MOT Emissions failure Help!!


Cipriani

No smoke no poke!
Joined
Nov 14, 2012
Messages
128
Ok I took my 1.4 ej9 for its MOT today, never got a single advisory but failed on emissions :shocked: I am trying to figue this out without spending to much so heres whats happened on the lead up to the MOT:

4 weeks ago, EM light came on & stayed on for over 24 hours (no noticeable difference in engine performance) I then plugged in my diagnostic reader and got a generic code p0138 "02 oxygen sensor circuit high voltage (bank 1, sensor 2)"
I cleared the code and it did not return although i did get a bit of rev dipping for a day afterwards like the idle air control valve was dirty however this stopped pretty quickly. Since then nothing has been out of the ordinary until today when it failed on emissions,

Here are the results from the test:

FAST IDLE
ENGINE SPEED 3000 2670 PASS
CO 0.30 0.83 FAIL
HO 200 36 PASS
LAMBDA 1.030 1.009 PASS

SECOND FAST IDLE TEST
ENGINE SPEED 3000 2680 PASS
CO 0.30 0.71 FAIL
HO 200 19 PASS
LAMBDA 1.030 1.001 PASS

IDLE TEST
ENGINE SPEED 900 740 PASS
CO 0.50 0.04 PASS


Sorry if thats hard to read, any help would be much appreciated Thanks!
 
I'd remove the Cat and look for any kind of blockage and spray it out with water and a air hose to dry it. Then clean your o2 sensor. This would be the cheapest way to see if it fixes the problem.
 
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How old and what milage has the car done? As your lambda is reading in the limit its likley the cat isnt performing efficently enough.
 
How old and what milage has the car done? As your lambda is reading in the limit its likley the cat isnt performing efficently enough.

cheers for the reply, the car is a 2000 V with 95,000
 
Maybe stating the obvious here, but since your error code is pointing to your o2 sensor, perhaps replace it? or, see if you can borrow one and see if the error code comes back.
 
I am going to look at the lambda''s today and check theyre not white im also goint to try and check the cat and see if its a non tyoe approved as the garage said it didnt look that old.
 
If the cat looks like its been changed id start looking at the 02 sensor. Hard to tell visualy if they are performing efficently though.
 
Cheers guys, I've just done an oil, filter & spark plug change on the car I've also added wynn's fuel system flush to the tank. Oil used is castrol magnatec 10/40 a4, I'm going to do 100 hard miles and see if that helps.
 
Ok done the fuel system flush etc and took her in to get the emissions checked today still the same! Time for a look at the lambda's I think :(
 
I have an O2 sensor from an EK3 home somewhere, that is if you can be bothered going to Glasgow to get it. It is the one that's in the exhaust manifold, not sure if ej9s have one or 2 lambda sensors? Also, put higher octane fuel in it for the test (v power, bp ultimate or the likes) it should help a little.
 
I have an O2 sensor from an EK3 home somewhere, that is if you can be bothered going to Glasgow to get it. It is the one that's in the exhaust manifold, not sure if ej9s have one or 2 lambda sensors? Also, put higher octane fuel in it for the test (v power, bp ultimate or the likes) it should help a little.

Cheers, the ej's have 2 yeah and it's the bank 2 I need ( I think ) I just ordered one which I'll pick up tomorrow and fit so fingers crossed. If I need a new cat it will seriously slow up my build :(
 
I had the same thing happen to me on my ej8. What I I would suggest is
*Getting some Cata clean and running the engine and clean the cat out, If possible take it on short drive
*Change the O2 sensor or sensors to rule anything out
*Warm the engine before your next retest
*Check the exhaust system you could have a leak in the system that is causing the high emissions. In my case this was a rusty center section.
 
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Just picked up bank 2 lambda today

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Hi mate, I am an MOT tester, here's my little bit of advice (I've only skim read so may re post things lol)

was the car "hot"?? as in up to temp??
how long since it had fresh oil/filters?
air filter clean?
slight blow in the exhaust system??

The last thing I'd change is the lambda sensor as they aren't the cheapest item for a Honda!!

Oh an last piece of advice, absolutly kick its head in on the way back to the MOT centre lol
 
Hi mate, I am an MOT tester, here's my little bit of advice (I've only skim read so may re post things lol)

was the car "hot"?? as in up to temp??
how long since it had fresh oil/filters?
air filter clean?
slight blow in the exhaust system??

The last thing I'd change is the lambda sensor as they aren't the cheapest item for a Honda!!

Oh an last piece of advice, absolutly kick its head in on the way back to the MOT centre lol

Cheers sammy, it had at the time of the test new oil 2000 miles before new air filter in October new exhaust system by previous owner (cat looks newish to) and the engine wasn't hot.

I returned 2 days later to check the emissions because I had changed the oil + filter again new plugs this time. Half a tank through it with Wynn fuel system cleaner and ragged the thing for 100 miles to empty the half tank lol, returned with the engine very hot and no change in the emissions at all. I did 4 weeks prior to the mot get a em warning whitch turned out to be the downstream lambda so I cleared the error and it never returned, I presumed it was ok after this but I'm going to change it now. Here was the code I got.

3a3fe99fb7105353cd824a902cec5762.jpg
 
Update!

Ii now have an mot :) managed to get the old lambda out and fit the new one. After emissions were 0.01
 
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