modifications to become ULEZ compliant.

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Goblin

New member
Joined
Feb 22, 2020
Messages
2
Hello,
I have had my 2000 puma as my daily driver for the last 12 years. It looks a little scruff but it's never let me down mechanically. I live in Greater London and the ULEZ zone is coming to my area in a few months. I've checked my COC(s) certifcate and the NOx value states 0.083. Is there any way I can modify my engine to lower NOx and gain ULEZ compliance?

I really don't want to sell it but I can't afford £12.50 every time I drive. (I can't really afford to buy a replacement car either currently)

Can anyone help?
 
HI,
Sorry to hear that. I am unable to help, you have my sympathise. What a money grabbing rip off. Why make it apply to older cars? After all the longer you keep an old car and run it into the ground its carbon footprint gets smaller. All these so called carbon friendly cars produce a great deal of pollution in their manufacturing process but governments conveniently ignore this. Good luck on your quest.
Regards
Richard
 
This is a topic that seems to be becoming more prevalent, stories of people having to sell cars they've owned for 20 years because of new local criteria.

The Puma seems to be caught in an odd position when it comes to ULEZ, this is what I've made of it so far..

Some of the earliest have no certificate of conformity NOx readings - aren't compliant
Some of the middle Pumas have been registered compliant (certificate of conformity shows 0.033) - EEC96?
The later Puma with two lambdas have a reading of 0.083 (requirement is 0.08) - EEC7?

I've read that it is technically possible to become ULEZ compliant but certainly it does not sound cost effective.

ULEZ - Can I make my car ULEZ compliant
How do I make my car ULEZ compliant?
If your car is not compliant with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone standards, you will need to take action to make it compliant.

The first step is to find out if your car is compliant – click on the link above and enter your vehicle registration number.

If your car is not ULEZ compliant and you don’t fancy forking out on the charges every day, then you could consider some ways to make it compliant.

You can look at retrofitting a non-compliant van or car to meet the requirements of the zone by either:

Upgrading the exhaust system
Changing the engine.
However, in addition to the cost of carrying out the work, you need to have the vehicle re-certified so it will be recognised by the DVSA as being compliant.

The big problem with both of these solutions is that the cost makes this process a very expensive undertaking.

If you are considering replacing the engine in your car to be ULEZ compliant, this will be a DVLA notifiable modification for the change in engine number and engine capacity.

That’s because switching the engine would lead to a change in the emission values that are clearly stated in the car’s V5C document or logbook.

Instead, you’ll need to undertake a full rolling road emissions test to find out what the engine’s emission values are – and this is very expensive.

If you are interested in switching engines, the test must be carried out by a Vehicle Certification Agency approved test facility – it cannot be carried out at an MOT test centre.

And if you’re wondering why there are not any retrofit systems available for cars, it’s because they’re too expensive to design and develop and then test before approval is given as a retrofit system.

TLF - LEZ - Ways to meet the standards
Replace your vehicle
You could upgrade to a newer vehicle that meets the standards or an electric vehicle. Find out more about replacing your vehicle.

Retrofit your vehicle
Check your vehicle to see if it meets the LEZ emissions standards. If it doesn't, you may be able to retrofit your vehicle with emissions reduction technology.

Emissions reduction technology
Emissions reduction technologies include:

Selective catalytic reduction, which reduces NOx emissions
Replacement Euro VI engines
Converting a vehicle to electric power
Retrofit technologies need to be approved by the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS). This government scheme, funded by Defra, establishes common standards for all Clean Air Zone cities.

EnergySavingTrust - Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme
Can I retrofit my pre-Euro 4 petrol car?

There are currently no CVRAS approved retrofit emission control systems for pre-Euro 4 petrol cars and we do not expect any to come to market in the foreseeable future. The Euro 4 standards for petrol cars came into effect between 2004-2006 and generally cars first registered with the DVLA after 2005 meet the Euro 4 standard. This means cars that are up to 16 years old are generally compliant for a CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ.

Can I replace the engine in my car to become CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ compliant (engine re-power)?

This is possible, however there are no CVRAS approved re-powers for cars. This kind of conversion would be a DVLA notifiable modification in terms of engine number and engine capacity, but it would not lead to a change in emission values as stated on the vehicle’s V5C document (logbook) unless an expensive full rolling road emissions test is conducted to obtain the new emission values. This test would need to be conducted at a Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) approved test facility and cannot be conducted at an MOT test centre.
 
