Aston Martin advice from Bamford Rose independent specialist

[BamfordMike]

CSK1 said:

Hi Mike, thanks for your response.
I have three questions regarding primary cat delete.
1. So are you saying the delete consists of taking the cats out, removing what's inside and bolt them back on?
2. I find the sound with the Performance Pack already quite loud. Will the removal of the primaries make it even louder as I think that might be unbearable on a long trip. Also the noise might be that of a race car. Too loud for the road? What do you think?
3. You say you could flyn'fit. How much would the cost be? And is there anything else that needs to come out to do the job? Engine, transmission? Is this something you could do in my unequipped garage?
Well actually more than 3 questions , thanks for your time.

Hi.

Yes, primary cat is removal of the manifold from the car, removal of the cat from within the manifold, re weld of the manifold and install to car.
If you currently have a secondary cat delete pipe in place of the original secondary cats, a high flow cat would need to be reintroduced when the primary cats are removed. With a sound baffle after the new secondary cat, this new solution (primary cats omitted but high flow secondary cat with sound baffle) will be more power (because of better gas flow out of engine because primary cat is missing) yet a touch quieter exhaust note than your current set up (primary cats in manifold but secondary cat delete pipe) because of the baffle after the cat controls absolute noise but it isn’t counter intuitive and doesn’t reduce power because it’s quite far downstream and isn’t restrictive. So as odd as it sounds, you’d have more power but a quieter exhaust note.

For any power pack kit to work properly the primary cat needs to come out, but of course, any automaker is restricted from doing stuff like that because it’s stretching what they can get away with regards to emissions compliance. But in the world of aftermarket that isn’t a consideration and why in reality any aftermarket power upgrade kit is going to completely destroy a factory attemp.

The job would need a 2 post lift. In reality it would be a drive and fit and we’d turn up with tools and a premade exhaust system which we exchange with yours instead of reworking yours.

[993 tt]

Hello Mike,

thank you very much for the contribution here! That would make sense, although i would have expected some warning lights in that case, which i did not have.

Does it make sense in your opinion, that a completely filled up tank contributes to that failure/cut out?

So ... just for my understanding ... the problem is, that the valve does not open correctly, so that the combustion vapor/steam stored in the cannister cannot be burned again in the engine, but remains in neat form in the vacuum line?
What would be the cure for that then. Replacing the PRV Valve, the vacuum line ... what else? Is it a electrical or mechanical problem?

And what exactly do you mean, when you say „glitches with the docking station“? Is it simply about the connector/fixing or is there anything else involved ... any electronics?

Best regards
Tom

Edited by 993 tt on Wednesday 10th October 12:20

[David W.]

As this thread has now reached 100 pages Mike and his team should be recognised for what they have done to support and enhance the Aston Martin product with their advice, engineering excellence and service.
DW

[MarkM3Evoplus]

HI Mike,

If you removed the primary CATS from a NP Vanquish, apart from moving the sensor connection to the secondary CATs, would any mapping changes be necessary?

Cheers,

Mark

[paulbirkin]

BamfordMike said:

paulbirkin said:

Nothing in the manual at all, to suggest how to reset the TPMS, only check the tyres and drive for a few miles.
Didn’t work!

Hi

Press the trip button on indicator stalk to cycle through to the graphic on the right hand dashboard to bring up each individual tyre pressure reading, you’ll then be able to figure out which sensor is playing up. On a 2010 Rapide the sensors are new type which don’t need the serial number coding into the module to make them work as the previous tyresmart system requires. On your car it’s a case of fitting the sensor and the system will configure itself when on the move for the first time.
Because the system is expensive to keep working when internal batteries fail, most owners disconnect the box so the light doesn’t illuminate, but on a Rapide it will need the feature removing from the cars software configuration file to delete it - a simple laptop job

Trip to AM Nottingham as the car is under a used vehicle warranty and they replaced the OSF wheel sensor which has cured the problem.
Would have been £142 plus the fitting costs if Car Care Plan hadn’t picked up the bill.
Good service from Nottingham, as I didn’t buy the car from there.
They did return the car to Lincoln when completed.

