Help Diagnosing Yellow Engine Light - Berkshire Area

[dan425]

Hi all,

My yellow engine warning light came on this morning. Car seems to be running fine though, no rough idling or spluttering which leads me to believe (after a short internet search) it's a Lambda Sensor that's failed/failing.

Does anyone have a fault code reader in the Berkshire area (Wokingham) and a bit of spare time that would be willing to help me diagnose the fault this week so I don't have to spend £60+VAT on getting a garage to confirm my suspicions? It would be most helpful, as I have a bad feeling I may need to put that £60 towards a large bill in the not-so-distant future.

I've tried using Torque for Android via my OBD2 port, but it says there is no fault.

Forgive me if this is a stupid question, but I recently did a 500mi round trip to York in minging gritted roads in the wet, so is there this has affected the sensor? I read another thread that mentioned the sensor getting blocked.

Lastly, if the sensor does need replacing, what kind of bill am I looking at?

Thanks in advance.

Dan

Car Details:
2005 E85 3.0i
~65,000 on the clock.
~7,500 until next service (oil change)
95 RON used for past 18 months of ownership
Passed MOT with no advisories in Dec 2012

 

[jp24]

Hi Dan,

Torque didn't read anything on mine, I found another setup that does though. Which I have used, I post on another thread and someone mentioned another setup which is easier to install.

http://www.z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=45745

Hope this helps,

John

 

[dan425]

Thanks, John, I'll check it out.

Meanwhile, if anyone can help before I buy the lead, please let me know.

 

[bcworkz]

You'll need to find what codes are stored before doing anything. Grit is unlikely to block the front ABS sensors, unless a frozen glob got wedged in there. In any case, that would be a DSC/ABS error, not an engine error.

If everything seems tip-top despite the light, I would read the codes, make a note of them, reset the system, and see if it comes back again. I've gotten 2 or 3 of these in the past and none have yet to return.