Freelander 1 Euro 6 conversion? Charge?

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Major Eazy

Major Eazy

Active Member
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Location
Worcestershire
Edinburgh is going to have (if not already got) a low emission zone. It seems diesel cars have to meet the Euro 6 Standards to be allowed to drive in the zone. I'm trying to find more details on the matter of two subjects.

First is: I've seen the mention of "Euro 6 conversion" and similar wording. I assume it means some cars could be upgraded to meet Euro 6? So I tried to see if a '05 Reg Freelander could have it done. Most of the result I find on Google, just went on to talk about how it work, instead of making it clear if it can or can't be done. So can or can't Freelander be converted to Euro 6?

The second is: I've been reading and re-reading as many of the various sources I could find. Many of them mention fines, but nothing about charges. Is Edinburgh going to have some kind of fees/charges/levy (like London do) if you want to drive in city centre, or do they really mean you can't drive at all and will be fined?
 
No you can't. The changes are massive and fundamental to the way the car is designed. If it's a 2005 car, I'm guessing it will comply with the old "Euro 3" requirements. It probably doesn't even have a particulate filter, I'm guessing? By all means give me more details and I can find out, but it will be absolutely filthy by Euro 6 standards. Fitting a particulate filter means fitting all the necessary gubbins to regenerate the filter periodically - and that only gets you to Euro 5. For Euro 6, you'd need to have AdBlue and an additional cat (the SCR) plus NOx sensors too. The engine itself probably isn't even fundamentally capable of running clean enough to give those devices a chance to work. Realistically, I don't think anyone would ever make the investment to develop a retrofit kit to allow it to meet EU6, and even if they did, it would cost much more than the car is worth to fit.
 
@Avocet1 and @Nodge68 Thanks guys, I see your points, so totally can't be done. Bugger!

Looks like I won't be able to drive around in the middle of the city centre, unless I find out if it's total no go zone, or if there is a charge to pay. But can't believe there's no way of conversion. Aw, well. Thanks anyway.
 
Sadly not. I type approve cars for a living (although emissions isn't my particular field). Manufacturers spend £millions trying to get their vehicles to comply with emissions requirements. Some years ago, there was a company trying to develop rertofit kits to bring old Black Cabs up to (I think) Euro 4 or Euro 5 limits, but they weren't popular because they were so expensive. These guys have pretty much chucked the towel in:

https://www.energysavingtrust.org.u...n-vehicle-retrofit-accreditation-scheme-cvras
 
Major Eazy said:
But can't believe there's no way of conversion. Aw, well. Thanks anyway.
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There isn't, unless you go for an electric conversion.
GrumpyGel said:
It would probably be more practical to convert it to an EV.
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That's the best way IMO.
GrumpyGel said:
Still cost a lot more than the car's worth though - and buying a cheap car that's already Euro 6.
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It would be cheaper to convert to electric than try to get Euro 6 approved.

But it would be cheaper again to simply buy a small Euro 6 compliant city car.
 
Nodge68 said:
But it would be cheaper again to simply buy a small Euro 6 compliant city car.
Click to expand...

If by "city car" you meant like Smart Fortwo, Citroen C1, Renault Twingo, and the likes, no thanks, I'm sticking to my Land Rover. I'm not going to be the bad guy who puts Landyzone.co.uk out of action by jumping ship. :)

Only option I have at the moment is to move outside the LEZ.
 
Major Eazy said:
If by "city car" you meant like Smart Fortwo, Citroen C1, Renault Twingo, and the likes, no thanks,
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I'm in the position to have a Euro 6 compliant vehicle as our family car, but it's no C1 or Twingo. It is actually larger than my Freelander, but much cleaner on the environment.
Major Eazy said:
I'm sticking to my Land Rover. I'm not going to be the bad guy who puts Landyzone.co.uk out of action by jumping ship.
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Lots have.

Major Eazy said:
Only option I have at the moment is to move outside the LEZ.
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That's the best thing to do, then you can keep your Freelander. ;)
 
Seems like the dreaded Principality of London, Europe spreading their love for clear air north. A few councils are considering they fancy breathing fresh air con trick.
 
