MOT Failing on Emissions

WillsSayers · April 5, 2011, 20:50

First question - is this a Sports Cat?

steve-m-uk · April 5, 2011, 20:56

No that's a flexi section in the exhaust.

WillsSayers · April 5, 2011, 21:00

Learn something new every day, eh. Is it looking like I even have a sports cat, or would it be further back? I'm beginning to think that my car doesn't have a sports cat at all, and the previous owner merely assumed it had a sports cat as per Jan Speed's mis-advertising!

Anonymous · April 5, 2011, 21:04

normally if one has been fitted it be the first box in the exhaust as said the pic is the flexi. sounds like you not got a cat

Ilogik · April 5, 2011, 21:04

ill take a pic of mine otmorrow for you, but they should look something like this. I had a 100cel sports cat fitted, cost me about £300 in total.

Tadlad · April 5, 2011, 21:10

To see what you've got would need to see where that pipe leads too.

steve-m-uk · April 5, 2011, 21:19

My sports cat looks like this ( the silver bit at top of exhaust )

Wabbitkilla · April 5, 2011, 22:08

Janspeeds do not have a sports cat fitted, the salesman lied to me and no doubt lied to the buyer of that exhaust.
You can get the resonator box cut out and have a sports cat welded in its place like I did.

PeteT · April 5, 2011, 22:36

You can see my sports cat in the middle of the car, under the bumper. This is the standard place for it.

FGrob · April 5, 2011, 22:40

This is what it should look like, 200 Cel cat, all metal, cost about £120 plus fitting / welding, been through 2 Toyota MOT's with this no problem. Plus I had a bung fitted for tuning. s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Rob.

mrzwei · April 5, 2011, 23:01

Out of interest, how do you tune through the bung? I assume you use an exhaust gas analyser and adjust the ecu to get an optimum reading in a particular area. (That could of course be sbollocks bollocks sbollocks s:D

s:D ).

K T M Rider · April 5, 2011, 23:30

Quote from: "WillsSayers"I'm beginning to think that my car doesn't have a sports cat at all!

best change your sig then s:)

s:)

FGrob · April 6, 2011, 06:30

Quote from: "mrzwei"Out of interest, how do you tune through the bung? I assume you use an exhaust gas analyser and adjust the ecu to get an optimum reading in a particular area. (That could of course be ******** s:D s:D ).

They fit a wide band sensor in it, then they can map the car by sensing the gases prior to the cat, remember I'm running a Apexi PFC so it's mapped to suit the car.

Rob.

WillsSayers · April 7, 2011, 09:59

Right, I'm going to see an exhaust specialist tonight and see if they can weld a cat in so I can pass the MOT - I assume shy of finding a friendly MOT tester, this is my only option really?

Wabbitkilla · April 7, 2011, 11:43

Quote from: "WillsSayers"Right, I'm going to see an exhaust specialist tonight and see if they can weld a cat in so I can pass the MOT - I assume shy of finding a friendly MOT tester, this is my only option really?

Indeed it is ... if you get a 200 or 100 cell sports cat then it doesn't affect your performance but it may make the exhaust a little louder (it did mine).
I will recommend you get a sports cat with a metal substrate though as many are ceramic, and we know how the ceramic precats can end up s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

WillsSayers · April 7, 2011, 13:08

At the moment, I'll take whatever the garage have. Going off to Ireland at the end of next week in my car, so need it tax'd, MOT'd and drivable by then! Piss poor planning on my side, really but hey ho that's life! s:)

s:)

If it's possible for them to make a decat pipe for it as well and be interchangable, that'd be a bonus!

WillsSayers · April 7, 2011, 22:35

OKAY! So it turns out that the car DOES have a sports cat, but is still failing........! Had it up on a ramp at a garage for an inspection (nice guys didn't charge for it!) and the current theory is that it could be faili for one of two reasons:
The first being that the internals of the cat is dead.
The second and more hopeful theory being that the post-cat lambda sensor seems to be attached with a spacer. What Mr Garage man reckons I'd that this is to stop the engine reporting with a CEL, but will be causing the engine to run much too rich (the car does honk of petrol from time to time), so he speculates that removing the spacer will after a bit of driving, make the car run more efficiently, thus passing the mot. Although temporarily giving me a CEL. Any truth in this theory?

aaronjb · April 7, 2011, 22:46

No, he's talking sbollocks bollocks sbollocks .

The third O2 sensor has absolutely no role in fuelling whatsoever, it's simply there to let the ECU know whether or not the CAT is working. The fact that you have a spacer there to stop a CEL tells me there's also no CAT (or a dead CAT, but my money is on no CAT).. otherwise you wouldn't need the spacer.

WillsSayers · April 7, 2011, 23:12

Im pretty sure it was the cat I was looking at...... I'll see if I can't do a contortionist act amd get a photo done tomorrow. Would've taken one today but my phone was too slow and he wanted me out from under the lift xD

E · April 8, 2011, 00:28

I believe that the Janspeed system has what looks to be a cat from the outside but actually has no internals and is called something like a resonance box, I'm pretty sure custard had a thread about this a year or two ago.

Anonymous · April 8, 2011, 00:49

Quote from: "E"I believe that the Janspeed system has what looks to be a cat from the outside but actually has no internals and is called something like a resonance box, I'm pretty sure custard had a thread about this a year or two ago.

spot on. people think the first small box is a cat. if this box looks like a normal exhaust box then it is not a cat. probably best get the pic up and we will tell you what it is s:mrgreen: :mrgreen: s:mrgreen:

WillsSayers · April 8, 2011, 05:44

Well this doesn't bode well then, as he also said that being a post-2001 car, they can't chop and weld a new cat in. Arghhhh!

Wabbitkilla · April 8, 2011, 06:41

That first box is most definitely not a catalyst, when we cut it out of my exhaust it's a straight through resonator.
I know ... I thought it was a cat too until i saw the evidence.

You need to find an exhaust fabricator to chop out the resonator and weld in a sports cat.

Anonymous · April 8, 2011, 08:06

Quote from: "WillsSayers"Well this doesn't bode well then, as he also said that being a post-2001 car, they can't chop and weld a new cat in. Arghhhh!

sounds like he dont want the job. cant see why you cant fit a cat to a car after 2001

WillsSayers · April 8, 2011, 09:34

Hmmm, that doesn't look like what I looked at last night, but then again I am not quite what I'd call "mechanically gifted"! I'll try and get a picture at lunch time or something. If not, I'll quickly jack the car up when I get home tonight.