New MOT rules - bad news for some!

Iceweasel

societys_child wrote: »

So my 1988 2.5L Nissan D21 should be ok then, pretty sure it never had one . . .

Whenever they do the emissions test, they get a confused look on their face and check the equipment before muttering something about it being "k'ing clean" . . . like to think it could be something to do with the 2 stroke oil I've been adding (ratio 200:1) to every fill-up for the past 12 years (cleaner burn and slightly increased mpg)

Yes - I have the same with a 2004 Freelander TD4 - also with 2-Stroke added since new. Again no DPF.

It has almost untraceable smoke - so clean that the tester gets a message on the screen saying to check that the probe is correctly in the exhaust pipe. LOL.

Ultrasonic

specialboy wrote: »

Do you have a link to that?

For me the link at the start of the thread is sufficient, since it makes no statement about restriction on age:

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rules-for-mot-to-test-for-diesel-particulate-filter

Although until the new regulations are finalised nobody could say for certain.

I can see no reason why it shouldn't apply to any age of vehicle originally sold with a DPF though. This change is long overdue as far as I'm concerned. How effective it will be (given the difficulty of spotting a removed DPF) is debatable, but at least it sends the message that removing a DPF is not something that should be done.

Out of interest, at the point that having a DPF removed is an MOT fail, would this have any legal implications for a garage wanting to offer this service from that point onwards? I'm kind of hoping that it would be an offence for a garage to make a change to a vehicle that they know would then make it fail the requirements of an MOT test?

Retrogamer

I don't think they will be able to stop garages offering the services as it wouldn't be breaking any laws if the vehicle is used for motorsport / track use for example

[Deleted User]

Ultrasonic wrote: »

Out of interest, at the point that having a DPF removed is an MOT fail, would this have any legal implications for a garage wanting to offer this service from that point onwards?

Not according to the Autoexpress article.

They refer to a conversation they had, with a DfT spokesman.

Autoexpress wrote:

He told us that while the DfT wouldn't actively shut down garages offering the service, the new rule would effectively do the same thing."They will be driven out of business," he explained.

deanos

I guess they will have a little hammer and tap, soon be able to see if the DPF has been gutted or not

Retrogamer

deanos wrote: »

I guess they will have a little hammer and tap, soon be able to see if the DPF has been gutted or not

I don't think that'll work to be honest.
If you state the internals are there and the MOT inspector were to disagree, how would you solve the agreement without cutting open the DPF to check?

They might strongly suspect the internals are missing, but without the above they couldn't prove it so too much of grey area.

deanos

Yeah you are probably right, we need a MOT tester to confirm i guess what they will do

Johnmcl7

deanos wrote: »

I guess they will have a little hammer and tap, soon be able to see if the DPF has been gutted or not

DPF's don't tend to be that accessible, to work well they need to be tight against the engine to help the get DPF up to temperature quicker so with my car you can barely see the DPF without taking parts out. On reading discussions about DPF removal it seems likely that for now they will do a visual inspection and in time will test the particulate levels.

Certainly I won't be considering removing my DPF now even if it seems they're just doing a visual check and a gutted DPF would pass.

John

Ultrasonic

The best test would be one of the particulate levels, but presumably equipment to measure this would be prohibitively expensive. A car with a DPF removed that still met a suitably stringent particulate emissions check wouldn't actually be a problem. On the other hand a car with a defective DPF actually in place would be.

mattyprice4004

DPFs certainly remove the fun from driving - I'd miss the ability to be able to turn a tailgating nice shiny white Audi/BMW to grey with my epic clouds of smog on hard acceleration (thanks to a very harsh map and other bits and pieces).

They usually get the message quite quickly...