General Emissions failure and air flow meter query please help ;)

[Betsy10112000]

Hi I'm new here and not sure if I'm in the right section.
Will try and explain my predicament and see if anybody can help me.
I have a 2002 Fiat Multipla 1.6 petrol.
I have recently spent €1000(stupid amount I know) on repair to my car to get it ready for NCT(equivalent to MOT in Ireland)
Had new brakes,clutch and many other parts.Anyhow put it in for NCT 2 weeks ago and it failed on emissions(high idle was reading 0.55,)was told 0.3 is highest it can be for my car.Took it back to the garage and they said that i would need a new cat and quoted €480.I nearly died at that point.so decides to see if it could be reduced enough to pass emissions test be replacing a few smaller bits myself. So i replaced all spark plugs,put new air filter on,put diptain in fuel tank,took it for a 45 min drive to get it warmed up and it was taken straight in to NCT for retest and it failed again(this time it was a bit better at 0.45).The man carrying out the retest said that the car wouldn't hold the revs and that they kept dropping while he was testing it and that he thought it was a problem with the Air Flow Meter and didnt seem like a problem with the Cat.So now I'm hoping that cleaning my Air flow meter will help sort out the problem rather than replacing it.Been out and bought the proper cleaning spray for the air flow meter but now my problem is I cannot find the air flow meter on my car and now wondering if my car even has an air flow meter??
If anybody could help me by posting a picture of where it is on my car or how I could find it I would be extremely greatful.Also if anybody has any other suggestions at why my emissions could be high and why the revs won't hold I would be greatful.
Just to add my car is driving fine but does seen to be using an awful lot more petrol than normal this passed few months,could this be because of the air flow meter?
Thanks and sorry if I have posted this in the wrong place
Sorry for the long story

 

[pete123]

I've been subject to this on a 2000 1.6 elx I had to change the O2 sensor as I changed full exhaust from man to silenencer inc cat and it made no diffrence once O2 sensor changed mot garage said it was like a new car of the fore court hope this helps and happy driving and if worst comes to worst and it won't hold revs through mot a new throttle body will be needed or u could try some wd40 on it the air Dow meter come off ur throttle body witch then connects to the air box etc

 

[Betsy10112000]

Thanks very much for that.will try it all out in the morning

 

[martyc5674]

Whee u based?
Airflow meter can be left unplugged...

 

[Betsy10112000]

I'm in wexford(Ireland)
How do u unplug it.how will that effect the emissions readings?

 

[martyc5674]

Im in limerick...

Maf will be on the air intake just after the airfilter(if it as one!!)

It will be the only sensor with a plug on it on your air intake.
Unplug it and the ECU will use a nominal value for average conditions and it will work just fine.
Marty

 

[Betsy10112000]

Still couldnt find it so took it to a different garage and found out we don't have a MAF.its just a sensor on our car.anyway cleaned it all and ran emissions test again and still fail so no other choice but to put on a new cat.€200 to have a universal cat fitted.more money down the drain lolo hanks for all advice