Failed emissions

Post by **Jon** » 13 Feb 2004, 19:41

Just been offered a 98 C15D van, 192,000 miles and an MOT failure on emissions amongst some other minor details. As the little Van would be quite useful to me, and its very cheap, I was considering buying it.
It runs well and does not seem to have visible smoke after its warmed up.
As its a budget van, I really would not want to go down the road of recon injectors and maybe a pump.
Hoping to run some injector cleaner through and thrashing it within an inch of its life....any good?

Post by **philhoward** » 13 Feb 2004, 21:24

The good blast method seems to work well with diesels...just make sure the cam belt is up to it!!
According to the previous owner, my Xantia failed first time on emmissions...20-minute blast later it passed!

VisaGTi16v · Post by **VisaGTi16v** » 13 Feb 2004, 22:07

my zx 16v took about 20 minutes sitting there before it got through the idle emmisions. not helped by the fact it hunts slightly the whole time

edd001 · Post by **edd001** » 13 Feb 2004, 23:05

I have to agree. If it failed badly change air filter, oil and oil filter, stick some diesel tratment in and make sure the engine is red hot and has had a good thrashing. i had to do this with my old diesel and after this it easily passed.

jono · Post by **jono** » 14 Feb 2004, 01:08

Not wishing to advertise but speak as you find, I use Millers diesel fuel treatment. I have noticed an improvement in engine running and have never had any of my old BXs fail a smoke test. You do have to ensure they test the engine whitst it is hot. A good hardish run to get everything hot which includes the LHM and gearbox oil. A tick-over warm up is not good enough.

reblack68 · Post by **reblack68** » 14 Feb 2004, 11:52

Change the air filter, fuel filter and oil anyway. It'll never pass if those are dirty, especially the air filter. It might even be worth testing it without an air filter.
Run some cleaner through it (I've had that Millers recommended to me before but never found it), give it a good thrashing now and on the day of the test and take it on a cold damp day (air is denser so fuel burns more cleanly).
My Escort used to draw black lines on the road with its exhaust and it's never failed an emissions test yet.
You absolutely should not start replacing injectors etc, that sort of thing really eats into your diesel fuel savings.

AndersDK · Post by **AndersDK** » 14 Feb 2004, 18:42

Jon -
Is this van a town runner ?
- as then it could have the exhaust clogged up more or less by carbon - restricting exhaust & detoriating emissions as the engine has to use umph solely to breathe.
Agree with other submitters on a good long blast, engine oil/filter, air filter & injection cleaner would more than likely do magic.

James.UK · Post by **James.UK** » 14 Feb 2004, 19:06

My friendly mech does MOT's, he told me a while back that he stocks Fortes diesel additive just for this problem, bungs it in, drives up and down the local motorway to get it real hot, then tests again and claims never to have had one fail after thats been done.

blueboy2001 · Post by **blueboy2001** » 14 Feb 2004, 23:51

When I got my TD Xantia with 212k on the clock it was a bit rough and smokey, I was advised to remove the fuel fiter, drain it, and refill the chamber with neat STP Diesel Fuel Treatment, and stick the rest of the bottle in the tank when nearly empty. I did this, and it ran much better thereafter. When I took it for its MOT, I put a litre in with 30L of diesel and it passed the smoke test at about 1.6 units, the pass mark being 3 for a TD, 2.5 for a NA IIRC - tester said it was considerably lower than the 3 year old Vectra he tested straight after, and it had done 10 times the mileage!
The STP stuff is about £6 for half a litre in Halfords, but Costco sell it in 2x 1L bottles for about £7 inc VAT which makes it cheap enough. A bloke I know sticks a litre of this in with a full tank of red diesel and says it makes the car far more driveable than on forecourt ULSD.

rabenson · Post by **rabenson** » 15 Feb 2004, 17:42

I've heard the same as James - one bottle of forte diesel treatment in half a tank of diesel then a good quick run should sort it out!

oilyspanner · Post by **oilyspanner** » 15 Feb 2004, 17:45

I have the same experience of the forte stuff myself.
Stewart

pwatson · Post by **pwatson** » 15 Feb 2004, 23:21

My old BX failed once so bloke got some injector cleaner, started engine, detached fuel line from filter, stuck it in the injector cleaner bottle and gave the engine a good rev. Cloud of black smoke came out, he re-attached fuel line, went for a blast and it passed easily. By the way, if you are worried about effect on the engine - it did another 100k before I sold it and as far as I know, it's still going (well it was a couple of years ago and it had over 200 k on the clock by then!) For subsequent tests I always gave it a dose of Millers for the tankful before the test and it always passed with flying colours -good old BX! My local independent speaks highly of Forte

Post by **Jon** » 16 Feb 2004, 02:25

Thanks!
I'm going to sort out the other minor failure points, then try the Forte stuff. If no good I have a Bosch pump and the injectors from an old BX in my loft !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!