Hi guys,

 

I've been advised by a mechanic friend that as my exhaust is just straight through from the turbo I will fail my mot.

My question is: do diesels have to pass an emmissions test these days? or is it just a visual inspection of if the cat is present and it doesnt smoke?

Under load it doesn't visually smoke anymore than any other pd if not less. It does however produce quite a strong diesel smell while idling in traffic.

 

Next question would be: if I need to get a cat back in it, will that cause any problems? It's remapped to around 180bhp on a pd150 turbo, although that's only going on what the previous owner told me.

 

You'll be ok, it's one of those daft mods that does nothing except make a raspberry blower.

1 minute ago, sepulchrave said:

You'll be ok, it's one of those daft mods that does nothing except make a raspberry blower.

That was the first thing me and my friends said as I was driving it home. I think the exact quote was "why is your car farting as it hits 3k rpm"

I think the rules for mots are that if there was a cat fitted when it left the factory then it needs to be there for the mot. Saying that I never had a problem when I had my fabia with a de-cat

Likely no test centre would ever admit to it but most sensible ones would just take the reading from another vehicle instead of emissions testing your one. As after all an mot only means the car was right when presented for the test ie you could quite easily have removed the cat half an hour after you left the test centre with your valid mot.

58 minutes ago, Gmac983 said:

Likely no test centre would ever admit to it but most sensible ones would just take the reading from another vehicle instead of emissions testing your one. As after all an mot only means the car was right when presented for the test ie you could quite easily have removed the cat half an hour after you left the test centre with your valid mot.

 

I was once asked if the tester could take my emissions for another car!

I have a mate who always did my MOT's before I left the UK 15 years ago, back then when we were talking about future emissions test problems for my motorcycle engined Caterham he said tha the DOT were pushing for them to have integrated on line IT and CCTV systems so they could review or see in real time that as test was going on, what was done and what vehicle was hooked up for emissions tests.

 

Saw him again last month for my first MOT since then on a Yeti, still no cameras in fact he says that they have reduced the capital investment requirements meaning that much smaller outfits can now do testing, a race to the bottom that has hit him hard, they are a dedicated MOT outfit on the aérodrome where Top Gear is filmed.

 

My Yeti did not have an emissions test, it passed with the note "impossible to test" because you cant rev the engine above 3K unless the vehicle is in motion, now I actually know how to overcome that and am sure that he does, he's younger and has always been more switched on than me, it probably suits him to have a way to test a vehicle without a cat for instance.

 

He also did not do the brake testing on the rollers instead went out with a 1950's Tapley brake meter not that he used it, it was there just in case of a spot check, he said they will not brake test 4wd vehicles with Haldex couplings on the rollers.

 

Against all his new equipment it looked really out of place, an antique curio, he said that if he replaces it it has to be a new certified one with Bluetooth connectivity and he has to pay a fortune to have it calibrated every year with guess what? The exact same antique mechanical device that he (doesn't) uses

2 hours ago, J.R. said:

 

I know you mean well man but if it was me I wouldn’t be happy about seeing some of that online if I was him

Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to look into getting a standard exhaust back on it mostly just to stop the farting noises. That being said if anyone in the berkshire area has one and would be interested in parting ways with it (money or swap for mine) let me know.

If it left the factory with one and doesnt have one now its a fail visually for missing cat