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Old 20 November 2012, 10:36 PM
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RikTee
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Default V-Power and Check Engine Light

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
Old 20 November 2012, 10:54 PM
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overboostUK
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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...
Old 20 November 2012, 11:12 PM
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jazzyjembreaze
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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
Old 21 November 2012, 09:31 AM
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alphaj12
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I got one of these, works perfectly and will clear codes for you

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-Cab...item27ccf0e42e
Old 21 November 2012, 05:20 PM
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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.
Old 21 November 2012, 07:54 PM
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Originally Posted by alphaj12
I got one of these, works perfectly and will clear codes for you

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ELM327-Cab...item27ccf0e42e
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
Old 21 November 2012, 07:58 PM
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Originally Posted by jazzyjembreaze
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
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

Originally Posted by DT-SPD
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.
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

Last edited by RikTee; 21 November 2012 at 07:59 PM.
Old 21 November 2012, 08:17 PM
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What car is it ? Std catalyst(s) ?

Good luck at the dealers, lets us know what they say.
Old 21 November 2012, 08:22 PM
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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.
Old 22 November 2012, 08:03 PM
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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
Old 22 November 2012, 08:25 PM
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Tesco and V Power have the same ron rating so it's not that....
Old 23 November 2012, 10:01 AM
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Originally Posted by richie001
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
Old 23 November 2012, 10:07 AM
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is the car standard ?
Old 23 November 2012, 10:09 AM
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PPP and Genome backbox otherwise yep.
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