Thanks for the info Red and the sympathies Richard. It looks unlikely I'll be able to comply via TFLs suggestions. An engine swap is definitely out! I was wondering if re-mapping the engine may be an option? I'm no engine expert so that sentence may be compete nonsense but could the fuel injection system be adjusted to lower emissions? I don't mind losing a couple of horse power as in London I'm lucky to get to 30mph on a journey.
 
Be thankful for small mercies a daily charge of between £5 and £12.50 for non-compliant vehicles seems to be the norm in England, which is ok (ish) if you only drive into the zone occasionally.

However up here in Scotland the government has decided to make driving into a ULEZ with a non-compliant vehicle an offence and you will be issued a Fixed Penalty Notice.

There is no option to pay a daily charge. The amount of the FPN starts at £60 and then doubles for each time you enter the zone after that first offence!


Taken from Scottish Gov Website…
“Low Emission Zone will be enforced from 1 June 2023.
From this date onwards, if a non-compliant vehicle is detected in our city centre LEZ, a Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) will be issued to the registered keeper of that vehicle.
• Set at national level by the Scottish Government for consistency across cities, the initial penalty charge for all non-compliant vehicles entering a LEZ in Scotland will be £60 - reduced by 50% if it is paid within 14 days.
• A scheme surcharge means that the penalty amount will double with each subsequent breach of the rules detected in the same LEZ.
• Penalty charges are capped at £480 for cars and light goods vehicles, and £960 for buses and HGVs.”
 
^^ Just another tax on those who can least afford it by the sounds of it :roll:

I can somewhat understand a daily charge, although still very much against it, but having a total ban is ridiculous.

Although.....

When you consider my RX8 is ULEZ compliant I can't think of many other cars of similar size/cost that are worse than it when it comes to emissions. I'm sure there's plenty but mine isn't one you'd call efficient by any means. I guess it's "clean" but thirsty :funny:
 
Just to add to this and recent references to ULEZ in other threads, I asked Ford for a copy of the Certificate of Compliance on my Puma as I was hopeful it might be compliant, since it is an early 1999 model.

However the COC came today. The individual HC and NOx readings are blank/showing just a dash, but the combined ‘HC + NOx’ figure is 0.097 which seems odd, so I’m assuming it’s probably not ULEZ compliant.

Perhaps mine is in the very earliest category from Reds’ useful summary - no NOx readings & so not compliant. It doesn’t really affect me (at least not yet) since I’m on the south coast, but it’s a shame.

I wonder if we should add an FAQ item to the forum on ULEZ - can only admins do this? For me the process of requesting the COC was quick and as per the YouTube video that John Woodward linked to in another thread: ‪https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zneeKD8vG ... e=youtu.be ‬

The only difference was that the Ford email address to write to has now changed to [email protected] - just send a blank email to them with something like ‘Ford Puma homologation certificate’ - they’ll come back with some standard blurb but I then replied asking for a copy of the COC including a scanned page of my V5.

Will



red said:
This is a topic that seems to be becoming more prevalent, stories of people having to sell cars they've owned for 20 years because of new local criteria.

The Puma seems to be caught in an odd position when it comes to ULEZ, this is what I've made of it so far..

Some of the earliest have no certificate of conformity NOx readings - aren't compliant
Some of the middle Pumas have been registered compliant (certificate of conformity shows 0.033) - EEC96?
The later Puma with two lambdas have a reading of 0.083 (requirement is 0.08) - EEC7?

I've read that it is technically possible to become ULEZ compliant but certainly it does not sound cost effective.

ULEZ - Can I make my car ULEZ compliant
How do I make my car ULEZ compliant?
If your car is not compliant with the Ultra-Low Emission Zone standards, you will need to take action to make it compliant.

The first step is to find out if your car is compliant – click on the link above and enter your vehicle registration number.

If your car is not ULEZ compliant and you don’t fancy forking out on the charges every day, then you could consider some ways to make it compliant.

You can look at retrofitting a non-compliant van or car to meet the requirements of the zone by either:

Upgrading the exhaust system
Changing the engine.
However, in addition to the cost of carrying out the work, you need to have the vehicle re-certified so it will be recognised by the DVSA as being compliant.

The big problem with both of these solutions is that the cost makes this process a very expensive undertaking.

