Omega Owners Forum
Omega Help Area => Omega Electrical and Audio Help => Topic started by: Kieran on 04 March 2008, 20:41:58
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Ok i have had this light coming on for about two months now and i am completely baffled.I have checked it with a handheld diagnostic with no faults coming up so have reset it a couple of times. The light then stays off for about two hours then comes on again. After getting slightly pissed off with it i decided to book it into a garage which has all the right equipment to diagnose the fault. They found an air leak in one of the pipes and replaced it then reset it. About two hours later the light came on again >:(.Booked it in again and they found another pipe needing replacment so changed it and reset the fault again.Two hours later hey presto light came back on :'(. Booked it back in with the garage,they had it for a whole day rigging it up to a variety of diagnostics and couldn,t find a fault so ended up giving me my money back. Has anyone got any idea why this bloody light keeps coming on. The car runs lovely and seems unaffected. It is a 2001 2.6 estate
Thanks
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If the EML comes on then there must be codes.....
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No definetly no codes that is the annoying bit. If there was it could be fixed.Why does it stay off for a couple of hours then come back on again
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If the EML comes on and there are no codes then something sounds wrong with the ECU.
My only other thought is that the code reader can't read some of the ecu's on your car (Some of the ecu's on 2.6/3.2 use a different protocol) but I don't then understand how it is able to reset them..... :-[
Really need an experts advice (Hopefully Marks DTM or The Boy will be along soon).
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Thanks i don,t understand why the light keeps coming on and the equipment at the garage was top notch so i am happy with them trying to find the fault but to no avail :(
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Is your code reader OBD2 (OBDII) ?? I believe this is required for 2.6 /3.2 .. the older OBD/OBD1 won't work ......
I could be wrong .....
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I'm guessing their code readers couldn't read it, or they didn't know how.
Can you describe the light?
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Hi ya
The light is the orange engine shaped one. I am unsure what reader the garage have but it seemed a modern garage with all the equipment :-/
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My only other option is taking it to a Vauxhall garage where they will charge me a small fortune to check it on their diagnostic equipment and may not even find the fault either
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That's the emissions lamp, The Engine management lamp is the one with the spanner through it.
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Hi ya
The light is the orange engine shaped one. I am unsure what reader the garage have but it seemed a modern garage with all the equipment :-/
Hmm....some of these generic readers are not as good as they claim.....
Whats the mileage/history?
Run it on cheap supermarket fuel all the time?
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Ok we could be getting somewhere. The book says it is the engine electronic indicator but if you say it is the emissions lamp it must be. So why is it coming on all the time?
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It has done 105000 miles and fully serviced including good quality oil new fuel filter fitted on last service,breather tubes cleaned last week and running on the best fuel Tescos can buy. I would doubt it will be fuel because when i bought it i ran it on supermarket fuel and the light didn,t come on.
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It has done 105000 miles and fully serviced including good quality oil new fuel filter fitted on last service,breather tubes cleaned last week and running on the best fuel Tescos can buy. I would doubt it will be fuel because when i bought it i ran it on supermarket fuel and the light didn,t come on.
Right, we need the REAL codes reading.....
My suspicion is that you will have a cat/o2 sensor related code and the Mot emissions will be the same as a new car...i.e perfect.
In which case, its the pre cat getting tired, nothing to worry about and wont ever cause any problems.
You might try running a bottle of Cataclean through or try running it on a quality fuel at the right price for a few tank fulls.
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Tesco's finest still doesn't have the cleaning properties of Shell or BP normal 95 RON. Tesco can sell petrol cheap because it buys it cheap.... read into that whatever you like!
Basically the emissions lamp comes on (2.6/3.2) when an efficiency threshold is reached, the ecu counts up the out of efficiency range readings and when the total adds up to a certain level the light is illuminated.
3.2/2.6 cars have four catalytic convertors (two per bank), the first catalytic convertor really isn't up to the job that it was expected to do as they get older (especially on the 3.2) and hence the first Lambda sensor reads higher than expected readings. If you take the vehicle and have it emissions tested it will probably pass easily, this is because the second (main) cat is perfectly capable of doing it's job and the emissions are therefore within spec.
It is worth running some cataclean through the system at the correct concentration and putting a few tankfulls of higher quality fuel through.
It would also be worth checking all four sensors to be sure that they are OK. Codes that are being generated are P0420 and P0430, if just one of the codes is generated then only one side has the problem.....
