Twingo GT - Engine Management Light and Spanner on?

[tonard]

Hi,

I have a Twingo GT and the Engine Management light and Spanner lights have come on. The car seems to be running fine and was wondering if anyone could give me some ideas why this might happen?

Not running rough, changed sparks about -600 miles ago with dealer supplied and running better than before fitted. Done Approx 52k miles.

Cheers
T

 

[tonard]

Just found out that the light is listed as a 'Toxic Fume Filter System Warning Light' and not an Engine Man light..not sure if that helps

 

[oscar]

basically this means that your emissions system is faulty. this could mean that either the fueling is out / faulty, oxygen sensors are faulty, coilpack faulty or ht leads faulty, or that your catalytic converter is not working as it should. it could also indicate something sinister like a head gasket failure where water or oil is entering the combustion chamber even in small quantities and the oxygen sensors are picking this up and throwing up the fault code.

the only thing that's going to help you in this instance will be an emissions tests + an EOBD2 scanner with live sensor data functionality to ensure that the ignition timing is correct, throttle etc is correct, cooling system temperatures are correct and to check fuel trims so on so forth. then with the emissions test, you can pin it down through that. an emissions test will cost you around an hours labour at any garage and they'll be able to tell you straight away what the cause is by the result of the emissions test

 

[singlespeed]

Does the GT have two lambda sensors? (Not sure)

I know some cars only have one sensor, so the cat performance isn't monitored.

 

[oscar]

Does the GT have two lambda sensors? (Not sure)

I know some cars only have one sensor, so the cat performance isn't monitored.

yeah has the two

 

[Twingoroe]

Does the engine management light flash on and off? My spanner light kept coming on and the eml would flash on and off, changed injectors and now is perfect

 

[oscar]

Does the engine management light flash on and off? My spanner light kept coming on and the eml would flash on and off, changed injectors and now is perfect

that's fair enough, no doubt it was a different problem from yours as there are so many different causes that can turn this light on. the best thing to do is properly diagnose the route problem before you go chucking parts at it as that leads to big expenses pretty quickly

 

[tonard]

Thanks for all the info gents, will get the garage to take a look.

 

[Spitfire1]

Not sure where you are based, but do you know anyone with a code reader, I've got one you can use plus it will clear the code in the short term.

I bet your post cat O2 sensors gone.

 

[oscar]

Not sure where you are based, but do you know anyone with a code reader, I've got one you can use plus it will clear the code in the short term.

I bet your post cat O2 sensors gone.

won't be any good rob unless it has a live sensor function to get access to live data otherwise it's a needle in a haystack?? and if so then ignore the next bit.

EOBD2 is wildly out of date nowadays with the IOS codes etc which manufacturers now use and will only lead you into great difficulty when it comes to diagnosing emissions system faults using EOBD2. for example, the stereotypical example of EOBD2 is with a vacuum leak. i've seen people go crazy with EOBD2 systems replacing fuel injectors, spark plugs, fuel filters, lambda sensors all of which sprung up codes and much much more only to give up and take it to someone with clip diagnostics and a map fault was brought up instantly only to have a peak, only to see that a vacuum hose wasn't connected which lead to all those codes coming up!

I need to renew my clip license next year. 2 grand down the swanny

 

[Spitfire1]

Not sure where you are based, but do you know anyone with a code reader, I've got one you can use plus it will clear the code in the short term.

I bet your post cat O2 sensors gone.

won't be any good rob unless it has a live sensor function to get access to live data otherwise it's a needle in a haystack?? and if so then ignore the next bit.

EOBD2 is wildly out of date nowadays with the IOS codes etc which manufacturers now use and will only lead you into great difficulty when it comes to diagnosing emissions system faults using EOBD2. for example, the stereotypical example of EOBD2 is with a vacuum leak. i've seen people go crazy with EOBD2 systems replacing fuel injectors, spark plugs, fuel filters, lambda sensors all of which sprung up codes and much much more only to give up and take it to someone with clip diagnostics and a map fault was brought up instantly only to have a peak, only to see that a vacuum hose wasn't connected which lead to all those codes coming up!

I need to renew my clip license next year. 2 grand down the swanny

The current reader I have is up-dated via the web and worked fine when I had a post cat code come up after the rolling road day the other month, the only thing it will not do is the airbag which I wouldn't want to do any way - a reasonable code reader should at least give you a good idea where to look.

