Catalitic Converter

[Discarnet]

HI everyone

I have a inported 2.0 1995 auto celica It failed its mot yesterday with very high emissions 4.02 co2 and 0.87 lamdba, the garage advised that the cat and sensor need replacing,

after ordering 3 difrent cats they have told me they cant get the right part, all the ones they are getting are 400mm+ in lengh or the right lengh but with no sensor mounting

I have tried several exhaust specialist who are unable to find a cat to fit the car

The cat on mine is 330mm with a bolt on sensor on the rear of the cat.

I have a few questions

1)Anyone any idea where i can obtain the right part.

2)is it normal for the lambda sensor to be at the rear of the cat, as i always thought that they were in front of the cat or has the one on the car been fitted wrong and would this cause the high emissions

3) is it possible to rip the complete exhaust of a british version of the car and fit it to the import car

[edwardio]

CATs should only really fail if the core gets damaged or breaks up. As for sensor placement, it really does vary. Some are in the manifold, some are pre cat, some are post cat and some are pre & post cat. It totally depends on the manufacturer and model/date split.

I would say it's your O2 sensor that has degraded. ALL O2 sensors start degrading for them first time they are used. Basically they age. It is recommended to replace O2 sensors every 60-80k miles.

[Discarnet]

Ok thanks I will change the sensor and run it back in Ill let you know how it goes

The car has done 0ver 110k and is nearly 18years old, and looks like the orriginal exhaust on the front

[Discarnet]

i have found info that says because my car is first registered feb 1995 and is a import that the uk emmisions test do not apply and that the only emissions test that should be done is that the co is below 3.5% at idle with no fast idle check and no lambda check

Anyone know if this is correct, if it is my car should have passes as co was only 1.8 at idle

[Discarnet]

Info was right, i took the car back to the mot station with the log book showing date first registered on 01/02/1995 and they agreed it should not have a cat test

They did a BET test and the car passed with ease

under section 7:3 of the mot manual a car registered before july31st 1995 with no exact model match in the emmisions database (import celica has the FE engine not the british GE} must to be tested as a non cat vehicle

Phew that just saved me around £400 on a new cat and o2 sensor

so if you have a early 1995 import car i would suggest taking the log book with you just in case

[edwardio]

Good news & money saved!