the last time i used V-Power was on the 26th September, on the jounrney back the CEL came on.

The car itself was running fine but i booked it into the dealer who ran the tests and said it was reporting "catalyst below threshold", they cleared the fault and said there was no damage and it was probably just bad fuel.

So put it down to experience, bad batch of fuel happens, no problem.

Since then I have only been using Tesco 99, have the choice between that and V-Power and just kept with Tesco as everything running fine.

However on a longish run today, 100 miles, I called off at a Shell station (not the same one) and filled up with V-Power again.

Guess what, after about 50 miles the CEL comes on again , again no other symptons, cars running fine.

So going to have to send it back to the deale to look at, bet it comes back wtih the same fault (and another £50 lighter).

Anyone else had a similar experience, looks like I will be avoiding V-Power for good now, and sticking with Tesco.

Have sent a really snotty email to Shell but not hopefuly they will do anything though.

Rich

 

But yourself a cheap obd fault finder off eBay, or find a local member with one (plenty about) and turn the light out.
Has the car been remapped? I'm guessing its not liking the lower RON rating for some reason, or a chemical additive is causing a sensor to trigger...

 

Go 2 same shell garages & fill a can up at each
Get the fuel tested & if they are selling premium on v power pumps - you can & will have your date in court

 

I got one of these, works perfectly and will clear codes for you

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-Cab...item27ccf0e42e

 

Fuel RON won't cause a P0420 Catalyst Below Threshold error.

Are you driving it differently after filling with Shell because you had a problem before ?? The catalyst monitoring only runs at specific drive styles, so if you drive gently with the V power then the monitoring starts and detects a low catalyst efficiency. Whereas wth the Tesco you drive it a little harder and the monitor never runs.

 

may get one of these, used to have a PSI3 but sold it was contemplating getting a scanguage but this looks a lot better on the wallet

 

only problem is that both the guarages are quite a way, both a couple of hours drive, Shell have at least acknowleged my grievance and say they are looking into it - stil not holding my breath though

This is interesting, didnt drive any differently, in fact didnt even give it a second thought as i had written the first one off to a bad experience. The car is in the dealers tomorrow so i'll see what they say, but certainly last time they said it was Cat below threshold and put it down to bad fuel , i'm was aniticpating exactly the same response tomorrow but lets see

Thanks for the responses guys.

Rich

 

What car is it ? Std catalyst(s) ?

Good luck at the dealers, lets us know what they say.

 

Its a 56 STI PPP, all standard stuff apart from PPP and Genome backbox

Will post back once been to the garage in the morning.

 

Took it to the dealer this morning, as thought, exactly the same fault code and diagnosis.

Then took a trip to Gloucester, without filling up so used the rest of that tank, after 170 miles CEL comes back on again .

Got back and filled up with Tesco, gonna get the light cleared tomorrow then run it for a while on just Tesco and then try some V-Power and see it comes back again.

Still waiting to hear back from Shell

Rich

 

Tesco and V Power have the same ron rating so it's not that....

 

Appreciate that, think the point i'm trying to make with Shell here is that they have either put something in V-Power which has started triggering this error code or they are runiing sub standard fuel (i.e not 99 RON).

Don't get the problem with any other fuel (i,e Tesco 99)

Cheers
Rich

 

is the car standard ?

 

PPP and Genome backbox otherwise yep.