Anti Pollution Failure

[PedroC]

A few days ago, the car was stretched through the 3rd gear, near the redline, and as 4th was engaged, the car engine shut off with the dash saying 'Anti Pollution Fault' or similar. The car did not even enter limp mode, it just died and refused to tick over and start again.

 

We got it towed home, where the car entered Economy Mode and would not let us wind the windows up (They were left up) The battery was removed for 15 minutes, and we managed to get them up, still the car failed to start.

 

Took it to the garage for repairs, they claimed to have fixed it by replacing the 'coil'. Not much information was given, but a friend of ours suggested it was the wiring coil/loom for the ECU, not sure. 

 

Car ran fine for a couple of days, there was no aggressive driving of any sort. We then decided to test the car under high revs, and this time with the in 4th gear, 6000 RPM, we shifted up and the engine died once more with the same fault.

 

The car is often driven hard, but the majority of the time it isnt. The car is nearing 52000 miles and has always been a reliable runner. The rear box (muffler) is due replacing, as it is rattling.

 

What do you people thing could be wrong? Could it be the box that is stopping the car from running? Thanks in advance.

[paul.h]

You have not given any details of your car but as a guess it is a C4 with a petrol engine.

 

The message anti pollution fault just means something that could affect the exhaust emissions is faulty and the engine management light will have come on (you have not mentioned this) and a fault code will have been stored on the car. The fault code can be read using a code reader and this will give a good indication of what is wrong. Without reading the fault code you could replace lots of bits until you find the one at fault since it could be any of the engine sensors, spark plugs, a wiring fault, blocked fuel filter (I think on the C4 it sits on top of the fuel tank at one side), blocked air filter, MAF sensor or MAP sensor depending on the engine, blocked exaust if it was bad and not letting the exhaust gases out, etc.

 

It sounds as if the garage replaced the ignition coil pack which sits on top of the spark plugs, did they also replace the spark plugs ? The economy mode will not clear until the engine is runing again and prevents such things as the radio and internal lights working to stop the battery going flat.

[PedroC]

You have not given any details of your car but as a guess it is a C4 with a petrol engine.

 

The message anti pollution fault just means something that could affect the exhaust emissions is faulty and the engine management light will have come on (you have not mentioned this) and a fault code will have been stored on the car. The fault code can be read using a code reader and this will give a good indication of what is wrong. Without reading the fault code you could replace lots of bits until you find the one at fault since it could be any of the engine sensors, spark plugs, a wiring fault, blocked fuel filter (I think on the C4 it sits on top of the fuel tank at one side), blocked air filter, MAF sensor or MAP sensor depending on the engine, blocked exaust if it was bad and not letting the exhaust gases out, etc.

 

It sounds as if the garage replaced the ignition coil pack which sits on top of the spark plugs, did they also replace the spark plugs ? The economy mode will not clear until the engine is runing again and prevents such things as the radio and internal lights working to stop the battery going flat.

 

Citroen C4, 1.6 Petrol. 2007 with 110HP

 

No engine management light, as far as I can remember. The engine and whole car shut itself off.

Will need to get a code reader then, thank you

[paul.h]

If the EML did not come on there may not be any fault codes to read so you may need a diagnostic check at a Citroen dealer. If you do buy a code reader one with some live engine data is more useful such as this one from Gendan https://www.gendan.co.uk/product_FXNT200.html

 but if you want to look at more than the engine sensors Chinese copies of a Citroen Lexia are available from ebay and also easydiagnostics to install on a lap top.

[PedroC]

Would a bluetooth OBD2 reader be able to convey the information I need?

 

ie, one that would pair with the Torque app for android

[paul.h]

Possibly but I am not familiar with them.

[coastline taxis]

sounds to me like the fault is the drivers right foot. red lining any engine isnt good for it. you need to go into live data and see what the engine is doing when your trying to start it

[PedroC]

Not redlining, but coming near.

 

Driver is experienced and never allows the engine to 'cut off'