"Supporting this will be the Real Driving Emissions test (RDE), which will measure the amount of nitrous oxide (NOx) created by the car."
I'm not sure where this has come from but our regular MOT tester didn't know about this. I'm sure its to do with the original test that new models have which is used to identify tax coding and not part of the MOT test. The article appears to have this wrong.
He printed me off a copy of the new emission standards. They will not affect older diesels. But they will affect newer ones with DPF filters. I was concerned about my 54 plate Citroen Xsara 2.0 hdi. I wasn't going to put new tyres on it if I had to scrap it next year. On the plate of my van is a plate stamped with emissions for the van. The smoke test has to meet those requirements on the plate. Diesel vehicles with removed DPF filters will be failed as they won't achieve the lower smoke test figures.
The smoke test on my hdi Xsara was 3 which was within specs for that vehicle. The smoke requirement on my van with a DPF filter is 0.51. He says the van will never meet those specs without a fully working dpf filter.
He says you can visually see at a glance if the dpf filter was cut and rewelded. Just wiping your finger round the exhaust outlet is another check. A vehicle with a dpf filter will show no soot on the inside of the tail pipe. One that hasn't one or a non working dpf filter will be sooty.
What is of concern is the new fail catagories. I'm interested how they will deal with that. If they find an excessively leaking power steering box on a test vehicle (marked as dangerous) supplied by a local garage without MOT testing facilities, does that mean the garage can't drive it back to their workshop for repairs and later retest? When daughter in laws cars brakes failed when a brake caliper arm broke they rightly impounded the vehicle. It could only be trailed away or towed with a solid towbar. They got the job to replace the caliper.
So having an MOT test station means that they have guaranteed work. A car that is termed dangerous isn't allowed back on the road until rectified. So actually, when the wifes car failed its last but 1 MOT for a broken spring, it wasn't exactly safe to drive home and for me to replace the spring. It should rightly have been done at the MOT station.
How do they deal with a smokey diesel? Its not dangerous but its a fail. Does this mean it can't be driven back to base for inspection and rectification?
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