It's just setting up to be a baaaad week.

Anonymous · November 7, 2006, 19:31

Quote from: "spit"Am I reading this right? MrT would have let this go unchecked had it not been for a tip-off from you about looking at the pre-cats?

*despair* s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Well, it would be nice to say that but to be perfectly honest I have no idea why they decided to replace the pre-cats. As far as my poor understanding goes the pre-cats only purpose is to handle the emissions while the main cat comes up to operating temperature. By the time the car is fully up to temperature for the emissions test the main cat should be dealing with all the emissions. If the car had failed the emissions test and they had noticed the smell from the cat I would have expected them to replace the main cat since at that point the pre-cats would effectively be surplus to requirements.

Thinking about it now I wonder if they got any fault codes out of it. What codes would be relevant to a cat/pre-cat failure?

Should I be insisting on them replacing the main cat? Do I have any reasonable grounds to do so?

Anonymous · November 7, 2006, 19:36

Quote from: "Moleshome"
Quote from: "spit"Am I reading this right? MrT would have let this go unchecked had it not been for a tip-off from you about looking at the pre-cats?

*despair* s:shock: :shock: s:shock:

Well, it would be nice to say that but to be perfectly honest I have no idea why they decided to replace the pre-cats. As far as my poor understanding goes the pre-cats only purpose is to handle the emissions while the main cat comes up to operating temperature. By the time the car is fully up to temperature for the emissions test the main cat should be dealing with all the emissions. If the car had failed the emissions test and they had noticed the smell from the cat I would have expected them to replace the main cat since at that point the pre-cats would effectively be surplus to requirements.

Thinking about it now I wonder if they got any fault codes out of it. What codes would be relevant to a cat/pre-cat failure?

Should I be insisting on them replacing the main cat? Do I have any reasonable grounds to do so?

I would suggest you have reasonable grounds to request a new main cat too because there will likely be bits of precat floating around in the main cat and thats not a particularly good thing.

As you say, the main cat should be more than capable of handling the emission on its own so I think it may well be damaged too. Perhaps its clogged with precat?

Richie.

Anonymous · November 7, 2006, 19:42

Quote from: "markiii"when you get it back keep an eye on your oil liek a hawk

worst case you may be going back for a new shortblock if they didn't catch it in time

I have to say I hate checking the oil on the '2, I have real problems reliably reading where it is on the dipstick.

As far as a new short block is concerned I'm still optimistic at this stage, the garage made no mention of low oil level and the car pulls all the way to the redline, I'm just worried that what they do now could change that situation.

Anonymous · November 8, 2006, 13:11

It's on its way back to me now.

So the details:

Mileage: 32,000

Fault codes: None

Symptoms: Emissions test failure on CO, no apparent oil loss or reduction in power.

Pre-cat and main cat replaced, pre-cat showing signs of breaking up, according to them it wasn't much damage but they're going to hang onto it so I can take a look next week.

Anonymous · November 8, 2006, 15:25

Get some photos of the old manifold if you can, could well come in handy... s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

Anonymous · November 8, 2006, 17:18

If your pre-cats were replaced - I am assuming that your actual manifold was replaced.

If so, I also assume that this means it is a new spec (post 2002 type) manifold, so less likely (but not impossible of course) to break up again?

Worth checking?

Cheers.

Anonymous · November 8, 2006, 18:59

It should be a newer style manifold, but they're just as likely to break up as an older one. s:(

s:(

Anonymous · November 8, 2006, 19:32

Is it worth starting a sticky Hall of Shame thread on here to list all the pre-cat engine failures together?

PS. Something I didn't give a second thought to until I read another pre-cat thread on Spyderchat, Mr T asked whether I'd had any misfiring, which I hadn't, I just wondered if the misfiring has been a common feature on other failures.