I'm slightly confused about the emission regs on my engine.

It is a 2.5 V6 Duratec and is essentially an ST200 which has been stripped back to basics but has a cat fitted. I had it mapped a few weeks back and was told that emissions were 'good' and that I shouldn't have a problem at SVA time.

The SVA test revealed that my engine number was not in their database so it came down to the date of the engine which is 1997. As far as I understand it, certain engine manufacturers had a changeover period while they made improvements to the emissions side of things so there is a 'grey area' for emission testing.
I thought that this grey area was earlier (around 1992?) and that these engines do not require a cat to be fitted. My engine has a cat but still failed the cat test, however it passed the 'non cat' test and I therefore got through SVA by the skin of my teeth (hey I'm not complaining )

My question is how do I present my engine for MOT time in 3 years? Is it a fail unless I can prove that it doesn't need a cat? If so, how do I do that? I suppose I should have asked the SVA tester but I didn't want to push my luck too far so I just smiled and grabbed the pass certificate

[Edited on 9-1-07 by RazMan]

The emissions as stated on the V5 which was gived to you buy the SVA i.e if you passed the non cat emissions test then you dont need a cat. It will state on the V5 what emissions are correct for your car.
If you have fully mapped fuel and spark then get a map that allows a cat pass.
Every one should be happy.

Not sure if this helps but hey worth a shot.

A few years ago I had a cavalier 2.0i

Right on queue the cat fell to bits and was basically knackered right before the MOT. Baulking at the price of a replacement I left it out altogether replacing it with a fill in section from a previous model.

The all-knowing Autosave guru’s told me that not only would it not run but also I would never pass the MOT emission test for that year. I'll also mention that the engine was at around 120k so was not particularly in prime condition

Well not only did it run normally, hardly a surprise there. But it passed the emissions without any bother.

My advice would be to simply leave off the cat and stick it though the test as normal. Most probably the tester will have a look assume that its not meant to be cat equipped and test it accordingly, after all its a special anyway.


[Edited on 9/1/07 by macnab]

Raz,

is your vehicle registered on a Q plate? If so, its a visual smoke test only.

Phil

Phil,

are you saying a Q plate need's no cat?

that would be good if they don't

Scott.

quote:

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Originally posted by snapper
The emissions as stated on the V5 which was gived to you buy the SVA i.e if you passed the non cat emissions test then you dont need a cat. It will state on the V5 what emissions are correct for your car.
If you have fully mapped fuel and spark then get a map that allows a cat pass.
Every one should be happy.

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Congratulations on the pass.
On the bottom of the MAC it says what the emissions test was/is for your car, this is then put on the V5 so in future even the Q plate cars will have the emissions appropriate to the engine.

Aha - I missed that section on the MAC.
Both CO2 & HC are marked as N/A so looks like it won't be a problem at MOT time. Woohoo!

quote:

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Originally posted by RazMan
Aha - I missed that section on the MAC.
Both CO2 & HC are marked as N/A so looks like it won't be a problem at MOT time. Woohoo!

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