Emissions hassle

[Richard Madden]

My 98 4.0 Chimaera has just failed its first MOT due to high CO levels on the emissions test. Dealer reckons it''s a clapped-out cat but I''ll have to wait until they have time to do a proper fault-find (MOT not needed until the end of next month - phew!) Three years seems a mighty short life-span for a cat. Has anyone else experienced a failure this early? Or are there any other (and maybe less expensive) explanations for my high CO readings? Any thoughts on this topic would be welcome!

[Trefor]

Did you put LRP in it during the fuel crisis? That may be the cause if the cats have gone. Also, I think there are a some TVRs out there without cats which still pass their MOTs. Might be cheaper to remove the cats and retune ;-) Call my cynical but I suggest getting another emissions test done at any MOT centre, just to check you're not being had (OK, so your dealer may be nice as a nice thing with sugar on, but it happens all the time). Trefor/.

[PetrolTed]

Also check that you've actually got cats fitted. My car supposedly has them but one of the boxes doesn't actually have anything inside it.