed. They looked new when I inspected them. Fresh. So I was hopeful she'd pass again.

Brought it to NCT off M50 by Ballymun, and found them extremely rude, unprofessional and disrespectful. Refused to test it, said exhaust was "too smokey." Wouldnt even bring it in to look it over. Refunded my 55 quid, but charged me the 22 fee to reschedule it.

It was smokey, to be fair. I honestly hadn't noticed as nothing showed in the rear view, and it only smokes over 3000 revs while idling. I researched the NCT book, says exhaust should be purged slowly up to 2500 revs. So only really smokes over 3000, which I'm sure most old cars do.

I hadn't noticed. I think the guy revved it too high too quick but anyways. I had recently added Diptane to fuel and topped up Oil, as well as changed spark plugs and air filter. I knew the car was burning some oil, which is common on old Rav4s. Looked like valve cover gasket was poorly replaced in the past, prob a liquid gasket job. Noticed that when doing the plugs the previous week. I may have ran the Diptane in 3/4 of a tank and not full tank, and I topped oil off with an expensive emissions friendly fully synthetic Oil, which was 5W 10, I believe. I topped it off right to full level.
My fault!

Smoke was blackish. So thought it was too much Diptane in the mix. I went back to mechanic I bought it from. Of course he knew it was burning oil. Reckoned it was my fault for cleaning throttle plates, PCV and changing plugs and using Diptane and lighter emissions friendly synthetic Oil, as I basically "de-gunked" it. Funny he didn't mention that when selling it. 🀣

I had them change the oil and filter (It's an old car and I didn't want to snap the sump plug trying to get it off). Oil needed to be done by now. Added an inexpensive 10W 40 Oil, and a Wynne's No-Smoke from Halfords, as I feared it might not be taken in for test again, and didn't want to spend a lot on it. It continued to smoke, but was gray and not black. Didn't seem like head gasket or coolant leak, seemed like more oil leaking. Mechanic recommended running it on minimum amount of Oil, to avoid blow back. So that's what we did. I kept some in the car in case light came on or to maintain minimum level. I added more petrol to dilute the Diptane and ran it out of the tank for a week.

I pulled spark plugs and noticed they had oil on them. Seemed like spark plug chamber had oil leaking from those O-rings that sit over them in middle of chamber. I decided to clean it all out and try again. Added a bottle of STP No-smoke to crankcase. Looks like liquid honey. Mixed it with 10W 40 oil in a container and warmed it up well before adding to a warm crankcase. Worked for a short period but started smoking again, but less Smokey than before. Progress! My brother in law runs a garage in another county, knows this model well, told me it was common issue on these old models that the lower engine needed a lot of work and I was wasting my time. Valid points. I don't have the $ To repair or replace. Best shot was to maintain and reduce Smokey exhaust to see how NCT goes.

Pulled plugs again. Same thing. Oil on plugs. Not a lot, but enough to be a concern. Decided to buy a second STP No-smoke. Added some more to crankcase - same way as before, warm, mixed with some oil etc. I also decided to use an ice pop stick to take some STP No-Smoke and drip it onto the threads of the spark plugs (just the threads), to stop oil leaking down into combustion chamber. Also used some to drip around the seals in chamber that O-rings are supposed to seal. I used a better quality 10W 40 oil to mix with the No-Smoke. I wanted an oil that would work at high temps. Halfords had a sale on Mobil 1 high mileage, not fully syentetic so the hope was higher viscosity to help seal leaks, rings, gaskets and compression... etc

I know it's a quick fix, but my concern was spending more on fixing upper engine, when I knew it was more than likely lower rings that needed repair. I also didn't know if NCT would fail it on other areas, so wanted to try get it in for testing, and then decide if it was worth doing.

Worked out perfectly for me. Smoke stopped. The exhaust previously had an oily black film around it, but it's looking more like water vapors now, so i sprayed it with some carb cleaner and used a new wheel brush to try clean out excess film which burned off. That may have helped some too. I ran it on low Oil, just slightly above minimum level on dipstick. It was 50% oil and 50% STP No-smoke at that point. Lower oil reduced blow back and smoke from exhaust.

I also drove the car on some 2-3 hour trips. With slightly higher revs. To get the exhaust and cat up to temp.

Decided to take to another NCT center. Went with Deansgrange. Found the staff exceptionally professional, polite, and very good at what they do. The guy checked my car inside out. It passed on everything except a rear spring. Simple enough fix. Great experience in comparison to the previous one. It's an hour to this test center, so I was able to get the car warmed up well and arrived two mins after my test time was scheduled. So it went straight in. No waiting and no time to cool down.

Simple fix on the spring. Will get that put on this week.

I will order the OEM rocker gasket and some new 10mm bolts and do that after the re-test. I'll also drive it to operating temp and drain the oil out and put on a new oil filter so that no-smoke doesn't foul up other parts, like oil pump etc.

