I took my Mk2 Punto (1.2,8V) for it's MOT today and it has failed on the following points:-

1. Nearside Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively
2. Offside Windscreen wiper does not clear the windscreen effectively
3. Nearside Rear position lamp(s) adversely affected by the operation of another lamp
4. Offside Rear position lamp(s) adversely affected by the operation of another lamp
5. Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases
6. Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive.

Problems 1 and 2 are just new wiper blades. Problems 3 and 4 are I'm told a simple fix of cleaning the contacts on the earth for the rear light cluster as they have some corrosion (the brake lights dim very slightly in time with the indicators when the indicators are on). I'm also told the exhaust issue is minor it just needs the join welding or joining properly.

However it's the emissions issue that looks to be the big problem. The results of this are:-

Fast Idle Test
Engine Speed: Manual Check: Pass
CO: 0.412% : Fail (should be less than 0.3%)
Lambda: 0.996 : Pass

Second Fast Idle Test
Engine Speed: Manual Check: Pass
CO: 0.460% : Fail
Lamda: 0.989 : Pass

Natural Idle Test
Engine Speed: Manual Check : Pass
CO: 0.140% : Pass

The mechanic believes that it needs a new catalytic converter to pass and possibly lambda sensor which I was told will be expensive (as well as the other faults listed).

Does this sound correct? I drove the car fairly hard for 30 minutes before I took it for the MOT as I've heard this helps the emissions. However in this case the mechanic thinks that because it's the catalytic converter it would be better if it was cold as he said the results are worse on the second test indicating the cat is getting worse as it gets hotter.

For now (as the existing MOT has 3 weeks left) he has suggested adding "Cataclean" to the fuel which he told me gives about a 50/50 chance it will reduce the emissions enough for it to pass.

Does anyone know if this sounds likely and have any other suggestions?

According to the service history I have the Catalytic converter and lamda sensor were both replaced in March 2008 to "correct an emissions fault" so I would be surprised if it's failed in 2.5 years as I would expect it to last longer. Car has covered approx 20,000 miles since.

The car is a 2001/Y and has done approx 95,000 miles so probably not worth spending a huge amount on to get it to pass, but if I can solve this emissions issue cheaply I should be able to keep it going for another year

Unless it's burning oil the cat should be fine if it was only replaced in 2008.

Check the timing, stick in new spark plugs, air filter and see if that helps it pass.
Either that or the cat wasn't new

Could air be being drawn into the exhaust through the leak and upsetting the results a bit?

If you live near to me in Hull mate you can borrow a dedicated Lambda sensor I have to check your O2 sensor if you wanted?

Thanks for the response both. I live in Woking, Surrey so a bit of a track to Hull I'm afraid but the offer is VERY much appreciated! I only have the invoice from the work that involved the replacement Cat (amonst other things), it's dated 14/03/2008 and lists the following part numbers and prices (Ex VAT). This was carried out by the previous owner so I don't know much more than this.

GCK2168 Clutch £71.50
GXE5588 Starter Motor £120.00
7617578 Clutch Arm £17.39
46543810 Clutch Arm Bush £1.64
46543813 Clutch Arm Bush £3.33
710650030 Lamda Sensor £49.99
ECFT110 Catalytic Converter £165.00
MOT Test £49.95
Labour £210
VAT £111.80
Total : £800.60

Certainly a lot of work carried out. I don't know if this sort of cost for the Cat implies it was new or re-conditioned or if it was good quality or not. Am I right in thinking that the Cat replacement would also cover the Exhaust Manifold and this is the sort of half-circle bit of metal near the front of the engine bay, just behind the radiator? As this has always been very rusty since I've had the car (Sep 2008) and if that was replaced it has rusted very quickly (6 months) as the garage said they thought it was original. So it may well have been a "reconditioned" one. I've also checked the emissions from last year which was 0.298% (max 0.300) so it looks like it only just passed last year as well, although I didn't notice that at the time.

As to if it's burning oil, not that I'm aware of, I've not noticed any blue smoke etc. Problem is it's has an oil leak so I have to top the oil up every couple of months anyway so would be hard to tell just by checking for oil consumption to know what % of oil is leaked and what % burnt. It's not bad enough to be an MOT failure though.(and it passed last year with this leak). I've had the oil sump and oil pressure switch replaced to correct the oil leak, but still it leaks :-(

I did ask the garage at the time if the exhaust leak could effect the result but he didn't seem to think so. I don't know if the leak (which I believe is between the two pipes) could be temporarily blocked to do the test again to see if this is it?

