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Technical Barchetta emissions !!!

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Technical Barchetta emissions !!!

Guys, would u believe the car failed on emissions this year again.I had just changed spark plugs before going for test and put in an additive, then took it a 10km blast around the coast here. It went like a bomb, no issues.
Possibly i didnt add additive early enough. They said its not failing by much !!
So i will run around for another week with the additive and go back.
Now can anyone tell me what would happen if i removed the air filter for the test. What would that do ???
I bought a new lambda sensor last year, so should i clean it ? With what ?
If it fails again next week im going to buy another cat converter, and put it on for the test, then take it back off again put the old one back on.i say the old one, ehh i bought it last year to get through the ITV. 4000km ago.
Again any thought would be appreciated.
 
HI All

when was the oil last changed, a good friend of mine has a Honda with over 150k on the clock failed the MOT due to high emmisions so he was going to scrap it and buy another for £1k, i persuaded him to put £15 worth of oil in it and go for a 10mile drive, strangely the emmisions were so low the garage would believe he only changed the oil and cleaned out the air filter housing,

I found out later the oil had been in it for 30k or so:bang:

Tim
 
arnietwo said:
Guys, would u believe the car failed on emissions this year again.I had just changed spark plugs before going for test and put in an additive, then took it a 10km blast around the coast here. It went like a bomb, no issues.
Possibly i didnt add additive early enough. They said its not failing by much !!
So i will run around for another week with the additive and go back.
Now can anyone tell me what would happen if i removed the air filter for the test. What would that do ???
I bought a new lambda sensor last year, so should i clean it ? With what ?
If it fails again next week im going to buy another cat converter, and put it on for the test, then take it back off again put the old one back on.i say the old one, ehh i bought it last year to get through the ITV. 4000km ago.
Again any thought would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

What part of the emmisions did it fail on?

Should give you an idea where to start on the work
 
The CO level. But when i asked he started chatting away in español muy rapido, and i couldnt really keep up with him.
I change the oil every year, 4000km, but how does the oil effect petrol emissions ??
 
Last edited:
10km is not enough to get car properly up to temperature, the gauge may show normal but that's just the coolant not the oil or other parts of engine.

If car has not been used much leading up to test then any old fuel in car may not be up to much.

If you do use injector cleaner don't over do it.

Get it fully warmed up prior to next test.

If air filter dirty , change it but your car is fuel injection not carburetor so air filter would have nearly fully blocked to case problem with high co.

Catalytic converter has to be fully warm to work .
 
Last edited:
Yeah make sure you use fresh gasoline.
This year I went to MOT with half tank of old gas and my CO was thru the roof on idle. Never happened before.
The MOT guy said, the gas additives would start expiring in month of two and octane number drops significantly.
 
Ok, put 30lits of Repsol 98 octane in it today, then went onto motorway and did 70km round trip. Car went like a bomb, 140kmh easy, would have done more, pulled great, car performed great.
Came back changed oil and filter.
So will do that same 70km again and take it directly to ITV station, and hopefully it passes ??
 
I would certainly hope so.
If CO still high, would check intake manifold and vacuum lines for leaks, then change O2 sensor, then change catalytic converter (ouch).
 
Ok, getting a bit pissed off now.
So, changed spark plugs, changed oil and filters, added cat cleaner, added 20 lits of Repsol 98 oct fuel,went for 100km drive on motorway at more than 3000 revs. About an hour drive, then went to ITV station, and did emissions test.
So now they say at idle it passes. But at 2500revs the CO reading is 0.5. It must be under 0.3
So what does that all mean ??
I changed the lanbda and cat last year, so about 3000km ago.
So does it mean its running rich ??
So im now thinking about buying bew injectors.
Looking on the sites, most injectors for sale say " from 5/98"
So no good for my early 1995.
So where can i get new injectors ?
 
arnietwo said:
Ok, getting a bit pissed off now.
So, changed spark plugs, changed oil and filters, added cat cleaner, added 20 lits of Repsol 98 oct fuel,went for 100km drive on motorway at more than 3000 revs. About an hour drive, then went to ITV station, and did emissions test.
So now they say at idle it passes. But at 2500revs the CO reading is 0.5. It must be under 0.3
So what does that all mean ??
I changed the lanbda and cat last year, so about 3000km ago.
So does it mean its running rich ??
So im now thinking about buying bew injectors.
Looking on the sites, most injectors for sale say " from 5/98"
So no good for my early 1995.


So where can i get new injectors ?
Click to expand...
If the signal from o2 sensor voltage is swinging between around .2 v and .7v the mixture is correct.

Don't play parts roulette it's very expensive and doesn't really work.

You can't read o2 sensor signal wire with a multimeter , voltage changes to rapidly. You can use an oscilloscope type meter to view signal output.

You can possibly check the coolant temp sensor that sends signal to engine ecu.
There may be a separate coolant temp sensor for gauge. Don't be fooled into thinking ecu seeing correct temp as gauge shows correct temp if ecu and gauge have separate sensors.

If o2 sensor signal correct and you don't have misfire then your cat is not working.

I don't know which cat you bought but some cheap ones only last long enough to get you through one test.
 
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What brand o2 sensor did you fit as replacement, was the old one faulty?
 
Do you have a manual for your car showing where the sensors are located on engine?
 
arnietwo said:
Ok, getting a bit pissed off now.
So, changed spark plugs, changed oil and filters, added cat cleaner, added 20 lits of Repsol 98 oct fuel,went for 100km drive on motorway at more than 3000 revs. About an hour drive, then went to ITV station, and did emissions test.
So now they say at idle it passes. But at 2500revs the CO reading is 0.5. It must be under 0.3
So what does that all mean ??
I changed the lanbda and cat last year, so about 3000km ago.
So does it mean its running rich ??
So im now thinking about buying bew injectors.
Looking on the sites, most injectors for sale say " from 5/98"
So no good for my early 1995.
So where can i get new injectors ?
Click to expand...

Hello arnietwo,
I live in a small town in Guadalajara in the center of Spain. 3 weeks ago my 1995 yellow Barchetta past the ITV after several tries from a friendly inspector. My problem is also at 2000 - 2500 rev.. I was told that the problem could be some leakage at the exhaust. I remember that in the german forum I read sometime ago about leakage problems with the flextube before the catalysator.
Hope this helps you and when I check my exhaust I will inform what I found.

Regards Juan Carlos
 
Hello Arnietwo, happy to read that you found the leak and everything is fine again.
In the next weeks I will go under my Barchetta and try to find and solve the problem in mine.
 
Problems yet again with emissions at ITV.
Went 2 weeks ago and readings were
CO at idle 0.48,( max 0.5)
CO at 2500revs 0.41 (max 0.3
So failed on second part.
I checked my exhaust and thought possibly the connections between pipe after cat and muffler section wasnt tight so fixed that.
I went today,
CO idle 0.34
CO 2500, 0.54
So worse ??? He also said hydrocarbon was high at 160, but not sure what that means.
So any suggestions would be appreciated. My first thoughts are to buy new better quality lambda sensor, but not sure ??
 
Bought new bosch lambda sensor €90, fitted it and went again to test centre.
Readings this time,
At idle 1.00
2500revs 0.71
So worse again ????
Im getting a bit sick of these emission issues every year!!!
So annoying as the car is driving great !
Im thinking there has to be something more, other than idle control valve, cat, spark plugs, lambda.
Can anyone HELP ??
 
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