late night emissions problem

[hairymel]

i find myself in a sticky situation

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mk1 mondeo 1.8 with a mot fail on high co.

 

02 ok

 

hc 125ish ok?

 

co idle 47ish pass?

 

co 1st run 47ish fail

 

co 2nd run 49ish fail

 

mot tester says cat replacement=pass till next year

 

back story is the car has had no service love for 4+ years and my other half is a bit cross

 

failed on no washer fluid, many bushes and ball joints plus excessive corrosion as well , but surprisingly the duct tape was ok.

 

i am happy to fix all the other problems but am a bit unsure about the co fail.

 

my options as i see them (in order of acceptability)

 

1. buy mot failure multipla

 

2.italian tune up

 

3 new plugs and oil

 

4. boil cat in lemon juice and rhubarb leaves

 

5.new cat and then new lama sensors then just scrap the bastard.

 

it seems that option 1 is not acceptable with the o/h so what is the consensus of opinion regarding options 2-5 (please bear in mind any money spent impacts option 1 )

 

thanks

[Pete-M]

5.new cat and then new lama sensors then just scrap the bastard.

 

 

Plugs, clearing any fault codes, fresh oil and filters changed and you'll know what's wrong. What harm can it do?

[fiatdaft]

New air filter.

[purplebargeken]

Anyone got experience of Cataclean (or something like that). Otherwise a good basic service as advised already.

 

Ken

[r.welfare]

Cataclean's pretty good for helping a marginal fail over the line. My wife's Avensis has slightly buggered cats that put the engine light on all the time - each MOT I run the fuel tank down, chuck in a bottle of Cataclean and Forte injector cleaner (call that £30 for the pair), reset the EML, then drive like a demented Italian to the MOT station. Passes no problem, and keeps the engine light off for a good 500 miles or so.

[meggersdog]

^^^ What Richard says some sort of cat/injector cleaner would be first option.

 

This is the reading for a Puma I've got that failed a couple of weeks ago.

Fast idle CO 1.958 (FAIL)

Lambda 0.941 (FAIL)

second fast idle CO 3.165 (fail)

Lambda 0.905 (fail)

I poured a bottle of cleaning jollup into the tank but the real reason it failed was the thermostat was stuck closed.

One bottle of jollup and one thermostat later went straight through the first check.

[hairymel]

 

 

 

oops 2nd bottle of wine = poor proof reading

 

i of course meant an new alpaca sensor

[Pillock]

I had a 1.8 Mk1 Mondeo that failed on emissions. A bottle of injector cleaner and a jaunt up the bypass in 4th gear, and it still failed.

Took it home, represented it the next day and it passed. They're just a sod.

Oh yeah and it failed every year on wishbones, guaranteed.