V12 Vantage emissions light

[Number Eight]

I’ve been a bit of an idiot and almost ran my V12V out of fuel. As I got to the pump it was starting to struggle a bit and then after putting some petrol in, it wasn’t idling nicely. After a little while the engine management light came on with the message “emissions service required”. It’s only just had new plugs and coil packs. I’m worried about knackering the cats as I’m told the engine can ingest them and that’s bad news. Does anyone have any experience of anything similar?

[monaro55]

Plug code reader in should tell you why light is on.

[leman600]

As you say this does have to be taken seriously. Of course contamination due to ultra low fuel level could be to blame but why the recent plugs and coil packs and is it something related to either the reason they were done or now that they are done.
A code reader like Foxwell or Thinkdiag could be more helpful and worth the relativity small outlay. Both about £150ish. They are both obd readers but also quite a bit more.
The Thinkdiag just came up on the ever helpful Aston1936 site where he gives some good opinion via video.

[JohnG1]

Number Eight said:

I’ve been a bit of an idiot and almost ran my V12V out of fuel. As I got to the pump it was starting to struggle a bit and then after putting some petrol in, it wasn’t idling nicely. After a little while the engine management light came on with the message “emissions service required”. It’s only just had new plugs and coil packs. I’m worried about knackering the cats as I’m told the engine can ingest them and that’s bad news. Does anyone have any experience of anything similar?

Time for some Italian maintenance...

[leman600]

This is possible but some pre 'Italian method' checks would be well advised.

[Number Eight]

Thanks for all that. A friend of mine has a code reader and he’s going to bring it over at the weekend. The plugs and coils were changed due to a misfire found when I took it in for an MoT test. The wife suggested an Italian tune up but I don’t want to just go for that then trash the engine. I only put £20 of petrol in as I wasn’t intending to use the car for a couple of weeks so maybe I should fill it up to make sure there’s plenty of clean fuel in there in case sediment has been disturbed?

[cayman-black]

Is it on a trickle charger?

[Number Eight]

It hasn’t been lately as it’s been doing 300 miles a week since June when it came out of hibernation. I’m away from home at the minute, the missus has checked the oil and says it’s on the min. Think I last checked it a fortnight ago when I collected it after having the plugs and coils done and it was halfway down the dipstick, where it’s been for some time, so I’ll top that up.

[anonymous-user]

Number Eight said:

I’ve been a bit of an idiot and almost ran my V12V out of fuel. As I got to the pump it was starting to struggle a bit and then after putting some petrol in, it wasn’t idling nicely. After a little while the engine management light came on with the message “emissions service required”. It’s only just had new plugs and coil packs. I’m worried about knackering the cats as I’m told the engine can ingest them and that’s bad news. Does anyone have any experience of anything similar?

I get this a lot.

The upside is that I wondered whether I needed coil packs and spark plugs. Apparently not. And you needn’t worry about cat ingestion being the cause: I’ve had my primaries gutted and I still get it.

I find I get it most often if I have left the car in storage for a while, not on trickle. My guess is that it is one of a selection of warnings thrown when the battery gets a bit quiet and then I summoned back into action. Others I get are a faulty oil sensor and low oil, and sometimes electrical systems need a service (thought haven’t seen that last one for a while). In other cars I’ve had a weak battery shows up with ABS and TC system warnings. Astons are it seems a bit different.

When I used mine frequently I never saw these warnings. I guess they are made to be used.