[Closed] Bangernomics - am I on the right line of thought?

Whos doing the work.

Those are two very different issues.

Do not go in and ask them to do X or y you want them to fix the symptom not what you perceive the issue.

Read the codes - see if anything showing (probably won't show on a generic reader)

If it was me cause I'm cheap I'd do a spill rail test. - YouTube it. That'll tell you if the injectors are doing the right things. (but doesn't say the injectors are great but it's cheap great indicator)

There's also potential that you have both issues.

It could also be something much less.

But first point is the main point. Let the garage diagnose if they are doing it. If it's you iirc the egr cooler can usually be identified by a visual. -check the owners forums for that one- not had a diesel vag car.

Re injectors - I got Bosch refurbs from a local injector specialist (airyhall motors for Aberdeen people) 125+vat for my engine. -new replacements were 250 plus vat

Aren't you trying to make the decision too early in the evaluation process?

Assuming you're getting a garage to do the work, ask them to fault find the issue initially, *then* it's time make a decision

Look on the positive side - it might be something simpler/cheaper than you imagine.

If it is the £1500 bill time, then I'd probably concur with your decision. (Although many other factors apply, including your current levels of disposable income, the age / value of the car, or whether you quite fancy a new motor ;))

EDIT - Trail Rat beat me to it 🙂

I guess it’s down to do you really like the car.

What’s it’s re sale value against getting a different car.

How much trouble would buying into an unknown car cost you?

If everything else runs and works fine I’d fix it, pity you can’t give it an Italian de coke with the current rules in place.

I wouldn't unless Everything else was perfect. Honest perfect though not "i like this car let me keep it"

What maintenance does it require in the next year?

Timing? Clutch? Brakes suspension? How are the wheel arches?

If you have already done these things recently then maybe its worth it. What's the value of the car with 12month mot?

Or to put it another way will 1500 get you to the next MOT? If it fails the next MOT in a years time will you be happy spending another chunk?

A new old car is a gamble aswell ofcourse.

Get it fixed if you like it

Yes fix it. Cars always cost money. Either you are fixing old ones or paying through the nose for new ones. Remember that a car isn't a single item that is either reliable or not. It's a collection of individual parts. So if you get it fixed, you'll have an old car with brand new injectors. If you get rid and buy another you'll have s cheap old car most likely with old injectors and who knows what else wrong with it, and be no better off. And it won't be such a nice motor!

@joshvegas - as it happens the bodywork is excellent for the age (and aluminium), tyres are good, I had the brakes done recently and it's a timing chain. Tyres and brakes are consumables regardles of age in any event. It really is a good runner. I don't notice the smoke when it's running - it's not billowing and MPG is around the right mark. One shock is an advisory and the ARB needs a new bush.

And thanks everyone. yes I am going to try and get it to a decent indy Audi specialist I know and just tell them what it's failed and let them work it out from there. We'll see...

In that case wait until the garage gives you a quote 🙂

Got the emissions sheet?

Post it up lets see what the values are

the

If its coolant leak to the egr cooler then surely the first thing to do id monitor or check the coolant level.

Is it possible to disconnect the coolant lines from the egr. Unlesd you are doing long motorway runs it wont harm the egr. You will have to loop it with something like 15mm copper pipe
See if the smoke clears
Howevet, smoke could be alot of othet things and most of them spendy
Might be worth ebaying it as is rather than look at head gaskets, vlave stem seals, piston rings etc are the injectors coded to the ecu on that model? As that will bump up the repair cost.

If it's any help - and it may not be - I had a similar with my ancient E-Class Mercedes which at the time had about 175k miles on it. Turned out that the injectors themselves were OK but that the sealing around them was a bit knackered, which I think let in miniscule amounts of air ...... in any event, it produced a skip-load of smoke and failed an MOT. Cost about £150 for the garage to sort the 2 leaking injector seals, and that was almost all driven by time as they're tricky to get out.

As others have said, refurbishing injectors is way cheaper than buying new ones.

Good luck with it - I'm firmly of the view that if the car still does what you want and you can be confident that you're not dropping hundreds of pounds every few months then fix it and keep it.

If it was mine i’d do the EGR and the injectors but my car has a rolling program of replacing components before they have reached the end of their life and i spanner my own so don’t have labour costs.

Depends on the emission fail, but this can fix them some times:

£1500 is about 2.5 monthly pcp payments of a new one.

