Board logo

all your MOT questions answered..
02GF74 - 28/2/07 at 02:40 PM

... well, some of them

interesting one about there being no distance limit to drive to an MOT.

bartonp - 28/2/07 at 03:21 PM

What about the guy who was getting cross because the MOT station wouldn't accept his Fiat Uno sills being 'repaired' with chemical weld??

smart51 - 28/2/07 at 03:41 PM

"The MOT regulations say nothing about a vehicle having a catalytic converter. They merely set emission levels which have to be achieved if the vehicle is first used after a specific year. "

Does a car HAVE to have a cat for SVA? I know it has to meet the emissions limits but does it actually have to have a cat in the exhaust?

DarrenW - 28/2/07 at 03:49 PM

I believe that ref emissions they are only concerned if it passes or not rather than if it has a cat or not. The only issue / link comes if the only way to pass the test is by having the cat fitted. Spo in theory if it passes without a CAT then nothing to worry about imho.

russbost - 28/2/07 at 06:02 PM

Theoretically you could pass without a CAT, in practice highly unlikely.

02GF74 - 1/3/07 at 09:08 AM

quote:
Originally posted by russbost
Theoretically you could pass without a CAT, in practice highly unlikely.


if it were that easy, manufacturer's wold not go to the expense of developing and fitting CATs.... so extremely very unlikely.... (I could be wrong but ....)

smart51 - 1/3/07 at 09:42 AM

quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
if it were that easy, manufacturer's wold not go to the expense of developing and fitting CATs.... so extremely very unlikely.... (I could be wrong but ....)


Manufacturers fit the cheapest cat possible to save money. Some engines are so clean that very lightly loaded cats are fitted. Some older engines need heavily loaded cats to clean up the smog.

My R1 engine at SVA was fitted with a cat that didn't work. Adjusting lambda to the correct level was easy and the CO was very low. It was only the HC that was too high. A new cat sorted that out. An 8 year old carbed R1 is probably not the cleanest of lumps available. Newer emmissions frienly engines may well meet cat emissions levels without a cat when new but like all things, they age.

I'm quite sure that if an engine could be tuned in software (which is free per car sold) or with cost neutal hardware changes to meet cat emissions standards with the cheapest cat availale, many would do just that to save money on cats.