Emmisions Failure

[Paulw]

My Elan has failed its MOT in emmisions. as well as other things! Does anyone have any ideas of what may be causing this?<br>I think it likely the timing is out and the plugs and leads could do with being changed. Would this effect the emmisions?

[pjohn151]

Yes, the timing will have a big impact on emissions. Quality of spark will also have some effect, but if the car runs well normally, then you may get away with just resetting the timing. <br><br>Don't forget to have the engine in diagnostic mode when checking the timing...<br><br>Phil

[Rodman]

Mine was on the limit last MOT. I had the chip replaced at SGT and now its down to 15 CO units suppose to be below 35. The chip cost 65p the installation £15. You can do it yourselve but they want a deposit, £100. I wasn't sure where the box was positioned. My car was as near original having only done 50K. Its not now!!

[John_W]

Paul,<br>This weekend was MOT time for my Elan also. It passed with no problems:<br>CO level at idle: 1.47% volume (acceptable limit 3.5%)<br>Hydrocarbons: 83 ppm (acceptable limit 1200 ppm !!) ;D<br><br>Sorry yours has problems. I agree with Phil and Rodman about solutions for the emissions.<br><br>Base timing should be 16 deg BTDC, and a good spark is needed (31 thou gap). Assuming your car is an SE, then the chip makes a difference too. Until last August my car was running on its original chip ( a "9239")  and although it passed the MOT emissions OK, the CO potentiometer had no adjustment left. <br><br>Since changing to the latest version of the Lotus chip (a "9930") on which all of ElanScanMan's Mountain chips for the SE are based, the emissions are lower and there's still about half a turn of adjustment available on the CO pot (see http://www.lotuselancentral.com/cgi-bin ... ;start=302). <br><br>I presume you're not burning any oil, which will have its own effect.<br><br>Good luck in setting things up.<br><br>John  

Edit Nov 2005: Since the migration to the new Forum, the above link has changed. It is now:
http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... &start=293
To guard against future database changes, I'd better say that it's on page 15 of the "ECU hack" thread in Projects.

[Rodman]

Good point about the oil. I run a semi synthetic, not loosing any oil (tried them all). Fully synthetic used to loose oil, blown out through the breather passed the condenser. The exhaust had an oily smell. Synthetic oil doesn't burn as easily but still generates carbon monoxide.

[Paulw]

So, with the chipping thing. <br>Should i just get a chip from elanscan man and is this the chip which is replaced to increase boost i.e kilimanjaro or is it another one which also needs to be replaced in order to use that chip if that makes sence?

[Doug]

well, of course, you should get a mountain chip from Alan and install it yourself.  He has a money-back guarantee if you don't like it.  You'll have to re-adjust the CO pot before or during emissions testing thereafter.

[Paulw]

Great a decent excuse to get 1!  ;D

[Paulw]

Where is the CO2 POT?

[Doug]

[quote author=Paulw link=board=driveline;num=1114269497;start=0#8 date=04/25/05 at 23:43:06]Where is the CO2 POT?[/quote]<br>right behind the rice cooker   ;D

[John_W]

thanks, Doug.  :P  <br>Paul,<br>"The CO pot is a small screwhead mounted in a pale blue plastic casing of about 1" x 1/2", which plugs into a socked mounted just above the upper connector to the ECU (ie drop the glove box, get on the floor & look up). It unplugs by pushing in the wire release clip on the socket and pulling gently." <br><br>see the http://www.lotuselancentral.com/cgi-bin ... ;start=302 reference I gave above.<br><br>John  ::)

Edit Nov 2005: Since the migration to the new Forum, the above link has changed. It is now:
http://www.lotuselancentral.com/forum/v ... &start=293
To guard against future database changes, I'd better say that it's on page 15 of the "ECU hack" thread in Projects.

[Doug]

oh, that pot -- I knew you'd answer John so I left it to u   :-*

[Batman]

Make sure you've got nice clean fuel, after a few months of sitting in the garage over winter if failed the mot, changed the oil, plugs and air filter, failed the retest, I then required a fill up when I went for another retest it passed easily

[Paulw]

Well the petrol is definatly fresh. i've ordered sum new plugs and air filter. and it is due an oil change so i'll do that too. another point i've noticed is i seem to have more white smoke from the exhaust than is healthy.

[Batman]

Whatever the problem may be, I'd try and find a friendly garage/Elan owner who can do a CO2 test prior to sticking it through the mot again, it's one of them problems that not sure is corrected until you test it.

[Enright]

A recent post by ESM which was a direct copy of the manual here suggested that the CO pot should be adjusted to give an emissions reading of 1% +/-0.5%.

But here JohnBenk quoted a figure of 3.45! Did he make a mistake? If not, is there any advantage to having a higher CO reading at idle?

My Gastester's calibration point in clear air is at 2%, how does leaning it off that much at idle not affect the economy further up the rev range under load?

Oh, and does anyone remember if clockwise on the CO pot richens or leans the mixture?

Edit: Got it - anti-clockwise leans it off, clockwise richens it.