 

[TwingoJoe94]

I had the same problem. The spanner and the engine management would come on and one would flash. Looked in the manual and it said toxic fume blah blah. Had it code read and it came up with something like P0300 or something like that, which is ignition fault. I had the coil and leads changed under warranty a while back before the problem occured and the plugs done around 100 miles ago. I put forte injector cleaner in to see if it was that but it still hasn't done anything. It only ever does it on idle and never when im driving or when i come to a stop in traffic, only on start up. sometimes it misses like f**k and other times the lights come on with no change to the revs. And when it does miss like f**k, all i have to do is tap the throttle and it will go back to normal. Do you have any of the same symptoms? If so give me an idea because im stumped. Or if anyone else knows whats wrong with it?

 

[oscar]

I had the same problem. The spanner and the engine management would come on and one would flash. Looked in the manual and it said toxic fume blah blah. Had it code read and it came up with something like P0300 or something like that, which is ignition fault. I had the coil and leads changed under warranty a while back before the problem occured and the plugs done around 100 miles ago. I put forte injector cleaner in to see if it was that but it still hasn't done anything. It only ever does it on idle and never when im driving or when i come to a stop in traffic, only on start up. sometimes it misses like f**k and other times the lights come on with no change to the revs. And when it does miss like f**k, all i have to do is tap the throttle and it will go back to normal. Do you have any of the same symptoms? If so give me an idea because im stumped. Or if anyone else knows whats wrong with it?

tapping the throttle is the big give away here. check your throttle butterfly! it's obviously sticking or something strange like that on idle. although as always, it's impossible to tell without seeing it for myself!

by catching it before it almost stalls on idle, tapping the throttle to pick the revs up 'catches' it which indicates airflow isn't getting through. this could be the throttle body (butterfly or IAC valve) both electronic so be careful with cleaning it.

 

[TwingoJoe94]

I did say that to the guy who did my service, he cleaned it out with a cotton bud while i held the throttle pedal down, he said it wouldnt be the throttle body, but theres always a possibility. Reason he cleaned it in the first place was because it would only open about 80% of the way, after we had finished cleaning it opened around 85%, so it wasnt going as fast as it should, which is important when your as young as 20. But ill be having a look on the weekend now that youve said that. Thanks.

 

[oscar]

I did say that to the guy who did my service, he cleaned it out with a cotton bud while i held the throttle pedal down, he said it wouldnt be the throttle body, but theres always a possibility. Reason he cleaned it in the first place was because it would only open about 80% of the way, after we had finished cleaning it opened around 85%, so it wasnt going as fast as it should, which is important when your as young as 20. But ill be having a look on the weekend now that youve said that. Thanks.

although i say the thottle body, remember that it's electronic and relies on signal from the unit itself. intermittent faults can cause it to think it's open when it's actually idling so on so forth causing the IAC valve to close resulting in the revs dropping. this doesn't mean that it's an actual cause of the fault, merely a place to begin your investigations.

P0300 is the mother of all missfire codes. choose from 40+ different parts of your fuel, ignition and ECU sensor systems! this means that more than 2 of your cylinders are missfiring. remember that this problem is something that effects the whole engine

1 - spark plugs.
check that the gap is good. check that all 4 sparks are strong and blue (disengage fuel pump by removing the fuel pump fuse, start engine till it cuts out.) then get wooden tongs hold the spark plug with the wooden tongs on the cylinder head a pubes width above the cylinder head and watch the spark whilst a friend cranks the engine. repeat over 4 cylinders and watch out for any differences over 4 cylinders
note - do not attempt this without dissengaging the fuel pump. otherwise, fuel is going into the engine and out the spark plug hole and BANG!

2 - check for vacuum leaks.
run the engine. do you hear any hissing sounds? if so try and track the problem down, cautiously get some brake cleaner and spray it around PCV / Vacuum hoses one by one ... listen out for a change in RPM, this means that the brake cleaner is being sucked in through a leak and is being combusted as fuel. bingo! also spray it around the intakes of vacuum hoses cautiously.

3. check for fuel pressure.
you may have a fuel pressure regulator that's not maintaning pressure possibly due to a blocked fuel filter or faulty fuel pump. one for the garage to do unfortunately

4. check your battery & alternator.
when a car idles, it's at it's lowest charging rate as this relates directly to RPM. it may be the case that the battery is bad, see here how/how-check-battery-condition-make-sure-charging-t11916.html although you will want to perform a proper test, testing for CCA. your local motorfactors and halfords will be able to do this for you for close to feck all! my link will only show you charging rate,not battery capacity.

5. map sensor.
the most common cause of P0300 alongside vacuum leaks. google that one yourself lol my fingers are bleeding!