[BrunoB]

Hi Mike,

I want to install your Electronic damper on my V8 Vantage 4L3 from feb 06.
Is it possible on my car ?

I live in a foreign country, how can I proceed ?
Could you sell me only the parts and I install them ?

Regards
Bruno

[BamfordMike]

993 tt said:

Hello Mike,

thank you very much for the contribution here! That would make sense, although i would have expected some warning lights in that case, which i did not have.

Does it make sense in your opinion, that a completely filled up tank contributes to that failure/cut out?

So ... just for my understanding ... the problem is, that the valve does not open correctly, so that the combustion vapor/steam stored in the cannister cannot be burned again in the engine, but remains in neat form in the vacuum line?
What would be the cure for that then. Replacing the PRV Valve, the vacuum line ... what else? Is it a electrical or mechanical problem?

And what exactly do you mean, when you say „glitches with the docking station“? Is it simply about the connector/fixing or is there anything else involved ... any electronics?

Best regards
Tom

Edited by 993 tt on Wednesday 10th October 12:20

Yes, with a full tank of fuel the breakdown of events is how you describe. The acid test to prove would be to pull the purge line into the inlet manifold to see if there was a trace of neat fuel.

Docking station errors occur giving body module a momentary signal the key has been removed, this would need the AMDS laptop to data log at the time of engine stutter

[BamfordMike]

David W. said:

As this thread has now reached 100 pages Mike and his team should be recognised for what they have done to support and enhance the Aston Martin product with their advice, engineering excellence and service.
DW

Thanks for the kind words David !

[Incognegro]

Only dropping in to say a massive thanks to Mike and the Team. for what in his eyes may be a fairly small mod I think its made a fantastic difference to my V8V

Sports Cats provide a beautiful note and loud as the car should be! (valve remote not operating the seized valves, that will be addressed under warranty by car supplier). The N400 upgrade that went with it I really recommend for any standard 4.3 owners

Throttle response has sharpened massively... I look forward to fitting the next piece in my upgrade jigsaw.

Mike knowledge is 2nd to none and he has that Koenigsegg like attention to detail! See you again soon Bamford Rose

[Felonious]

Emission System Service Error (or some such warning)... could this is any way be related to a secondary de-cat? I know there are a few threads on this topic already, but none which mentioned whether messing around with the cats could cause the issue. Mine is a 2016 V12VS with 7k miles on the clock. BR removed the secondary cats about 3.5k miles ago.

I don't have an ODB reader so can't read the fault codes, but the car is running as well as ever. As well as the usual fuel cap, lambda sensors, TPS or cats possibilities (or just a spurious error), the only other thing I could think of is an aversion to the Tesco Momentum 99 RON fuel I had filled up with 100 miles prior to the error flashing up.

[leerandle]

Felonious said:

Emission System Service Error (or some such warning)... could this is any way be related to a secondary de-cat? I know there are a few threads on this topic already, but none which mentioned whether messing around with the cats could cause the issue. Mine is a 2016 V12VS with 7k miles on the clock. BR removed the secondary cats about 3.5k miles ago.

I don't have an ODB reader so can't read the fault codes, but the car is running as well as ever. As well as the usual fuel cap, lambda sensors, TPS or cats possibilities (or just a spurious error), the only other thing I could think of is an aversion to the Tesco Momentum 99 RON fuel I had filled up with 100 miles prior to the error flashing up.

On the basis BR removed your cats and you're getting a warning, its difficult to say what it is. However I know on my 2006, its the lambda sensors that are playing up (Can't remember the exact error code) but its down to a 'slow' bank response. I use an OBD reader and if its 'only' a slow response (and nothing else more serious) i just clear the codes (Ultimately need some new Lambda senors).

Might be worth getting yourself a OBD reader to confirm the error codes and then go from there. I'd be surprised if its the fuel from Tesco's, might just be coincidental. But I am sure someone wiser than me might have a differing opinion.

