Emission's

[saucyboy]

Hi fellas,

I have just had my car MOT'd and all is good. Well it should be as it was only serviced last month!!

Any way whilst it was being done the car really struggled on the emissions test. The operator said that it appeared to be running rich.

The car runs very well and I have no smoke of any colour coming from the pipes, whether it is under load or not. I do tend to get a small puff as I start. This would appear to be fuel as it is not the right colour for oil (Weekly checks indicate that it doesn't use much oil at all).

A friend has mentioned that I may have a problem with one of the Lambda Sensors. The service history shows one as being changed on the previous service so I suppose another could have gone.

So my question's are;

Has any one else had this problem?

Could it be the Lambda?

And if so does our cars have a OBD port and if so where is it?

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

James

P.S. Had a blinding drive this morning and afternoon, what a lovely day

Edited by saucyboy on Saturday 3rd February 18:29

[AMG Merc]

No ideas James but mine was MOT'd this week and I can share the Emissions pass certificate with you for comparison (indicates pass Lambda readings) if it helps.

[D_G]

Hi James,

If it passed the test then there can't be too much wrong, all closed loop controlled cars run in a very small fuelling window so if anything was wrong it would fail the test easily. It could be the other lambda is lazy as they do deterioate over time, can you scan the print out and post it up.
There is no OBD, there is software about but only the official dealers and a couple of independants have it as far as I know, the lambdas can be checked quite easily without the software though.

HTH

Dave

[saucyboy]

Thanks for the replies fellas.

Dave, how can I test Lambdas without software?

Cheers

James

[Humpy]

saucyboy said:

Had a blinding drive this morning and afternoon, what a lovely day

Me too mate. I plan on tootling out this afternoon for another B road fix!

Hope you work out the Lambda issue.

H

[chillidog]

saucyboy said:

Has any one else had this problem?

Could it be the Lambda?

And if so does our cars have a OBD port and if so where is it?

Yes, yes it could be one of the lambda sensors and the OBD plug is accessible under the rear clam on the RHS.

It's very easy to check the voltage using a laptop with the MBE software - a replacement costs around 150 quid (stock Ford part). You just need to take it somewhere that has the software and cable - eg. Plans, the Factory, Crazy Horses, etc.
--
Richard

[D_G]

James,

Not with my car at the mo but I think the car uses a three wire sensor, one on each bank. If you find the wiring connector to each sensor it'll have two wires the same colour (prob white), these are for the heater and will be 12v positive and ground. The other wire (prob black) is the sensor output. You need to warm the engine up, run at around 2500rpm and the lambda should switch at least once a second between 0 and 1 volt continuously. I'll be with my car later so can confirm the wiring colours later. The software uses a serial lead (computer type) and not OBD so can't be read with a normal tester.

Cheers

Dave

[saucyboy]

D_G said:

James,

Not with my car at the mo but I think the car uses a three wire sensor, one on each bank. If you find the wiring connector to each sensor it'll have two wires the same colour (prob white), these are for the heater and will be 12v positive and ground. The other wire (prob black) is the sensor output. You need to warm the engine up, run at around 2500rpm and the lambda should switch at least once a second between 0 and 1 volt continuously. I'll be with my car later so can confirm the wiring colours later. The software uses a serial lead (computer type) and not OBD so can't be read with a normal tester.

Cheers

Dave

Cheers Dave,

I also don't have my car to hand so can't hve a look. I know where the Lambda sensors are and where to find the plugs so I will run your test during the week/next weekend.

If one of them needs changing which I expect it will,do you know what car they are off? I suspect it will be the V6 Mondeo?

Also whilst running it like this can it cause any damage apart from my pocket with the extra fuel being wasted!

Thanks again mate

James

[D_G]

Hi James,

Had a look at my car earlier and they are four wire sensors. The black wire is the signal, check the white wires have battery voltage across them and the grey wire is the sensor earth. Plug your multimeter into the connector across the grey and black wires and check for switching.
You won't cause any damage to the engine, can only guess they are V6 mondeo sensors though. You could get some universal ones otherwise.

Cheers

Dave

[saucyboy]

Thanks for that Dave.