Cat Converter Fault and Anti Pollution Fault

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mancuk29
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Cat Converter Fault and Anti Pollution Fault

Post by mancuk29 »

Hi All

Hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and is looking forward to the
new year.

I have a 2.0 sx 2002 model c5 and last year had a couple of
occassions when I had a cat converter fault warning, took it to my local
citroen who firstly replaced the coil pack then when the fault
occurred the week after changed the spark plugs and oil which seemed
to remedy the situation until last night.

Setting off in my car last night it seemed to be sluggish (more than usual) then up popped a cat converter fault, it seemed to go into limp mode I
stopped and re started it and the car seemed to driver normally
except the fault warning, this occurred same time last year but it
was a lot colder however last night it was extreemly damp where I live and wet.

I have done a bit of research on line because I dont trust taking my
car to citroen without trying to solve it myself (as any fault always
ends up costing me a fortune and it takes em a couple of times to
solve it) and several people have said about letting it run its
course and the fault should resolve itself.

True to one of the forums I looked at (www.ilexa.co.uk) discusses this and several members say that the fault will clear itself, the message will change to antipollution fault which it has and the power is still fine ..
will it really dissapear ?? has anyone done this and let the car take
its course ??

It appears that this cat converter / anti pollution fault is a well
known citroen fault on 2000 to 2005 citroen c5 2.0 petrols so surely
citroen should do something about this and recall the car ?? or am I
asking too much.. This forum also mentions the sticking hydraulic
tappets could be the cure, this was also mentioned last year by the
citroen mechanic but this route is very expensive and if it is a
fault curer once again surely citroen should be recalling the car ?

Any response will be helpful , I cant face taking my car to citroen
and starting the new year off with a big bill.

Thanks in advance

Chris
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CitroJim
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Post by CitroJim »

Hi Chris,

I don't know about the C5 specifically but I'm suspecting this "Antipolloution Warning" is analagous to the Engine Management Light on earlier Citroens, i.e. this warning comes up whenever the engine ECU detects a problem.

I'd suspect a sensor is playing up somewhere. Being there are a lot of them, the easiest and best way is to have your ECU read by an Indie who is prepared to divulge any stored fault codes that may be recorded. Something is causing the warning to come up and an intellegent read of the ECU should reveal what the car is unhappy about.
Jim

Runner, cyclist, time triallist, duathlete, Citroen AX fan and the CCC Citroenian 'From A to Z' Columnist...
mancuk29
Posts: 8
Joined: 13 May 2006, 18:23
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cat converter / anti pollution warning gone

Post by mancuk29 »

well bless my soul good start to 2008 the fault has gone , started this morning nothing no warning and car is fine

what on earth ??

the question I now have is do I take the car to citroen to find out what the fault was or do I leave it will next time ?
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AndersDK
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Re: cat converter / anti pollution warning gone

Post by AndersDK »

mancuk29 wrote:well bless my soul good start to 2008 the fault has gone , started this morning nothing no warning and car is fine

what on earth ??

the question I now have is do I take the car to citroen to find out what the fault was or do I leave it will next time ?
IMHO your Citroen dealer has already had his share of meals on your C5 :roll:

Leave it (drive it, that is) as nothing happened - until something serious pops up. The fault occurence will be stored anyway in the computer.
The C5 is notoriously known for these APF messages - not meaning anything really.

My own pocket theory is that the C5 engine management system is a bit too sensitive to all kinds of fuelling problems, that being any debries, dirt, alien chemical fuel pollution or water wandering through the filters. Any carbonising or internal corrosion (normal self destruction by wear & tear) in exhaust systems may also cause it.
Anders (DK) - '90 BX16Image
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mooseshaver
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Post by mooseshaver »

I think I read somwhere that once a fault has been flagged, and is no longer causing a problem, it takes 7 engine starts for the fault message to go away.
Citroen dealers seem to be very good at diagnosing and fixing the same fault many times with different bits.

My APF fault would disapear after a little while but I didn't count how many restarts.
C5 III Tourer 2.0 HDi 163 Auto Exclusive
Gone cars.
C5 2.2 HDi Exclusive Estate auto 57. Awesome car. Sadly Could not be fixed by Citroen.
C5 1.6 HDi VTR Estate 56. Traded in.
C5 2.2 HDi SX Estate 02. Drowned in the floods of 09.
C3 1.4 HDi 92 SX 52.
Saxo 1.1 East Coast.
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