How To Change Catalytic Converter

[njmac]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum as I'm usually into german cars but have been helping a friend with his C5 recently. We managed to find broken wiring that was giving a duff brake pad wear indicator light and also, thanks to this forum, I managed to take his speedo gauges out and swap over the stepper motor from the speedo to rev counter. So now his speedo is working again. Amazingly the garage here in Finland (we're both Brits living in Finland) declared that he'd need a new dash and it would take a full day to do the work. literally thousands saved there.

 

So now we have the issue of an intermittent emissions warning light and the car has stalled on occasion. Also at times it lacks power and wil suddenly clear. The combination sounds to me like the cat has collapsed and the innards are blocking the exhaust system at times. We can probably find a cat here (although recommendations for a supplier who ships within Europe would be welcome) but I don't know anything about the exhaust system so would like some advice.

 

Does the cat attach to a downpipe somewhere near the gearbox and is it easily accessible for changing? A quick search online suggests that the cat incorporates a huge bit of piping too, possibly going the whole way from the downpipe to a back box? Would that be anywhere near correct?

 

Many thanks in advance for any help that can be offered

 

cheers

Nj

[coastline taxis]

Hi,

I'm new to the forum as I'm usually into german cars but have been helping a friend with his C5 recently. We managed to find broken wiring that was giving a duff brake pad wear indicator light and also, thanks to this forum, I managed to take his speedo gauges out and swap over the stepper motor from the speedo to rev counter. So now his speedo is working again. Amazingly the garage here in Finland (we're both Brits living in Finland) declared that he'd need a new dash and it would take a full day to do the work. literally thousands saved there.

 

So now we have the issue of an intermittent emissions warning light and the car has stalled on occasion. Also at times it lacks power and wil suddenly clear. The combination sounds to me like the cat has collapsed and the innards are blocking the exhaust system at times. We can probably find a cat here (although recommendations for a supplier who ships within Europe would be welcome) but I don't know anything about the exhaust system so would like some advice.

 

Does the cat attach to a downpipe somewhere near the gearbox and is it easily accessible for changing? A quick search online suggests that the cat incorporates a huge bit of piping too, possibly going the whole way from the downpipe to a back box? Would that be anywhere near correct?

 

Many thanks in advance for any help that can be offered

 

cheers

Nj

Hi is it petrol diesel. what size engine. year/model/milage. The emisions warning light is it saying anti pollution fault

[njmac]

Hi is it petrol diesel. what size engine. year/model/milage. The emisions warning light is it saying anti pollution fault

 

 

Sorry, what an amateur mistake. it's a 2001 2.0 16v estate LHD (not sure the LHD will make a difference though). Yes, it's the anti pollution warning light that has come on and the citroen garage have told him he needs a new cat at something around €700 plus fitting plus vat

thanks

nj

[Johndouglas]

citroen garage have told him he needs a new cat at something around €700 plus fitting plus

 

My suppliers price would be around GBP230 but whether or not they ship abroad, I don't know.

 

http://www.onlineautomotive.co.uk/Products.aspx?CategoryID=114063

[njmac]

My suppliers price would be around GBP230 but whether or not they ship abroad, I don't know.

 

http://www.onlineautomotive.co.uk/Products.aspx?CategoryID=114063

 

excellent, thanks John. I'll contact them to see if they'll ship over here. Looks like the flange of the cat will be quite far up into the engine bay so only way to know for sure will be to get under the car and get the undertray off. I'm wondering what kind of system is used to fasten the flange to the exhaust manifold or downpipe, whatever it connects to? Hopefully a simple bolt on bracket. I'll check this before ordering in case it has seen better days and needs replaced at the same time

 

cheers

nj

[Johndouglas]

I've just purchased from these guys a rear box and the pipe running between the two boxes for my daughter's Xsara. Price and speed of delivery was excellent. Both joints were flanged but three new hangers and two new flange clips added only a small extra to the total bill. Therefore the use of an angle grinder made short work of the original rusted clips.

[njmac]

Ah.. good old angle grinder. beats WD40, rostoff etc and any amount of socket and ratchett shenanigans any day.

Definitely good to get new hangers and whatever kind of brackets Citroens use for the flanges. I've emailed to see if they can deliver here so I'll update the thread with what they say and notes on the fitting of the cart once I have one.

Probably best stick a new lambda/O2 sensor on there at the same time.

[Guest digitalinkjetman]

Dosent Biltema have all the bits?? :angry:

[njmac]

Dosent Biltema have all the bits?? :angry:

 

erm.. no idea. my finnish is rubbish :)

But I'll get my wife to have a look http://www.biltema.fi/

onlineautomotive say they can ship to finland so I'll check both options.

 

thanks for the pointer. Had no idea about Biltema although a local parts store did tell my mate he'd been looking at €400ish so onlineautomotive's prices would be way better

[njmac]

Online Automotive have given me decent prices and will deliver to Finland. The question now is should I replace one or both lambda/oxygen sensors at the same time? I'd be incline dto say yes but at £47 and £87 plus vat each they're not cheap

[coastline taxis]

Wouldnt bother changing any of the lambda,s if i were you as the fault is the cat and the lambdas are just the messengers reporting the fault to the ecu who then puts the mil/anti poliution fault on.

[paul.h]

Is the the car petrol or diesel (already asked by Coastline but not yet answered) ?

 

There have been lots of posts on this forum on anti pollution warnings but I can not remember anyone mentioning replacing the catalyst or lambda sensors. Before you buy any bits, have a good search of this forum. To check the cat I think possibilities are you could use a code reader to see the lambda values either side, measure the exhaust emissions, measure the pressure drop across it, tap it to see if it sounds rattly (broken up internally) - presumably the Citroen garage have done some checks though to say it needs replacing plus also checks on the lambda sensors to make you want to replace them.

[njmac]

Wouldnt bother changing any of the lambda,s if i were you as the fault is the cat and the lambdas are just the messengers reporting the fault to the ecu who then puts the mil/anti poliution fault on.

 

Brilliant, good enough for me mate. 9 years maybe isn't enough to soot them up too badly. I'll try the new cat to start with and see how that goes.

cheers

nj

[njmac]

Brilliant, good enough for me mate. 9 years maybe isn't enough to soot them up too badly. I'll try the new cat to start with and see how that goes.

cheers

nj

 

 

New cat fitted and left the battery disconnected for ages but the engine warning light and emissions light are still coming on. Does it need reset by the dealer with diagnostics or should the battery disconnect have done it?

If disconnecting the battery should have done it then maybe I have to change the oxygen sensors too? I'm not sure what else, other than the O2 sensors, would cause these issues. aghhh!!!

 

cheers

nj

[Guest digitalinkjetman]

I had to get mine reset after the fault wouldnt clear itself.

[njmac]

I had to get mine reset after the fault wouldnt clear itself.

 

that's what I was thinking but my friend took it to the dealer yesterday and the diagnostics read 5 different error codes so they're going to change the fusebox today. I thought that was a bit odd but after a bit of research it seems like a particular problem with the C5. It's going to be a bit annoying if it was just that and my mate bought a new cat, which I fitted, for nothing. especially since I cut the old one in two to throw into his boot.

still, if it's not the fusebox that leaves things open for the garage to start changing everything in sight. oh dear...