Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
 
Old 01 June 2009, 22:50   #1
Member
 
Hightower's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Fareham
Length: 6m +
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,866
Injector cleaners/petrol additive

It's starting to get close to my annual MOT for the Kia and have always had trouble getting the thing though the emmissions. Always take air filter out and have traditionally run Reddex or similar in the petrol tank a week before. She normally fails first test or two and scraps though on the third or fails.

Does anyone think that these petrol injector cleaners really work or is there something else I can do to lower the emmissions?
__________________
Andy

Looks Slow but is Fast
Member of the ebay Blue RIB cover club.
Hightower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01 June 2009, 23:22   #2
RIBnet Supporter
 
willk's Avatar
 
Country: Ireland
Length: 4m +
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 14,683
Not sure about petrol but Redex has saved my diesel 110 in testing every year since 1999! That or a wee drop of kero the week before . Advice given was to drive to the test centre with high revs (lower gear than normal) and keep her hot until testing.

Good luck this year!
__________________
willk is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01 June 2009, 23:25   #3
Member
 
Hightower's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Fareham
Length: 6m +
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,866
Quote:
Originally Posted by willk View Post
Not sure about petrol but Redex has saved my diesel 110 in testing every year since 1999! That or a wee drop of kero the week before . Advice given was to drive to the test centre with high revs (lower gear than normal) and keep her hot until testing.

Good luck this year!
Well yeh that was what I was told....Trouble is the emmission test can't always be done straight away and quite often is the last thing on the MOTers list.
__________________
Andy

Looks Slow but is Fast
Member of the ebay Blue RIB cover club.
Hightower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 00:32   #4
Member
 
Country: UK - Wales
Town: swansea
Boat name: Too Blue
Make: BLANK
Length: 8m +
Engine: Suzuki DT225
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,791
You could always find a tamer MOT tester............

My 110 pinks like hell on the proper settings - richen her up after the MOT and the fuel economy improves and there is far more power and it's much smoother - engine will last longer as well.

So if it's a carb engine lean her out a bit until afterwards.

Using super unleaded may help or a damn good thrash down the A roads.

I am sure some of those cleaners/additives work a little bit but you pay a lot of money for a very basic/weak chemical. The diesel ones are just Kero for example. I suspect some of the hotter petrol ones are toluene or Xylene so you could chuck some thinners in your tank.
__________________
codprawn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 06:13   #5
Member
 
chewy's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Up Norf
Make: Avon SR4,Tremlett 23
Length: 4m +
Engine: Yam 55, Volvo 200
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,217
Your cat could be knackered?
__________________
chewy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 11:42   #6
Member
 
Nasher's Avatar
 
Country: Other
Town: Principalite d'Chaos
Boat name: The Nashers Revenge!
Make: Windsor Brothers
Length: 6m +
Engine: Optimax 225
MMSI: "Mmmmm SI" she said!
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 4,828
Quote:
Originally Posted by chewy View Post
Your cat could be knackered?

Most likely as Hightower kicks him each time the Kia fails the MOT.


My experiance of the injector cleaners has been good, but you do need to give the fuel a good strong dose if you don't use it regularly, and make sure a tank of un-dosed fuel runs through before the MOT.

Nasher.
__________________
Nasher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 17:33   #7
Member
 
Country: UK - England
Town: bristol
Boat name: astra
Make: zodiac 340s
Length: 3m +
Engine: 15hp mariner
MMSI: 235905847
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 230
what is it failing on (co2 hydrocarbons lambda)
__________________
astra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 17:49   #8
Member
 
Hightower's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Fareham
Length: 6m +
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,866
Cats!.......Hate the wreched things.

Always on CO2, hydrocarbons are well within limit. Lambda is always within tolerance, however I replaced the Lambda last year with a new one as I have a fault code come up regularly, made no difference to the test and failed first test as usual. I've also replaced spark plugs in the past without making a huge difference.

If the cat has gone, surely it would fail everytime?
__________________
Andy

Looks Slow but is Fast
Member of the ebay Blue RIB cover club.
Hightower is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 17:58   #9
Member
 
mick's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Wakefield
Boat name: Bouncer
Make: Redbay Stormforce
Length: 6m +
Engine: 2x Honda 100 Hp
MMSI: 235025718
Join Date: Jun 2009
Posts: 4,175
give these a try http://www.millersoils.net/
__________________
mick is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 18:12   #10
Member
 
Country: UK - England
Town: bristol
Boat name: astra
Make: zodiac 340s
Length: 3m +
Engine: 15hp mariner
MMSI: 235905847
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 230
Is it a aftermarket cat or a genuine one
__________________
astra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 18:40   #11
Member
 
Leapy's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Sheepy Parva
Boat name: Sadly Sold
Length: no boat
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 1,731
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hightower View Post
If the cat has gone, surely it would fail everytime?
Yes, and by a significant margin
__________________
Leapy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 18:51   #12
Member
 
chewy's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Up Norf
Make: Avon SR4,Tremlett 23
Length: 4m +
Engine: Yam 55, Volvo 200
Join Date: Apr 2007
Posts: 5,217
I had a brand new cat fitted and it did the same thing as yours. I didn't know if it was breaking down inside and causing it to fail.

Some cars can pass MOT's with decat pipes.
__________________
chewy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 19:13   #13
Member
 
Country: UK - England
Town: bristol
Boat name: astra
Make: zodiac 340s
Length: 3m +
Engine: 15hp mariner
MMSI: 235905847
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 230
I have never had a car pass with a decat pipe unless its a lpg conversion or a vehicle not listed in the emmisions 14th adddition booklet,As for having aftermarket cats fitted its a no no they are useless
__________________
astra is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02 June 2009, 21:45   #14
Member
 
Hightower's Avatar
 
Country: UK - England
Town: Fareham
Length: 6m +
Join Date: Sep 2003
Posts: 7,866
Quote:
Originally Posted by astra View Post
Is it a aftermarket cat or a genuine one
I've got to assume it's a genuine one. I've had the car 5 years and never felt the need to replace it. That said I'd like to remind you that since I've bought the car I've always had problems during the emmissions test.

My Rover failed the emmissions earlier this year and I got an aftermarket cat fitted. This was the first time I've failed the emmissions in this car and passed with flying colours after fitment.
__________________
Andy

Looks Slow but is Fast
Member of the ebay Blue RIB cover club.
Hightower is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off




All times are GMT. The time now is 13:39.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.