We had this decision when our 2008 Kuga lunched its gearbox.  That plus DMF and clutch at 80,000 miles was £2600. Yet, another Haldex 4wd for carting bikes and kids gear about in muddy fields would be more, and we couldn’t have sold ours for more than scrap.  And we care less about scratching this one...

Haha yes Marco the cure for overly optimistic values that were never designed to be tested to after more than 20miles on the clock on old cars.-remove the printed value and it reverts to the age related default value

Id thrash it in no higher than third for quite some time before taking it for the test.

OK, from a sunk carbon perspective older cars have their plus points but don’t forget that your smokey exhaust is horrible and contributes to crappy air quality for everyone.

Don’t just try to fiddle the stats. Sort it or bin it.

@dannybgoode what age is the audi? personally 132k seems quite low mileage, have a 15 year old seat leon thats just hit 180k, goes well. good on fuel, & truthfully i doubt i could replace it for what its worth

@Clover - no intention of fiddling it. Want to get it sorted properly

@onewilddiesel - 2006 and a really nice runner. Don't see any reason for skipping it unless it is going to cost me an arm and a leg

Indy Audi specialist and get it fixed imo.

Hiya, I work for a vehicle repairer, I’m a massive advocate for the “better the devil you know” mantra! We’ve have customers go away and scrap a car when given a big estimate, only to replace their car with something equally as old and have a similar bill 6 months down the line. They end up paying double in the end.

Zoo

Was it entered smoke and what was the value?

1) Get a quote. Work out the value of the car. If x is greater than y then torch it for the insurance sell it. If you didn't already own a car, would you pay £1500 quid to buy it now?

2) Is this a one-off payment or is it likely to cost you another £1500 next year? Anything else looking a bit shaky? Because:

£1500 is about 2.5 monthly pcp payments of a new one.

... it's also 7 months lease from brand new on the Octavia I returned last year.

£1500 / year for a 14-year old that's done £130k+ versus £2500 / year for a brand spanker with full warranty ain't bangernomics to my mind. (I'm not entirely sure that running a 3L V6 is bangernomics either, if you want to save brass then sell it and get a Fiesta). This is exactly the argument that drove me to leasing in the first place.

Wise words zoo200 and very true in many circumstances. As a long term advocate of bangernomics it's a very fine line, coupled with luck, which determines whether you have made the right choice but a car which is 'known' has loads of +++ points.

I've only really lost out with my current car, BMW530 msport estate and I could kick myself as I had doubts when I bought it but heart overruled head and it's been a pain in the arse for 20 months. I'll get current fault repaired and then it'll be gone mainly because my missus wont get in it after a particularly bad experience on a main road where all power went and doors locked with 2 dogs and a full holiday load in the back!

it’s also 7 months lease from brand new on the Octavia I returned last year.

£1500 / year for a 14-year old that’s done £130k+ versus £2500 / year for a brand spanker with full warranty ain’t bangernomics to my mind. (I’m not entirely sure that running a 3L V6 is bangernomics either, if you want to save brass then sell it and get a Fiesta). This is exactly the argument that drove me to leasing in the first place

Was there no deposit?

My van failed on emissions. If was because it wasn't getting used enough and not being throttled.

The mechanic ran some stuff through it. I think it was called revive.

It then sailed through and had lower emmisions than when it was 3 years old. He charged me £35. It's just gone through its mot in March and sailed through.

I'd try this before you try anything else. I think mobile mechanics will come to your house and do this on your drive.

£1500 / year for a 14-year old that’s done £130k+ versus £2500 / year for a brand spanker with full warranty

That's man math justification for your car assumes 1500 every year. Next year might be 20 quid.

Your Octavia will be 2500 quid till eternity ...

You didn't sell that well to me anyway

if you want to save brass then sell it and get a Fiesta

I have a nice fiesta to sell if you want a slightly newer, much lower mileage banger instead.

That’s man math justification for your car assumes 1500 every year. Next year might be 20 quid.

I have had this a few times mist notably with a graduate who asked me why i had a shit car rather than some dort of finance deal. Because it only cost him x a months. It was an aygo i had an estate regularly filled with shite for the dump.

He couldn't get his head round the fact that you Don't know how much a car costs you until you no longer have it.

He then decided he couldn't afford it and it wasn't worth what he thought it was yo sell. I helpfully pointed out he lost more (ignoring interest) than my cost to buy and run for three years.

He rides a bike to work now.

