My lovely little ‘mature’ Golf failed it’s CT last year due to ‘emissions’ problems. It’s a lovely little car, 4 wheel drive, low mileage, but……..
Having a chat with someone knowledgeable about cars I was told that in the UK the use of Reddix for a week or so before an MOT, plus a bit of sustained motorway driving, can help in reducing emissions for the CT test.
Question - is Reddix - or its equivalent - available in France. (I remember the days when filling a petrol tank my father, and later my OH, would put in a ‘shot or 2’ of Reddix with the petrol !! - does that date me or what !!)
Also, how old does a car have to be before one can claim ‘vintage’ status and avoid the emissions problems ? !! And, as it’s France, how difficult would that be to claim such an exemption ? (tongue in cheek comment !!)
See my situation ? - lovely mature little Golf, low mileage - but failed emissions, but I would love to keep the car, even though I accept it needs minor body-work TLC. On a personal level, I do not like today’s cars - all identikit, all full of whiz bang computer stuff - and totally lacking character.
I wanna keep my Golf !! - any advice from you clever bods ? - thanks.
Wynns additives are available quite widely in France including e-leclerk stores. Wynns gold was particularly good in an old car of mine years ago, a Renault diesel.
Double strength dosage in a part tank of fuel, one tank before the CT and Always a new air filter as close to CT as is practical. Diesel stop smoke additive if it’s really bad.
As an added thought, have you cleaned the EGR valve? That can make a huge difference to emissions.
First, do a décalaminage, about 70€, then put one of those little bottles you can find easily (cannot remember the name) in a half full tank of fuel and drive agressively (lower gear than normal or at speed on autoroute).
Possibly buy a higher quality fuel before the CT and why not an oil change too.
A combination if all that should do the trick.
And stick to the same controller each time, I’m sure they’re more lenient if it’s not the first time you’ve been to them.
I think if your car is prior 1960 you might be able to get CG Collection and thus it would be exempt from Emissions Testing for CTechnique due to its age (prior 1960).
More modern Classics (after 1960) will be tested for Emissions during the 5-year CT and any other CTs if they become due.
What you need to do depends on whether it’s petrol or diesel. However, speaking as an asthmatic motoring enthusiast, a classic car belching out fumes on the rare occasions it’s used is one thing, a daily runner not so much so.
I note it’s four wheel drive, if it’s a Golf Rallye keep it, otherwise it’s time for a change.
however, the CT Rules are clear and the equipment for testing emissions doesn’t show favouritism After years of testing our cars, our local excellent CT man was horrified when one of ‘em failed the emissions-test.
However, an “emissions-failure” on the CT test simply needs to be correctly dealt with, and the vehicle retested within the timescale and any garage or friendly mechanic etc will give advice on how to achieve this.
Yes they are, however if a simple piece of maintenance can allow the vehicle to pass then that’s fine for a bit longer. I don’t know about France but they are gradually tightening the levels in the UK. What a shame they don’t do that for the cost of electricity, that would increase the uptake of air source heat pumps and EV’s, after all that’s supposed to be to focus of the net zero ideology.
I should add that our one and only failure on Emissions was during the covid years when said car hardly left the garage during many months… and it was obviously sulking
If we’d been using it regularly it would have waltzed gracefully through all the tests as per usual.
My 2018 1.6HDi Vivaro failed on emissions. Not surprising as it had done only 973 miles between MoTs July '22 and Dec '24. By the CT here in March '25 it had just cleared 24k miles.
That’s what comes of going for an Autoglym mobile valeting franchise just as Covid lockdown emerged. Poor chap.
I wasted loadsa dosh - over 100€ - on those snake-oil bottles of jollop that purport to clear a system to ‘pass CT’ standard. I was doing the ‘Italian tune-up’ routine before/during/after. All useless.
My garagiste carried out a routine - something to do with hydrogen.
’ Engine Carbon Cleaning is a process where a machine equipped with a Hydrogen Generator, and by the use electrolysis of distilled water, creates Oxy-Hydrogen Gas. Once the hydrogen gas is produced, it is simply transferred into the engine thru a tube into the air intake of the vehicle being cleaned .’ it says here. I think it cost €80.
I probably threw good money after bad by chucking another bottle of snake-oil into the tank and going for a high revs blast before the next CT.
The CTist did her best to get the figures to come out ‘Pass’ She kept skipping back and forth between the van and the reader. Eventually she managed to produce figures that allowed her to issue a pass. She did suggest continuing with the ‘Italian tune-up routine, tho’.
I had the engine warning light up on my Peugeot 307 HDi and ‘emissions system faulty’ on the screen. After being relieved of €900 for a new particulate filter by the Peugeot agent in Torrini - result: no change - I tried the snake-oil/high revs routine. Engine light and occasional ‘limp mode’ continued.
The garagiste changed a sensor. No result. And another: No result. Third time lucky! It had been a false reading from that sensor all along. Had no trouble at all since then - 3 years.
Those bottles of gloop - I believe that if your system is actually OK at the time, it doesn’t hurt. There may be a marginal but imperceptible benefit. But if there’s a real problem, they are useless.
Eventually if they change enough parts they will stumble across the problem, but that is not what you pay for professional garagists to do. Build up of Carbon in the EGR valve is often the problem as that is responsible for crank case emissions being re burnt instead of passing into the tailpipe. The little bottles do help but it’s not going to cure years of gradual build up, just like your arteries are not going to be helped by a little bottle of pills
I have one. It told the same porky to me as the car did.
I can’t recall a single product review of this stuff, in its various forms, that declared that using it had solved a genuine problem.
But if it is a sensor that is giving a false reading it’s not only not doing its job but declaring a problem where none exists. That’s what happened in my case.
I had a cardio stress test - pounding away on a treadmill, all wired up. When the cardiologist came to report to me, in standard Brit mode I joked, “Any signs of life, doc?”
"Enough with the jokes. You failed. However, we do have X% false negatives so I am going to do a cardioscopy - have a look round .. "
“All good. Your heart and arteries are a to be expected for a man of your age.”
Yes agreed, the problem with the in-laws Merc. A £140 sensor change as the engine was reporting running hot. The engine was running hot but they didn’t check that first , oh no change a part that didn’t need changing, ker ching! Turned out to be the thermostat, is oldens would have gone there first.
Only £140! The useless, unnecessary replacement of the dpf on my 307 was €900! The light came back on the first time I started next day. Peugeot Torrini declared themselves at a loss. Consultation between them and Peugeot tech HQ resuted in a predictable ‘replace turbo’ - €1200.
From limp mode every time there was a slight uphill, finally it wouldn’t go at all
The recovery guy, without my asking, took it to the garage recommended many months before by my neighbour. They carried out the sensor swaps which eventually worked. If they’d picked the duff one first off it would have saved my €200 [€100/sensor]. Maybe it was the 'ker-ching! factor …
After years of testing our cars, our local excellent CT man was horrified when one of ‘em failed the emissions-test.
, oh no change a part that didn’t need changing, ker ching! Turned out to be the thermostat, is oldens would have gone there first.
