Hi all! Long time no see! Help?

[t7nny t5]

Hello all.
I have not been on in ages, hope you are all well.
I have been working abroad for a year and made the big mistake of leaving my 2000 W plate mk2 t5 with my friend for safe keeping. Within minutes of realising how much fuel it used my mate proceeded to park it up and leave it sitting gathering dust. I have the car running now and have had it serviced and mot'd but she is not running well at all. The emission system service light is constantly illuminated and the gear change is very slow and jerky. I have been told that i should replace the cat to cure the problem but wanted to check here if anyone had experienced anything similar.
Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Gordon

[PaulZX]

...extend right hand... issues slaps to chops of mate....

[t7nny t5]

lol. Have done!! He must be feeling guilty, he has offered to take the car to the local dealer for a diagnostic check. Not holding my breath for the offer to foot the bill though!

[paullus]

Hi
This might be a long-shot but did your mate after finding out how thirsty it was, put cheapo supermarket in. Have you put a tankful of quality fresh fuel into your car or are you still running year old fuel. Fuel does actually go off over time and the engine diagnostics will pick this up and detunes the engine to prevent damage. I was in France last year. I travelled all the way down using Shell V-Power but couldn't get it when I was desperate and had to put jungle juice in. Within 5 minutes the emission light came on. I must admit to disconnecting the battery to reset the system after filling up with V Power again and the light has never come back on so I can only assume the engine didn't like the taste of the cheap stuff.
Having said that I've been running Tesco's 99RON Super stuff for a month without problem instead of V power. The fact that if you spend £50 in Tesco they're giving 5p a litre off the pump price makes it more attractive, despite the fact I loathe Tesco's business practices which makes me a hypocrite I know!

[flyingbrick]

Hi
This might be a long-shot but did your mate after finding out how thirsty it was, put cheapo supermarket in. Have you put a tankful of quality fresh fuel into your car or are you still running year old fuel. Fuel does actually go off over time and the engine diagnostics will pick this up and detunes the engine to prevent damage. I was in France last year. I travelled all the way down using Shell V-Power but couldn't get it when I was desperate and had to put jungle juice in. Within 5 minutes the emission light came on. I must admit to disconnecting the battery to reset the system after filling up with V Power again and the light has never come back on so I can only assume the engine didn't like the taste of the cheap stuff.
Having said that I've been running Tesco's 99RON Super stuff for a month without problem instead of V power. The fact that if you spend £50 in Tesco they're giving 5p a litre off the pump price makes it more attractive, despite the fact I loathe Tesco's business practices which makes me a hypocrite I know!

might just need a good run to get rid of the cobwebs mate....