MOT Failure ;))) Passed

[ChrisO GolfO]

As many probably will have written before I am writing again...

My Golf has just Failed its MOT on emissions! Quite badly from the sounds of it, now there could be quite a few causes of this the guys at the garage tell me it could be Lamda Sensor, and another 6 or so problems but they have to do some investigating into it.

I want to ask your opinions on it... judging by the following aspects. Its a Mk4 1.4 16v T Reg, done 101,000 miles, it smokes every now and again and not little bits of smoke when it does smoke its quite a cloud not as bad as a smoke screen tho, runs fairly well, upon starting it kinda smells like a fuel.

I personally think its over fuelling but what do you guys think?

[ChrisO GolfO]

Well it turns its not gonna be the CAT but waiting for more information from garage

Have a great weekend yall! 

[AudiA8Quattro]

Failed lambda sensor or coolant temperature sensor.
Replace both, they should be about 100 quid.

[ChrisO GolfO]

Well after the garage have had it now since last Thursday its still not passed with high emissions, They have swapped those Sensors you told me about.

What happens now is they get it to the level it will pass its MOT wait for the machine to be ready start it up and the emissions go through the roof again! After doing a LOT of checks and stuff on the engine they say that its because my engine when first turns over starts running on 3 cylinders and it burns oil! They are going to try to get it on the MOT Test Bay while emissions are low but if it fails it will be major head work! 

So what im asking you guys is who could sort my head work out (if needed) well it will need it at some point but I dont have like 1000 pounds to spend on it if it needs doing.

Anyone out there who might be able to help me out?

[AudiA8Quattro]

Buy a head off ebay, get the garage to fit it.
Its a bit of a gamble, but should be cheap.

[ChrisO GolfO]

Well I just checked out ebay and there could be a 1.4 16v Engine with Gearbox its only done 33,000 miles gonna see how much that is I dont really need the gear box tho... that has been rebuilt already!

[AudiA8Quattro]

Keep the block and gearbox for spares 

[ChrisO GolfO]

Ooo Good Idea there... Im gonna wait for this guy to email me and hopefully he has the engine still and its cheap too

The garage said that it was Piston Rings and possibly Bottom End issues and he said people just dont take engines apart no more for that issue.

I think its a bit of a waste

[AudiA8Quattro]

Bottom end issues at 100k? thats unusual for car that been looked after.
Personally i would do a compression test, wet and dry, see what results you get.
If the low mileage unit is cheap, then buy it, the easiest thing would be to swap the lot over, engine and gearbox still bolted together.
Once you have done this, you could rebuild your old unit, and keep it as a spare.

[ChrisO GolfO]

Well thats what I was thinking... originally when I had it in for its Service I asked them to check my engine out I understand that because of my sometimes hard driving style it will need things replaced.

They looked it over for me (as small garages do) and said that although it burns about 1 litre of oil per 1000miles which is unusal, there is no oil in the water and no mayo under the oil filler cap.

When I turn it over and it starts the tappets are pretty loud most of the time and it does sound like a deisel. Smoke will come out after coasting to a junction and then either still rolling putting it in second/third and then pulling away it will flatten on power till the smoke clears then its back off to normal.

It has gotten worse over past few thousand miles.