Cataclean - beans or no ??!!

[Z4paul]

i have a 2.0 e85 which has been fantastic. Running really well then eml came up with a code ,- looked this up and folk have used Cataclean (mr tidy among others)to good effect. Do i follow the instructions to 'drive normally' (would this get the catalytic con' hot enough?) and would i need to repeat every three months or is this marketeers twaddle. Thanks for any thoughts. P

 

[Mr Tidy]

I'm not sure which thread you found, so it may help if I give you the whole story!

In October 2016 I got an Amber EML. When my Indy diagnosed it I had faults on both banks post-Cat O2 sensors and a fault on one Vanos solenoid. So the faults were reset, a new solenoid fitted and a dose of Cataclean in the tank. I didn't drive any differently to normal, giving it the beans occasionally - as you do, but typically my journeys would be 30+ miles so plenty of time to get properly up to temperature. But I do remember being told to have the fuel tank pretty full with V-Power.

Then a few days later the Amber EML reappeared so I booked the car in again and it was showing the same fault codes, but the battery died while diagnostics were being run!

Anyway the faults were reset again, a new battery fitted and another dose of Cataclean.

All was fine until October 2017 then another Amber EML.

A forum member found the same fault codes and cleared them and I gave it another dose of Cataclean and I had no further issues during my ownership (I sold the car in February).

I don't know for sure if the 2016 issues were real or just another of those random faults thrown up by a dying battery. And because the car wasn't a daily it often didn't get used for a couple of weeks so it's possible the battery was low in 2017.

So I can't be certain if there was an issue that Cataclean solved or not - but then for all it costs it has to be worth trying!

I hope it works for you OP. But it might be worth getting your battery tested too if you don't know it's age. Mine was 10 years old. :lol:

 

[Z4paul]

Hi and thanks for taking the time to give such a full explanation of this. I guess any issues could be battery related and hopefully not the cat/manifold itself. I did think a lot of short journeys might not be great for the car, have read others sharing the view that the 2.0 benefits from driven regularly and enthusiastically! Up for that of course
Interestingly there was a fantastic a 1 series up for sale on the forum today and the seller used additive with every tank - will give the cataclean a go and report back