Car broke down yesterday

Mizydoscape

Hoping for some advice from someone who knows what they're talking about

Yesterday my car broke down on the way home from work on a stretch of dual carriageway that is notoriously dangerous. The engine management light came on and the car went into limp mode. Luckily I managed to struggle off the road into a side junction and called the RAC. They plugged the car in and the computer told them there was an "intermittent fault misfire on coil 1 - risk of destroying catalytic convertor". They got the part and repaired it for me and the car felt like it was running great on the way home and nursery run this morning.

However, it suddenly occurred to me that the previous morning, on the way to work, I had an awful smell in the car that disappeared after maybe 1-2 minutes. Having Googled (I know) the repair done yesterday I am now panicking that I've destroyed my cat (that's what the smell was) by continuing to drive the car with a misfire.

Would that be obvious if I had? I don't know if I should now take it to my local garage to check over but don't want to spend out more money if all should be fine now the coil has been replaced. Equally I don't want to damage my car as its essential to get around where I live.

Many thanks for an my advice!

bartelbe

The issue is the misfire has caused unburnt fuel/air mixture to reach the CAT. If left long enough, it could damage it but I doubt it will if you caught it relatively quickly, which you did.

The only way to be certain is to have the emissions checked but to be honest, I wouldn't worry about it.

Mizydoscape

bartelbe said:

The issue is the misfire has caused unburnt fuel/air mixture to reach the CAT. If left long enough, it could damage it but I doubt it will if you caught it relatively quickly, which you did.

The only way to be certain is to have the emissions checked but to be honest, I wouldn't worry about it.

Thanks for your response. From noticing the smell and then it disappearing I probably drove about 25 miles in total (in 2 journeys) before I pulled over and called the RAC who replaced the coil.

Flight3287462

What is the age of the car?  I presume it is not in its first flush of youth.  So aged coil packs, best be ready for a  repeat on another coil pack, keep an eye on it.

If young hopefully just a faulty coil pack.

Mizydoscape

It's a 65 plate with around 51000 miles on the clock

Goudy

Some unburnt fuel has made it's way into the catalytic converter and it couldn't process the hydrogen sulfide because of it, so it smells like bad eggs.

Getting some heat into the catalytic converter should help shift the unburnt fuel and get the Cat working again

So try a run out at speed to get it all up to temp and see if it still smells after.

m0bov

Id get all the other coil packs changed as well.

BOWFER

Is it a Vauxhall, by any chance?

KimJongUn88

Have a Google on how to change the coil packs on your specific vehicle. It’s usually a case of a couple of Allen head or torx bolts to be undone, unplug a connector and pull the coil pack out. Replace the other ones and you’ll be in decent shape.

Mizydoscape

Thank you all for the advice.

It is a citroen Bowfer.

Goudy, it had a good run at 70mph on the way home from the repair and again at lunchtime today and I haven't smelt anything at all.

It seems to be running happier at the moment as well.

Kimjong it did look relatively simple what they did. He also did confirm my sparkplugs were brand new which I was hoping as the car had a service a month ago.

Richard53

Mizydoscape said:

It is a citroen Bowfer.

I had one of those. Nothing but trouble

Seriously, though - don't go spending money on it. If it's running OK, leave well alone. Be aware that your coil packs might be at an age where they start to fail, but you have seen it's not a massive job. Just deal with it when it happens, no need to replace them all as a precaution. Same with the cat - if it fails its next MoT on emissions, a damaged cat might be the cause, but cross that bridge when you come to it.