Last year, put my DOHC saff in for its MOT, failed because I didn't have a cat fitted. I got one now, but it makes the car run badly, and it's a right pain changing it all the time. The car originally had a 1.6CFi thing. The tester said if I got proof from Ford that the new engine predates the cat laws, I'd get away with no cat, thing is, the rules have changed. If it had something when it left the factory, it must be fitted. thing is, apart from the shell, there's nothing original on the car anyway! So would what the inspector told me still stand?

 

I just stuggle to see how they can enforce that when my engine is now not original either...

 

what year is your car and what year was the engine manufactured?

 

Car is 92, engine is 91

 

well in that case then, the MOT tester is in the wrong, the car should have been tested as a non cat.

 

Remember they've changed the rules now as Gingerturbo said above.

 

Only thing is, I don't have actual proof the engine is 91. I know it is, I helped pull it out a J plate saff! I know the engine very well, but it's my word against the testers, unless there is a way of checking the build date through the engine number?

 

Generally the engine number on older Fords is the last few digits of the vin number.

 

my understanding (and i maybe wrong here) is that if the mot tester cannot find an exact match for engine & car in the analyser database, the test must be carried out on a non cat basis.

James @ MSD will be the best person to answer if he see's this post.

there is a flow chart somewhere on the net and i'll try and find it

 

Not the engine it came with though GVK. It started life as a 1.6, is now a 2.0 16V. It's all registered btw

 

What I meant was the engine number is generally the end few digits of the vin number (of the original car it came from)

 

FOUND IT!

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/htdocs/m4s07000309.htm

the problem is, most mot testers dont even know the regs

 

You only need go through the complete full CAT test procedure and choose vehicle from database if it fails the initial BET test.

I know the rules were whatever is oldest car or engine you go by that, as I didn't need a cat on my mk2 Golf (1991) with a 1995 VR6 engine. I think, as Gingerturbo says they've changed the rules, I've been out of testing 6 months so not up on the latest changes.

 

Exactly.

 

can hardly blame mot testers, it must be difficult memorising every single rule & exception

 

Yeah, they have changed a lot of things this year too, so the other testers at work have said.

 

Argh, this is confusing... Think I may phone a few stations monday and see what they say...

 

Yes, but it is up to the vehicles owner to provide the evidence that the engine is older.

ie, a letter from Ford or similar noting the engine number and it's manufacture date or something.

Exactly what month in 92 is the car ?

 

From the info I have it would be tested with the following standard

Vehicles Fitted with a differnt engine

Test according to which is older, engine or vehicle.
e.g. A 1995 car fitted with a 1991 engine (of whatever make), test to 1991 standards for emission purposes.

Note: The onus is on the vehicle presenter
to prove engine age.

Hopefully a current tester can say if this is still in the current tester manual.

 

Well, I guess the rule change has come in. The car failed for not having a cat. The tester even put into his machine that it was a 91 engine, but the machine still went ahead with the cat test, because the reg number is logged as having a cat. So if your car was first used after August 1st 1992 (mines september) from what I saw, you have to have the cat back on it if it was built with one. It comes under the 'it left the factory with it, so it still has to have it' rule. I'm thinking this is a load of BS by VOSA or whoever makes the rules. My saff hasn't had a cat on it all the time I've owned it, about 5 years. Now they're applying new rules to older cars. If the car had gone through on the older test, it'd have pissed it

 

The guy is just being an arse, I would have just tested it as a non cat. What a jobsworth...
What does he hope to achieve other than just pissing people off? Bring it to Manchester and il mot it for you lol

 

if you can prove the engine is older, the tester is wrong.

 

A lot of people don't seem to be getting it, it's failing just because it doesn't have a Cat. Fuck all to do with emissions (I imagine the tester is lazy and just did a BET). New rules for those who don't know, generally all k plate-one cars need a cat for the mot, regardless of the age of the engine

 

thank you very much!

 

Any car from 1992 must have a cat fitted ( does not say where ?? ). If a car fails a bet test the the e missions machine will go through a few menu choices. One of which is the age of the vehicle. If between 1991 and 1998 the. The limits are relaxed slightly on a full cat test so the c.0 is 3.5 or 3. It has been a while so I can't remember the exact figure. The o my failure the. Will be car not fitted. So just bolt it to the side of the centre pipe! He can't say it's not fitted now. Only pass and advise

 

Any car from 1992 must have a cat fitted ( does not say where ?? ). If a car fails a bet test the the e missions machine will go through a few menu choices. One of which is the age of the vehicle. If between 1991 and 1998 the. The limits are relaxed slightly on a full cat test so the c.0 is 3.5 or 3. It has been a while so I can't remember the exact figure. The o my failure the. Will be car not fitted. So just bolt it to the side of the centre pipe! He can't say it's not fitted now. Only pass and advise

 

Sorry duplicat post sh&t phone

 

Very simple to solve.

Mot section 7.1
method of inspection 3:
On petrol engine vehicles that qualify for a full catalyst emissions test, check the presence of the catalytic converter. Note: To ascertain whether a vehicle qualifies for a full catalyst test, use the flow charts in Section 7.3.C disregarding the result of the Basic Emissions Test.

Reason for failure part 3:
3. A catalytic converter missing where one was fitted as standard

So quite simply the check to see if cat is present is only relevant if the engine requires the cat test, which a pre 1991 engine wont.

So your mot man is wrong.

You dont need a letter from ford either. Who in ford would you write to for a start! and who in ford would keep such a database readily available for public access??

You get a nice freebee with EVERY burton power catalogue and thats the engine date table. Your MoT man would have to be a right cock to reject a well known respected published data source like that.

 

Is that from August 1992? As up to August is 3.5%co and August onwards is 0.3% co isn't it?

 

hi m8 i do mots and thats rite if you got proof that the new engine predates the cat laws, you will get away with it my saph is a 92 and should have a cat but i put a 90 engine in to my car so i do not have to have a cat test you can go on line or on the mot paper worh there is a number you can ring vosa and they well tell you the same m8 iv just have to do a
refresher corsa and this was on that hope this helps you m8

 

My car was built in Dec 91, first registered in Apr 92 and fist sold in Aug 92. so there fore NO cat test required!