Mot Woes! =[

[zowow 0]

Hello, I thought i'd post on here as i've always found this site very useful in the past. I'm afraid I actually have a 405 Mi16 rather than a 205 lol.

 

it's a phase two 2.0 version and my emmisions were off the scale for the MOT, it was also backfiring pretty badly and it wasn't running smooth, i mean it was pretty obvious it was getting too much fuel. The mot station told me that someone had cut open the cat and emptied the contents and rewelded it..

 

anyhoo, i've replaced the exhaust with a brand new standard system, and the car was still jumpy so i then bought a brand new lambda sensor and fitted that too, now it doesn't seem to backfire but it's still running pretty rich and smells a bit of fuel. my next course of action is to buy a new coolant temperature sensor, but is there anything else i can try?

 

oh also me and kris (kriskarrera) had a look at the engine bay and we heard an induction/sucking noise coming from somewhere other than the airbox, like, in the middle of the engine somewhere maybe?

 

I want to try as much as possible as i've already paid for one MOT for it to fail, and i also failed the retest on emissions. I guess simple things as well like spark plugs?

 

oh, the other thing i wanted to also ask was an MOT related question

 

I got, Front Brake Imbalance (30%) on the fail sheet.

 

because I got an advisory on the drivers side brake pad, i should imagine the drivers side caliper is somewhat stuck? what to ya reckon? change the caliper for a new one? is this easy to do on a 405 because my dad gave me a lecture about something to do with positive pressure and it being 'awkward' to do

 

people keep telling me i should of scrapped it, but it's pretty much a minter really, it's had a new engine in it and theres no rust and it's probably one of the better phase two's i've seen.. just getting frustrated with it as i've spend 500 buying it and probably another 500 *trying* to get through an MOT

 

ya help is mucho appreciated!

[johny105_y2k 1]

i'd try free the caliper off before getting a replacement. see what its like and get a set of seals for it. then you know its a good one.

 

iirc an air leak on the induction side will throw your emisions out for the better providing its past the relevant sensors but i stand to be corrected there no doubt.

 

johny

[zowow 0]

cheers, GSF do a recon caliper for £30 odd so i might just get a new one anyway.. are brakes/caliper easy to fit on a 405?

 

Cheers.

 

As for the emissions, i'm a paranoid it will fail again so i want to be 100% that its running ok. I'm sure the air leak has something to do with it because it idles a bit dodgy too, but when i feather the throttle it idles ok.

 

the taking in of too much air seems to be directly related to the cutting out issue, so maybe thats why it's still overfuelling

 

the lambda has stopped it backfiring but it still smells heavily of fuel...

[welshpug 1,657]

check and if necessary replace the Green ecu temperature sensor, that and the Lambda will cause rich running

 

did you get the Idle Valve sorted?

[Anthony 1,003]

My old 306 S16 (same engine as your 405) had stupidly high emissions with a combination of a faulty lambda and a cat that had blown it's insides out - something like 9-10% CO from memory and HC was too high as well. Replacing the lambda alone almost got the emissions low enough to pass, and finally replacing the cat with a used one bought the emissions down to almost nothing.

[zowow 0]

check and if necessary replace the Green ecu temperature sensor

 

What's that then? Green ECU temp sensor?!

 

and it already has a brand new exhaust system + cat, as well as a brand new lambda sensor =]

 

Welshpug, I think the idle valve isn't the problem, seems to be an air leak from a pipe somewhere which i need to trace... i can here a sucking noise, and when i feather the throttle it idles fine, it's only if i push down the pedal hard then take my foot off the revs seem to drop to 0

[welshpug 1,657]

to me that almost definitely sounds like the idle valve! che3ck that the pipes to it are still connected to the intake pipework, this I would imagine would be the cause of your air leak most likely.

 

the only other areas that I can imagine off the top of my head that would cause this would be the vacuum take-offs on the front of the manifold.

