Antipollution Faulty 1.6 Petrol

[rm008]

Hello, it's been a while since I last posted since all was running fine for almost 2 years, but today I have had the check engine light come on with the 'Antipollution Faulty' message on the display. The car is still driving OK however.

It's a 2010 1.6 PETROL 90bhp which is the most basic engine on these. 

Here's the thing - it came on 80 miles into a motorway trip and this is the first motorway run the car has had since I got it which to me seems too coincidental... When I connect my cheap Bluetooth reader I get a code of P0420 which appears to relate to 'Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold'. I tried to reset the light with no success. 

We are thinking this motorway run may have dislodged some 'soot' onto the oxygen sensor, or something like that... We have checked for leaks in the exhaust and it's all fine as is the general condition of the car (54000 miles). I doubt there is actually a fault with the car so would a battery disconnect reset the light?

If there are no suggestions we will look to clean the O2 sensor and/or replace next. 

My thanks.

[Lighty]

This fault is caused by the second lambda sensor detecting that the car is not operating within limits.
It's almost always caused by the cat just being not efficient enough.
You will probably have to replace it to get the emissions back within limits.
There is a little cheat you can do,which involves buying a spacer which takes the 2nd lambda sensor out of the exhaust gas stream, thus it is nowhere near as sensitive.
We sometimes use these if the cat is very expensive, which some are.

[Chri5]

I also have this problem but my van has a gas conversion so we put it down to that.
Where can I get the spacer.

[Lighty]

100's on eBay
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251317571511

[hebdenhedgehog]

Hello, it's been a while since I last posted since all was running fine for almost 2 years, but today I have had the check engine light come on with the 'Antipollution Faulty' message on the display. The car is still driving OK however.

It's a 2010 1.6 PETROL 90bhp which is the most basic engine on these. 

Here's the thing - it came on 80 miles into a motorway trip and this is the first motorway run the car has had since I got it which to me seems too coincidental... When I connect my cheap Bluetooth reader I get a code of P0420 which appears to relate to 'Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold'. I tried to reset the light with no success. 

We are thinking this motorway run may have dislodged some 'soot' onto the oxygen sensor, or something like that... We have checked for leaks in the exhaust and it's all fine as is the general condition of the car (54000 miles). I doubt there is actually a fault with the car so would a battery disconnect reset the light?

If there are no suggestions we will look to clean the O2 sensor and/or replace next. 

My thanks.

We had the exact same thing last month. I worried it might be a faulty exhaust sensor etc but it turned out to be the coil packs which were changed, with a new set of plugs, and all has been fine since. 

£200 all in at a very busy local garage who took the car in at very short notice. We were happy enough, esp as the fault has not reappeared.

[rm008]

Just to update, the light went off on its own (or maybe it was my code reader which reset it) after a few days and has not come back on since, so as I originally thought it was almost certainly running out of town at motorway speeds which caused it. I will update this thread if it should come back on.

[dumdum]

This fault is caused by the second lambda sensor detecting that the car is not operating within limits.
It's almost always caused by the cat just being not efficient enough.
You will probably have to replace it to get the emissions back within limits.
There is a little cheat you can do,which involves buying a spacer which takes the 2nd lambda sensor out of the exhaust gas stream, thus it is nowhere near as sensitive.
We sometimes use these if the cat is very expensive, which some are.

Try just blanking the second sensor hole and clamping the sensor the the manifold, worked a treat on my v6 van as the second sensor reads fresh air and thinks the cat is doing an awesome job 

[mtechno]

Not sure if that will always work as oxygen sensors read how much oxygen is present in exhaust gasses, if fuel is burnt efficiently oxygen should be near to zero! Some systems may read high oxygen output and try to counter it by adding more fuel!