Hi guys,

I was out and about in my 04 MCS today about 10 miles from home on the A180 when my engine warning light came on :angry:, i pulled over a few mins later when it was safe to do so and checked the oild and coolant.

The oil level was fine but coolant was very low, i drove a little further and stopped at some nice ladys house who gave me a jug of water, after filling up the light is still on.

Is this something that had to be reset via the odb socket or should it go out itself (presuming that was the fault of course).

Oil and coolant levels should have no effect on the EWL although it is obviously advisable to check & keep these levels topped up to prevent engine damage. The EWL usually indicates something like exhaust emissions have gone out of spec, often caused by a faulty Oxygen/lambda sensor in the exhaust......any garage that does MOT's should be able to check the sensors and re-set the light/correct fault if required. Has the car been serviced and had spark plugs, etc changed at correct interval?

I presume so, I only bought the car 10 days ago and have not really had the time to check it all over yet although the service book says it was services 1500 miles ago.

I have bought some iridium plugs and plan on servicing her at the weekend, just need to get a fault code reader now so I can look into these things myself, if anybody can recomend a good one.

Ok so I have just had a mobile auto electrician round to look at the fault on my car at a cost of £25 for 3 mins work, I work that out to be a rate of £8.33 recuring a minute (not bad work if you can get it).

It turns out the fault is with my catalytic convertor so hes reset the light and told me it probably wont effect the running of the car but will need doing ready for the MOT in December.

Just priced one up at Euro Car Parts at a cost of £263 unless anyone knows were I can get one a bit cheaper.

I would wait for it to actually fail its MOT test before replacing cat, you can take it in a month before it runs out, just in case he is wrong or a replacement lambda sensor fixes it.

Car Mechanics magazine have had success with this product on borderline cat MOT failures:
CataClean Global Ltd. - Frequently Asked Questions (http://www.cataclean.com/faq.html)

Try here for new and secondhand parts when required:
Mini Spares UK - Mini Spares UK (http://minispares.jdc-1.titaninternet.co.uk/)

MiniMatt|BMW|MINI|Modifications|Parts|Spares|Servi ce|Tuning|Repairs|Racing (http://www.minimatt.co.uk/)

www.bmminiparts.com - Home (http://www.bmminiparts.com/)

Scangauge has good reports for code reading, etc:
ScanGauge2 ScanGauge II Code Reader (http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-cooper/scangauge_2_code_reader.html)