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[johndm1957]

2003 Elite 3.2 Auto

The Story so far..........

Orange emission lamp first popped on last April, just for a few days, then dissappeard after about six clean starts.

Since then, its been coming on more and more frequently, until recently its been on most of the time, going out for only a couple of days, then back on for well over a week at a time.

Did the brake/acc test, sure enough, error 0420 & 0430, Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold.

On advice read on this forum, I ordered a bottle of 'Cataclean' but I've not had the fuel low enough to use yet.

Also found my nearest Shell garage, and put half a tank of V Power on top of Total Excellium which I've used ever since I bought the car 2 years ago.

The lamp went out after two days, and has not returned now for nearly two weeks... [smiley=2vrolijk_08.gif]

Tempting fate by posting this....but maybe Omegas don't like Total fuel, even the good stuff?

Will keep you all posted....................

[Entwood]

A forum search will show you its not a matter of "if" you get this problem .. but "when" ... its a weakness of the 3.2

And was I glad I knew about this, and the "pedal trick" before going on holiday to France !!!

I've had the problem twice in 11 months, others more often. Solutions include moving lambda sensors (hard work ??), removing the bulb (would hide another more serious problem), or the preferred one for me ..... reset the system..

Now resetting via Vx Stealers will set you back £80 a time, I opted to purchase an ELM 327 resetter for less than £20 ... works great but does need a laptop as well... certainly saved me a load of expense and hassle when the fault occured in France. As I wanted to know more, and avoid the laptop hassle, I purchased a Maxscan, which lives in the boot. Nice simple piece of kit that does more than just reset the lights and only cost £80, so paid for itself the first time I used it ..

My philosphy now is simple ... 0420 or 0430 code is simply reset, anything else is investigated.

HTH

[Kevin Wood]

Funnily enough when I used to run mine on petrol mine frequently used to light up after a visit to the local Total garage. Lit several times within minutes of filling up there but was happy on Shell on the whole.

It's been permanently on for about 9 months now, though. Comes back within a day or two of being reset. <mental note to reset it before my MOT tomorrow>

Relocation of the Lambda sensors is likely to be the only permanent cure, which I will try once I've learnt to weld properly.

Kevin

[johndm1957]

Funnily enough when I used to run mine on petrol mine frequently used to light up after a visit to the local Total garage. Lit several times within minutes of filling up there but was happy on Shell on the whole.

It's been permanently on for about 9 months now, though. Comes back within a day or two of being reset. <mental note to reset it before my MOT tomorrow>

Relocation of the Lambda sensors is likely to be the only permanent cure, which I will try once I've learnt to weld properly.

Kevin

Interesting.....whats the differance Total Excellium and Shell V Power??

(Light still off)

[Kevin Wood]

Funnily enough when I used to run mine on petrol mine frequently used to light up after a visit to the local Total garage. Lit several times within minutes of filling up there but was happy on Shell on the whole.

It's been permanently on for about 9 months now, though. Comes back within a day or two of being reset. <mental note to reset it before my MOT tomorrow>

Relocation of the Lambda sensors is likely to be the only permanent cure, which I will try once I've learnt to weld properly.

Kevin

Interesting.....whats the differance Total Excellium and Shell V Power??

(Light still off)

I don't know, to be honest. It was just an observation on my part and there may be nothing in it. The main issue is undoubtedly that either the pre-cats degrade rather quicker than expected or that the efficiency monitoring built into the ECU is more sensitive than it should be. I don't think fuel choice is at the root of the problem.

Kevin

[johndm1957]

Finally got down to approx 3 gallons in tank, Cataclean added, then drove for 20 miles then filled tank  to full with Shell V Power.

Orange light still off.....15 days and counting..

[johndm1957]

27 days.....still no EML......

[ians]

I tried Cataclean too.  Made no difference at all as far as I could tell. Certainly not enough to extinguish the lamp.

[sparky]

my 3.2 has same prob, think i will try this catclean not much to loose?
where do i buy it from, price?

[Mike Smith]

theres a lot of this going on at the moment, many garages and especially supermarket garages are using bio fuel as an additive to the regular fuel, its playing havoc with everyones cars.

[Kevin Wood]

No bio fuel in my car (unless they've been putting cow f@rts in the LPG!) and I have the light constantly. It's the pre-cats getting less effective and additives are probably a waste of money, TBH. Relocation of the Lambda sensors is the only cure IMHO.

Kevin

[johndm1957]

No bio fuel in my car (unless they've been putting cow f@rts in the LPG!) and I have the light constantly. It's the pre-cats getting less effective and additives are probably a waste of money, TBH. Relocation of the Lambda sensors is the only cure IMHO.

Kevin

I must say I've never rated additives either, and the fact is my EML went out soon after using Shell V power fuel.
I stuck the cataclean through with some scepticisim, as it was recommended on here somewhere.

Still don't know what to make of my results, but the fact is my EML was coming more and more often over the last 8 months, now is been out for 30 days....

And no...the bulb is not blown...

[johndm1957]

my 3.2 has same prob, think i will try this catclean not much to loose?
where do i buy it from, price?

Around £12 on fleabay......

[belldarr]

Mine is on too and has been since September time - I run on shell v power all the time - it has made no difference and it's so annoying having that orange light on the whole time.

Can someone confirm if it's the sensors before the CAT or is it the CATS themselves that need replacing??

Darren

[markey mark]

Mine is on too and has been since September time - I run on shell v power all the time - it has made no difference and it's so annoying having that orange light on the whole time.

Can someone confirm if it's the sensors before the CAT or is it the CATS themselves that need replacing??

Darren

from what i understand darren nothing needs replacing just the lambdas need moving !   have you tried giving it a damn god thrashing