I'd take it to an independent Audi specialist and give them the numbers sheet and ask for a proper estimate. bangernomics works best when you have as much information at your disposal to make a choice. if the bill does come out at around or less than a 1000 I'd probably fix it but it all depends on whether you really need a 3L V6 for work family use etc. 2K repair would be time to swap but our car isn't used much at all.

If it’s a coolant leak on the egr then you can diagnose yourself - it will either be spewing clouds of white smoke out of the back or leaving puddles of coolant under the car but either way you’ll be losing coolant and an egr replacement on a new A6 is more like £800 to fix not £1500 as my brother had to do it a few years ago.

Maybe also try running one of those injector cleaner fuel additives for a bit. If injector more likely to be coming or a seal issue as mentioned before rather than failing injector.

Doesn’t sound like you should be giving up on it yet to me. As said before, better the devil you know.

@duncancallum - the average smoke reading was 2.02 and the max allowed is 1.3.

All pretty meaningless to me. NOX and CO2 I understand but not the smoke readings.

Smoke is soot...unburned fuel so overfuelling - black visible smoke from the exhaust. Could be dirty injectors not atomising properly, the system coked up somewhere, or an air leak starving combustion of air.

EGR's combat Nox so unlikely to be EGR, especially if you're not seeing coolant loss or plumes of white smoke. White smoke is not unburned fuel so wont affect the smoke reading in the emissions test.

@wobbliscott. She did go through a phase of chucking out white smoke but not any more.

Audi specialist is closed but I know a good mobile mechanic so he’s coming out Weds and we’ll start with a service and engine flush and he’ll take it from there.

I'd start with a change of filters, wang some forte or Redex in on half a tank and book it in for a test give it some pain on the way in dont let it sit out side idling for the tests.

I'd also read the values on Vagcom for the air flow

I agree, get the fault codes read and go from there with a proper quote. I have a similar car with similar engine, similar mileage.

Swirl flaps are a common problem which can lead to loads of smoke. I know from experience. Usually around 60-80k miles from what I remember.

There are swirl flap repair kits available so you may find that they have been repaired once and need doing again? (my experience)

Complete speculation by a non mechanic - I may be completely wrong of course - diagnosis of the issue is the key.

By the way - the term 'bangernomics' doesn't mean simply running an old car. It means buying cars with long ish MOTs for peanuts on the assumption that you will just scrap it if it fails or breaks down and get another one.

Result of emissions test were a fail on smoke so that is a good place to start and usually high smoke is not a symptom of an EGR valve problem...though could be the case there is a problem with that too.

When the EGR valve went on my T5 it bellowed out white smoke constantly...massive plumes of the stuff behind the vehicle. The coolant loss wasn't great a small amount over a couple of days, so not like the engine us sucking the coolant system dry like it can with a HG failure. Luckily my van was still in warranty so was sorted, but my Bro's A6 (can't remember the year but probably around 2012 vintage on the 2.0ltr TDI engine) failed outside of warranty and it cost him about £600 - £800 or so to fix at dealer prices (can't remember exact price).

By all means check fault codes...but they're not really fault codes...they don't tell you what the fault is, they just tell you what is not working. It could be the component is not working because it's faulty, but can also not be working because it's getting duff inputs form another sensor elsewhere in the engine. So it might trigger an injector fault, but the injector could be fine it could be the signal to the injector that is duff so the cause is downstream. Be careful with fault cones...you can rack up alot of costs scatter gunning problems. You can't been good old fashioned troubleshooting.

black smoke can be a blocked or restricted EGR as much as anything else.

They have many failure modes.

@dannybgoode

quoted from the mot manual

"or vehicles first used before 1 July 2008, the smoke limit is:

2.5m-1 for a non-turbocharged engine
3.0m-1 for a turbocharged engine
the level specified on the manufacturer’s plate if lower
"

i would be looking for the manufactures plate & doing away with it, which will then bring you emmision test level up to 3.0,

I had thought of doing that but the fail doc shows 1.3 as does the plate so would have to take it somewhere else I guess. It needs a service anyway so will at least do that and decide from there.

There’s a couple of other bits that need doing as well (ARB bush and headlight) so will get those tended to as well before doing anything more.

FYI that was a recent change and many cars had unrealistic numbers printed there even when they were new.... not that VAG are renound for that sort of thing oh no.

Do you use the cheap super market fuel?

Do you use the cheap super market fuel?

Ah, the old supermarket fuel myth about to raise its head...

