So im cruisin' down del mar ave this morning around 430am and my SES comes for no apparent reason. Didnt stall or make any noises at all, in fact today it still runs great.

Only engine mod on this car is a 2% crank pulley, which was performed two weeks ago by me with no problems whatsoever. I consider myself a pretty good wrench. My car is completely stock otherwise.

I dont have a code scanner but it might be time to invest in one....anyone know if the ones harbor freight has are pretty good???

Would like ideas on this so as to try and avoid a trip to..........i hate saying this................gasp!!!THE DEALERSHIP!!!!

 

go to an auto zone . they'll do it for free . they do it as part of tservice . then but a scanner .

 

Herbie, Thanks for the tip. Good thing there are two autozones on the way home...Now as far as scanners go, im sure not are all created equal...is there a particular type i should get, or one with particular features/capabilities?

 

I'll be curious to see if the 2% pulley caused the problem since I was considering installing one on my '06 JCW...

 

may just be something stupid like a prematurely faulty o2 sensor. you're still under warranty so just let the dealer deal with it

would pulley void warranty?

 

I made a mistake, its not the CEL, its the SES light...

But i bought a cheap code reader from Kragen. Heres what i got.

Code = P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold

Ive done 4+ crank pulley installs, never a problem...until now. Grr!!!

 

does that mean the cat is burnt out or something?

on my old rx-7 i ran around w/ a completely dead cat for a while. there was no effect on performance, just wouldn't pass smog

 

You should be fine, ive done 4+ of these and this is the first time ive got a light......and it wasnt right after the pulley install either, i got the SES light two weeks after the crank pulley install...



I hope not, my '06 only has 2700 miles on the odometer...that would really blow......i cleared the code and lets see if it comes back, if so i'll go to the dealer...

 

i got a pretty good scanner from sears i think or maybe summit but whatever . it does obd 1 and 2 and has connectors for different makes . i think it was sears . just try to buy something versitle ; you never know .

 

Its been a week and so far so good, the SES light hasnt come back....(yet?)

 

tshubin- dont worry too much about it. my car mysteriously started
popping SES when i had the v42 (?) reflash done.... almost every
3-4 weeks. each time the 02 sensor bank1. dealer looked at it,
nothing wrong with the car. by the 3rd time i just bought a scanner
and logged when i got the SES and just cleared it.

after a couple more weeks the SES mysteriously stopped appearing.
haven't got one for almost 2years now.

 

kenchan, thanks for the heads up. only reason i was concerned was cuz of the cars low miles.

As for my other MINI (The HB mcs you see in my sig here) thats a whole diff story....I get the SES off and on all the time, but its cuz of my m7 tb so im use to it...

 

SES Light is back with a vengence!!! Same code, P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold.....look like its off to the dealer for me....

Gotta go there anyway cuz i can hear the tranny 'moan' when you're getting into first gear, like bare metal to bare metal rubbing together.....so ive stopped driving it for now...