Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) 2020 Plus 4 won’t pass vehicle inspection in US/MA

I know most people in this forum are based in the UK but hoping someone may have a solution.

I recently purchased a 2020 Plus 4 from a dealer in California. It was titled in New Mexico. I live in Massachusetts and had it shipped here, no problem titling it and getting insurance and a license plate. It passed the emissions test in California without problem.

When trying to get it to pass the annual vehicle inspection in Massachusetts it fails the emissions test because the test equipment can't communicate with OBD. The exact message is "This vehicle has FAILED its EMISSIONS TEST because its On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) could not communicate with the test equipment. Because a complete check of the OBD system could not be performed, there may be additional malfunctions that were not detected. The OBD system should be repaired and the vehicle re-inspected.”

Anyone have any ideas how to deal with this or successfully registered and had a relatively new plus 4 pass an inspection in Massachusetts? Could this be related to a locked ECU or something else?

I have no knowledge of the testing regime where you are, but I would either buy a cheap OBD reader off Amazon or similar or ask a friendly mechanic to check that the OBD port is working and not showing any faults.

There is some guidance on your state pages - if the car has not done a lot of running, then it could be something simple:

Introduction to Massachusetts Vehicle Check

Scroll down to the emissions part.

Hi K,

Take your car to a BMW if its the latest version with a BMW engine and let them test it or, if its one of the last classics It'll probably have a Ford power unit . They should be able to get to the bottom of what's going on.

Martin.

The 2020 Morgans with the Ford engines were initially imported as 1965 replica vintage sports cars component chassis on the MSO. Contact your DMV technical services and have it titled in the system on their end as a "custom" vehicle for the make and model (which you may need to then bring it to an inspection station manned by officers of the law who will check the vehicle for stolen parts and other nonsense which will frustrate you). Kinda unfortunate in some states' DMW systems it will lose the Morgan make and model. However, once titled as a custom the yearly inspection at least in NY state for me only requires the mechanical checks such as brakes and lights.

Totally clueless as to the details of testing in Mass. ..... but if it's a computer compatibility issue, isn't there an option to get it tested the old-school way like the thousands of pre-computer cars that must turn up for tests every month ... it's what's coming out of the tailpipe that counts surely??

K

On my Roadster my local Morgan dealer had to adjust some wires in the OBD to allow all a 'standard' OBD rider to read it rather than a Morgan one. This was also the same on my series 5 Aero

The 2020 +4 might have a Ford engine but that engine, in a Morgan, does not have a Ford ECU.
As others have said a OBD reader will work to read and reset errors etc.

Worth buying one of these inexpensive Bluetooth OBD2 adaptors - click for source.



Coupled to your phone or tablet and running the OBD check Torque app available for Apple and Android devices it can display a huge range of data as well as displaying fault codes and clearing them on the full app versions.

My Roadster has different piggyback ecu to Richard's as it has MMCs rev hang fix. Despite the same app and similar dongle I can't access all the data Richard can. Good luck 👍

There's talk of Morgan using an MBE ECU on the Plus 4 GDI, see the comments here from John07:

https://www.talkmorgan.com/ubbthrea...di-rough-running-after-clubsport-upgrade

What he suggests is for the later Plus 4 GDI engine Morgan used a version of the MBE9A6 which had drive by wire throttle and direct injection capabilities, if that's the case I think your best hope would be to speak directly with MBE Systems who are based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England.

https://www.mbesystems.com/

I'd suggest your first step should be to access the ECU, then properly ID it to check the above information is accurate, should it turn out it is indeed an MBE9A6 perhaps MBE could build you a patch cable to link it to an OBD2 port?

You might also get some advice and indirect support from MBE's key automotive ECU reseller SBD Motorsport?

https://sbdmotorsport.co.uk/

Although SBD are purely focussed on Caterhams that still run MBE ECUs, and unlike Morgan Cateham never bothered the direct injected variant of the Duratec engine, prefering to stick with the port injected version as used in the earlier Plus 4 that required simpler engine management.

Good luck with it, Dave.