I have spoken to many folk who swear by x fuel being higher octane therefore better.

I'll stick with the cheapest ta.

I do use supermarket fuel sometimes but I also use BP and Shell as well. Just depends when I need diesel and where I’m passing.

Never noticed a difference between any of them.

For those about to state supermarket fuel as a myth. It isn't.
Both my cars run crap on it. I've spoken to people who test the fuel at mira who agree.

I've no idea if it's true or not. All I know is several mechanics who service our cars tell us not to use supermarket fuel. They say its got too much crap in it that makes engines run dirty.

When my van failed its emmisions they told me to put the performance diesel in and redex about a month before the next mot was due and boot it on a long run.

When my van failed its emmisions they told me to put the performance diesel in and redex about a month before the next mot was due and boot it on a long run.

So if you did all those and it passed, was it definitely the previous fuel causing the issue?

Redex, another snake oil.

The only difference between supermarket and premium will be the additives. If there was "crap" in it then your filters and pumps would suffer long before it even got to the exhaust. There are standards for a reason, it is refined to that standard and then distributed to the market.

your old MOT is still valid for 6 more months. The bangernomics route is to do nothing till then, it might blow up spectacularly in the mean time

The bangernomics formula I use to sell current car is-
Sale price of current car + reasonable quote to fix > cost of new car + £1000 for any repairs that might be needed.

I’d keep you car and fix it. It looks like it’s had most consumables done recently and should be an easy fix.

@5lab. I asked the garage on that and they said because it’s failed I can’t drive it. The 6 months thing comes with the caveat that you have to make sure the car is safe and mine demonstrably, by the standards of the MOT test, isn’t.

That said the fail shows on the online checking system but it allay shows it still holds a valid cert. Because I pay my tax monthly if the tax renews I’ll take that as ok to drive. If DVLA write to be and tell me they’re not renewing the tax then that’ll be that.

Needs sorting one way or the other and better get it done now whilst I don’t really need it than in 6 months time when I really do.

I’ll reassess after the full service etc 🙂

So where is this dirt that is supposed to be in supermarket fuel coming from? Who's adding it? Seems supermarkets are going to extraordinary lengths and at great expense to degrade the fuel they sell you at a cheaper price. Oil refineries are extremely expensive facilities to build and operate. As such all oil extracted by all the oil companies is refined in a small number of refineries around the world to exactly the same quality standards and all petrol that comes out of all the pumps comes from the same base stock that could end up at a Sainsburys pump or a Shell pump - it's all governed by the same quality standards. The big branded companies will then add the additives and bump up the prices. Supermarkets will then just take the base stock and sell it on.

I'm not saying that the fuel from the big branded petrol companies isn't better than supermarket fuel due to the additives they put in, but to say that supermarket fuel is dirty and bad for your engine is utter nonsense. Also over half of the fuel sold in the Uk comes from supermarket pumps....if that fuel is so dirty and causes so many problems with cars then why are not half the cars on the road breaking down left right and centre due to cokes up engines? It just doesn't back up the claim (conspiracy) of 'dirty supermarket fuel'. And a mechanic is in no better position than anyone else to make this claim after all they only see cars with problems and not all cars, so have nothing to compare against and I'm sure they've not been conducting detailed forensic analysis of fuel in the labs they have in the back of their garages. They're more likely to be getting their duff gossip from their mate, Gaz, down the pub over a pint of carling or three (sorry to stereotype car mechanics).

If your engine is coked up and having emissions problems its more likely to be due to the way cars are driven rather than the fuel. Diesels, especially older ones, don't like short journeys and that is what most cars do in the UK...relatively short journeys. So much so more modern diesel engines have specific technology incorporated to combat the effects of short journeys on the engine like the regen process and other technologies. I think that is far more telling than rumours and conspiracies about dirty supermarket fuel.

My PD engine failed emissions last year. Ran some injector cleaner through it and went for a spirited Italian tune up before the MOT at a different place and it passed. I don't do a lot of mileage in it so benefits from a blow out occasionally. HAs yours been standing for a while?

Mate of mine who runs and fully maintains his rally car reckons Asda fuel blocked up his old van. He went from using a local garages fuel to the cheap Asda stuff near work until the van conked out. Then stopped using it and never had the problem again.

No idea if it was the fuel but he knows his way around an engine and reckons it was. We only have Morrisons and Tesco fuel in town and I've never had a problem.

