DIY emissions test for diesel engine?

[CelticRambler]

I bet you failed to time the diesel pump with the timing belt

'Twas left into a garage for that - I didn't have the time, skills or equipment to do it myself.

Timing belt not fitted correctly will fek up emissions, instantly from time of the change.
Immediately after the change, was it,

1.smokey not that I noticed, but I generally sit 3m in front of the exhaust when it's exhausting, and have no rear windows to see what might be trailing behind!
2.down on power. nope
3. hard to start. definitely not
4 heavy on fuel nope, better than the factory settings if anything
5 Noisier. nope
6. What make belt. would have to look it up

[kadman]

'Twas left into a garage for that - I didn't have the time, skills or equipment to do it myself.

Fair dues. Ticks all the boxes then, except its failing on emissions then.
You need to get a code reader to read the existing codes. Without them its impossible to diagnose your problem.
Get those, and live data, and fix what the live data says is wrong. Codes put you in the ballpark, data points out the cause.

And as I said before , analysing the gases first is like getting a proctologist to examine your teeth. Its starting from the wrong end.
The only way a gas analyser is of use is if you were setting the AFR on a petrol engine on a tune up,or getting the correct stoich values in lets say an LPG
conversion on a petrol car.
Anything else is telling you what you already know, emissions are wrong. And multiecuscan can tell you why.

Of course you could mess about with everything until kingdom come, and maybe pass the emissions. But as a clinician you already know thats not the way to go.

[CelticRambler]

Hence this follow-up question, above:

But the Multiecuscan looks like the kind of thing that'd be very handy to have when stuck up the top of a mountain. I can't immediately see what cable connection it uses, but assuming the vehicle end is the standard OBD, what's the other? USB? And available on Amazon/eBay/Alixpress ...?

[kadman]

Depending on your vehicle and computer, and item you want to check. Its on their website if memory serves me well.
Mulktiecuscan and Gendan. Check the websites, as well as your french colleagues and see what they are using.
Mine was initially a free download, but cancels out after 2o minutes. Then I went for paying 50 euro I think for the year with no updates.
You could always go the Delphi route too.

[kadman]

If your diesel camper failed on emissions on a static test, then its throwing out way more crap when its motoring along the motorway than you realise.

There are many variables that could be causing this. From a faulty sensor that is sending incorrect signals to the ECU causing it to over fuel
the engine, to a pinhole in the exhaust causing the incorrect mixture of gases passing the sensor, and giving rise to the wrong signal sent.
Many many reasons give black smoke in small or large amounts.

Worn injectors spraying in more diesel than the engine can handle.
Incorrect injectors not coded in to the ECU correctly.
Injectors not within range of each other. Like renewing one injector only that makes the lot out of range with each other.
Bad electronics on the injector connections.
Dirty or worn injector tips.
And thats just the injectors, and there are numerous other items as well that give smoke.Manifold gaskets, Egr valves, filters ect.

Could be as simple as a dirty filter, but ordinary diy dabbling is not going to get to the root cause. Pay for a proper full engine diagnostics from Fiat garage will tell you whether you have a fixable unit, or a potential paper weight

[CelticRambler]

Currently working through the "low hanging fruit" before getting serious about the engine.

What d'ya think? Worth replacing this exhaust, while the vehicle is "on the ramp" ? (Pipe from the manifold has already been replaced, a good few years ago)

[kadman]

If you intend keeping the camper, and budget allows, then it makes sense to replace it IF there is any serious corrosion penetrating either the exhaust silencer or pipe. Remember a small pinhole can affect a sensor reading calculating fuel variables depending on where in the system the sensor is in relation to the hole.
You could also weld any holes in the exhaust or pipe. Stick welder with a small diameter rod, and low settings could do this.

[kadman]

I dont know whether your engine has the dreaded DPF. If it has and that needs cleaning, then that could be responsible for the emissions.
If we had the codes, this would pinpoint it. Did you ever have any luck retrieving them at all.

[CelticRambler]

No DPF, no catalytic converter, no EGR valve.

Haven't been back to the garage since ... ... April? May? ... but in any case, they're typically French and prefer not to reveal any information about anything lest you might act upon it yourself. Still looking into getting my own proper code reader, but it looks like the ones that interrogate Fiats won't talk to Renaults and vice versa, so that'd cut the utility of the one in half Will pop in to my friendly local bus company owner at some stage to see if he has the necessary technology there.

For the moment, I'm trying to localise the different sensors within the engine compartment, see if any show signs of the "known issue" corrosion on the contacts (none so far), spot any other obvious faults, and identify the part numbers. Slow going because summer has suddenly returned with a vengeance and it's hard to justify spending the day poking around in the bowels of an engine when I could be working on my tan!

[kadman]

No DPF, no catalytic converter, no EGR valve.

Haven't been back to the garage since ... ... April? May? ... but in any case, they're typically French and prefer not to reveal any information about anything lest you might act upon it yourself. Still looking into getting my own proper code reader, but it looks like the ones that interrogate Fiats won't talk to Renaults and vice versa, so that'd cut the utility of the one in half Will pop in to my friendly local bus company owner at some stage to see if he has the necessary technology there.

For the moment, I'm trying to localise the different sensors within the engine compartment, see if any show signs of the "known issue" corrosion on the contacts (none so far), spot any other obvious faults, and identify the part numbers. Slow going because summer has suddenly returned with a vengeance and it's hard to justify spending the day poking around in the bowels of an engine when I could be working on my tan!