For info, I use a Vgate wi-fi obd reader with the dash command iphone app. Can take a while to connect sometimes, but once it has, great for codes and other parameters. There are other OBD readers out there, but I like the dash command I've got.

[CraigV12V]

Felonious said:

Emission System Service Error (or some such warning)... could this is any way be related to a secondary de-cat? I know there are a few threads on this topic already, but none which mentioned whether messing around with the cats could cause the issue. Mine is a 2016 V12VS with 7k miles on the clock. BR removed the secondary cats about 3.5k miles ago.

I've used Momentum pretty much exclusively in UK for circa 15k of driving on my V12VSR and no error warnings. Even with full BR primary decat, stainless steel exhaust mainfold replacement and secondary 200 cell cats early this year has yielded no error warnings.

[Felonious]

Lee and Craig, many thanks. I'll rule out petrol as a possible culprit and am now sniffing round Amazon for a Prime delivery of an ODB reader.

The car's under warranty but it'd just be good to know what the issue is and whether I should drive it or head to the main dealer. If it needs work I hope I don't need to get into an argument about whether the decat was the cause. Seeing as AM sell their own secondary decat pipes it would seem logical that they would honour the warranty without an argument.

[A-DBS]

DBS CCM brake disk imbalance.

I would like to get some of your inputs on the old sb-04-0318 for steering wheel vibrations.

I took my 2010 dbs to the local dealer and complained about steering wheel vibrations at speeds above 140km/h and they perform the SB but it was unsuccessful and I received the car that now appeares to be completely out of balance. The vibrations start from 70km/h and upwards now. On top of that now there is a rattling noise when i breake coming from the discs. Very annoying. I was told that they had to use heat to be able to remove the CCM discs.

After carefully looking at the wheel rims I can see that the possiton the temporary weights that were put are not allinged properly with the discs as they were not put on the inside wheel directly opposite the disc but further out.

The dealer is saying that the CCM discs have been superseded and I should buy the new ones if I want to get rid of the vibrations. I don’t want to change what used to be two good discs.

Can you giver your input about removing and refitting ccm discs. Are they really that hard to remove and refitt?

[Phil57DBS]

maybe it could help?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[A-DBS]

Phil57DBS said:

maybe it could help?
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Thats how I found out there is a sb in the first place Phil. Thx

I have attached picture of where the weights have been placed on my wheels and the picture of how the sb tells you where to put the weights.

But more important is the rattling sound while brakeing. Is it common to get it after refitting the discs?

[DB9VolanteDriver]

Weight placement is way wrong. No wonder the vibration is worse. Typical idiot service people who don't really understand a SB and therefore do it 'their' way instead of following the SB exactly. I wouldn't go back to them as they'll just resent you telling them they messed up. Find a competent dealer to perform the procedure in it entirety, including getting a new reading on the weight amount and placement using the correct dynamic balancer equipment.

[V8V Pete]

A-DBS said:

On top of that now there is a rattling noise when i breake coming from the discs. Very annoying. I was told that they had to use heat to be able to remove the CCM discs.

This would seriously worry me. Is the car safe to drive?

[A-DBS]

DB9VolanteDriver said:

Weight placement is way wrong. No wonder the vibration is worse. Typical idiot service people who don't really understand a SB and therefore do it 'their' way instead of following the SB exactly. I wouldn't go back to them as they'll just resent you telling them they messed up. Find a competent dealer to perform the procedure in it entirety, including getting a new reading on the weight amount and placement using the correct dynamic balancer equipment.

They are the only authrised dealer in the country. The imbalance is something that still can be fixed but the annoying rattling sound when u brake is what worries me as they say only replaceing the disc will solve It now. I have never removed and refitted same brake discs before. Would love some feedback from Mike if this is something common thay can happen and if there any way to fix it.

Unfortunately the car is to far away to take to Banford Rose

[A-DBS]

V8V Pete said:

This would seriously worry me. Is the car safe to drive?

They assured me it was perfectly safe to drive sevral times. I Will meet the AM regional manager on Sunday to discuss the matter. Just want to get some opinions from someone knowledgeable before I meet him.