MOT Failure - How do i get the most money i can from it?

bnb

I had my car MOT'd today, and as you can see from the title it failed.

The main area of failure was the emissions, the Max limit is 0.3%, and mine came in at an average of 10.13%, and was advised it wouldn't be worth it to try and repair the problem.

Now, my options are to sell it for scrap, which i have been told i would get £50 at best, or attempt to salvage some parts for myself and get more. I know that if i give it to a scrapyard they will just sell the parts on themselves, and i'd get nothing for it, so i'd rather put the work in myself and eBay or sell locally the parts.

The thing is I don't know where to start re. breaking up a car, and a few google searches have come to nothing.

Can anyone here suggest the best way to get the most from the car that i can? I paid £600 for it 3 years ago, and would hate to throw it all away :rolleyes:

As i have been unable to find any help on how to break a car, any help on this would be much appreciated. (All info via web links or books welcome)

Many thanks

BNB

northern_munky

What car is it and what year? It might be quite easy to get it through the emissions test. Have you got the emissions print out, can you post the results of all the gases.

bnb

Its a 95 M Ford Escort.

Its not just the emissions as its been playing up for a while.

First Idle Test:

CO2 % Vol: Max 0.3, My value: 9.852
HC ppm vol: Max 200, My value: 592
Lambda: Min:0.95, Max: 1.09, My Value: 0.747

Second Fast Idle Test:

CO2 % Vol: Max 0.3, My value: 10.408
HC ppm vol: Max 200, My value: 714
Lambda: Min:0.95, Max: 1.09, My Value: 0.721

I have no idea what these values mean, but i am told that given these, and the problems with the engine, it wouldn't be worth it to try and repair it.

zappahey

It's running far too rich and could be a simple fix. Maybe as simple as the coolant temp sensor (there's one for the fuel system as well as one for the gauge).

northern_munky

What is the problem with the engine? It's running very rich which could be caused by a misfire or could be the lambda sensor (in the exhaust pipe) causing the problems any garage should be able to diagnose this fairly quickly.

If you were getting rid of it, I doubt you would get more than £70-£80 as scrap. Try ringing those numbers you see in the newspapers. You could try ebaying it and see what happens. Just give an honest description.

zappahey

northern_munky wrote:

What is the problem with the engine? It's running very rich which could be caused by a misfire or could be the lambda sensor (in the exhaust pipe)

I suspect the lambda sensor is fine as it's low which indicates that the engine is running rich. It's sending the "lean off" signal to weaken the mixture. For some reason the engine seems to be incapable of doing so. It could be the coolant temp sensor or a faulty injector. If it has a mass air flow meter then that's worth checking too.

northern_munky

zappahey wrote:

I suspect the lambda sensor is fine as it's low which indicates that the engine is running rich. It's sending the "lean off" signal to weaken the mixture. For some reason the engine seems to be incapable of doing so. It could be the coolant temp sensor or a faulty injector. If it has a mass air flow meter then that's worth checking too.

But if the lambda continually reads lean (faulty), then that would cause the ECU to richen the mixture. But the CO is very very high and I agree the CTS could be a suspect. Be interesting to see what the OP says about the engine fault.

JBsplit

Its unlikely to be 'major' it might well be worth spending £60-70 to diagnose the problem.

If you split the car you will end up with the parts no-one wants and then most likely have to pay to get the rest removed.

zappahey

northern_munky wrote:

But if the lambda continually reads lean (faulty),

I'm happy to be corrected but, when I had this problem, the low lambda reading meant that the car was running rich. It appears to me that the lambda sensor is accurately measuring the rich running of the engine and is sending the appropriate signals to the ECU.

bnb

Im unsure what the actual problem is with the engine, just that he said that its on its last legs, so sorting out the MOT failures would be a waste as i'd would need to get rid of it a few months anyway.

The only thing i do know about the engine is that when i had it in at the garage last summer for some work, it had the timing chain replaced and some other internal parts replaced, and the mechanic noticed that the cams were really worn down. He said that it would only last a few months back then, so im surprised it has lasted this long.

As northern_munky suggested above, i have been looking on ebay for selling it as it is, and it appears that this may be my best option, besides the fact that it'll save me the time of having to take it apart.

BNB

northern_munky

zappahey wrote:

I'm happy to be corrected but, when I had this problem, the low lambda reading meant that the car was running rich. It appears to me that the lambda sensor is accurately measuring the rich running of the engine and is sending the appropriate signals to the ECU.

I know what you are saying zappahey and you are right. But what I was saying is the lambda could go faulty and read lean all the time, this then sends the signal to the ECU to then richen the mixture.

Anyway good look with shifting the car bnb.