Oh catalytic converter, where art thou? (page 2)

Valis

Dude...I told you to gimme a call..

Sincerely,

District Overbeer

Elsewhere

I know... but the damn light turned OFF after a few days... I thought maybe I had some bad gas or something. Now it's back on.

I think it's time for the hookup

those check engine lights are really a pain in the arse. i have the same kind of car, but a '95. the damn check engine light has been coming on since valis came to visit nearly 2 years ago. however, i'm lucky in that my brother is a mechanic and used to work at the local Ford dealership. his advice to me: leave it until it's really broken. the problem is, he hooks the car up to his snap-on computer thing and no codes come up because the light doesn't always come on. it's a pain, seriously..........i'm sure this doesn't help, just saying: i feel your pain.

drwtsn32

You should just cut the wire to the "Check engine" light.

~Doc (of the "thinks outside the box" class)

eyegirl

lol, well if all else fails i'm sure that may be the quick fix

Nosferatu

I hate those damn Catalytic converters. I'm eliminating mine this summer, and replacing it with a pipe. It's too rusty to bother keeping it there.

Elsewhere

It turns out that my car has a very odd catalytic converter configuration. Items #1 are the Pre-Catalytic Converters. They are actually a part of the exhaust manifolds making replacement expensive. Item #4 is the Secondary Catalytic Converter. Most cars only have the #4 part... but some smart a$$ engineer at Ford decided to put two more Cat's on my car.

I'm trying REAL hard to "do my part" and keep the environment clean by having this part replaced... but just ONE of those Exhaust Manifolds costs $426.28 from the dealer. I called every auto-parts store I could think of and none of them carried this... so I'm going to have to pay full dealer price. I also researched what is involved in replacing the manifolds and it turns out to be a very difficult thing to do. Everything I am reading says that it takes two people to do it: One under the car and one above the car working together because of the odd bolt configuration. Odds are it will cost another $100 to pay a cheep rate back-ally shop to do it because of the time and labor required.

I'm getting REAL tempted to just fck the whole thing and put in a MIL bypass that costs about $30. This will trick the computer into thinking that everything is OK and turn the Check Engine light off.

Elsewhere

Techton,

A question about that warranty. My car is less than 8 years old, but it has about 99,000 miles on it. Is that warranty a "first to pass" expiration meaning I'm passed my mileage warranty?

techton

Bad news, else....no warranty for you....it's either time or mileage, whichever is first.......btw, who says you have to fix this? It is true that it will put out a bit more emissions (possibly, or maybe not..you may have a "false" code)(one that indicates a problem that really isn't there). The only time you have to fix a check engine light is when your state requires a biennial (or change-of-ownership) smog check, and the presence of a check engine light being on fails you on the visual test. If you must take and pass the smog check (I don't know that you do), here is how you can do it.......Use a scanner to clear the codes....this will shut off the light (and you will also lose all freeze frames (stored failure information, but you don't need this). Then drive the car on the freeway between 40 and 60 mphfor at least 5 miles (you can drive out 2 or 3 miles, and then double back). This will run and set the monitors. Go back to the smog station, and without shutting off the engine (very important!) have him test the vehicle. No light, monitors set , pass. Even if you set a "pending code" during your drive on the freeway, it will not set the light until your "second trip". By not cycling the key (shutting off the engine), you are on your "first trip" still (get it?). Later, after the smog test, you will be on your "second trip" then, and the light may come on, but you will have passed by then. If you don't need the light off for the smog test, then you may consider letting this one go, for now, due to the expense involved. Even if you have that defective convertor (as your P0420 indicates, it will not affect gas mileage or driveability, or damage the engine. Hope this helps...Techton

Elsewhere

Well... my Check Engine light is off!

I spent about $7 on Radio Shack parts and built my own set of MIL Eliminators using the following very simple schematics I found on the internet...

It is literally just a matter of soldering a resistor and capacitor into the wires coming out of the O2 sensor. It cost more than $4 because I splurged and got some Shrink Wrap to make it look professional.

The next thing I plan on doing is gut the two pre-catalytic converters. I?ve talked to a few people who own contours like mine and who have also done this and they say that the primary cat is enough to pass emissions. They also said that there will be a noticeable increase in performance since the back pressure will be reduced.

I found some simple step-by-step instructions on how to do this... again... on that wonderful internet!

Oh catalytic converter, where art thou?

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