Car emissions check

brightside229

brightside229

brightside229

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Joined
10 Mar 2009
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1,428
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Newark
Just a quick question.

Outside of actually getting a MOT. Has anyone, or does anyone know if its possible to turn up to a garage/test center with a car that currently has a valid MOT. And ask them to check the emissions of the car without actually having a MOT carried out? therefore if it fails you wont fail a MOT?
 
I'd have thought with the right amount of money (cash or card) any garage would perform any work that you asked them to.
 
Basically i have a heavily modified car. Usually i put it back to standard - remove supercharger, standard injectors, standard ECU, standard airbox standard catalyser. It probably takes nearly a full day to take it all off and put it back on again.

I am wanting to put the standard cat on ONLY and see how it fairs on the MOT emissions so i can see if i can get away with just placing the standard cat back on and leaving the rest off without risking failing the MOT which is due in december.
 
had a renault checked last year just rang the mot station i use and asked for a emmision test they carried it out no problem, didnt effect the mot and it failed by the way . so at least i could rectify the problem.
 
brightside229 said:
Basically i have a heavily modified car. Usually i put it back to standard - remove supercharger, standard injectors, standard ECU, standard airbox standard catalyser. It probably takes nearly a full day to take it all off and put it back on again.

I am wanting to put the standard cat on ONLY and see how it fairs on the MOT emissions so i can see if i can get away with just placing the standard cat back on and leaving the rest off without risking failing the MOT which is due in december.
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If you don't actually care about poisoning people just find a garage that will fudge the numbers for you. About as ethical.
 
Meaker said:
If you don't actually care about poisoning people just find a garage that will fudge the numbers for you. About as ethical.
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people get poisoned enough by airplanes(which i dont use) diesel cars, buss's, trucks old cars that dont require a cat or an MOT, bonfires, stoves etc to believe me driving my car <1500 miles a year is not going to lead to anyone getting Ill due to my actions
 
gc123 said:
had a renault checked last year just rang the mot station i use and asked for a emmision test they carried it out no problem, didnt effect the mot and it failed by the way . so at least i could rectify the problem.
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Thats perfect, will hopefully find a local garage to test it. thank you :)
 
brightside229 said:
Basically i have a heavily modified car. Usually i put it back to standard - remove supercharger, standard injectors, standard ECU, standard airbox standard catalyser. It probably takes nearly a full day to take it all off and put it back on again.

I am wanting to put the standard cat on ONLY and see how it fairs on the MOT emissions so i can see if i can get away with just placing the standard cat back on and leaving the rest off without risking failing the MOT which is due in december.
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If your tune is good then it should pass with a standard cat. The test is not done under load, its idle and RPM held at about 2500RPM.

What car is it?
 
Meaker said:
If you don't actually care about poisoning people just find a garage that will fudge the numbers for you. About as ethical.
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Depends how you look at it, if it's a weekend toy & only does 1k a year it's likely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things as will still chuck out less emissions in a year than your average eco shoe box.

Regarding emissions tests, i had one done to help me diagnose an overfuel issue, it cost me a fiver.
 
Iamzod said:
Regarding emissions tests, i had one done to help me diagnose an overfuel issue, it cost me a fiver.
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Around here they will bill you for their time - depending on garage either minimum 15 minutes or minimum 30 minutes. But the ones I regularly use would be happy enough to do an emission test. (So £10-75 depending on which garage).

Meaker said:
If you don't actually care about poisoning people just find a garage that will fudge the numbers for you. About as ethical.
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Since the IIRC May 2018 changes there are a lot less places that will fudge an MOT as there is more accountability now.
 
Flack88 said:
Poisoning people....lol. If it was a dirty sooty diesel then fair enough.
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It's not just about spot, but if that's how you justify it then ok.

If it's just a track day car then sure but otherwise every person you are driving past you are exposing them to much greater harmful emissions.
 
I had an emissions test on mine after some mods, it passed fine, then at the same place for the MOT it failed. Returned to stock cat to re-do MOT to pass. Ran a few more tests later with the mods and it seemed to yoyo between passing and failing which we've not figured out why. I do have a brand new one to test again to see if the current cat is faulty or if it isn't good enough to get it through. Garage I used only charged once for the test for time.
 
Steeps said:
I had an emissions test on mine after some mods, it passed fine, then at the same place for the MOT it failed. Returned to stock cat to re-do MOT to pass. Ran a few more tests later with the mods and it seemed to yoyo between passing and failing which we've not figured out why. I do have a brand new one to test again to see if the current cat is faulty or if it isn't good enough to get it through. Garage I used only charged once for the test for time.
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Probably just wasn't quite hot enough on the runs it failed.
 
If the car had 2 cats and one was removed (common when tuning), it can just push it over the edge if you then fit a sports cat, or if testing when cold. That happens on the gt86.

One trick is adding a fuel additive before the MOT ;)
 
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