Hello all!

I've had a look and I can't find the answer to my Q. It's for my girlfriends car, a 2000 punto 1.2

The other day we pulled up onto the pavement and didn't see a kerbstone that was pointing vertically. Although we were doing about 2mph the car stopped immediately, as it stalled, with afew warning lights on. Upon starting the car, the car sounded very throaty, just like when there's a hole in the exhaust or a leaky exhaust gasket. The car drives ok-ish. Loss of power and very noisy.

The only damage that I can see is under the car, the heat shield is damaged and the exhaust, where it bends around is massively dented, although its not cracked. It would only let about 25% of the gas through I'd imagine.

The question is: I can't see where on earth the hole (if there is one) that would cause this problem. It also sounds slightly engine-y. Not just exhaust fumes. Above 3k rpm the noise is a lot less obvious. Also, why would the engine warning light still be on?! How does it know something's wrong?!?

Sorry for the long message ! Any help MUCH appreciated

Thanks

Andrew

Hi Andrew!

What has happened is, that you have probably damaged the lambda sensor in the impact. They are made of a ceramic material and can chip if dropped or so. They are placed in the outlet manifold, in the "bend" running down in front of the engine. They are very easy to spot, as a wire is sticking out of the side of the exhaust.

Get it to a garage and have them to read out the fault codes so that you know for sure, if the lambda is gone.