And that's just it... It's always 'a mate this' or 'a friends mechanic that'.... Not trying to be rude but we're always just a bit short on empirical evidence on this subject...

@5lab. I asked the garage on that and they said because it’s failed I can’t drive it. The 6 months thing comes with the caveat that you have to make sure the car is safe and mine demonstrably, by the standards of the MOT test, isn’t.

they're trying to pressurise you into sending cash their way. There are two types of MOT failure, dangerous and major. If its dangerous (ie bald tyres, brakes not working, serious fault in the steering) you can not drive it (even, iirc, to a garage - it must be towed), if its just major (as I'm sure your emissions are), you are fine to keep using it. The fail sheet will specify whether your failure is major or dangerous.

If its just smoke then I would try an italian tune up before anything else. If you drive conservatively there's simply a load of soot built up in the exhaust that gets blown out when they run the engine against the govener for 10 seconds

Diesels, especially older ones, don’t like short journeys and that is what most cars do in the UK…

You don't really mean older do you.

My old diesel will happily do short journeys all day. I wouldn't do it preferentially as it's not good for any engine but I suspect what you mean is early common rail and emissions controled diesels don't like short journeys -so circa 2005 onwards depending on your vehicle.

Similarly 2005-2010 vehicles seemed to have injection pumps that seemed suceptable to the higher fame content in supermarket fuels at the time which propagated fears of crap fuel....really it was just that fuel was changed and the car was t ready for it.

-we had a 2008 transit that would hunt like buggery on Morrisons or Tesco fuel without fail. We stopped using it unless absolutely necessary to avoid running out and only ever had hunting issues with it when we were forced to run their fuel. -seemed a common complaint at the time with those injection pumps.

That’s man math justification for your car assumes 1500 every year. Next year might be 20 quid.

Your Octavia will be 2500 quid till eternity …

You didn’t sell that well to me anyway

+1

Also there the argument that he could buy the 3yr old ex-lease car and might have had 11 years of faff free motoring for less than 3 years of PCP.

The OH's Fiesta has had a few "it'll cost more to fix than it's worth" MOT's, most have been subsequently fixed on the driveway and generally it's gone through the next years MOT without a hitch.

The OH’s Fiesta has had a few “it’ll cost more to fix than it’s worth” MOT’s

This is a fallacy. Just because the cost of a fix is more than the market value doesn't mean it's not 'worth it' because a car is not an asset in which you are investing.

If the ONLY value of a car was its resale value they yes, it would not be worth spending more on it than it's worth. But for cars, their true value is hassle-free transport, and that in itself has value. If you bin your £1000 car because it needs £1000 of stuff on it, then you buy another £1000 car - you've still spent £1000 either way, but you have no idea what's about to fail on the new car you just bought.

Car maintenance is operational expenditure and is based on probabilities of failure and the likely cost of that failure.

Octane rating for petrol matters for knock prevention
Cetane rating for diesel is of a greater importance.

I am a bangernomics veteran and no wsy would i dpend any cash servicing an mot failure. What if it turns out that smoke is piston rings.
Find fix service.
Bit of petrol in thr tank, get it hot, give it a real good hard drive, refill with premium derv and re test

I am a bangernomics veteran and no wsy would i dpend any cash servicing an mot failure. What if it turns out that smoke is piston rings.
Find fix service.

conversely what if it turns out its a dirty air filter ? been there got that t-shirt- actually it had gotten wet and become fairly well plugged.

@5lab - No it's got a 'Don't drive on the road' fail and the garage have said they can't even begin to work on it and to take it elsewhere to get it fixed so it's not a cash thing. Decent lot at the national Tyres I go to - one of the few garages I trust.

They have also said then when I take it down for the re-test they will check the smoke first before doing it officially and that way it won't show as a double fail and I will still get the free proper re-test when it's sorted (assuming it's inside the 10 days of course).

They have also said then when I take it down for the re-test they will check the smoke first before doing it officially and that way it won’t show as a double fail and I will still get the free proper re-test when it’s sorted (assuming it’s inside the 10 days of course).

In that case, change the filters, put some revive (or similar) through it (not sure if they do multiple products or if this is the right video but gives you an idea of what I mean)

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pAJSOsIbqyc

Put some decent fuel in and some redex (if you don't think its snake oil) and take it for a brisk ride. (don't go too far or you might get in trouble)

Go for the re test, see if it passes the emissions. If it doesn't then you know its probably something more sinister!

They cant ransom your vehicle.

