Light diagnosed again-

Dogmatic6 said:
My light was on for over a year and it took an auto electrician to finally resolve the problem. He took the fuse box out and gave all the connections a good clean and this fixed it. In my case the code was always p1414 which is to do with the secondary air pump.

Cheers
Interesting-so it was nothing to do with the secondary air pump?
 
As mentioned before Andy you have quite sensibly eliminated the 'other' common possible causes of an emissions fault code including sorting cracked manifold replacing sensors etc etc. Fuelling faults caused by these going down do damage a catalyst, the logical conclusion is that it's a faulty Catalyst. This is not an E85 2.0 issue, or even a BMW issue that fault code is very common and although extraneous causes are vary on make/model once eliminated a new Cat usually returns the car to good health.

Unfortunately we have to accept parts like a cat don't last for ever, mines 10 years old now and assume the Cat may go, it's an inevitable running cost :(
 
andysat said:
Dogmatic6 said:
My light was on for over a year and it took an auto electrician to finally resolve the problem. He took the fuse box out and gave all the connections a good clean and this fixed it. In my case the code was always p1414 which is to do with the secondary air pump.

Cheers
Interesting-so it was nothing to do with the secondary air pump?

Nope the secondary air pump was fine although it had not kicked in for over a year because of the fuse box having dirty connections. Got this fixed over a year ago and it's been fine since.....hope I haven't jinxed myself lol
 
Ewazix said:
As mentioned before Andy you have quite sensibly eliminated the 'other' common possible causes of an emissions fault code including sorting cracked manifold replacing sensors etc etc. Fuelling faults caused by these going down do damage a catalyst, the logical conclusion is that it's a faulty Catalyst. This is not an E85 2.0 issue, or even a BMW issue that fault code is very common and although extraneous causes are vary on make/model once eliminated a new Cat usually returns the car to good health.

Unfortunately we have to accept parts like a cat don't last for ever, mines 10 years old now and assume the Cat may go, it's an inevitable running cost :(
Cheers mate- just difficult to justify spending 1k + on a car worth 5k.
 
Although it points to cat problem like i say both stealers and indy told me if they fitted a cat the light could still come on.
 
andysat said:
Ewazix said:
As mentioned before Andy you have quite sensibly eliminated the 'other' common possible causes of an emissions fault code including sorting cracked manifold replacing sensors etc etc. Fuelling faults caused by these going down do damage a catalyst, the logical conclusion is that it's a faulty Catalyst. This is not an E85 2.0 issue, or even a BMW issue that fault code is very common and although extraneous causes are vary on make/model once eliminated a new Cat usually returns the car to good health.

Unfortunately we have to accept parts like a cat don't last for ever, mines 10 years old now and assume the Cat may go, it's an inevitable running cost :(
Cheers mate- just difficult to justify spending 1k + on a car worth 5k.

I know exactly what you mean, my girlfriend's Yaris has had an EML on for the past 2 years, sometimes it feels like the huge bill isn't worth it, especiall when her Yaris is worth about 1k! Hope you manage to get a decent solution sorted.
 
Andy, I'm going to say it again, take it out and give it a good hard drive like its meant to be driven. They like and sometimes need to be driven to clean the internals up.

Look at modern diesels. If they are not used on long runs and high enough revs the DPF's will not regenerate and need replacing.
 
srhutch said:
Andy, I'm going to say it again, take it out and give it a good hard drive like its meant to be driven. They like and sometimes need to be driven to clean the internals up.

Look at modern diesels. If they are not used on long runs and high enough revs the DPF's will not regenerate and need replacing.

Precisely why I thrash every car I own :lol:


Dogmatic6 said:
My light was on for over a year and it took an auto electrician to finally resolve the problem. He took the fuse box out and gave all the connections a good clean and this fixed it. In my case the code was always p1414 which is to do with the secondary air pump.

Cheers

Interesting...my ///M had this fault code a couple of times in my first six months of ownership. It's been fine for years though, perhaps through me enacting the solution srhutch proposed!
 
Lillywhite said:
Andy, do you still have that 4-5 mile journey back and forth to work through a 30mph built up area?
Yes i do mate and what with decorating whole house since we moved in i have not had so many hoons as i would of liked tbh.
 
andysat said:
Lillywhite said:
Andy, do you still have that 4-5 mile journey back and forth to work through a 30mph built up area?
Yes i do mate and what with decorating whole house since we moved in i have not had so many hoons as i would of liked tbh.

That could be the reason, take it for a high revving scorch on the motorway for 10 miles or so and if the light goes off then you know the reason,

I guess you've seen this before, or similar :-http://www.obd-codes.com/p0420, ever thought of just taking the Cat. off and having a look inside ?
 
Does the 420 part of the fault indicate air getting in somewhere though? So thrashing it down a motorway would not do any good would it?
 
as far as I understand it's to do with the difference between the two sensors either side of the Cat., see below Quote from that website I told you about :-

The catalytic converter has an oxygen sensor in front and behind it. When the vehicle is warm and running in closed loop mode, the upstream oxygen sensor waveform reading should fluctuate. The downstream O2 sensor reading should be fairly steady. Typically the P0420 code triggers the Check Engine Light if the readings of the two sensors are similar. This is indicative of (among other things) a converter that is not working as efficiently as it should be (according to specs). Catalytic converters are not normally a "wear" type item, that is they are not deisgned to wear out and need replacement. If they have failed, it is likely due to something else that caused it to fail.

Read more at: http://www.obd-codes.com/p0420
Copyright © OBD-Codes.com

So If it was slightly blocked due to carbon build up maybe it could cause this light, I'm no expert on Cats by any means, but a long drive doesn't cost too much !, just my twopence worth.

And some more reading for you..http://www.aa1car.com/library/p0420_dtc.htm
 
fixit man said:
andysat said:
Lillywhite said:
Andy, do you still have that 4-5 mile journey back and forth to work through a 30mph built up area?
Yes i do mate and what with decorating whole house since we moved in i have not had so many hoons as i would of liked tbh.

That could be the reason, take it for a high revving scorch on the motorway for 10 miles or so and if the light goes off then you know the reason,

I guess you've seen this before, or similar :-http://www.obd-codes.com/p0420, ever thought of just taking the Cat. off and having a look inside ?

I would also agree with you taking the zed for a really good high revving 20 mile plus run, :poke: that would be the first thing to do and I bet the light goes off Andy. :wink:
 
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