Emission warning light? New Cat?
Discussion
Hi all,
I have a 2001 330ci with rather high miles (110,000) - FSH, mostly motorway miles.
Recently the emission warning light has come on - I have had it checked, but at first nothing found and the light went out.
It came on again and was again re-checked - the fault was 'sporadic' and linked to the cat.
The dealer thinks I need a new cat (apx GB1500), but a new cat at 110,000 miles sounds strange. I have had cars with nearly 200,000 on and no probs with the cat.
Any thoughts? What about damage which may be caused if I do nothing about it?
Cheers for any advice!
I have a 2001 330ci with rather high miles (110,000) - FSH, mostly motorway miles.
Recently the emission warning light has come on - I have had it checked, but at first nothing found and the light went out.
It came on again and was again re-checked - the fault was 'sporadic' and linked to the cat.
The dealer thinks I need a new cat (apx GB1500), but a new cat at 110,000 miles sounds strange. I have had cars with nearly 200,000 on and no probs with the cat.
Any thoughts? What about damage which may be caused if I do nothing about it?
Cheers for any advice!
Had something similar in the past - turned out to be an 'engine intake manifold flap motor sensor fault', or something along those lines (all the right words but maybe not in the right order) - honestly can't remember the precise wording. Regardless, fault was sporadic and very cheap to repair, albeit done under warranty.
I would think a knackered cat would manifest itself as a permanent fault!
However, if it really is the cat, based on bitter (expensive) experience, I would seriously consider changing your car asap, as other things are likely to start going wrong soon - and remember, no warranty in the world covers for failure due to normal wear and tear.
I would think a knackered cat would manifest itself as a permanent fault!
However, if it really is the cat, based on bitter (expensive) experience, I would seriously consider changing your car asap, as other things are likely to start going wrong soon - and remember, no warranty in the world covers for failure due to normal wear and tear.
The 330i has 2 pre cats-one in each manifold and then a secondary cat further down..We rarely get problems with cats.
If there is a problem with on of the cats you tend rattling from the exhaust if you bang it-when a cat fails it breaks up.However sometimes they do go porrus and the honey comb cracks but stays in one piece.Because these engines are efficient it will more than likely run without fault and pass emissions even though it has a cat failure-They should be able to see if the cats ok as there a 2 lambda probes(4 in all-2 pre cats and 2 after cats) that sit after the cats,these are redundant until the cat fails-they will read 0.7v constant with a good cat-if the cat fails then they will read 0.2 to 1v fluctuating,this should be visable from a GT1 diagnostic machine.
From experience the faults I tend to find are;
1,the rubber crank case breather pipe that runs across the top of the inlet manifold(under top plastic cover)tends to collapse and suck in-engine cant breath,runs rich and EML light comes on-they modified this to a plastic pipe.
2,the cyclone oil seperator under the inlet manifold cracks.
3,the DISA in the inlet manifold splits.
4,Air leak to manifold(vacuum pipe,edk motor seal-throttle etc)
5,irratic heating element in one of the lambda probes.
6,Air mass meter
If there is a problem with on of the cats you tend rattling from the exhaust if you bang it-when a cat fails it breaks up.However sometimes they do go porrus and the honey comb cracks but stays in one piece.Because these engines are efficient it will more than likely run without fault and pass emissions even though it has a cat failure-They should be able to see if the cats ok as there a 2 lambda probes(4 in all-2 pre cats and 2 after cats) that sit after the cats,these are redundant until the cat fails-they will read 0.7v constant with a good cat-if the cat fails then they will read 0.2 to 1v fluctuating,this should be visable from a GT1 diagnostic machine.
From experience the faults I tend to find are;
1,the rubber crank case breather pipe that runs across the top of the inlet manifold(under top plastic cover)tends to collapse and suck in-engine cant breath,runs rich and EML light comes on-they modified this to a plastic pipe.
2,the cyclone oil seperator under the inlet manifold cracks.
3,the DISA in the inlet manifold splits.
4,Air leak to manifold(vacuum pipe,edk motor seal-throttle etc)
5,irratic heating element in one of the lambda probes.
6,Air mass meter
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