If you are considering replacing the engine in your car to be ULEZ compliant, this will be a DVLA notifiable modification for the change in engine number and engine capacity.

That’s because switching the engine would lead to a change in the emission values that are clearly stated in the car’s V5C document or logbook.

Instead, you’ll need to undertake a full rolling road emissions test to find out what the engine’s emission values are – and this is very expensive.

If you are interested in switching engines, the test must be carried out by a Vehicle Certification Agency approved test facility – it cannot be carried out at an MOT test centre.

And if you’re wondering why there are not any retrofit systems available for cars, it’s because they’re too expensive to design and develop and then test before approval is given as a retrofit system.

TLF - LEZ - Ways to meet the standards
Replace your vehicle
You could upgrade to a newer vehicle that meets the standards or an electric vehicle. Find out more about replacing your vehicle.

Retrofit your vehicle
Check your vehicle to see if it meets the LEZ emissions standards. If it doesn't, you may be able to retrofit your vehicle with emissions reduction technology.

Emissions reduction technology
Emissions reduction technologies include:

Selective catalytic reduction, which reduces NOx emissions
Replacement Euro VI engines
Converting a vehicle to electric power
Retrofit technologies need to be approved by the Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme (CVRAS). This government scheme, funded by Defra, establishes common standards for all Clean Air Zone cities.

EnergySavingTrust - Clean Vehicle Retrofit Accreditation Scheme
Can I retrofit my pre-Euro 4 petrol car?

There are currently no CVRAS approved retrofit emission control systems for pre-Euro 4 petrol cars and we do not expect any to come to market in the foreseeable future. The Euro 4 standards for petrol cars came into effect between 2004-2006 and generally cars first registered with the DVLA after 2005 meet the Euro 4 standard. This means cars that are up to 16 years old are generally compliant for a CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ.

Can I replace the engine in my car to become CAZ, LEZ or ULEZ compliant (engine re-power)?

This is possible, however there are no CVRAS approved re-powers for cars. This kind of conversion would be a DVLA notifiable modification in terms of engine number and engine capacity, but it would not lead to a change in emission values as stated on the vehicle’s V5C document (logbook) unless an expensive full rolling road emissions test is conducted to obtain the new emission values. This test would need to be conducted at a Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA) approved test facility and cannot be conducted at an MOT test centre.
 

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You are welcome to make an FAQ in the that forum. There's what looks like 3 user added ones which aren't actually FAQs.. we can sticky it up with the other moderator added ones.
https://www.projectpuma.com/viewforum.php?f=6

Fanwheel said:
I wonder if we should add an FAQ item to the forum on ULEZ - can only admins do this?
 
Hi all ….. I help support against ULEZ on Facebook and what a lot of people are missing is that in 2027 our mayor …. And mayors all across the uk have decided that all vehicles will be charged ON TOP of any ulez, ltn, Caz or other abbreviation PER MILE

Yep PAY PER MILE will hit every single vehicle , so please understand that the reduction of fossil fuels the gov will loose a lot of money and will hit everyone to make up the difference

No I’m not a conspiracy theorist I’ve seen the written evidence the evidence that shows the congestion that has been caused was the long term plan of khan to hit every single driver in the uk he has ignored the 190 page independent data report he ordered and has even thrown out 5000 of people’s responses

This is a global problem with mayors trying to get vehicles off the roads and only allow the rich to be able to afford the luxury
 
Hi all,

Sorry a bit late to this party, and don't have a bottle but.....

I own a 1998 Ford Puma 1.7, The COC I obtained from Ford doesn't mention the NOx or HC for the car and they have told me it was never tested, as it was not required then. But the COC does state that the total HC + NOx emissions is 0.097 (and the CO is 0.533).
I can see on a video on Youtube about registering a 1999 Ford Puma 1.7 Millennium for ULEZ that that car does have the NOx level stated, at 0.033, and the CO and combined HC + NOx levels are the same as mine.
So, for me, this I would say is fairly strong evidence that my Puma would meet the Euro 4 emissions standards required for ULEZ exemption.

So my question is if I don't have the NOx reading from Ford why is my car non compliant?
Surely Non compliance is not meeting Euro 4, rather than not being able to prove that it does?

And if the documents they require don't prove compliance, surely TFL should provide some (reasonably priced) testing facilities to allow you to provide the proof (they dont)

 

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