Another Anti-pollution / Cat error problem

[Rubyoptics]

Hey all...poor old Lizzie has had another tantrum which I'm trying to deal with and not get too annoyed with her about!
I will try to detail everything that may help with a diagnosis, so please bear with me if this gets a bit long winded! I've recently been having a few gremlins...indicators not flashing even though the stalk is clearly still in the 'turn' position, as well as my headlights randomly turning off (that was fun at 140km/h on the motorway in the dark !). Over the holiday period my battery had gone flat, and so suspecting this (also had no idea how old it was) I decided to treat her to a new Varta D15 battery on Saturday.
When replacing the battery, I followed the battery disconnect/reconnect procedure detailed here by Col to the letter and experienced no error messages of any type. I started the car and it started instantly and just overall you could tell that this was a vast improvement over the old battery, so all good right? Well...yes and no! I still have the indicator problem, so that must be a separate issue, I haven't had a repeat of the headlight issue either, so i'll keep an eye on that as well.
But...this morning, I went to start her as usual. I will mention that I was low on fuel, but not critically low (the low fuel warning came on about 5km from my house on the Friday and the OBC told me i had 80km range left) She started nice and quickly, but my god it was horrible. It felt like i was running on MAYBE 2 cylinders...the whole car was shaking like a 1920's tractor. The engine was sitting at an idle of nearly 2k RPM and died after i guess a minute? I shut off the engine and removed the key, then attempted a restart. She fired into life like nothing had happened and so I (stupidly looking back i guess) put it down to the cold overnight temperature (about -4). After about 1km I had the 'Catalytic Convertor Error' come up on the MFD along with the dreaded beeps of doom and the engine light flashing. Unfortunately I had a critical business meeting that I could in no way cancel or be late to, so I had no option (in my eyes) other to continue the other 5km to that. I did stop on the way to refuel, but there wasn't enough time for the BSI to go to sleep at this point.
After my meeting, I restarted her again, no problems starting and no beeps of doom, but now my MFD is showing 'Anti-Pollution Fault'. The engine light is on but is now steady. I've read on here about numerous different fixes to this...from ignoring it to replacing the cat and everything back from there. From the presented scenario, any guesses as to what could be my particular problem?!
As always, really appreciate your help and advice in keeping Lizzie on the road!

[Luditus]

Was a check made for battery terminal corrosion before fitting the new one? The symptoms you have are still indicative of low voltage.

[IanL]

I would plug PP2000 in and clear the faults, and then see if they recur - they may not. If they do, the next thing would be to examine the fault number(s) and take it from there.

[Rubyoptics]

Hey guys, thanks for the swift replies. Luditus, I did inspect the battery terminals and there was no sign of any corrosion. The battery has only been in the car for roughly 24 hours, so if it's drained that much I have bigger concerns than an anti-pollution fault. Fingers crossed I don't!!
Ian, I'll answer you with a Jeremy Clarkson-esque "Good News!" - After reading some other posts here and elsewhere, I decided I had nothing to lose by giving it an 'Italian Tune' and so proceeded (with not a small amount of joy I might add!) to give it a bit of redline action. The fault didn't clear immediately, bt after an hour left switched off while I met with a student, I restarted the car and....drumroll.....no faults of any type.
My concern is why the car started so, frankly, terribly this morning? It shouldn't be the plugs as I replaced them with the Bosch 4-spark or whatever they're called roughly 20k km ago. They were torqued properly etc so I'm hoping the fault doesn't lie there. Im thinking possible coil-pack? You are right that it's simply guess-work until I have the codes read...would a simple bluetooth jobby read it or do I need to finally take the plunge and order PP2000?

[Luditus]

Glad to hear the Gremlins have run away. I've just got MOT on mine, and comparing the emissions test results with those of last year, was amazed at the improvements - without having done anything, e.g CO2 from 40 down to 2. As I remember, last year the car was on its last dregs of old petrol. This year she had a fresh tank full. So the new cat, plugs and coil pack remain in their packaging for another year!

[Rubyoptics]

Indeed, right now is does feel like im chasing some evil critter that is trying to posses my car! No headlight issues today, so im cautiously optimistic that the new battery may have been the issue there. Indicators still have the same problem, but if i put slight up (or down) wards pressure then they come back on, so I believe that the stalk itself may be at fault...I'll look at either cleaning the stalk contacts or simply replacing it when I get a chance. As for the misfires on start, nothing more I can do without a code reader so I'll see how she behaves over the next week or so and post again here with any further updates! Thankfully I had my technical inspection done in August before any of these niggles reared their ugly heads, so I've got some time to chase them down and get rid of them before she's due for her next check-up!

[IanL]

A simple Bluetooth jobby is not much use with Peugeots, as most of the useful data/facilities are proprietary extensions to EOBD and direct linking to the internal data highways. PP2000 running on a 32-bit PC using the proprietary (Proxia/Lexia) interface unit is the answer.

I would guess your electrical problems were connected to a low battery - I've noticed a few spurious fault warnings when mine has been a bit low.

The direction indicator stalk problem should be fixable. There's parts to repair available here.

The poor running may have been due to muck at the bottom of the fuel tank. I try to keep mine above 1/4 to prevent this.

[Capncol]

You dont need PP200 for engine faults. It is needed for peugeot specific faults such as Roof. A good pro reader will work fine on engine fault codes. I find PP a pain. Much rather use the quicker and easier hand held scanners, and I only use my PP when I really have to.
See here

[Rubyoptics]

Thanks for your advice Col, I'll compare prices and have a bit of a shop around. Would you mind if I pm you a couple of links after this browse and get your input? No rush of course and would be whenever you have 5 minutes to sit down with a cup of tea / beer / finest single malt
In other news I was forced off the road this morning by a rather fetching young lady in her X5 avoiding, of all things, a puddle. Some rather ugly cosmetic damage to the left side sill and will need an alignment check as it was a bloody big rock that hit the sill.

[Capncol]

Yes no prob with PM

[gazza82]

Ruby: your CC is a bit newer but I bought a Sealey unit that was specific for PSA cars (Peugeot/Citroen and Renault). Worked were many wouldn't on our '01 CC. As we have a 206 1.4 hdi and Clio it still gets used a lot. Might be worth trying to find a 2nd hand one.