vortex cat and mot

[hipwell]

Well I just put my cat back on for my mot made by a company called vortex which the previous owner put on. Looked them up and there only about 100 quid so it can't be the best bit of kit in the world.

It failed on emmissions, the cat looks fine and has no rattles.

Is it likely to have failed because its a cheapo cat or more lambda sensor related? The cat was stinking hot when it went in.

Car has recently had New Ngk plugs, temp sensor, coil pack, service, thermostat

 

[jack_davey]

What did it fail on?
High CO readings? High HC readings?

 

[hipwell]

Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive (7.3.D.4)

Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content at idle excessive (7.3.D.5)

 

[Brett]

Borrow a cat off somebody and see if that helps.

I'd happily lend my cat to somebody local if they needed it, I'm sure somebody near you will have one spare (mine is for 364 days of the year )

 

[Dan519]

what were the actual figures?

 

[hipwell]

what were the actual figures?

Can't find the bloody paperwork, those reasons I just gave were from the dvla mot check site.

 

[hipwell]

Well it never passed last time so i took it back in today as the mot was nearly out.

Just had my mot this morning and it failed miserably on the emmissions test.

its had a new lambda, cts, thermostat, plugs etc.

On the fail sheet i got it just says co2 emmissions excessive on second fast idle.

Wen they were testing it it was absolutly miles off. The only thing i can think of is the cat may be no good, but its almost brand new because after it was fitted i whipped it off and put the decat on.

I even tried a bottle of the stuff you put in the petrol which is meant to reduce emmissions but this made no difference whatsoever.

Not sure what else to try, im guessing its the crap cat as the car runs perfectly fine.

 

[mr.pink87]

Cheap catatlytic converters do not work properly. Even my KTR 200 cell cat wouldn't pass on emission testing.

 

[hipwell]

What do you reccomend then? Sourcing a second hand Renault cat? Cos I ain't paying 2k for a new one from them lol.

 

[mr.pink87]

A proper 200 cell cat or a second hand 182 cat which will be cheaper.

 

[hipwell]

Ok. Is there anything else major which can affect emmissions apart from cat and lambda? Like I say plugs.and cts etc are new

 

[Dan519]

I cut up a cat from the cheapest exhaust they had in the motor factor. Still made 209bhp with it on

 

[hipwell]

I cut up a cat from the cheapest exhaust they had in the motor factor. Still made 209bhp with it on

And did said cat pass mot?

 

[hipwell]

And did said cat pass mot?

well the garage just phoned and recons that they have now passed it, but its gona cost me 30 quid cos they took off the lambda sensor and cleaned it.

Do you think there having me on and have just passed it and thought its an easy way to make 30 quid? With all the crap a lambda sensor sees i wouldnt have thought cleaning it would make much difference lol..

 

[hipwell]

Got a mate who works at kwik fit so he just tested it for me an it failed again. so looks like I paid 30 quid for them to pass it for me.

however I'm on my way to pick up a genuine 182 cat from local scrappy for next year.

 

[ben lee]

are you sure the vortex is a cat? as there is a vortex that looks like a cat but is built to accelerate exhaust gasses away form the engine to improve performance that are around that price. if you look into the end of its its loads of pipes that spiral to the other end.

cleaning a lambda sensor never works.

if its just co. high 98% it will be a faulty cat if the hc was also high that would indicate a engine fault e.g miss fire faulty sensor.

cats arent as restrictive as people think even at 200bhp its barley noticeable.

 

[hipwell]

Yeh I'm pretty sure its a cat, its got a honeycomb structure and gets stinking red hot.

The car runs perfect so I'm pretty sure its the cat then if its just high c02.

 

[Laine_16v]

£30 to "clean" your lambda sensor? Oh dear

 

[hipwell]

£30 to "clean" your lambda sensor? Oh dear

Yeh I knew he was talking out his arse when he was telling me, but I didn't really give a toss I just wanted it to pass.

I've put the decat back on now anyway but I've now got a good condition real 182 cat sat in my garage.

 

[Dan519]

cleaned......a highly delicate internally heated oxygen sensor??? he must be an idiot if he thinks that would do anything at all. More likely they've just actually bothered to get the cat hot before testing, which anyone worth bothering with would have done first time round