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[SP_3.2]

I have been having problems with the EML coming on over the past few months or so.Had it checked over and told that it was one of the the Lamber sensors one after the cat. Had this changed BUT it was not one of Vaux own and the light has been on and off evey 4 weeks or so.

Just this weekend it was back on so changed it for a Vaux one which was almost £100. and after about 20-30 miles of driving EML has gone out.

Can having a not Vaux lamber sensors make that much of a diff.Have any of you had the same kind of problem.

Thank.  

[VXL V6]

Well all I can say is that my emissions lamp has come on again after about four weeks, Perhaps there is an inherrant weakness with the Vauxhall / GM originals - They all appear to be originals on my car so 60K / 4 Years old.

Unfortunately ours being the 3.2's (not sure if 2.6's are the same) have a slightly different cat & lambda setup to the 3.0 and 2.5's, typical really because you can only seem to source them new.... 4 * sensors at those prices is a lot of money!!!

Unless OEM quality I think i'd steer clear of none genuine lambda sensors.

One thing I do know is that the CAT's are absolutely fine.... at £711 each (genuine VX) I'm glad!

[SP_3.2]

Hi VXL

Tell me about it that a lot of money. Having 4 of the sensors is a pain the cost is mad i am going to give it a month or so and see how it is hopeful not back on aging Must say the the new GM Original i fitted looked diff to the non original diff head and colure of wires .Dont know if that means much.

Hope yours gets better soon,
if you are like me you could do with out having to spend extra money on the car with chirsmas in a few months.  
  

[VXL V6]

Thing is, the codes for mine were both sensors post CAT's..... I don't believe that it's anything to do with the sensors or the CATs (Well I know it's not!) because quite simply for both sides to fail at the same time is highly unlikely.

There is something more common and more central to this fault, something like a wiring issue where the sensors plug into the main loom or poor fuel / air (unlikely though because there are no bad running symptoms or other codes).

If the Emissions Lamp comes on, as long as it's not flashing, I really don't worry too much now!

[martbax]

It can run perfectly and still have a problem and. In my case the light was coming on regularly with the codes for fuel trim malfunction on both banks. Vx dealer did a lot of investigation ( for which they did not charge me in the end) and suggested that either both cats had gone or the ecu was faulty. After doing a lot of investigation myself I suspected the airflow meter, changed it and the problem has gone. The car was getting a false ready from the maf sensor and was adjusting the mixture to compensate but when it runs out of adjustment it puts the light on.

[martbax]

Please ignore the typos in the last post. I am sure that you will still understand it.

[SP_3.2]

http://www.lambdapower.co.uk/diagnosis/diagnostic_index.asp#q16

This made for intresing reading, put up by on of the guys on the forum

as you say unlikly both will fail and as Martbax said it could also be a diff sensor.

Thank guys.  

[VXL V6]

The clue to all this is that on the later Omega's (Don't know much about the earlier cars setup) there is an Emissions lamp and a seperate Engine Management Lamp. It's the emission lamp that the 3.2's are triggering, not the Engine Management.
The Emissions lamp is the same icon as the Engine management lamp on most other Vauxhalls - the picture of the engine. The Engine management light is the picture of the car with the spanner through it, this can and does confuse most garages, even VX themselves.

If the emissions light flashes you are supposed to only lightly use the throttle because something (contamination probably) is possibly going to damage the CATs. If the light is on permanently then you can drive normally but the emissions system (Ie the CATs and the lamda sensors) thinks the emissions are slightly to high over a period of time, ie. it's reached it's threshold or limits over a period of time.

In my case I had the lamp on continuosly, I had the Emissions checked at an MOT Station and the CAT's are working well within the MOT requirements, infact they are virtually as good as new, all four Lambda sensors were working as they should, the only test that wasn't run was running live data over a period of time to gain a better picture.

I have a theory that the sensors on the 3.2, being a different design to the other V6's are slightly unproven over a long term, I also think the varying prices of petrol is a good indication of different qualities of petrol. The emissions light has only come on again since I started using V power, If I stick to the same brand for a few months I don't think the lamp will return, if I go and put a tank of Tesco cheap 'n' cheerful in I bet it comes back on.

If the engine side of the sytem is at fault (on my car at least) then it's not a fault that the Engine Management is recording, so really all you can do is swap a part every few months to try and solve the problem.....

[SP_3.2]

Good point sound like we are in the very same boat. This seem to happen with me also, always use V-power was runing low so used supermarket superunlead.Also find it comes on when have been low on petol.I have replaced one on the 02 sensors so will keep an eye on thing and as you say stick to the same petol ie V-power.

I,m also going to try to keep the tank topped up i think by runing low a lot of the muck is getting into the system which would not help things.

By the way how do you find yours runs on V-Power any better or the same?.

Thank Steve.    

[VXL V6]

Me likey the V power!!!!!

However, try not to over use the higher octane 'umph', at that price it needs to be giving me more miles to balance the extra cost out, if it ends up being more expensive overall I will switch to BP or good quality equivalent unleaded.

[SP_3.2]

Same here . I have found that there is a Shell in barshall common that it good on price 99p but that could change then will have to move to a good unleaded.

[VXL V6]

EML Light off again as from last night....

How does this sound..... Change to a different brand (quality) of fuel, Lambda's a bit too sensitive, emissions light on.... 20 or so good starts of the car without code reoccuring = Emissions Lamp extinguished....  

I know on earlier Vauxhalls that if you had 20 or 30 clean starts without any DTC's occuring the Engine Managament lamp would be extinguished, wonder if the Emissions control system is the same?

[SP_3.2]

HI VXL

sounds right to me that happens to me mine when out after putting in £10 of V -power over the weekend i think that they seem to be Very Very sensitive to quality.And thinking about it from the time the light came on to the time it went out it would have been about 20 starts or so. You could be on to something.

Hope it stays off for you .Let me know how it goes and i will keep you updated.

Thanks

Steve    

[SP_3.2]

On the way back home last night and was runing low so stopped off to get some petrol put £10 of V-power in and after about 20 miles the emisions light came back on. Now for the pass 3-4 days i have been using Sainsburys Supperunlead. Do you think this can make a diff. Seem to happen when i change from V-power?
I have put £30 of V-power to see if it cleans things up. I think it could be the 02 sensor but i have just replaced a faulty one last weekend.  
Any advice guys.

Thanks

Steve

[Mick_600]

Hi, This may be completely off the wall but I have a similar problem with my Saab 3.0 Arc which has the similar engine to the earlier Omega's.

On this I have changed both lambda's and also the cat and still have the problem (cat was bust anyway). I think I know what it is because my simple ODBII reader also gives a code for the MAF sensor at the same time (changed that too) but a Tech 2 test doesn't, just the cat inefficiency.

However I noticed that it comes on when on little or no throttle so investigated for air leaks and have tracked one down to the servo which does lose vacuum when the engine is switched off. Got the servo but haven't got around to fitting it yet.

I would suggest putting post MAF sensor air leaks on your list to check as this could be confusing the ECU with it getting different readings from the what it expects, throwing on the EML light.

Hope this is useful.