There was a time when men were caught cavorting in a field with shoeless females at dusk would be burnt at the stake. So be careful out there

[kadman]

Is it a Fiat engine, or an Iveco engine??

[kadman]

https://forums.motorhomefacts.com/49-te ... ucato.html

https://www.fiatforum.com/ducato/451042 ... 013-a.html
see post 4

https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FESCAN.html


Lots of free scan tool software out there, once you have the cables or ELM interface to read your codes, and clear them.

Do the french test centres connect to the obd socket when your vehicle is tested??

[CelticRambler]

Is it a Fiat engine, or an Iveco engine??

'Tis a Fiat-Bosch.

Lots of free scan tool software out there, once you have the cables or ELM interface to read your codes, and clear them.

Do the french test centres connect to the obd socket when your vehicle is tested??

I presume so, but don't know for sure. Everything's done behind closed doors, supposedly for insurance reasons ...

It's the cables/interfaces that are the bottleneck at the moment for me at the moment - so many variations on a theme, so much veering off on tangents about switching pin connections for this interrogation or that, and then the eternal question of cheap Chinese vs. something that costs ten times the price (made in China). Taking blood for a battery of tests is so much easier (and costs so much less) !

[CelticRambler]

There was a time when men were caught cavorting in a field with shoeless females at dusk would be burnt at the stake. So be careful out there

The only thing that's moved the camper up the To Do list is the promise of three days of cavorting at the beginning of October!

[kadman]

Get Gendan cables and forget the chinese crap. How much is a diagnostic Fiat garage readout. Probably 50-100 euro I imagine.

Forget the cavorting in the fields with shoeless females. In media evil times you would be barbecued on a spit

[CelticRambler]

Okay: Gendan don't deliver to France, so I got in touch with the (sole) authorised MultiECUscan distributor here, who says that I don't need the full "access all areas" Gendan kit with all the pretty adaptors referred to in the first link in post#37 (post#4 on the linked thread); instead I can make do with one switchable KKL connection to read the ABS, airbag and engine data, and a second "special FIAT" cable to read (?the same) engine data and also gear-box info. Does that sound about right?

Software, 2xcables and delivery all told will come to about 100€ ; if I hit the "order" button tomorrow, I might get to play with the cables this weekend.

[kadman]

Sounds right, but I thought I already said that in an earlier post about only needing certain cables, and only needing a one off download . Think its 50 euro for full Mecuscan license , or free for the 20 minute looksee version.
Better off selling them old cameras and getting the full Mecuscan for 50 euro

Its gonna flag up so many issues with the old girl, that you wont have time for dancing

[kadman]

Sounds right. But there is always a possibility that the switchable KKL connection of chinese origin is crap, and wont work. You need to make sure Gendan stand over their KKL units.

[CelticRambler]

Its gonna flag up so many issues with the old girl, that you wont have time for dancing

It's not an either-or situation: dancing is the priority, the camper'll get fixed if/when there's time!

Or (if I'm desperate) I'll pay for a CT failure and a two-month sticker!

(Oh, and it's also good chainsawing weather here this week, so that's pushed mechanicking down the list too. )

[kadman]

I think you got your priorities all wrong there. Them dancing ladies should be at the end of the queue, and the woodworking first

[CelticRambler]

Well, the next crop of dancing damsels isn't due for harvest till the night of the 27th, so both wood and metal will get a bit of run between now and then ...

... unless the potatoes start crying out to be lifted.

This country life isn't great for anyone who likes a nice, carefully planned routine.

[CelticRambler]

Right. Well. Interface cables ordered and received. Software downloaded and installed. Drivers downloaded and installed. All set up and connected and ...

...

...

Ummmmm. Very much an anticlimax so far:



Three errors that correspond to what the guy in the garage told me. First one is further described as a possible faulty glow-plug ... and was last seen in 2009 (going by the odometer reading).
Next two correspond to the "known issue" of triggering the EMS light when the engine is asked to push the vehicle up a hill of a certain gradient at/above a certain speed and the last recorded incidents correlate with the last driving up hills (not exactly the same data, though).

So ... now what? I presume there would/should be more data available for interpretation if/when I start the engine and push it hard, but will this be flagged as "outside normal operating range" or am I going to have to learn what parameters should have what values and where they all fit into the grand scheme?

[kadman]

What exactly did it fail on. What was on the test report as a fail.

[CelticRambler]

Exhaust smoke out of range. That's it. Same figures they've been for ten years, but a different man at the desk.

[kadman]

Right. Well. Interface cables ordered and received. Software downloaded and installed. Drivers downloaded and installed. All set up and connected and ...

...

...

Ummmmm. Very much an anticlimax so far:



Three errors that correspond to what the guy in the garage told me. First one is further described as a possible faulty glow-plug ... and was last seen in 2009 (going by the odometer reading).
Next two correspond to the "known issue" of triggering the EMS light when the engine is asked to push the vehicle up a hill of a certain gradient at/above a certain speed and the last recorded incidents correlate with the last driving up hills (not exactly the same data, though).

So ... now what? I presume there would/should be more data available for interpretation if/when I start the engine and push it hard, but will this be flagged as "outside normal operating range" or am I going to have to learn what parameters should have what values and where they all fit into the grand scheme?

How is it an anti climax at the moment. Now I am confused.

You now have the codes that indicate where the problem may be. And you did not have these, so I would say its a small success, considering you only just plugged in the bare bones, and got the code readout..

Back to the test.
Is your test result from a computer that says exhaust smoke out of range. Is there a number associated with this statement.
2. Was this vehicle attached for an OBD readout at the centre.

More questions to follow.