Engine Emissions Light on- what to change?

[magic354]

Hey everyone,

So Friday afternoon the EML/Emissions warning light comes on, yellow, stays on doesn't flash. Saturday morning take it in to get the fault codes read. It's got three issues showing- I didn't get the actual codes but was told it had three intermittent faults showing on: 1) Pre cat lambda sensor 2) Catalytic converter and 3) Brake pedal sensor.

Spanner man said as they were intermittent, he has reset them and go and drive it and see if they come back on.

Low and behold, did 100 odd miles Saturday afternoon/evening and then Sunday morning comes back on. I filled it up Sat morning and reset the trip and have done approx. 180 miles, mainly motorway with a Sunday morning blast. Averaging 32mpg. I was thinking that if it was the lambda sensor my mpg would hit the floor.

MoT expires on Wednesday, it's booked in for Saturday morning- I shall leave it at home this week. But what should I change? Brake pedal sensor is only £14 it seems but I have no idea how difficult it is to change/where it is(?!), lambda sensor seems to be very common when I search around on here and is a 90 odd quid part- and lets not even get started on the cat!

Shall I get the friendly MoT man to reset the lights, put it through its MoT and see what happens with the emissions test and then go from there?

What do you all think?

Cheers,
Tom.

 

[magic354]

Forgot to add, 2005 182, 73k miles.

 

[bloke]

Spanner man said as they were intermittent, he has reset them and go and drive it and see if they come back on.

there's your problem...spanner man!! take it to someone who knows what to look for, get it on live data. anyone worth their salt will be able to tell you how the lambda is after a couple of minutes.

 

[magic354]

there's your problem...spanner man!! take it to someone who knows what to look for, get it on live data. anyone worth their salt will be able to tell you how the lambda is after a couple of minutes.

Thanks for the tip, didn't realise there was more that could be done. I shall do some digging and try and find someone who can help diagnose. Engine Dynamics are only 40 odd miles away so worse comes to worst could always make the trip up to them.

 

[magic354]

So update time... After speaking to one of my car friends he has lent me his Torque bluetooth diagnostic adapter. Connected it up to the car, and this time I only have one fault code showing, P0130 as below:

And from what I can understand off my research, this is the pre-cat sensor. So it looks like I needs to be changed. Again, from further research ECP have a Bosche item for £82 as per below:

http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/R...12ed6ac9a94f4aa89401a94a0230637106943b&000210

Is this the best one to go for? And is it the right part?

If so I'll order it and try and get it fitted before Saturday's MoT!

 

[bloke]

you can get it cheaper than that. also torque is a load of shite, it misses plenty of codes, absolute joke software. get it checked on something decent.

 

[STEVE.M]

This is the 1st thread on this subject?

 

[bloke]

eh?

 

[magic354]

Well, following your advice and suspect of the Torque, I took it down to a recommended garage and it was indeed confirmed as being the Pre-cat Lambda sensor. I shopped around and found a discount code for ECPs and got it down to just over £60. I couldn't seem to find it cheaper than this from a trusted seller (more on that later).

Went for its MoT today, and low and behold it failed on Lambda reading. When I told the tester where I got the part from he said to avoid them as they use pattern Bosche parts and to price one up from Renault and go OE. Renault Parts Direct are 120 odd quid.

Got no idea what's going on now. I always thought ECP were reputable? So now I'm not sure if its just bad luck and I got a faulty sensor, or what...

 

[magic354]

Also Bloke, I have seen you mention the Autel MD802 on here before, is it worth the investment? You seem very dubious of Torque and other bluetooth OBD readers, when I did a search through the PistonHeads forums these seemed to be very popular and well spoken of. I am also anxious that it may miss important faults and cause trouble further on, hence considering an Autel.