MIL - twice in a year
Discussion
Ive had a search on the forum and while a few posts are in here regarding the engine light coming on/MIL i couldnt find the exact answer.
Last night I paid the princely sum of £450 for a 51 reg ford KA in order to get me through winter and store the elise through the bad weather. I Drove a journey of about 30 miles there and back and parked my elise overnight, when i left it all was well.
When I started it this morning the dreaded engine warning light was on - as if the car had taken a huff at being demoted for the winter and this was its parting shot! This morning was pretty cold but otherwise the engine is running smooth and not lumpy. The same issue occured about 6 months ago and I think the reason is that the owner before me tracked the car and had put a de-cat pipe on and placed a resistor somewhere on the lambdasensor cable. I replaced the cat after purchasing the car but could not find where the resistor has been placed. LAst time, after taking the under tray off and unscrewing the lambda sensor and giving it a wipe the engine light went off....however its not unconceivable that the light simply went out due to me starting/restaring the engine a few times as have been discussed on the forum and that me cleaning the sensor was just coincidence.
I really dont want to have to go through the pain of unscrewing all the rear end to clean the sensor again so wondered what people suggest....Do you think it is linked to having the resistor still in place or do u think its something else? Where are the resistors placed when people put de-cats on(ive pulled the sheath back from the lambda sensor wire both directly above the sensor and also where the sensor goes into the air flow meter but cant see anything)?
Sorry for the war and peace but hopefully someone can point me in the right direction
Cheers
Last night I paid the princely sum of £450 for a 51 reg ford KA in order to get me through winter and store the elise through the bad weather. I Drove a journey of about 30 miles there and back and parked my elise overnight, when i left it all was well.
When I started it this morning the dreaded engine warning light was on - as if the car had taken a huff at being demoted for the winter and this was its parting shot! This morning was pretty cold but otherwise the engine is running smooth and not lumpy. The same issue occured about 6 months ago and I think the reason is that the owner before me tracked the car and had put a de-cat pipe on and placed a resistor somewhere on the lambdasensor cable. I replaced the cat after purchasing the car but could not find where the resistor has been placed. LAst time, after taking the under tray off and unscrewing the lambda sensor and giving it a wipe the engine light went off....however its not unconceivable that the light simply went out due to me starting/restaring the engine a few times as have been discussed on the forum and that me cleaning the sensor was just coincidence.
I really dont want to have to go through the pain of unscrewing all the rear end to clean the sensor again so wondered what people suggest....Do you think it is linked to having the resistor still in place or do u think its something else? Where are the resistors placed when people put de-cats on(ive pulled the sheath back from the lambda sensor wire both directly above the sensor and also where the sensor goes into the air flow meter but cant see anything)?
Sorry for the war and peace but hopefully someone can point me in the right direction
Cheers
Hi Michael,
I had problems with the pre-cat lambda on my car (S2 111s) earlier in the year. It was fairly obvious that this was the culprit as the car was smoking like a diesel and over-fuelling but to be absolutely sure I managed to get a fault code reader on the car and this confirmed that the sensor had died. Probably worth seeing if someone local has one you could borrow before you go scrabbling about under the car again.
From what you have described of the sensor, it does not sound like you still have the previous owner's MIL-Eliminator in place. Going from the picture of your car in your profile its the same as mine and a similar age so my money would be on the pre-cat lambda.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
John
I had problems with the pre-cat lambda on my car (S2 111s) earlier in the year. It was fairly obvious that this was the culprit as the car was smoking like a diesel and over-fuelling but to be absolutely sure I managed to get a fault code reader on the car and this confirmed that the sensor had died. Probably worth seeing if someone local has one you could borrow before you go scrabbling about under the car again.
From what you have described of the sensor, it does not sound like you still have the previous owner's MIL-Eliminator in place. Going from the picture of your car in your profile its the same as mine and a similar age so my money would be on the pre-cat lambda.
Hope this helps.
Cheers,
John
Edited by johncam on Saturday 7th November 12:45
Edited by johncam on Saturday 7th November 12:49
Thanks John Ill definately try and get a test done on it. As it happens after 5 or 6 restarts the light has gone out and the car is running fine. I only mention the resistor as the guy I bought it from said it was still on the car and that it would be "easy to find....youll not miss it" Also in the paperwork I got from him is the empty packet from the thing itself however the instructions are missing!?! Its not making any difference to performance although come to think of it I did notice during the summer on hot days there was a wiff of raw petrol just after start up - maybe linked or maybe just me being over picky! Thanks for the reply and ill try and get this sorted prior to putting the elise to bed for the winter
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