Yeah, there is talk about doing it here in newcastle as well - have to say that if it happens I will be selling up and buying a small, compliant run around... Selling my astra that is - no way I am getting rid of my freelander :)
 
Interestingly, all post-2001 1.8 litre K-series FL1s (and actually all Rovers and MGs too) are ULEZ complaint, despite not being EU4 compliant by virtue of being a clean engine to start with and a below 0.08 NOx homologation :D

Therefore, I am London ULEZ compatible! Fitting a MEMS3 K-series engine is MUCH cheaper than EU6 or EV conversions ;) ;) ;)
 
rob_bell said:
Interestingly, all post-2001 1.8 litre K-series FL1s (and actually all Rovers and MGs too) are ULEZ complaint, despite not being EU4 compliant by virtue of being a clean engine to start with and a below 0.08 NOx homologation :D
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That's interesting.
rob_bell said:
Therefore, I am London ULEZ compatible! Fitting a MEMS3 K-series engine is MUCH cheaper than EU6 or EV conversions
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I'm not sure it's easy getting the approval after the engine mods. I suspect the hardware mods are easier then the administration to go with it.
 
I was joking really Nodge - but I do need to investigate this more because my MGFs are only EU2 - and cars of this age (including first generation FL1s) never had to go through NOx specific homologation (NOx + HC were combined together!)

Apparently there is a precedent for converting EU2 K-series to EU3 spec - and that may mean swopping over to a MEMS3/ loom/ fitting a post-cat lambda. Not too difficult. But for the London ULEZ, there's not a huge amount of information regarding this on-line :(
 
Nodge68 said:
There's no way to get a Euro 3 TD4 to up to Euro 6 standard.
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I had years ago entered a German smoke emissions test, which showed Euro 6 on my td4. Was from a LR dealer they did it when I was there. It does work. Value was 0.21 and was told I could drive everywhere in Germany that time. Therefore was E6.
 
rob_bell said:
I was joking really Nodge - but I do need to investigate this more because my MGFs are only EU2 - and cars of this age (including first generation FL1s) never had to go through NOx specific homologation (NOx + HC were combined together!)

Apparently there is a precedent for converting EU2 K-series to EU3 spec - and that may mean swopping over to a MEMS3/ loom/ fitting a post-cat lambda. Not too difficult. But for the London ULEZ, there's not a huge amount of information regarding this on-line :(
Click to expand...
The problem is getting the automatic number plate recognition system to recognise your car as meeting a different emissions level to what the DVLA database thinks it is. Obviously, you can write to DVLA, give them the new engine number and tell them it's Euro 6 now, but they're wise to that one! Your problem will be proving that it now meets EU6 emissions limits (or EU4 if you switch to petrol). An official type approval emissions test, will set you back about £5k.
 
mbrokof said:
I had years ago entered a German smoke emissions test, which showed Euro 6 on my td4. Was from a LR dealer they did it when I was there. It does work. Value was 0.21 and was told I could drive everywhere in Germany that time. Therefore was E6.
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I think it might have met the "in-service" limits on smoke for EU6, but that wouldn't actually make it Euro 6.
 
Avocet1 said:
The problem is getting the automatic number plate recognition system to recognise your car as meeting a different emissions level to what the DVLA database thinks it is. Obviously, you can write to DVLA, give them the new engine number and tell them it's Euro 6 now, but they're wise to that one! Your problem will be proving that it now meets EU6 emissions limits (or EU4 if you switch to petrol). An official type approval emissions test, will set you back about £5k.
Click to expand...
I had been working on that via a link who had contacts with MIRA - the idea being for a more affordable test that would then be filed to the DVLA.

Unfortunately, COVID somewhat killed the momentum on this project :(

Might be worth re-investigating soon, if the whole of greater London starts being impacted by ULEZ charging, as there will be a greater market for those wanting to get their cars compliant with the regulations.
 
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