Praise - Halfords Autocentre and Cataclean

MamaMoo_2

So, hubby took his shonkmobile in for an MOT last week, and it failed on a few minor points (sticky fog light switch, indicator bulb orange coating had come off, lower ball joint needed replacing) and it also failed the emissions test. We were told CO emissions should not exceed 3.5%, however our car was running at 3.77%. The HC was also above 1200 ppm.
The guy advised us, rather than having the catalytic converter changed (as that would be a few hundred pounds) to give their cataclean service a try. It's £20, and you pop it into the fuel tank, was the car about a bit, and Your emissions are supposed to just drop.
I was sceptical, however with a money back guarantee and the alternative being a pricey cat change, we gave it a bash.

Well I was flabbergasted. It flew through the emissions test with CO at 0.44% and HC result of 75ppm.

I cannot recommend this stuff enough. The car feels a lot smoother, sounds a lot healthier, and we don't have to buy a new catalytic converter.

To anyone who is considering trying this stuff, do it!


And to anyone who has failed the emissions test, give it a go! Halfords guarantee you'll pass the emissions test or your money back!

Geodark

hmmmmm, I am sorry but I am really sceptical about these snake oils. As far as I am aware there isnt anything on the market that can revive a knackered cat. Did they give you the failure sheet from the original test with the readings on it? or did they just tell you what the figures were?

MamaMoo_2

We were given the original reading sheet when it failed.
And if I'm honest, we'd also predicted it would fail the emissions as there was always a strong smell from the exhaust and some smoke.
This has stopped now.
I was very very sceptical as I thought that there was no way it would reduce emissions, and even if it did I expected it to get them to a point only just low enough to scrape a pass.
They do say that if your cat is knackered it will make no difference, though. Ours wasn't completely knackered, as emissions were slightly over, which he said wasn't bad for an 18 year old car.

CrazyRed

I can personally vouch for Cataclean, as can other forum members on here - I actually recommended it to another user, who tried it and was kind enough to report back with their MOT results - which were very similar to the OP's.

Although it's marketed as "Cataclean" (and thus, by implication it cleans the catalytic converter), personally I have my doubts as to how it can do this, BUT I won't deny it seems to be a very effective fuel system cleaner. Every single car I have used it on in the past has responded well to it and recorded lower emissions at the MOT test if this stuff's been used beforehand (or, before retest if the failure point was emissions).

£20's a bit strong for the stuff, though - I've seen it at £13-15 on a well-known auction site, including delivery.

s_b

or you could just give the car an italian tune before submitting it for an mot

jaylee3

I don't know about cataclean, but I have always been very happy with Halfords auto centre. They are very good.

shaun_from_Africa

Surely anything added to the contents of the fuel tank couldn't have an effect on emissions so quickly.
There would the fuel still in the pipes, pump and injection system to be used before any of the additive could reach the engine and even if the amount of this "old" fuel was only something like 1/2 a litre or so, this will still take a fair while to get used up on a fairly economical modern engine.

enfield_freddy

umm, I would normally say yes on an older engine however with a FI engine the fuel is pumped to the injectors then back to the tank , so it ends up mixing the snake oil

MamaMoo_2

CrazyRed wrote: »

I can personally vouch for Cataclean, as can other forum members on here - I actually recommended it to another user, who tried it and was kind enough to report back with their MOT results - which were very similar to the OP's.

Although it's marketed as "Cataclean" (and thus, by implication it cleans the catalytic converter), personally I have my doubts as to how it can do this, BUT I won't deny it seems to be a very effective fuel system cleaner. Every single car I have used it on in the past has responded well to it and recorded lower emissions at the MOT test if this stuff's been used beforehand (or, before retest if the failure point was emissions).

£20's a bit strong for the stuff, though - I've seen it at £13-15 on a well-known auction site, including delivery.

£20 was the cost for the garage to supply it, pop it in the fuel tank, and then take the car out for a spin to work it through the system. Also, as I was sceptical, I figured I'd be seeing my £20 again through the money back guarantee. I have now ordered another bottle of the stuff online to pop in in another 6 months 😁

MamaMoo_2

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

Surely anything added to the contents of the fuel tank couldn't have an effect on emissions so quickly.
There would the fuel still in the pipes, pump and injection system to be used before any of the additive could reach the engine and even if the amount of this "old" fuel was only something like 1/2 a litre or so, this will still take a fair while to get used up on a fairly economical modern engine.

You have to add it to a minimum half tank of fuel and then the guy did about 30 miles up and down the motorway to run it through the system.

enfield_freddy

MamaMoo wrote: »

You have to add it to a minimum half tank of fuel and then the guy did about 30 miles up and down the motorway to run it through the system.

nice and warm , and a nice motorway run , many yrs ago this was called an "Italian tune-up"