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MoT fail on emissions

2K views 15 replies 6 participants last post by  Fruity 
#1 ·
The 2003 ph3 spider has failed on emissions. Leaving it running, warming it up, thrashing the nads off it etc. has not made a difference. Garage reckon replacement cat required and as a ph3 it has twin one?.

Firstly, does this sound ok and secondly where from how much?

Current estimate is £360 inc VAT.

Ta!
 
#2 ·
Is it a JTS or Twinnie.If it is a Twinnie, the twin pre-cats on the down pipes should make no difference to the emissions. The main cat with integral silencer can be bought on eBay for under £200. Not sure how long they’ll last but not a massive job to swap so you could fit it just for the MoT.
 
#13 ·
HC was 55
CO was showing 0.4 at 2,500
0.40 at 4,000
Lambda was 'in range' but fluctuating.

Does not look like they have removed fuel injectors before, is it difficult?

I'm currently trying to decide between asking them to have a go at it and getting it recovered to someone else.
 
#10 ·
Injectors then but may well have damaged the cat as well, you can get the garage to remove the injectors and send them to me and we will sort them out for you

You will also need an inlet manifold gasket which I can send you with the injectors when we have fixed them

Or you can bring use the car and we can fix it but it

Ned
 
#15 ·
Just to end this thread for anyone who may find themselves with a similar problem...

The main reason for the MoT fail was the fact that we had one half-decent (considering) cat and one that was totally awol. Basically an injector starts to play up and we get too much fuel going in, excess fuel dropping into the exhaust and chewing away at the ceramics and magical bits that comprise the cat. As bits start to degrade they crumble off and lumps start to bump and rattle around colliding with the bits that are left. Pretty soon you are at 0.5 cat and slapping a new one on, at a little under £400 before you even start to pay someone to do the job, and you might get through your MoT. Alas you won’t have stopped the thing that knackers the cat.

So, do please get the injectors sorted too.

Thanks to Ned for getting it all sorted :thumbs:
 
#16 ·
If you don't use the stupidly expensive V-Power/Ultimate/Excellium/Supreme flavour of petrol, it may be a good time to do so.

I decided a bit more every fill up would help reduce injector faults.
When I had the JTS injectors serviced at 101k, I was told there was a fair bit of muck in the pintle filters but the injectors themselves were clean and spray patterns and injected amounts were surprisingly good.

Premium petrol (which also has less acidic bio-sh** in it).

I also think the JTS is simply unsuited to urban conditions as the lean burn strategy (below 1500rpm) creates higher particle emissions. I also think the internal EGR function of the JTS engine only operates at idle and very low engine speeds.

Thanks for sharing, Keithy.
Definitely a cautionary tale.
 
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