Having Problems With Emissions Anyone!!!!

[Rx7Chris]

Hi There Guys

Just found out something very very interesting!!!!

Just been up to my old man\'s workshop and there is a mechanic over the road that i haven\'t seen for a while.  I mentioned to him that i had a Rx7 and would he be able to MOT it for me when the time comes.

Anyway he began to say that the Rx7 what EMISSIONS EXEMPT!!!!!!!!!!

As the rotary engine produces a mega high amount of emissions anyway that it was near on impossible to get them down to safe levels so they just cut it out.

Then he continued to say that the garage he used to work for before starting his own business never tested them for emissions and he hasn\'t had chance to work on one since he left there which could of been a few years ago.  So he says he is not so sure on the law now.

Maybe worth looking at!!!!

[Rx7Chris]

Hi Guys

Just been on the phone to VOSA guess you all know who they are!!!!


And basically what they have just said is that because it is an import what i need to do is get a letter from Mazda basically saying that there is no way this car will meet the emissions regulations on the originally fitted engine.

Then she said this will cover the car to not have a emissions test.

Or she said the car can be tested on lower levels whatever that means (scottish woman) couldn\'t quite hear her.

[Brett]

Sounds a little fishy to me.  To be legal the car will have to pass an MOT every year.  The only exceptions for emissions are :- 2 Stroke vehicles, any car on a Q plate and vintage vehicles.  They are subject to a smoke test and nothing else.  Any pre 1986-87 Wankel engine gets tested for a higher set of emissions, but I think that was removed from the hand book 2 years ago.
 Mazda got around the problem of high emissions by fitting an emissions control system, ranging from thermal reactors in the older cars to multiple CATs in the later ones.   As long as its standard I would have thought it would pass with little trouble?  If its totally stock and still wont pass then you may have a case if its a pre 1992/K car, or if its a stock import thats older than 10 years.

 I may have gotten some bits wrong here, but I\'m sure people will correct the bits I\'ve messed up.

PS:  On the flip side, if this guy has an MOT station then make sure you use him every time

[MikeLMR]

pre 86 rotary is visible smoke only for emissions. It has NOT been removed from the handbook. They cannot make the rules more stringent for older vehicles otherwise they would be making some perfectly standard cars illegal.

The only thing they have ever made retrospective is the use of safety glass in windscreens .... for obvious safety reasons !

[woots]

This is how I remember it from speaking to vosa earlier this year after failing an mot on emissions.  Garages now have a computer system for emissions testing.  My mot place typed in 1993 rx7 and got the uk model.  Amongst other things the uk model has a pre-cat so my import failed on the fast idle test.  I spoke to vosa and any pre 95 car that isn\'t on the model list (ie as an import my car is different to the uk car and hence not an exact match on the list) is only subject to the co test at idle, the NON-cat test.  Thanks to the cheating air pump a standard import will pass this, without the air pump (decat etc) you should be able to tweak the fuel at idle using an apexi to pass.  Guy at mot place was fully unimpressed when I told him how to do his job so be polite   .

emissions test

[Rx7Chris]

I spoke to a few garages in and around lincoln today a few of which i know and they have all said to me that they DO NOT! test for emissions on any rotary engines.

COOL!!!!!

[MikeLMR]

They should only do that for Pre 86 cars. Once it\'s computerised they will have no choice but to test by the book.

BTW my Dad is one of the VOSA/VI/Whatever they are called this month inspectors for Lincolnshire

[FD3SNuttah]

i work in the same floor as the guys who are doing the VOSA roll out, and the scottish woman is at our glasgow office they are doing the training, some of you might have spoken to our bracknell office which are doing the rest of installations.

the company dealing with all of it is Siemens.

Anyway Woots is on the money here,. they have to do a non cat test..

[iaint]

I spoke to vosa and any pre 95 car that isn\'t on the model list (ie as an import my car is different to the uk car and hence not an exact match on the list) is only subject to the co test at idle, the NON-cat test.  Thanks to the cheating air pump a standard import will pass this, without the air pump (decat etc) you should be able to tweak the fuel at idle using an apexi to pass.  Guy at mot place was fully unimpressed when I told him how to do his job so be polite   .

Finding a friendly MoT person is important.  The garage I take mine to for MoT remembered it this year and the bloke was happy to let me fiddle with the pfc when it was time to do the CO test.

It has to be <=3 ppm CO.  Mine, with air pump and cat removed was putting out 18.  Simple to adjust on the pfc but don\'t drive with those settings!!!

[Steve Burnett]

This is correct, Pip was telling me when I fitted my straight through pipe. Most garages don\'t know this as they don\'t deal with RX7\'s. I actually thought it was only for pre 95 cars that were imported.

[ScuttleRX]

How comes it just for pre 95 cars, sure someone has said before but I have forgotten.

I\'ve got a \'96 but the garage I go to doesnt have it listed so they run the 95 non-cat test...is this likely to change with computerisation or are they literally just changing the mot slip to be a computer printout

[iaint]

Key think to note is mine\'s an early \'92 on a J-plate.  This means that even if it were a UK car it\'s be down for CAT free testing.  I think there\'s a rule that allows imports up-to \'95 the same test and after that it\'s a standard cat-test.

Many garages seem to have problems knowing the rules and unless you can show them the rules in black and white many seem to be happy to do a standard test as opposed to the more lenient one.

[nikp]

Key think to note is mine\'s an early \'92 on a J-plate. This means that even if it were a UK car it\'s be down for CAT free testing. I think there\'s a rule that allows imports up-to \'95 the same test and after that it\'s a standard cat-test.

dunno about that. But mine is also a \'92 J-plate and mine wasn\'t tested for emmisions. I asked my brother and he said it didn\'t need to be tested, and when i looked at the MoT certificate it was tested as a 91 car. There\'s certainly a cut-off between 91 and 92 where emissions rules got harsher (CAT had to be added by law on all new cars) and also between 94-95 (Which is why Vauxhall dropped the C20XE engine and replaced it with the ECOTEC engine - X20XE)