Intermittant issue with starting my 406

Hi,

Got a 2002 406 2ltr Petrol (Rapier). Every 1500 miles or so I'll start
the car from cold, it'll be rough as hell with messages like 'Pollution
control Failure' and 'catalytic converter failure'.

If I then stop the engine, turn her over, she'll fire up with no problem
and run as well as she ever has. The engine management light on the
dash stays on for a four or five jouneys then goes out.

Should this be something I should worry about, i.e. spend money on
taking the car to a garage or do you think it could be something I can
sort out myself?

Please let me know if you need any more information.

Thanks and regards,

Rich

 

The anti-pollution alarm, in particular the catalytic convertor alarm, will
come on for any engine fault that causes neat petrol to go down the
exhaust pipe.

The 2L engine has got hydraulic tappets which get a patina after a few years
and make them sluggish in operation. Net result .... the exhaust port is
still
slightly open when the compression stroke comes up, so neat fuel
goes down the exhaust pipe.

The two alarms that you mention result in uninformed mechanics replacing
the catalytic convertor, the ignition coil pack and the injector on the
faulty cylinder, but the cure is to flush the hydraulic tappets before
refilling
with oil.

One long term cure is to replace them with those from the 1.8 engine.

 

Thanks for that advice. I'll certainly investigate further.

Best regards,

Rich