HELP Needed for Catalytic Converter

[Dcag37]

I have a 2001 (Y Reg) 2.8 V6 Auto Ford Galaxy and i Suspect the Catalytic Converter is gone and no one seems to supply them for my car except two places FORD want Ã,£900 and another place said they can get one for Ã,£550 apparently my vehicle is rare and it needs a type approved converter.

the symptoms are....
Acceleration Hesitation (Like its Missing a Spark) when the engine is warmed up.
A Rotten Egg Smell coming from the Exhaust

the part number for the converter is: 91301H has anyone got any ideas who supplies these please.

Also would a Faulty Lambada (Oxygen) Sensor give the same symptoms ive tried a Diagnostic tester but all im getting is a LINK ERROR Message.

Any help would be appreciated

Cheers

[sasquartch]

ECP have them for around 100 quid

Not original but should be OK to keep a 14 year old car on the road for another few years.

Paying Ford prices would be madness

Alternatively try a VW specialist as the engine is VW not Ford - perhaps that would be a good avenue to investigate.

Where abouts are you ? I know of a good VW parts supplier near me (Herts)

[insanitybeard]

Are you sure it's a catalyst fault and not a problem caused by misfiring- e.g, a dodgy coil pack or leads?

If you want to try checking for fault codes then a cheap cable and VCDS download would be the way to go, numerous threads on here about it- here for example, the linked thread also has a link into the reference library containing articles on carrying out diagnostics yourself.

[Dcag37]

im in manchester lol has to be type approved or else your fined Ã,£5000 lol

i thought it was just misfiring but the strong bad egg smell points to a converter problem

[insanitybeard]

I'm not sure about that, if it's a heavy misfire and there's a lot of unburned fuel going down the exhaust into the cat then it could be coating the catalyst surfaces and preventing the CAT doing it's job properly. How rough is the engine running/ idling?

[Chrispb]

You could try here
http://www.onlineautomotive.co.uk/Ford_Galaxy_Catalytic%20Converters.aspx

[Chrispb]

Isn't that normal to get the bad egg smell when warming up?

[Dcag37]

thanks for the replies....

when warmed up it idles quite rough.

ive finally got my fault code reader working 4 fault codes as follows....

P0116 Engine coolant Temp Circuit Range/Performance
P0441 Evaporative Emmision System Incorrect Purge Flow
P1118 Manifold Absolute Temp Sensor Circuit Too Low
P1198 Pump Rotor Control Underfueling

its all jargon to me lol

[Chrispb]

I would check for codes using Vagcom or VCDS lite as I dont think the description of 1118 and 1198 are VW
The first two
0116 coolant temperature sensor
0441 could simply be a split or blocked hose for emission canister

[Dcag37]

ive just looked at the fault codes on this site and....

P1118 is O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank1 Sensor 2 Open
P1198 is O2 Sensor Heater Circuit Bank 1 Sensor Electrical Malfunction

am i right in thinking these are the lambada sensors

thanks

[Chrispb]

That's right they are the VW descriptions for that code, yes O2 sensor is the lambda sensor.

[Dcag37]

i have 2 lambada sensors one in front of the converter and one behind is it possible it could be the front one

thanks for your help

[insanitybeard]

This is an educated guess on my part so don't take my word as gospel but I'm assuming 'sensor 2' would be the downstream one (i.e, after the CAT).

[Dcag37]

thanks for all the advice/help ive received, i have ordered a lambada sensor which im gonna try before forking out for a converter cause Ã,£550 is ridiculous for a chunk of metal lol

[sasquartch]

But a pattern cat is only a 100 quid - why are you still thinking it has to be a genuine ford / vw item ?

On an old car it simply doesn't make sense to spend that kind of money on genuine parts that will probably far outlive the rest of the car

[Dcag37]

Because it needs to be a approved cat its illegal to fit/use the non approved cat if found out there's a fine of Ã,£5000 pounds and not only that the car would fail any future mot on emissions

[insanitybeard]

How do you know the car would fail on emissions by using an aftermarket catalyst? Unless said replacement is a real mickey mouse piece of junk I can't see how that would be the case.

And whilst technically & legally a replacement catalyst might need to be type approved, it would need to be proved that you had knowingly fitted the thing, and if the vehicle passes an emissions test, who is going to know or care?

In any case, any reputable parts dealer supplying an aftermarket CAT to suit your vehicle would have to supply one that complied with current regs- is the issue that they can't supply an aftermarket CAT to suit your vehicle?