MOT emissions failed

[night trunker]

Hi all, been a long time since been on here. My belovid 2.7 ssrx gen3 has been on a sorn for the past 7 years. Had it on a battery maintanance charger, & started up, ran up to temp, then had a quick Blast round the block to keep fluids flowing every weekend. I finally saved enough money up to get it back on the road leagaly. Put it in for pre MOT 5 months ago, and got a list of things needing to be replaced (mainly front brake callipers pipes & hoses & tyres all round). Had to get some parts imported from UAE & Japan. The tester did the exhaust co2 test on the pre MOT and said it should be OK. Spent the past 5 months getting parts & fitting them. Finally got it booked in for MOT today & was confident it would sail through. But NO, it would not pass the emissions even after several attempts. I was gutted, total curved ball. It passed on all the parts I had spent £££ & months fitting, but still got a fail. So any suggestions to get the co2 down would be great. Can not get a cat, or hot gas sensor (bank 2). Do not know what the cause is. Would an OBD2 code reader flag up a code for any duff component. I am going to fit a new air filter, set of new GKN spark plugs & rotor arm. Also dose the fuel with injector cleaner additive. That is about all I can think of doing or afford at the moment. Will put it in for retest next week & see if that will be enough to get it to go through emissions, or makes any difference. Will let you know if it goes through the retest. If it fails again, then it will just have to sit out the front of my house and rot away on the SORN. Cheers all Stew.....

[DMAudio]

Emissions and fuel mix are largely ecu controlled, so if you’re doing the air filter, and plugs, the O2 sensors are the prime suspect. Other than that, clean the MAF sensor, some fresh fuel and a good kicking down a country road should clear the crap out. Not sure if the petrol engine has an EGR or not, but that could benefit from a clean too.

[night trunker]

Thanks for your reply DMaudio. I have tried getting the hot gas sensor (after cat, bank2), but it is not available anywhere, not even from Japan. The Lambda Sensor is readily available, but will wait to see if it is flaged up with a fault code first . Will have to look up what the MAF sensor is & EGR. Have got an OBD11 reader in the post, so hope any codes that are displayed will shed some light on what is causing the emissions to be high.

[DMAudio]

Sorry I meant the lambda sensor. If it has 2 sensors in the exhaust, the 2nd one probably just monitors the cat. The 1st one will affect the emissions, but will not necessarily throw a code if it’s pooched.

The MAF (mass air flow) sensor will be either in or just after the air filter pipe work. EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) valve will sit between the exhaust and the inlet manifold usually via some pipe work.

[night trunker]

Update on MOT emissions. Well, put in for re-mot first thing Friday morning after putting on new air filter,spark plugs, HT lead set, distributor cap & rotor arm. Cleaned MAF sensor & running Winne's fuel system & injector cleaner for 20 mile rant. MOT tester put pipe in exhaust & ran test, but no improvement from last fail result. Checked temp of cat input & output pipes which should be hotter on the output side if cat working correctly, but was hotter going in than out. So the cat is definatly dead. Looks like getting hold of a new converter is going to be impossible, as not listed anywhere, or out of stock, not available, out of production. Removing converter (decat) is not an option, as must have one fitted by law on this vehicle. Have spent over £750 on parts, sone genuine imported from UAE, that all passed MOT. Just hit a brick wall with this emissions red tape. Very frustrating as drives great & done so much work & spent £ but still not back on the road. Just got an expensive, unusable ornament sitting on driveway. Will just have to leave it on a SORN. Looks like the end of my surfing enjoyment has come.

[DMAudio]

I’d definitely try replacing the O2 sensor.

[night trunker]

Thanks for your sugestions DMAudio. Not worth replacing the O2 sensor with a dead cat. I am looking in to getting a BM Catalysts that fits a Hi-ace with the 2.7l 3rz-fe engine, and doing a cut & shunt if the manifold down pipe does not fit. Then if sucessful will put a new O2 sensor on. Am doing a lot of research in to compatibility of converter options with other Toyota models that use the 3rz-fe.

[nrk555]

As someone who is wanting to get my sorned 2.7 3rd gen Surf back on the road i read this thread with interest. How is your research going night trunker? i hope you can find a solution. Please post to say how you get on.

[night trunker]

Well I finally got growler (thats my trucks nickname as the sound of the exhaust growles) through the MOT & emissions test today (YEA). I got a BM catylists converter designed for a Hiace with the 2.7l 3rz-fe welded in place of the origional which was cut off the down pipe. The Hiace version has a different down pipe configuration to the hilux, hence the need to cut & shunt just the converter section with flange to rest of exhaust system. Also the hiace cat does not have the tube for the temp probe which only purpose is to put cat over heat light on dash if cat gets too hot. I just kept the probe plugged in so it was not open circuit & to keep moisture from corroding plug terminals, then tucked the probe in above the heat shield. After all that, the emissions still would not scrape through. The only thing left was changing the O2 sensor. luckley I had already brought a genuine toyota lambda sensor just in case. Changed over the sensor for new one & that did the trick, it passed !. It would not of passed if just the O2 sensor or just the cat was replaced only. So now I have spent the tax & insurance money on cat, welding & O2 sensor, I have a truck with new MOT, but no savings left for getting it road legal, so will have to stay on sorn until beginning of next year whilst I save up again. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, & hope this thread helps others with MOT emissions issues with the 2.7l.

[nrk555]

Great result!