Please explain this emission result

Oct 28, 2006 16 Replies

I have a Toyota Carina E (petrol, 1995). It failed the MOT's emission test. The results are listed below and would like your expert opinion as to what do you think is wrong.


200k Miles on the clock, runs perfectly well. Good mpg. The expensive lambda sensor is 3 yrs old. Engine type 4A-FE. The cat was hot when tested. No engine check light flashing on the dashboard. Slight vibration on the wheel at 70 MPH.


What if i just take the air filter element out for the emission test? It worked for my D reg Micra EVERY time. Anyony tried it with these morden ECU cars ?


Thank you in advance.


Oil temp >= 60 C cooling fan cut in


Fast idle Test: FAIL


Engine Speed 2350-2650 Rpm 2400 Rpm Pass CO:


get it hot (oil temp should be 80) and retest.

Also check for even the slightest leak on the exhaust.

Why? The lambda was under 1 for both tests.

John

Take it for a proper thrash. Oil temp over 100. Revving it hard in every gear and then slowing down and going back through the gears. Then take it for a retest.

because exhaust leaks confuse the lambda sensor

Yeahbut if the exhaust was leaking that much it would show in the lambda reading. Wouldn't it? And surely it would have to be a leak prior to the lambda sensor to confuse it and they're fairly rare.

John

No, a leak anywhere can confuse things, it is presumably due to backpressure variations.

I have seen a reading change simply by adding a little gun-gum !!

Fred > test.

200 quid for a Lambda sensor?

WTF?! - most motor factors will sell you one for around 30 quid.

Most expensive one I've ever had was a very specific Alfa Romeo sensor for the catalysed version of the old all-alloy twincam / twinspark lumps

- cost around 60 quid.

We've already established you run a slightly dodgy operation, but that's just taking the piss.

Oh dear, If you are lucky it will only be the £200 Lambda sensor , if you are unlucky it will also be the ECU like the last one I did.

£260 pound for a Toyota one we replaced last week, genuine only & some of the after market ones you have to chop & refit the old plug onto the new sensor with the fitting kit you get, never been keen on that.

That looks like it's cold. What's the actual oil temperature? The coolin= g =

fan cuts in before the oils hot or the cats working properly. & taking t= he =

air filter out won't make any difference.

SteveH ( snipped-for-privacy@italiancar.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Steve,

It's not the first time I've heard that Toyota use odd Lambdas, which cost an arm, a leg and a first born.

I'm rather more surprised that nobody's picked up on the OP's suggestion that pulling the air filter might work - AFAIK that really only works on diseasels, and even then only when the air filter's well overdue for binning.

Actually, it appears that Toyota did use a stupid proprietory sensor in a lot of their cars.

F*ck me. Fred was right about something.

First time for everything, I suppose.

Excellent, where can I buy one? You should see the bloody mess my firstborn makes of her bedroom. :-)

Vim Fuego ( snipped-for-privacy@fastmail.fm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Sounds like you need to be selling the firstborn, not buying.

Toyotas are easy to find.

Still a surprise though.

My Toyota had plugs that didn't fit anything else and where you had to take the whole air intake system apart to get to two of the plugs.

Did they leave routes through to the plugs when they realised that as they designed it? No, they fitted stupid 60,000 mile platinum plugs instead.

IIRC they hold the World's entire stock in Japan and when a dealer orders them they are airfreighted in...

You're an obnoxious little f*ck with only a numptys grasp of mechanics, I thought you were a fool but after your recent comments I now know.

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