Td5 Exhaust De-cat

Rickjw said:

Hello all, I know this post is old now but its the most relevant thing I can find. My Defender td5 built 99 reg 200 has been failed at U-drive mot for
no catalytic converter. (did not carry out smoke test either) I was sure that it wasn't built with one as it never been mentioned in the 8yrs I have it mot tested and after reading the posts above and talking to a very helpful main dealer (yep really) who confirmed it wasn't.
My problem is, U drive are unhelpful obviousley saying they are right and DVSA (vosa's new name) are as helpful as a chocolate teapot telling me I have to get proof from the manufacture as in Land Rover hq. I have looked at the land rover repair manual and it shows no cat in exhaust section, but I'm sure that wont be accepted.
Has anyone had this issue and how did you resolve it? Can i simply go to another test station?

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The Discovery 2 Vin has an 8 or 9 in it (5th digit I think) to denote if car was fitted with cat or without when built.
Check to see if the defender is the same, I would have thought so. Should list details in RAVE.
My discovery 2 passed its mot last Friday again with no cat fitted with no checks to vin to confirm if came from factory with or without.

Sounds like the guys at the MOT station are idiots, and then just got further entrenched.
Use this
https://assets.publishing.service.g...nt_data/file/780586/complain-about-an-mot.pdf
to complain and then sue the buggres pants off!

and by the way, short answer as to whether you can go to another MOT test station, the asnwer is "YES" and once passed, go back to the others and scream blue murder at them. Then take them to the small claims court if nec to get the test fee back, and any other incidental expenses.
Also you can report them to the DVSA. won't do their rep any good and they may find themselves being inspected. Sob, sob! Hate the sh1ts who use MOTs to make money out of people. thank god mine isn't like that.

My Disco 2 2000 has no cat either.

Stanleysteamer said:

My Disco 2 2000 has no cat either.

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My discovery is a 2002 td5..cat is in garage just in case it ever gets picked up on mot and needs to be refitted (as is egr valve, lol).

Thank you guys, I haven't paid the test fee as I was holding my keys when the tester told me I was wrong and laughed at me. So I pushed the fail sheet back across the desk and said No. Then left. Needless to say my phone had melted by the time I got back home.
DVSA were useless in helping backing the test centre, when I asked about going to another MOT station the DVSA operator lost her cool and clammed up.
So I said to her, clearly by saying you can't tell me means I can. Here's the funny thing, I took my 2001 merc vario camper converted to the same place in May
but a different tester, it passed with no issues at all. (rusty old merc with 250km really)
Ill wind up the old PC and see if it will open Rave (mac not so keen on it)
Maybe ill troll the test centre on social media

Makes you want to tell the DVSA, "this call is being recorded for training purposes!" and then lets see them lose their cool. They are supposed to be independent. Why didn't they tell you about the claims procedure? I cannot believe they are behaving like some kind of service provider that expects to get paid, rather than a govt department. They should not be backing up an MOT tester who clearly either doesn't know the rules or does but is trying to fiddle you.

Just take it elsewhere, that first garage are clearly numpties

Hello Rickjw My Landy is a Discovery 2 td5 2003 redg and it should according to the VIN number have a Cat fitted.
It has a straight through exhaust and the egr blanked.
it has just failed its m.o.t, only on rear ace pipes missing and a crack in the windscreen, no mention of the Cat.
Take it to another testing station, The ones who have failed it sound like idiots.
Regards Gary

My 2001 defender TD5 had a cat fitted.
I think the rule is anything fitted when new should be there and working, I keep my cat just in case. I just added a small blank in the flange of the flex pipe from the exhaust manifold to the small cooker, it would be pretty difficult to establish that the EGR is not feeding exhaust gas into the manifold.

To be honest, I think provided the EGR is clean and working I don't think it makes much difference at all to the fuel consumption or the performance. I never noticed an improvement taking them off either my 300tdi or my TD5.
As you say, if you insert a thin plate at the flange, even if the MOT tester sees the edge of the plate, he is not allowed to remove bolts to check. (That is what the French do by the way.)
You can always remove either the EGR or the thin plate, keep it then put it back for the MOT.

Stanleysteamer said:

To be honest, I think provided the EGR is clean and working I don't think it makes much difference at all to the fuel consumption or the performance. I never noticed an improvement taking them off either my 300tdi or my TD5.
As you say, if you insert a thin plate at the flange, even if the MOT tester sees the edge of the plate, he is not allowed to remove bolts to check. (That is what the French do by the way.)
You can always remove either the EGR or the thin plate, keep it then put it back for the MOT.

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I didnt feel any big difference blanking the EGR but I took off the inlet manifold when I first did it and it was shocking, black and oily soot, took it to the local jet wash and blew it out.
Diferent story with the cat, it was like the brakes had been binding and I had'nt noticed.

raywin said:

I didnt feel any big difference blanking the EGR but I took off the inlet manifold when I first did it and it was shocking, black and oily soot, took it to the local jet wash and blew it out.
Diferent story with the cat, it was like the brakes had been binding and I had'nt noticed.

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Agree totally. My inlet manifold wasn't too bad but a Landy mechanic of my aquaintance has seen them blocked up to sh1t. Anything that blocks or slows exhaust has a dramatic effect on the performance of any internal combustion engine, hence straight through silencers etc. This is why I put a sports exhaust on my D1 300tdi. This is the only thing I did to improve it. The difference was really noticeable for no fuel consumption penalty. The cost was quite high as the system was bought at an official Landy place and is in stainless. But once bought no need for change. Has just one box at the back and has a really good sound too. The bore is bigger too obviously. Tried just removing the centre box on the TD5, no difference at all. (There was not Cat.) Obviously needs bigger bore to make a difference. so removing the CAT is obviously better than changing out the centre box, the cat must be a real restriction. But if you have to have a cat it would be worth changing the system for a bigger bore one and getting a cat to fit, itself being bigger bore to match. But that would really cost money.

Stanleysteamer said:

and by the way, short answer as to whether you can go to another MOT test station, the asnwer is "YES" and once passed, go back to the others and scream blue murder at them. Then take them to the small claims court if nec to get the test fee back, and any other incidental expenses.
Also you can report them to the DVSA. won't do their rep any good and they may find themselves being inspected. Sob, sob! Hate the sh1ts who use MOTs to make money out of people. thank god mine isn't like that.

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Who has the spare time to do any of that?
Normal people just get their mot elsewhere and dont go back to the first garage ever and repeat the story a few times over the years.
This is why good garages know to look after their customers, even when they are arses threatening to sue over 50 quid!

Up to you whether you sue or not. I just mentioned it was a possibility. Some people can be bothered some can't. As OP never paid, this isn't really an issue for this thread.

Rickjw said:

Hello all, I know this post is old now but its the most relevant thing I can find. My Defender td5 built 99 reg 200 has been failed at U-drive mot for
no catalytic converter. (did not carry out smoke test either) I was sure that it wasn't built with one as it never been mentioned in the 8yrs I have it mot tested and after reading the posts above and talking to a very helpful main dealer (yep really) who confirmed it wasn't.
My problem is, U drive are unhelpful obviousley saying they are right and DVSA (vosa's new name) are as helpful as a chocolate teapot telling me I have to get proof from the manufacture as in Land Rover hq. I have looked at the land rover repair manual and it shows no cat in exhaust section, but I'm sure that wont be accepted.
Has anyone had this issue and how did you resolve it? Can i simply go to another test station?

Click to expand...

I have a 2000 TD5 Defender and when I looked into this I found out it never came with one. The only emission control was the EGR.
I believe they started fitting them circa 2001/2002