Honda Car Forum

Autozone pulled my code today; it was P0420, indicating catalytic
converter. The check engine light had come on the day before.

The car has 106000 miles and the timing belt was changed last week by Honda
dealer (complete with water pump, seals, etc).

Is it normal for converters to fail after this mileage? The car has been
well taken care of.

99 Accord EX 4-cyl
106000 miles


The Autozone dealer recommended that if I replace converter, Honda dealer
should do the work.

newman wrote:
> Autozone pulled my code today; it was P0420, indicating catalytic
> converter. The check engine light had come on the day before.
>
> The car has 106000 miles and the timing belt was changed last week by Honda
> dealer (complete with water pump, seals, etc).
>
> Is it normal for converters to fail after this mileage? The car has been
> well taken care of.
>
> 99 Accord EX 4-cyl
> 106000 miles
>
>
> The Autozone dealer recommended that if I replace converter, Honda dealer
> should do the work.
>
-------------------------------

P0420 Catalyst efficiency _APPEARS_ to be below threshold for more than
three cycles. If either of the O2 sensors goes bad, the computer may
come to the conclusion that the cat is bad.

Any 'issues' with the engine since the dealer (recently) touched it? Do
you use injector cleaner seasonally, has the engine ever stalled,
especially during warm-up, do you ever get idle speed going up and down ???

If it really _is_ the cat, you need to determine what killed it, or
you'll soon be putting another in there. I'd get a generic cat but only
after I made sure the O2 sensor(s) are OK.

'Curly'

newman wrote:
> Autozone pulled my code today; it was P0420, indicating catalytic
> converter. The check engine light had come on the day before.
>
> The car has 106000 miles and the timing belt was changed last week by Honda
> dealer (complete with water pump, seals, etc).
>
> Is it normal for converters to fail after this mileage? The car has been
> well taken care of.
>
> 99 Accord EX 4-cyl
> 106000 miles

----------------------------------

Here's an important one for cat health: Is the coolant reservoir full to
the =MAX= mark, per the owner's manual? The dealer knows they have to
fill it up any time the cooling system is apart.

If there's air in the cooling system the computer can set the mixture /
timing all wrong which will shoot your mileage all to pot, and wreck the
cat. Has you mileage been exemplary since the timing belt was done?

'Curly'