 

ECU temperature sensor is on the thermostat housing, an awkward bugger to access on this engine with all the pipework present.

Edited December 8, 2008 by welshpug

[zowow 0]

to me that almost definitely sounds like the idle valve! che3ck that the pipes to it are still connected to the intake pipework, this I would imagine would be the cause of your air leak most likely.

 

the only other areas that I can imagine off the top of my head that would cause this would be the vacuum take-offs on the front of the manifold.

 

ECU temperature sensor is on the thermostat housing, an awkward bugger to access on this engine with all the pipework present.

 

So just to be sure, the ECU temp sensor we are talking about is the same thing as the coolant temp sensor yer?

 

hmm, i'll probably get one from GSF on my 4mile walk home (i'm not even kidding) and then i'll maybe take it for a retest..

 

As for the brakes maybe i'll just get the MOT place to sort them?

 

I'm guessing a caliper, disc and pad change is a bit of a pain in the bum?

[welshpug 1,657]

yes same thing, green one on the stat housing, NOT the blue one, that's for the gauge ion the dash

 

1920 K9 is the part number, used on a lot of Peugeot/Citroen management systems.

 

as for the brakes, depends how capable you are mechanically, it's only a few bolts and a brake hose, but they will need bleeding.

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Changing discs and pads might help, that's easy. Changing caliper is a pain, i.e because I've never tried it and bleeding brakes is a sod and it's minus 70 at the moment.

You might as well get a new airfilter while you're at GSF too.

[zowow 0]

Changing discs and pads might help, that's easy. Changing caliper is a pain, i.e because I've never tried it and bleeding brakes is a sod and it's minus 70 at the moment.

You might as well get a new airfilter while you're at GSF too.

 

Kris, because of the reluctance of anyone to help out in this cold weather i've just booked it back into another garage.. my grandads mate owns it and its £29 an MOT, i'll just have to get them to do any work if it fails yet again

 

stupid 405 gahhh

 

oh and the guy in GSF said they no longer do the temp sensor, out of stock and no alternatives available

[welshpug 1,657]

ask for one for a 2001 306 gti6, see what happens then....

 

I got one for £6 from a fuel parts supplier, aka any motor factor out there.

 

If you were closer I'd fix it for you!

Edited December 9, 2008 by welshpug

[zowow 0]

believe it or not I did that, and I also gave them kris' reg to see if it showed up..

 

tbh, the guy was a bit, 'this is the commonest one we sell, so it'll be that one, same as a 1.6 306' I had to explain to him lots that it wasn't a hugely common model, but then he kinda went off on one. At one point i even hopped accross the desk onto his pc lol.

 

their system was a bit shocking.

 

Mind you ford aren't any better, I had an RS2000 engined cabriolet and they wanted the chassis number of the doner car before they'd sell me any parts! in the end i just said, i'll do it and found ford 2.0i 16v 150ps dohc in the list and sorted it out by hopping onto the guys machine

 

in some ways it's annoying i didn't buy a honda.. could of looked up the part number from my desk lol.

 

anyhoo, i really don't know what's going to happen at this re-mot. I still reckon it might fail the emmissions but then without a gas meter i'm not going to know.. it runs really smooth and doesn't backfire anymore, but then, it does smell a bit, maybe i need to reclean the spark plugs after fitting the new lambda/exhaust...

 

one thing i was going to ask was, is there some process for resetting the ECU, or do you literally just disconnect the battery?

and also, are there any little things i can do to bring down the emissions even more?

 

Cheers

James.

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

I've got some reconned spark plugs if you want them? Dishwasher fresh! Clogged airfilter won't help emissions either. Is your oil really black too?

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

1.9's are completly different so using his details would get you the wrong sensor I'm afarid, As for getting the Co down take the Air filter out which will help allot but if it fails again the engine could be past it's best.

[zowow 0]

1.9's are completly different so using his details would get you the wrong sensor I'm afarid, As for getting the Co down take the Air filter out which will help allot but if it fails again the engine could be past it's best.