Take it out of there and as above change filters I'd even drop the oil as well bang some Redex etc in it

I'd then go n take it up a dual carriage way in 3rd get it red hot n try it on the smoke test again.

If that value is that far out o doubt it's got anything seriously wrong with it.

Testing as per plate data is a bit of a farce.

A station can only test what's presented. They cant even pull gaffer tape of that plate if you choose to do that

No it’s got a ‘Don’t drive on the road’ fail

Have I missed it, but what is the fail item that renders the vehicle unsafe to drive?

Do not drive until repaired (dangerous defects) - Exhaust emits excessive smoke or vapour likely to obscure the vision of other road users.

I don't think it's nearly that bad but hey. But, as per my comments above the garage that MOT'd it have no interest in fixing it so there's no financial incentive for them to fail it on this. I know the garage well, been using them for at least 5 years and they've always been dead straight - have carried out minor repairs and checks for free on occasions.

Crikey, there must have been an impressive amount of smoke at the test centre then. Did they actually get a reading from the smoke test machine? I know the older machines would shut down if the smoke was excessive on the first or second full throttle.

So you've been driving around with no rear view mirror as well* - I assume that was on the fail sheet?

*Tongue in cheek, attempt at humour.

@Marko. That’s the thing. It’s below the default level of 3 (ave of 2.02 across 6 readings) but the plate value is 1.3.

We’ll see what a good service and engine flush does for the old girl 🙂

I still think you've been done. They may not be doing the work themselves but they may be in cahoots with someone else.

@molgrips - who? They didn’t recommend anyone! Just told be to get it sorted and bring it back and they’d give it the once over before retesting the emissions.

Honestly, I’ve used these guys for years and they have been dead straight. Bought a tyre from tyre-shopper (like Black Circle) once for my wife’s car. All paid for and everything.

Took the car in, they had a look and said the tyre didn’t need changing. They refused to fit the new one, refunded me directly and then sorted the rest out with tyre-shopper themselves.

Took my old car there once as it was making a hideous noise. Heat shield thing was loose. Fixed for no charge.

Engine warning light on my Audi. Read the fault, couldn’t fix it as it was the crankshaft position sensor which they don’t do. Again didn’t charge me for reading the fault. Most places would want at least £40-50 for plugging it into the computer.

I even offered them money and they wouldn’t take it.

Not the actions of a dodgy garage.

Just can’t see what they’ve got to gain from failing it. I’ve got the emission sheet as well-they are not going to forge that. Surely they’d fail it on something they could charge me to fix?

A station can only test what’s presented. They cant even pull gaffer tape of that plate if you choose to do that

The tester at my local kwikfit helpfully pointed out (after I'd take the aforementioned fiesta back after cutting out the rear middle seatbelt as it was jammed) that it I'd kicked the windscreen out he could have passed that too as it wouldn't have been chipped 🤣

TBH if the reading is 2, the plate says 1.3 and the age related limit is 3, I'd do as others suggest, oil and air filter, new oil (to the minimum line to be safe) and an Italian tune up. And if it's still a 2, cover the plate (and I'm usually quite environmentally conscious).

Honestly, I’ve used these guys for years and they have been dead straight.

Rip off garages don't rip you off all the time - they do nice things for you to build up trust then they sneak stuff in. I'm not saying that's what's happening here mind, but it might be.

Anyway. If you drove it around without noticing smoke, then they give it a dangerous fail on so much smoke that another driver wouldn't be able to see - that's bobbins.

@molgrips. They’re the worst rip off merchants going then by failing me in something that can’t fix and can’t charge me money for and yet refuse my money when I offer it them for stuff they have done :D.

I imagine he means "emissions exceed manufacturers specified limits" which is a major fail.

And then when you read what a major fail is classified as -that'll be where he gets the dangerous defect do not drive thing from.

Ergo his car is deemed not safe. And thus the 6 month thing doesn't apply.....had he not tested it on other hand

@trail_rat. No I have both an immediate ‘must not drive’ due to excessive smoke / vapour (8.2.2.2C) AND a major defect due to emissions exceeding manufacturers limits (8.2.2.2A).

Well the good news is that, after a good fettle; new filters, clean oil, engine flush and a can of EGR cleaner, it has now passed the smoke test with an average plate value of 1.28 - not bad for a big old beast.

Drop link sorted as well and hopefully I have sufficiently secured the headlight so back for a re-test tomorrow to sign everything off. Fingers crossed...