MOT Woes

:so_sad:As the Rienza is in for its MOT and service today we had a weekend away to give it a good run and warm the engine through after its christmas rest. We covered 250 miles including some good hills to and from Filey , Whitby and back via the North Yorkshire moors and the Yorkshire Wolds.
It failed the test on emissions  . It has never been smokey and I put fuel cleaner in the tank once a year. It had a full tank of decent fuel in before we left. The garage I use are going to re-check the emissions on there system. They cant fit my van on there ramps for mot so use another garage for test. 
Since we have had the Rienza the brakes have never been as good as I think they should be. The MOT didnt mention  brakes but the garage said they are fitting front discs and pads due to pitting and wear. 
Hopefully this years mechanical woes will be over for the rest of the year. I cant be having a sick motorhome and being unable to travel.

My wee van is going in tomorrow for its mot, like you I've ran it over the dales and back.
Filey site is closed the noo.
Hope yours passes next time Dave.
Happy new year.
Boaby

Dave. Change the air filter. It use to do the trick on my factory diesel vans many years ago.

Micky

I know about the air filter trick. We had a Discovery in for test that was blacking out the workshop. The air filter was soaking wet. I knew of a garage that used to put the emissions pick up on the floor to get a cleaner reading from exhausts. 
The MOT emissions test is becoming a bit of a pain according to the garage. You cant cheat any more. The machine says fail it fails. I will follow up with progress on this matter.

When I was in the taxi business (diesel obviously)we used to 'drive it like we'd stole it' on the way to the test station, 3rd gear, high revs for 2 or 3 miles to give a good clear out.

Since May 2018 the MOT has been more stringent on diesel emissions, now using the manufacturer given emissions output to measure the vehicle against. This can be significantly lower that the default level that they would measure against if the MOT tester cannot locate the number on your vehicle or if it has been defaced or 'lost' at some point in the vehicles history.

For what the emission limits look like now see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/mot-changes-from-may-2018-guidance-for-mot-testers/diesel-vehicle-emission-limits

Far from me to condone anything, but looking at the letter of the law there is no penalty for the manufacturer stated emissions NOT to be on the vehicle, and in that case they just use defaults. Depends on how far yours was out by, as the defaults for a vehicle first used before 2008 (I see from your profile you have a 2005) is 3.0m-1 for a Turbo Diesel or 2.5m-1 for a Non-Turbo diesel.

Paulmold wrote:When I was in the taxi business (diesel obviously)we used to 'drive it like we'd stole it' on the way to the test station, 3rd gear, high revs for 2 or 3 miles to give a good clear out.

Yes I was told that also, give it a good thrash before an MOT. Not sure if it passed due to that though.

A mechanic told me when I had a  very smokey Peugeot 405 once that it's not the smoke that's the problem, it's what's in it.

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Richard

This is getting to be a costly annual service this time. The garage have now found the back brake linings coming away from the shoes. Not expensive for parts but it is starting to add up. They are tackling the emissions problem after the service work is finished. If the 40,000 service is a big one I should have a lot of motoring before the next big one. The habitation service is due next month so I have got time to brace myself for that.

What was the reading on your MOT failure?

It's a sad fact, but it seems to be government policy to rid the roads of older diesel vans. No great loss if it's a 15 year old white van worth a couple of thousand, but I'm afraid we're all lumped together as far as officialdom is concerned.
Al.

I wasn't there when the test was carried out. My garage said it only just failed. Some of the farm vehicles in this area can only have passed its MOT with help from the owners. Being so far from main roads they know they are not likely to be stopped by the police if they fail.
You don't see many tatty old Motorhomes. Due to the cost of Motorhomes we cherish them for the pleasure they give us.

Sorry to hear about your brakes issue (among other things), but that may be because it was laid up for a longish period of time by a previous owner. I had similar on a Flair that I owned, and it meant replacement disks (oddly on that year of Transit only the insides pit badly, for some reason, so it wasn't immediately obvious when I bought it) and also a fair bit of work at the back due to a seized cylinder.

Although it cost a couple of hundred quid it was well worthwhile, as the brakes were much quieter and felt more confidence-inspiring once the work had been done - I suspect that in reality I was getting very little braking on one side at the back. Another possible cause on yours could be that a previous owner accidentally left the hand brake on - that does a good job of cooking the brake linings!

Your fail notification should include an emissions report with the value of the test and the required value for your vehicle.

I agree with comment about the van being stood. We knew it was stood for nine months before we bought it but it's condition and low mileage was worth the risk. Having done nearly twenty thousand miles since we bought it with little trouble I can't complain. 
Being been involved in the motor trade in different ways since 1971 it takes a lot for me to trust a garage to look after our vehicles. Unfortunately the changes in modern vehicles means less and less an be done at home. 
We knew this year was going to expensive with a holiday to Australia and my wife's full retirement. A large garage bill to start the year was not part of the plan. We won't be leaving these shores this year. Three trips being stuck on the M25 last year won't be missed. Perhaps Scotland.

Dave 418 wrote:but it's condition and low mileage was worth the risk.

I came to the same conclusion - initial high-ish cost for brakes and exhaust, but then I kept the van for 10 years and it was superb (other than chronic Mk5 rust which yours will not have). It was not something that I regretted either.

I
I had the same issue with my car mot this year, the plate value being lower than the default value. Mine just passed on the limit. As I planned to keep the car I’ve had injector cleaner in the tank, which I’m sceptical about, but generally have been driving harder and regularly red lining the engine, my theory is to run the car with higher combustion chamber temperatures, rather than my usual method of fuel economy driving. The exhaust smoke levels are visibly reduced. Prior to the last mot I did do the thrash “Italian tune up” for a few days before, but obviously I think it needed more.
I’d suggest after ensuring the vehicle has a good air filter etc take it for a sustained high rpm drive perhaps 2/3rds max rpm for 15 minutes before the test.
On the marine engines I service operating the engine at wide open throttle on full load for 15 minutes is a service requirement set out by the engine manufacturer.

:allthumbz:Just got a call from my garage the vans passed the emissions  test. They put fuel system cleaner in it, gave it a run to warm the catalytic converter and re-tested it on there gas tester. I have owned cars that cost less than the bill will be this time. . 
Free again, were are we going next.