Edit: Mark you can type far quicker than me! LOL
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Well I have had the same problems since July last year TB and marks have reset the light, but it does eventually come back on again, and yes the car runs fine apart from the annpying light being on. I have bought some cataclean 500ml per bottle and they recommend 500ml per 15 litres of petrol, so as I only bought one bottle I am waiting to get down to 15 litres of petrol before I throw the cataclean in, should've bought 4 really :-/
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OK Today i am going to buy some Cataclean and will try other fuel instead of Tescos.I will try it for a couple of weeks then let you all know. Many thanks for your help it is appreciated :y
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Make sure you get the Cataclean at the correct mix ratio with the petrol.
As stated above, this only helps the situation, it doesn't cure it but I wouldn't be too worried as I'm sure if you get an emissions check it will be absolutely fine. :y
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Run some cataclean through it then get the light reset and make sure you get the codes that were reported this time. If it's going to cost you to get the light reset get someone with a cheapo Tech II to do it, or even buy a cable and do it yourself. If you ever pass by Alton way (not a million miles from you) I'd be happy to help.
Kevin
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Thanks Kevin if i am ever out your way will look you up.I have purchased some Cataclean just waiting for the petrol in the tank to drop abit which shouldn,t take long in my thirsty car then will add the Cataclean. The only problem i can see are that previously no codes have shown up :o so hopefully when i reset it the light will stay off :-/
Thanks again
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Thanks Kevin if i am ever out your way will look you up.I have purchased some Cataclean just waiting for the petrol in the tank to drop abit which shouldn,t take long in my thirsty car then will add the Cataclean. The only problem i can see are that previously no codes have shown up :o so hopefully when i reset it the light will stay off :-/
Thanks again
As mentioned earlier, I think the code reader being used is the issue, as I see it the code is not recognised by that code reader, however there must be code(s) there for the lamp to come on.
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hi,
i'm from holland neer the German border. where I have a workshop for all kinds of makes of cars.
The prob with the fault code p 0420 and 0430 we also met in a car Opel Omega 3.2. with 200K, we just moved the lamdaprobes from before the main cats to after the main cats. Up to now the faultcodes stay away and we and the owner are a happy team. Also a Friend Opel-dealer showed interest in this solution.
Not even the wiring has to be redesingned because the cable is long enough to reach back the main-cat.
i do appologize my bag Englisch.
Greetz from AUTOZON
Gasselternijveen Holland.
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Thanks for the reply will try moving the sensors. English not that bad better than my German. ::)
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Thanks for the reply will try moving the sensors. English not that bad better than my German. ::)
Yes his English will be better than any of our DUTCH! ;) ;) :y
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hi,
i'm from holland neer the German border. where I have a workshop for all kinds of makes of cars.
The prob with the fault code p 0420 and 0430 we also met in a car Opel Omega 3.2. with 200K, we just moved the lamdaprobes from before the main cats to after the main cats. Up to now the faultcodes stay away and we and the owner are a happy team. Also a Friend Opel-dealer showed interest in this solution.
Not even the wiring has to be redesingned because the cable is long enough to reach back the main-cat.
i do appologize my bag Englisch.
Greetz from AUTOZON
Gasselternijveen Holland.
Welcome to the Forum. :y
That is very interesting information, and something that we had considered but never actually tried. Thanks very much. I had wondered if the main cats would heat up quickly enough to keep the ECU post-cat sensors happy but perhaps that's not a problem.
Kevin
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hi,
i'm from holland neer the German border. where I have a workshop for all kinds of makes of cars.
The prob with the fault code p 0420 and 0430 we also met in a car Opel Omega 3.2. with 200K, we just moved the lamdaprobes from before the main cats to after the main cats. Up to now the faultcodes stay away and we and the owner are a happy team. Also a Friend Opel-dealer showed interest in this solution.
Not even the wiring has to be redesingned because the cable is long enough to reach back the main-cat.
i do appologize my bag Englisch.
Greetz from AUTOZON
Gasselternijveen Holland.
Welcome, and thanks for the excellent info :y
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I have my 3.2 (which has this problem) booked into Long-Life in the next month and this moving of the lambda sensors is planned into the build of my new stainless cat-back exhaust sytem.
I will report back on how it goes.
(If you look back through the "General Omega Help" section for a thread entitled "Help - I know the code" you'll see a lengthy discussion on this which resulted in my booking the car into Long-Life to try this experiment. Thanks to our Dutch friend above I am filled with a bit more confidence now)
BTW: I used to run my car on high octane Tesco fuel. The light used to be on all the time. Now I run it on Optimax and / or BP Ultimate and it is only on for about a day or so every couple of weeks.
Make of that what you will.