K Reg 214, first loss of power, then muffler and CAT exploded!

Your 1.4 MPi engine should give over 100 ps, as good as many 1.6 engines, and a top speed around the 100 mark. Sounds like something badly amiss with the fuelling/ignition/valve timing, although if the catalyst has completely collapsed this could block the exhaust and cause similar symptoms. These areas should all be checked by a competent mechanic, ideally one with the diagnostic equipment to read any fault codes from the ECU. If the catalyst is not blocked, whatever else went wrong has probably allowed significant amounts of unburnt fuel through the engine, which has destroyed the catalyst, so you need to get it checked out. One thing you could try is to remove the dead catalyst, and bang something through the matrix to create a straight-though section (check that the rest of the exhaust is not blocked at the same time). Refit it, then see how the car behaves with no cat - if it's OK, replace the cat, as you won't pass MOT or roadside check without one.

BTW price for a new 214 cat from Cats Direct website is under £70 including VAT and delivery, so it shouldn't cost a fortune - make sure you get a decent price from your fitter.

Hope this helps - Bob

Hi Bob, thanks for your suggestions. Here is an update:

Quick-fit replaced the muffler and in the process found a chunk of the Catalytic converter inside it! It was melted and twisted on one end. Based on this I also had them change the CAT. Total cost with new muffler and CAT + fitting was £220, not too bad I guess. Then I took the car into a Rover garage for an emmisions check, which has failed; Too rich (as expected, hence melted CAT). I have had to leave the car with them (Four Seasons Garage in Kingston) and the mechanic says that it may be the middle exhaust, but somehow I doubt it. Timing? Carb problem? ECU probelm? Who knows, all I know is it's going to cost more than I expected.

Thanks for your help

-lawrence

Lawrence.

Don't be at all surprised if the Lambda sensor has gone futt as well due to the shagged catalytic convertor. That would make the car run too rich.

PDH

Ok chaps,

It turns out that the timing was way out! The mechanic at Four Seasons says that the garage who fitted the alternator didn't check the timing.

Is timing something that should be checked when replacing an alternator?

Anyway,the car has now passed emissions, and is performing better, so it seems this was it!

regards - Lawrence

Another update, Bad News!!

Four Seasons released the car yesterday saying it had passed an emissions test, so the car was taken back to the original garage to complete the MOT. It failed the emissions test once again!!!! So, its now back at Four Seasons where they are scratching their heads.

I must say that I find auto mechanics to be just about the most incompetent bunch of people in the world. They are supposed to understand how to test for issues and repair them. They have huge workshops full of equipment and tools, access to loads of information, years of experience and also support from the manufactures, and they STILL can't get it right. I'm talking here from years of experience with these jokers. When I was in South Africa I used to fix my own cars but lack of space here makes that near impossible. Why do we allow this? I work in a profession where I repair machines that are much more complicated than cars, and we don't have this kind of incompetence, so why do they? Genetic?

-Lawrence

I think that's the problem here - car mechanics are not usually rocket scientists, but vehicles are now very sophisticated pieces of machinery and a good understanding of the technology is required to resolve many problems. I was intrigued by what your garage said before about timing being the problem - I can't see how the ignition timing would be out, as it's controlled by the ECU which takes it's reference directly from the crankshaft. You need to reprogram the ECU to change the timing, and why would you do that? As to the alternator work done previously, this should not have affected anything, and I would be very surprised if the mechanic checked anything (other than alternator output) once the work was complete. Other posters have suggested the lambda sensor as being the problem - very likely, and the obvious thing to check if emissions are still bad with a new cat fitted. The sensor is easy enough to test, but chances are the garage will just change it anyway (at your expense) to see if it fixes the problem. Good luck - hope you get it sorted soon, they are pretty good cars when they are working properly.

I was told the cat manufacturers always say you should replace the oygen sensor when you replace a catalytic convertor. I would hassle the Rover stealership until they get it right...no matter how many visits it takes.

--Steve