Car will never fail on an oil leak, where abouts is it coming from?

Probably a second hand cat,
I suppose if it got worse as it got hotter then it may well be the cat. They are meant to work better the hotter they get.

Start the car and check the cat, the back of the cat should get hotter than the front, enough so you could tell anyways. If it gets hotter at the front first I think that's a sign of there being a problem with it. Someone else will have to confirm this though

#1 fix the exhaust system. Probably as cheap to replace it as repair. The cat wont work well with gas/air leaks.
#2 service the car - new plugs, oil, coolant, filters.
#3 do some diagnostics on the Lambda sensor.

The latter will let the car start normally but it will run lumpy when hot (mixture too rich).

Hi
I had similar problem with my punto, it is showing following readings for emission
CO 9.96% should be 0.3%
HC 740 ppm should be 200
lambda 0.72 should be between 0.97 and 1.03

The garage has asked both catalytic converter and sensor to be replaced at a cost of about 500, I want to know whether these readings suggest a definite failure or something can be done to tune? also are both components failed ?
The car had a fault code P0130 recorded in fault code but EMS light is not on now.
The car drives OK and has been recently serviced as well.

The high CO does suggest the catalyst isnt burning off the excess hydrocarbons but dont spend anywhere near £500 for a replacement catalyst. Even a used one from a breakers would be worth a try.

Do You do alot of short runs?
Cant that cause it to clog up? A Cleaner and a good Long Hard Run Should help Maybe?

But CO, Is a worry, that attacks the blood cells, so definatly get the Leak sorted

Ziggy

In the days just before catalyst cars became the law the no-cat lean burn cars were doing about 10% better mpg than the catalyst cars. It's better these days but it takes a lot of fuel to fuel the cat so it can burn off the nasties.

The MOT should be done with the car at full operating temperature so that high CO does suggest the catalyst isnt working.

As ziggy says give it a good fast run and see if the tail end of the catalyst is hotter than the front end. If its the same then its looking like new catalyst time.

As the garage want silly money to replace it suggest you take it elsewhere even if it does mean a new MOT fee.

I took the Punto in for MOT recently, first thing in the morning. The test centre is only 1 mile from my house, and the test was actually done after about half an hour of getting there. The car failed on emissions. I took the car away and re-booked it in for 3 days later. From then on I drove everywhere with higher revs, went for a good motorway drive, red-lined it a few times etc, and this time the MOT was in the afternoon. I dropped the car off well and truly warmed up.
This time it passed easily. Nothing else had been changed.

Does the MOT record the oil temperature? The NCT here does.
Last two tests were;

oil temp 60 C
low idle 600 rpm
CO 0.0
HC 0 ppm
high idle 3460 rpm
CO 0.0
HC 10 ppm
Lambda 1.015

and

oil temp 95 C
low idle 750 rpm
CO 0.0
HC 0 ppm
high idle 3160 rpm
CO 0.01
HC 50 ppm
Lambda 1.013

Thank you all very much for your help in this post. However I have now scrapped my Punto. I realise I likely could have made more money selling it for spares and repairs, but I don't have off-street parking so can't legally keep it on the road once the MOT expired and so would have to pay out to have it kept somewhere off street. It would have cost a fair bit to resolve whatever was causing the high emissions and having spent over £2000 on mechanical repairs for it in the two years I've owned it (and the previous owner spent close to that in the 1 year prior to that) I think it's simply a case of throwing good money after bad. As soon as one problem is fixed another one comes along and it also has many other niggling faults I've put up with (the clutch judders in 1st and reverse, it leaks oil, the sun visor keeps dropping down, the gear knob comes off, the glass in both wing mirrors move whenever you close the doors, rust is starting to appear, sometimes it takes several attempts to start as the immoboliser doesn't always turn off etc.) However I would like to thank the very helpful people on this forum for all your help over the last couple of years and hope your Puntos' prove more reliable than mine was.

You do know sticking it on eBay or here as an MOT failure would have got you a couple hundred?