Turbo upgrade now legal?

Hi guys,

Before I started to pester the likes of Allisport or Motor&Diesel I wanted to get some opinions on if I'm even allowed to upgrade my intercooler now.

The chap I get my MOT with was right fussy about my EGR at least looking like it was plugged in and working correctly. My understanding is that at the last MOT change you're not allowed to fiddle with the emissions of the vehicle so really your EGR should be working.

So what does this mean if I get a turbo upgrade but can't get the EGR back on?

Thoughts very welcome before I go wasting cash.

cheers

Sounds like you need to change you’re MOT station

It is my understanding that the EGR must be fitted ... they currently have no way of testing the function of it during the MOT, and I suspect given the reducing number of these vehicles that they are unlikely to ever have a way of testing function ....

Thus, IMHO, any installation which usurps fitting the EGR will fail the MOT.... I would have thought that third party suppliers would be taking this into account ... if they are not, then give them a wide berth IMHO.

Also, I have a full width intercooler fitted to my quite seriously tuned 300Tdi, and the emissions are very low during the MOT smoke test because it is properly set up.....

I would also recommend that you find an MOT station both used to, and willing, to test older vehicles with some common sense applied

You don't say which engine you have. If it is a TD5 then the acoustic cover is your friend. Testers are not allowed to remove them and on a TD5 only the pipe from the exhaust manifold round the front of the engine is visible due to the cover. Who is to know if there is a blanking plate between the manifold and the pipe?

If he passed it then there is no problem. If it is removed then the problem goes away as there is nothing to look at and if it passed emissions then all is good.

There is no problem with a bigger Turbo but EGR valve is dependant on how finicky your MOT tester is, it is now illegal to remove it (well for MOT) but some turn a blind eye and others check and may fail it if removed, my MOT tester told me he had failed a Disco TD5 the day before because it was obvious it had been removed, he passed my Defender TD5 but did look to see if it was fitted. (I refitted my EGR and the Cat before taking it for MOT)

Thanks gents, as I expected, I'll make sure to include my concern in any discussions.
It's a 300tdi so no chance of hiding it being missing!