Thought this might be helpful to someone with an older Rav4, or similar 1.8lt VVTI engine. Worked for me, saved myself 100's and it sailed through emmissions. My cat and 02 sensors are old. I honestly thought they'd fail, but it goes to show that basic maintenance might be all you need. My car went from an NCT center refusing to even test it, to passing without any emissions issues two weeks later. The guy at Deansgrange reckoned it's a great little car, just needed a spring replaced. ðŸ‘

Toyota's have the highest success rate for passing the NCT, and Deansgrange are one of the highest pass rates in the country for NCT. Scheduled my test just after lunch, so the lads in good mood after a snack box and catching up on weekend antics. That always helps. Avoid 9am Monday morning test times. 😉

Good luck 🀞

Alanstrainor

What's with the essay? Just bullet point your issues and post again. Made it 1/4 the way down before giving up.

You bought a cheap old car. It clearly has some issues, if it is smokey enough to cause the NCT to not test it, there is something very wrong. It might be an easy fix, CCV/rocker cover gasket etc.

biko

If NCT refuses to test it then they are probably right to refuse it. They don't refuse cars for fun.
Just take it to a mechanic.

spiggotpaddy

Alanstrainor wrote: »

What's with the essay? Just bullet point your issues and post again. Made it 1/4 the way down before giving up.

You bought a cheap old car. It clearly has some issues, if it is smokey enough to cause the NCT to not test it, there is something very wrong. It might be an easy fix, CCV/rocker cover gasket etc.

That's a bit grumpy. The OP wasn't seeking pearls of wisdom, but merely dispensing council to forlorn Toyota owners.

Pkiernan

It'd be good if you fix it properly and soon.
A smoking engine is bad for everyone.

Good luck with it.

Toyotafanboi

Alanstrainor wrote: »

What's with the essay? Just bullet point your issues and post again. Made it 1/4 the way down before giving up.

You bought a cheap old car. It clearly has some issues, if it is smokey enough to cause the NCT to not test it, there is something very wrong. It might be an easy fix, CCV/rocker cover gasket etc.

Tl;Dr

- Bought a pig in a poke with a worn out engine
- Couldn't get it through NCT emissions
- Tried every magic potion and old wives tale under the sun to no avail
- "NCT money making racket, unpleasant staff yada yada"
- Drained engine oil and refilled sump to just below minimum with 50/50 blend of 10w40 and 75w90 gear oil
- Rinsed soot from tail pipe (really)
- Retested at different test centre and passed
- Staff at this centre are excellent, no coincidence
- Engine now perfect. Except for being knackered and everyone around the car being poisoned

Fair enough OP if you were cash strapped and caught out, this has worked for you, it can't really be sold on as good advice though and in all reality the engine is still fudged.

Cee-Jay-Cee

I only read bits as it’s just too long.

A few things, no cars do not get smoky over 3000rpms. Your car is using excessive oil (which those engines are known for) and the NCT have the right to refuse to test very smoky cars.

You most likely need a new/replacement engine.

colm_mcm

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

You most likely need a new/replacement engine.

Nah, it has a years test and they obviously couldn’t find any fault, so it’s fixed.

spiggotpaddy

There's no point in fixing it. An old banger with a worn engine and a full years test. Just keep the oil topped up with lidl's finest and drive it until it dies.

smuggler.ie

Payo10 wrote: »

2003 Rav4, 1.8 petrol. Bought it in Feb, a local mechanic was driving it and didn't need to NCT it under garage while repairing etc. Anyway I bought it just after it passed NCT in Jan. It had a 6 mth NCT with retest due last week. I hadn't put many miles on it really, and was told all fluids had recently been changed. They looked new when I inspected them. Fresh. So I was hopeful she'd pass again.

.................

It was smokey, to be fair. I honestly hadn't noticed as nothing showed in the rear view, and it only smokes over 3000 revs while idling. I researched the NCT book, says exhaust should be purged slowly up to 2500 revs. So only really smokes over 3000, which I'm sure most old cars do.

.............................and I topped oil off with an expensive emissions friendly fully synthetic Oil, which was 5W 10, I believe. I topped it off right to full level.
My fault!

....................Of course he knew it was burning oil. ................. lighter emissions friendly synthetic Oil, as I basically "de-gunked" it. Funny he didn't mention that when selling it. ��

Added an inexpensive 10W 40 Oil....................

IMHO that(in bold) was you failure in first place.


What is original oil recommended by manufacturer to this engine - stick to it. Especially here, where we have no winter as such, thank god got good summer once in odd ??? years.

Car is old, engine parts worn(oil and compression rings - hence extra smoke + oily sparks) and thinner oil will leak like piss. All this "emissions friendly" bull**** nonsense worth NONE if you burn/leak more oil than you should.

My humble opinion

At the end of the day - not a Porsche you drive

Payo10

Car still going strong now. Three years on. 👌

OEM Oil varies on this, summer vs winter. On higher milage, 20W 40 less likely to leak through older seals/rings/gaskets etc. Otherwise, these Rav4's are bulletproof.

My original post was too long. I agree. Didn't want to read it again myself. Hope it helps someone that is running a VVTI over 120,000 miles. ðŸ‘

biko

Cool, thanks for the update. But also - old thread lock.