MOT Avensis T27 Valvematic 1.8. Passed

[Konrad C]

I decided to have the Mk3 MOT'd 3 weeks early, just in case of any problems. I need not worry and the car passed. 

The thing that surprised me was the low emissions of the Valvematic 1.8 engine. CO registered at 0.002 and the HC registered zero! The Lambda reading took a while to comedown , because the exhaust had a lot of water. The tester said the car has not done much driving, and he was right. The car has only done 5000 miles since the last MOT, and just over 2000 miles since I bought it. I still drive my Mk1 which contributes to the lack of use of the Mk3. This may change in the coming months.

The Valvematic engine is very good. The oil level has never needed topping. Toyota have sorted out the engine after the nearly disastrous vvti 1ZZ, and the oil burning issue, that plagued it for the first 5 years. 

The brakes are fine after a recent replacement, and everything else is solid and good condition for a 7 year old car. 

Now to get the scratches and marks sorted. 

[TomdeGuerre]

Congrats Konrad, now you can relax for a bit.   

Did you get a look underneath it while it was on the ramp or was it just nail biting in the waiting room?  

[Konrad C]

Thanks Tom. I did get a look under the car. Not much to see. The exhaust has this huge bomb looking thing. Some clips for the under body shield was missing, but I had some spares. The tester had to drain the emission pipe, due to the amount of condensation. This affected the lambda reading. Once the moisture had evaporated, the reading lowered into the pass zone. That was the main concern, and the tester said that Toyotas seem to take long to settle. MOT are worse as the car gets older. 

[TomdeGuerre]

22 hours ago, Konrad C said:

Thanks Tom. I did get a look under the car. Not much to see. The exhaust has this huge bomb looking thing. Some clips for the under body shield was missing, but I had some spares. The tester had to drain the emission pipe, due to the amount of condensation. This affected the lambda reading. Once the moisture had evaporated, the reading lowered into the pass zone. That was the main concern, and the tester said that Toyotas seem to take long to settle. MOT are worse as the car gets older. 

Where's this emission pipe located Konrad? Is it in the exhaust system underneath?

[Konrad C]

What I meant the analyser probe pipe that has fluid capture and drain. The exhaust had a lot of fluid coming out, and the analyser reads this gives a high Lambda reading. Once the exhaust was hot enough to evaporate what remained in the exhaust system, plus the fluid drained from the analyser a second time, the Lambda reading dropped until it reached the pass mark.

It does not help that it is winter.