Chrisn01

Hiya Guys

The other day, was driving on the motor way in my 2001 Bugeye WRX when the emmisions light come on (yellow engine light). Iv now noticed that theres a smell of petrol coming through the air vents and dont think my fuel ecomomy is as good as it was either. Im just a bit worried about driving it now as due to the time of year, cant get it looked at for over a week, but really need my car. Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Chrisn01

Oh.... Forgot to mention, the smell only comes through when I have the airvents on!

Cheers

Botswana WRX

Hi Chris,
Thats a CEL (check engine light) unfortunatly there are hundreds of reasons why it might come on!

The smell of petrol is most likely from a leak around the filter / fuel rail area if so the fuel pressure will reduce to not very much after leaving the car standing for a couple of hours, you can check that by removing the fuel line from the filter on the engine side you should get a good squirt of fuel out when you do that, if not it must be leaking somewhere.
Or it can be from the tank where the fuel pump fits. You should get audible ssssh when you undo the filler cap if you do not, suspect the pump gasket (accessable from the boot under the plate on the right by the seat back)

Did you notice any change in performance? misfire at high power or anything like that when the CEL came on?
Good luck

Chrisn01

Hiya Mate

Thanks for the reply, well when the cell origionaly come on, was driving fine and wasnt even driving hard and was accelarating from 50 to 70. But now, feels a bit slugish and fuel ecomnoy has gone out the window, not sure if its gone into limp mode or something. Iv had a general look under the bonnett, but cant see anything untoward. Gona try getting my hands on a OBD reader and see what fault codes come on. The main thing im worried about now is if it is safe to drive as dont wont it bursting in to flames or anything :0(

Botswana WRX

Reader is your best bet.
If you were just tootling along and then accelerated it could just be the MAF (mass airflow sensor) cos you would be going from closed loop where the oxygen sensor is used to maintain a stoich mixture of around 14.6 air fuel ratio to richer calculated by the ECU based on airflow and temperature from the MAF and a few other things like throttle position, absolute manifold pressure (boost) etc.
If the MAF gives silly results the ECU will go to limp mode and limit boost, put more fuel in and retard the timing, but you will notice the lack of performance!
unless you are driving very carefully.

Chrisn01

Cheers for all you help mate, ill let you know what comes up when i do the obd reader. Well have a good christmas :0)

Cheers

ozbod1

this has happened to me 3 times in as many weeks, its a frikin pain, 1st time it was a cam sensor{bye bye £190} second time subaru said loose wire on coil pack, then came on again yesterday...really getting on my t.ts now

Chrisn01

Hiya

Fianly got my hands on a OBD reader from ebay (Memoscan U381) which I have to say works a treat. It come up with P0420 Catalyst Effiency Below Threshold Bank 1. Iv reset it and so far so good. Just wondered, I put a highflow cat downpipe on 4 motnhs back, is this likely to be related or more likely a faulty Lambda Sensor?

Cheers Fellas