The fact is, everyone's emissions conscious these days. The EU push forward with ever tightening emissions laws, which is why new cars get ever complex with their engine management systems. But what are we to do with the 25 million pre'93 cars we have on our roads? The answer to some is to launch a scrappage scheme. But as we all know, it's the idea that should be scrapped, not the cars. The other route is to encourage the fitment of a catalyst or other device to lower those harmful emissions.

And this is precisely where the Ecotek CB -26P comes in. A very simple device, working an age-old principle with the aim of lowering your emissions. The makers even claim that the device will either improve your car's performance, or lower your fuel consumption. Intrigued? So were we.

Now I've read some of the write-ups of this product, and I'm not convinced that they were all that thorough. What we wanted to do was test out two cars and run them for a thousand miles each with the device fitted, and then run them some more without.

So we duly had two Ecotek devices fitted: one to Art Editor Martyn Knowles' D-reg VW Jetta, and the other to my F-reg Toyota Corolla. Both are carburettor-fed cars, but it's worth noting that you can fit the device to fuel injected cars, too.

Although we had the Jetta fitted with the device first, a series of circumstances meant that we didn't actually get round to testing Ecotek properly until after the Corolla had been kitted out.

The test procedure itself was simple enough. From cold we would allow the car to reach operating temperature. While it was doing this, we calibrated our emissions testing equipment (see 'The Tester'). When everything was ready, we took a number of readings at idle, so that we could obtain an average. We then revved the car to 2,000 rpm, to simulate on-the-road use, and then took a further four readings and an average.

But we didn't just test it the once. Oh no! That would have been too easy. Instead we ran the Toyota for 1,000 miles in the space of a week and took a further four sets of readings using the same procedure.

Once we'd completed the 1,000 miles, we still weren't done with our test. We then removed the device and run the car again in an attempt to monitor fuel consumption. We're still not done with this part of the testing, but we intend to give you a progress report in a future issue.

So when we'd finished with the Toyota, we then ran the Volkswagen Jetta for nigh-on 1,000 miles with the device fitted, again taking regular readings. We used the same test procedure as with the Toyota.

Although I'd loved to say we handpicked these cars to provide the ultimate test, I'd be lying. They were actually the two closest 'old' cars we had at our disposal!

But it actually worked out really well. Martyn's 1.8-litre carburettor model VW Jetta is one of the cleanest D-reg cars I've ever come across. We've checked out the tuning, and it is running incredibly lean. Perhaps a bit too lean. The emissions before the device was installed were unbelievable. It would pass a catalyst-standard MoT test with ease. So if the device was going to make a difference on this car, it was going to have to be good. Very good.

And then to the opposite end of the scale. The Toyota Corolla 12 valve 1.3litre that I've been using is rather ill-tuned. It was tuned just before we fitted the device to make it run a little smoother, but the car still suffers from an erratic idle. This is caused, I think, by the diaphragm in the distributor cap, which has a small pinhole in it, apparently. So this car needs all the help it can get. Any improvements in emissions would show up more on this car than the Jetta. The car also suffered from a fast idle, due to an incorrectly set cold-start valve, which meant that I was lucky to get around 200 miles to a tank of fuel. So we were hoping for fuel consumption improvements here.

So not only has our test been pretty thorough, but it's also on-going. The makers seem smugly confident, however. To be fair, this is probably because it has been tested on cars other than lazy motoring journo's rusty runabouts. The most comprehensive test to date has been the one carried out at the Department of Trade and Industry's Warren Springs Laboratory. The tests were carried out on a number of different vehicles, and showed a marked improvement in all the major pollutant emissions. Carbon Monoxide (CO) was down 21 per cent, Carbon Dioxide (C02) was down nearly 28 per cent, Hydrocarbons (HC) were down 4.7 per cent, and Nitrous Oxides were also reduced by 21 per cent. The tests also seem to show that better fuel economy was achieved.

As I said before, the tests on Ecotek are on-going. At present, we have full comparisons with the Toyota, having run it with and without the device. The Jetta is currently being run without the device, but we as yet have no readings. Suffice to say with the Jetta, the emissions were low before the device was installed, and have remained low with the device fitted. Improvements at this stage on the Jetta appear negligible. Nevertheless, there are improvements.

With the Corolla, it's a lot more decisive. With the tests carried out at idle, the Ecotek device achieved an average 40.9 per cent improvement in CO emissions; it also managed a 13 per cent reduction in C02 emissions. Interestingly, HC readings appeared to indicate only a negligible improvement. Around a quarter of one per cent.

At the 2,000 rpm mark, arguably the more reliable readings (because of the lumpy idle), there was a staggering 78.6 per cent average improvement in CO emissions, a 15.5 per cent reduction in C02 and a 35.9 per cent improvement in HC emissions.

Those are the raw facts and figures, and 1 think you'll agree they're pretty decisive. In short, the Ecotek CB-26P significantly reduced the emissions on our car. No doubt about it.

The grey area comes in the other claims of improved fuel economy or performance. Now the 12 valve 1.3litre lump in the Toyota is a very spritely engine anyway. It already offers a surge of power and rapid acceleration unlike a lot of rival 1.3litre cars. So I’m pretty certain that the Ecotek made no noticeable difference to the performance of the car.

However, although results are still coming in, with the Ecotek installed I was achieving an average of 42.65mpg. Now a lot of this work was on the motorway and long distances. But even so, before the device was fitted the Corolla struggled to do 300 miles to a tank. With the device installed I was getting around 350 to a tank. Before the device was fitted, however, it had been run infrequently. The ultimate test will be to see what fuel consumption I get on regular runs now it's being used more often. I will let you know the results in a future issue.

With the Jetta, again it's not exactly a simple yes or no answer. The Jetta has a notorious flat spot when changing up from first to second gear (auto transmission), mainly because of its ultra lean tune-up. The makers thought that the device might improve this. It didn't. But early indications show that it has improved fuel consumption here, too.

So there you have it. The Ecotek CB26P is a simple little device that you doubt at first can ever work. However, our preliminary findings indicate that it does indeed improve emissions. It looks as though it may have also improved fuel consumption, although these results are by no means conclusive.

The device retails at £48.95 for DIY fitment or you can buy it for £55.50 to include fitting. For cars over 2.6-litres engine capacity, you need two devices, and they can be bought in a twin pack for £85.75, not including installation. The product conies with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and is further guaranteed for two years/20,000 miles.

Although our tests are not done, we are happy to report that we are so far pleased with the Ecotek product. It does the job. 

And for around fifty quid, you can't really argue with that, can you?

Phil Weeden – Editor. Car Mechanics April 2000.