 

Cheers Miles,

 

You've always helped me out a lot in the past with my Pug probs.. I've got a reciept for a recon engine in 2002, and she still pulls well and theres not really any black or white smoke or anything but it does smell a bit of fuel still... I must admit i haven't changed the oil yet so maybe it is pretty black but i never would of thought it would be that, the guy i bought it from did do regular oil changes.

 

It's in pretty good nick otherwise though, in fact the gearbox feels as good as kris's i reckon lol (i'll post up some pics of it soon - hopefully not in the forsale section eh! )

 

that's weird though miles, when i looked up kris' reg and my reg on the gsf computings, it said that they were the same lol, but they were not in stock anywhere, i think i just got a numpty there to be fair!

 

Kris, Chris with a C can do my brakes/caliper/hoses at the weekend so if they are really expensive i can see what happens with the emmsissions and take it for yet another retest next week.. i've spend over a grand on this car in total now, so i don't think i'm just gonna give up and throw it in the bin

 

 

oh and what about this:

 

try going down to a 1/4 tank of gas then add about two bottles of a high concentrated amount of rubbing alcohol 80% or 90%

 

remember alcohol makes no emissions

 

later

Dc

 

This works if your close to passing. To be exact, go to home depot and buy a gallon of "Denatured Alcohol" aka Methanol. Get your tank close to empty then use the whole can if you like. Just remember to fill er up after the test since this is not good for your rubber hoses. This worked for me last year, I failed the first time too, then passed by doing this.

Edited December 9, 2008 by zowow

[KRISKARRERA 2 1 Cars]

Wonder what day Jizzel plans to do that. In theory I've got Dink on Saturday so I won't be able to hang around long.

Funnily enough I've just changed my oil. Was black as night, surprised really as it's only been in there 3 months.

Who told you about this Methanol trick then? I hope others on this forum read this thread, someone must have tried this before.

[zowow 0]

oh no not chessil i meant chris as in my mate who works as a mechanic in mercedes...

 

if they charge me like £150 or something then i'll just do it as i'm sick of not having my car. When did you change your oil? you kept that quiet?

 

i don't think i'll have time do to the oil before the test.

 

i want to know if it works over here, as i know we have better CO2 detection machines, ie. they fail if you test without the probes in.

maybe it detects something else being in the fuel, but then again, they said that alcohol makes no emissions hmm

[zowow 0]

they often put extra chemicals in denatured alcohol to stop homeless people drinking it lol

i'm just thinking that might give off some emissions?

 

ill ask one of these bods in here, it's good working in R&D, whichever part you want to know about theres an expert somewhere who can help lol..

Edited December 9, 2008 by zowow

[zowow 0]

Well, now that is weird.. I've just spoken to the new MOT station and they've said nothing is wrong with the car at all, aside from emissions,

they said there is nowt wrong with the brakes or my cv boot gaitors etc so i think i've been had!

 

Anyway, back to the important stuff, the emissions. They have said that it's not the lambda, cat or anything obvious and they said the only thing they can think of is the ECU being faulty.

 

they are getting me a quote for a new one, but is it likely to be that?!

[welshpug 1,657]

doubtful though not unknown, but has anyone checked the resistance values of the green temperature sender?

[zowow 0]

i'm not sure actually. I did tell them to check, but they were saying it's more likely ECU because the K light is going on and off intermittantly as well...

 

I just can't wait to have her back now =[ it's been so long argh.. i have less than £300 left to last me till the 23rd, and I need to somehow tax it as well!]

 

it's amazing that the first garage tried ripping me off so much!

[welshpug 1,657]

its worth changing it anyway, you can get them for £6.

[zowow 0]

yea, well they know to try it now.. i'll keep you updated with my progress lol

[Miles 331 1 Cars]

New ECU, Ouch is all I will say unless they find a S/H but be careful of the coded one's if yours has it