Engine Warning Light, help please!

[Epic]

Hi there all

Having now had 2 great V6 Galants, my wife and I love the look, drive and individuality of these cars. Not quite the VR4s many have on this forum, but still a car we cherish. Having had a very new one many years ago that did 170k miles and still drove gr8 I had to sell it to a mate to make way for a company car. Recently though our Honda Acoord had a fault and surprise we found a 2002 Galant V6 with one owner and only £50k on the clock, so we happily brought it. It's been very reliable up to last week. We had an engine warning light came on so took to our mechanic, on running a diagnostic, he said it had 3 faulty Lan Sensors that sense the exhaust gases (so I am told) he said it can't be all three and he thought maybe one faulty one is setting off the rest. We reset the car, but light came back on, he said fine to drive, but to take it to him this week. Over the w/e we noticed it smoking a bit mostly grey smoke and I thought it could just be condensation but seems worse than normal. Put the more expensive Shell V4 performance fuel in thinking it may run hotter and maybe burn off some carbon deposits as car only does short journeys genrually. Car driving better than ever especially on this fuel, but still smoked a bit today and then on returning home it now sounds likes it blowing from the front somewhere. Ever since we owned this car it has drunk a bit of engine oil (no external leaks) but mechanic advised that it wasn't drinking enough to worry about and was quite normal, I am not sure? 4-5 litre of oils in 12months ? Anyway, does anyone have any knowledge or advise on this. The engine still only done 67k miles and seems in great condition. Would really appreciate your help. Sorry for long message and thank you all 🙂👍

[Nick Mann]

I'm not sure about the O2 sensors on your car. There are people here who have played with them though. I know an exhaust leak near the sensor can modify the sensors readings but I don't know if that will also cause an error code.

Good luck!

[Amonlym]

The (uk spec) V6 has 4 sensors. a pre and post cat for each bank. IIRc only the post cat sensor will set a CEL, and any of them can have a failed heater and not set a CEL, but still set a code. you probably have 2 faulty heaters (bad cold fuel economy) and a fault sensor (over-fuel) which isn't unbelievable. the sensors are found right behind radiator high up on manifold, below front of car near oil filter / above the engine cradle, and hidden in Narnia at the back (similar placement, much worse access)
Do not use anything but a OE or equivalent (eg use denso, not bosch). getting a sensor without a plug is infinitely cheaper than getting the matched plug sensors, so if you / your garage are confident with cutting the old one off and soldering / crimping in a new one, then that's the cheapest choice.

Exhaust failure at the flex pipe is pretty common as for VR4's.
consuming about 1L of oil between service intervals (~5-8K miles) was my experience.

[Epic]

Thanks for the information. Car strangely is driving great, especially with Shell V Power Petrol. I have been told to run car for 300 miles by my Mechanic and then take it back to him to reset and see if light comes back on. If not I think he will replace sensor, assuming he will knows which one? :-/

My worry is that my Mechanic is not sure on this and busy so just fobbing me off for a bit, I don't mind as car doesn't seem to be drinking excessively (Currently getting 300mls to a tank and I get more miles on the V Power fuel than standard) My worry is that I don't want to damage the engine, assuming if the code comes up with faulty sensor that it wont get damaged, but unsure, will it? Mechanic says its fine to drive. It is smoking more than usual but could be Condensation as its been so wet the last week, its a bit greyish, but not thick smoke. I followed my wife down the road the other day and smoke wasn't awful, could this be over fuelling then is sensor faulty? I noticed that in the past someone said Euro Spec in Guildford who specialise in Jap Cars are great for advise and also getting works done, has anyone had any experience with them? Are they good/ expensive/ do they get things sorted? Tried to call them but phone just rings and no one answers.

If on diagnostic it says there are faults with all sensors, I assume they can't all go at the same time, If one is broken will this show a fault also with the rest, if the sensor controls the ECU and this results in over fuelling? Maybe this is why if is so quick currently??? ;-)

The oil thing is a bit of a worry, cant see any external leaks/ no oil on drive etc, but using maybe 4 litres in 8,000 miles (Using Semi Sythetic Oil 10W 40 as this is what i was advised to use - is this right?), Mechanical say this is normal for an older V6 and I shouldn't wory about oil use, no blue smoke, so should I be concerned? My last V6 had 170K Miles on clock and never needed oil between services, we had that car from a year old with 20K on the clock and no problems - it seemed bulletproof, until my mate took it off me as he loved it and then hit a concrete bollard in a hedge on a country road with it :-(

I love this car, but with the Oil Thing and Engine warning light, I just want to get it sorted and make sure all is OK. As I said it is a 2002 with only 60K Miles on the clock, so this Oil thing is strange. Anyone else have to top up much with oil?

Glad we found this site as form looking at all the posts, everyone's experiences really assists all with the knowledge all have on these cars. My Electrician loves his V6 and told me just to get it sorted and keep it, he said a new car with all the Electronic crap will just be an over engineered and expensive headache to own compared to this car in the long run, at least these can be worked on easily.

Let me know of any experiences with Eure Spec in Guildford, are they still there.

Cheers All :-)