Check engine light

[Teamllama]

Hi,

was parking the car this evening and stalled it. /wall

Restarted the car and now the check engine light wont go off. /Grrr

I dont know if its connected but while driving home/cueing in traffic there was a lot of vapour from exhaust. Just like you get on a cold morning but the car was well warmed up by this point.

Sorry its all very vauge and probably wont tell you anything to help diagnose the fault but if anyone has any advice i would be very greatful!

Im just about to do a search to see if i can work out how to read any fault codes. I know you can do it with a multi meter on the colt but i dont have a multimeter so hopefully there is a different way on the galant!

My car is a galant elegance with about 70k miles

Cheers
Mike

[Teamllama]

ive found out how to read the codes with a wire shorting between pins 1 and 4 of the diagnostic socket.

the abs light flashed, is this right? i expected the check engine light!

there were 3 error codes
24
21
23

Hopefully this is more helpful?

[elnevio]

http://www.clubvr4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=45151 should help!

[Teamllama]

ah ha! didnt find that thread! thanks

So that would be
21 wheel fast sensor (FR) systematic 35B- 5
23 wheel fast sensor (RR) systematic 35B- 5
24 wheel fast sensor (RL) systematic 35B- 5

I was driving through a very snowy carpark at the time so could it just be ice/snow build up on the sensors?

[Teamllama]

just been reading through more stuff on checking the codes and im obviously doing something wrong.

i gather the check engine light should flash steady if no code or long and short if there is a code.

when i short pins 1 and 4 only the abs light flashes. the others stay on but dont flash.

[Turbo_Steve]

At a guess, I would suggest you've got a vacuum leak somewhere:

Is it using a lot more fuel than usual?

[Teamllama]

i've only had the car for about 6 weeks so its a bit hard to judge fuel usage but saying that the very frst tank of fuel got me about 400 miles and the current tank ive got 250 with only a quater left. Not sure how much the cold effects it though.

Where abouts should i start looking for a vacuum leak? I guess round the inlet manifold?

[Turbo_Steve]

I'd start looking for hoses that have come off / split. You shoudl be able to hear it sucking in air at idle: it's fairly noisy!

Of course this might be a total red herring :( But it's cheap to fix and easy to diagnose.

[Teamllama]

ive reset ecu and now the check engine light has gone off and not come back. ran the car for 15 mins and let it warm up etc. Hopefully just a false alarm.

ive had a look under engine while it was running and couldnt hear much out of the ordinary. the only thing was a slight whistle from under the inlet manifold. its not very loud though and cant see whats under there.

Car has its service tomorrow so might find out more then.

thanks for your help.

[Turbo_Steve]

No probs, and good luck!

[Teamllama]

took car in for its service this morning and the light came back on on the drive there.

Guess i will find out how much it will cost me later :(

[Teamllama]

Just heard back from garage. its an O2 sensor thats gone.

[Turbo_Steve]

Well, that's fairly good news: at least it's easy to replace and not hugely expensive - you can use a generic one from halfords with the same thread and just solder on the wiring from your old one.

I've yet to have to pay more than £35 for a lambda sensor, though I usually have to connect up the factory plug. As long as the thread is the same and it has the same number of wires, you're laughing :)

[Teamllama]

thats good news! :)

Soldering the wires to factory plug is easy enough.

How awkward are the o2 sensors to get to? i dont know which one has gone as of yet.

[Turbo_Steve]

Ah : good point : you've got a v6 with two sensors, which I know absoloutely nothing about.

I'd guess one is in the same location as the VR4....so under the car. It's a bit of a faff, but I don't think it's that difficult.

You should have another one "pre-cat" so presumably somewhere in the downpipe.

Not sure what type of sensors yours has: sorry.

[Teamllama]

just been doing a bit of a serach and it looks like mine has 4. 2 for each bank(pre and post cat)

car passed mot with it not working so cant be to serious!

i shall interigate the garage when i pick it up to find out which one has gone.

Thanks again!