Exhaust woes

Well if it's whistling somethings leaking which you'll be telling the fitters to fix. High CO implies either the lamda sensor or the wirings faulty but it's in the front pipe you originally tried to get replaced.

ok, i can see no sign of the lambda sensor in the front pipe, i'm assuming it should be screwed into the pipe somewhere...but no signs of it.

Could they have took the old pipe and sensor and chucked the lot away?

Bet you any money they have fitted some bodge pipe and not the right one as any punto should havea lambda sensore, other than a diesel!

They will have pulled the lot if they are half as dodgey as they sound! kinda why i only trust a very good garage with my car, and do as much work as possible! soon to be exhaust system and front wishbones. also if you need parts try alternative autos in hull or sheffield i think they are or

okidokey, found the sensor neatly tucked away near the flexy section.

Tell me if this isn;t proof that the sensor has failed :

Started engine, noise persisting, unplugged the sensor from within engine bay, makes no difference to the running?

It won't make any difference till it's hot. & the only foolproof way to test it is to stick a meter or an oscilloscope on it

unplugging it won't do anything as it's not working anyway :) remove it and spray it liberally with some sort of carb cleaner let is soak put it back in take the car for a full pelt rant up and down the motorway so it's getting hot and combusting properly then stick it on a co thing if there is a difference then it's the sensor that's on the way out

the whistling might suggest that it is trying to correct and it's not being able to

thankyouthankyouthankyou

not sure i wanna thrash it down the motorway though, i can do without paying for a another cat.

point of note..would the use of silicon sealant as a gasket material cause it to fail so quickly (old pipe running fine but holed, new pipe fitted and then fooked? i did read that silicon can "polish" the surface of the sensor (i think i'm looking to get a free sensor from the exhaust company but who know what might happen)

Silicone sealant will destroy lambda sensors but you don't normally apply it to exhausts.

they DID apply silicon to all the joints, i think a stern word in their direction is in order.

and hoo hoo baby...they have a website

you sure it's silicon? they squeeze exhaust paste out of them little trigger tubes now as well has it got any left on the surface? is it very very hard and brittle or just soft and spongy?

not sure, i'll let you know tomorrow, it's chucking down with rain now. When i looked earlier (today and last week when they 1st fitted the front pipe it was clear and looked kinda gooey)

Sadly they'll doubtless claim it was special lamda proof silicone (which you can buy) .

The message from DuncanWood contains these words:

They even do special forms of copper grease - without any copper in it from the appearance. Last couple of sensors I replaced came with a tiddly sachet of silvery grease.

i've just completed the cleaning operation and still no difference. I checked the plugs and they're all black and sooty so overfuelling IS the problem ( zero volts = ecu thinks engine is running lean and adds fuel)

Does silicone destroy or just coat the sensor in nasty stuff?

Buggers it.

hmm...buggers it, that kinda sums up what has happened to it.

thanx Duncan for all your help man and to all others that have fed me info. I've placed an online order for a replacement sensor (£37.50 including postage), i'll need to wire the thing in with some connectors from the stores at work but with any luck (i don;t seem to be having much at this point in my life with cars) it'll fix the problem. I'll keep you posted on the progress (even if you don;t want feedback...you're gonna get it ;-)

They're fairly straightforward to wire up, stick a bit of silicone grease on the cable joints (not the sensor :-)) after you've made them as they corrode with road salt. Also whilst you're down there just check tehy haven'y melted the wires going to it on the exhaust manifold, a guaranteed means to make you swear.

new sensor fitted (went like a breeze).

Noise on acceleration still persists but not so audible, gonna give it good run tomorrow just to see what happens. The gasket material has set to a translucent white colour so i'm assuming they did use a non-lambda sensor friendly silicone based material.

fookin noots, red injector light is now coming on so it's off to the fiat dealership for a full check with their computer thingy on thursday.

:-(