Catalytic Converter fried at 56,000 miles

3413 Views 13 Replies 7 Participants Last post by jsanford, Oct 18, 2004

ScottH

Discussion Starter · Sep 30, 2004

Welp, Just had the first serious problem with my Insight. I have a 2001 5 speed, and the Catalytic Converter generated a P0420-Catalyst Deterioration code.

It was fixed free under warranty. I just hope I don't need to buy another one at 112,000 miles.

Has anybody else had theirs go out this early? I've heard of them going out in the 130k mileage range...

The replaced part was 06180-PHM-A00. Is this the part number for both converters? Their description is a 'converter kit'.

Ah the fun of driving a near prototype car... ;-)

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Holicow

· #2 · Oct 1, 2004

Think the "fuel treatment" the dealer added had anything to do with it? You said it ran poorly after the routine service after they added the stuff....

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· #3 · Oct 1, 2004

Hi ScottH:

___1 year - 2 month old 03 Corolla LE w/ Auto @ 58,000 miles. Code popped – “Cat not meeting efficiency” or whatever it was exactly called … Toyota replaced CAT under 60,000 mile warranty. IIRC, it was ~ $1,200 if I would have had to pay for it myself

___Good Luck

___Wayne R. Gerdes
___Hunt Club Farms Landscaping Ltd.
___[email:uglj05ek][email protected][/email:uglj05ek]

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ScottH

Discussion Starter · #4 · Oct 1, 2004

Hmm, I guess it could have been the fuel treatment. However, that was a 45,000 miles. I would have thought it would have caused problems before now.

I got gas in Alabama (versus Atlanta) over the weekend, and I was only getting about 50 mpg with that gas. It was Texaco gas, so I can't see that being the cause. The 50 mpg could be that I drove home through hurricane Jeanne remnats too (water on the road, and a good headwind).

Hopefully it's just a fluke.

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b1shmu63

· #5 · Oct 1, 2004

Probably a fluke, but I would not want to fill up at that Alabama station again. :wink:

Wayne, were you wearing your horseshoe belt buckle or was it the rabbit foot key chain?

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Rick

· #6 · Oct 1, 2004

Ouch! Yeah the Cat kit is expensive, something to the effect of over $2,000 I think. And yes the proper proceedure for a bad cat code is to replace both of them. Sulfur in gas will contribute to cat deterioration over time. One thing I will note though, our cars have California emissions equipment, so the warranty does extend past the standard one for any states adopting california's emissions standards.

The NOX converter is a special type of converter and there are no aftermarket alternatives to it that I'm aware of, however there has been some discussion (to which I was initially against, but later decided it would work just fine) about replacing the tri way with a universal catylitic converter. It might take a little custom work to get the oxygen sensors to work with it, but it could be done. It would be much cheaper than buying a new Honda one anyways.

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Rusttree

· #7 · Oct 1, 2004

I had my catalytic converter replaced shortly after purchasing my 2001 5-speed used at 70k miles. Luckily under warranty, but I have no idea went wrong with it. Hope this isn't a trend

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windmill

· #8 · Oct 1, 2004

I am so glad I bought a nox-converter on ebay with low miles 8) 8) for aprox $70 !!!!!

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Rick

· #9 · Oct 1, 2004

windmill said:
I am so glad I bought a nox-converter on ebay with low miles 8) 8) for aprox $70 !!!!!

I remember that. Probably not a bad thing to have on hand if your planning on keeping your Insight for a while. If I hadn't bought the Honda care and I had a 00 to 01 model you'd have probably had some more bids against you then.

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ScottH

Discussion Starter · #10 · Oct 2, 2004

I thought it was illegal to sell/install a used catalytic converter?

Also, if there aren't any sensors that detect NOx, why replace it? Granted that it will be a bit more polluting, but the engine is smaller than a lot of motorcycle engines, and they don't have ANY catalytic converter?

Personally, I wouldn't be opposed to spending $400 to have a universal cat fitted, even if I had to replace it for $200 every 2 years. Go Midas ;-)

If it breaks again, I'll just convert it to a DOG converter

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Rick

· #11 · Oct 3, 2004

It is illegal to use a used catylitic converter, it's also illegal to remove a working catylitic converter. Windmill is not in the US so I don't know exactly what the laws there are on this. And I will also mention on 02 and newer Insight's there is a sensor after the NOX converter so it will detect a bad NOX converter.

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ScottH

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 6, 2004

The plot is getting thicker. I drove from Atlanta GA to Chattanooga, TN yesterday (about 100 miles), and the check engine light came back on. I drove back today, and it was still on, until I did some in-town driving where now it has gone back off. I haven't had it scanned for codes again, but I wonder if it either needed to 'cook' in the new cat converter, or maybe they swapped out the wrong part.

Hopefully the code is still in there. OBD2 should still keep the code, or does it reset itself?

Anybody have a recommendation on a cheap code scanner?

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ScottH

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 17, 2004

The plot thickens

I took the car in this week because after the catalytic converter died, it had another check engine light. This time it came up with a code '199'. The dealer hadn't heard of this code, and considered it a bogus code and cleared it.

Has anybody heard of this code before? At autozone the code reader read a P0134 or something like that which was an O2 sensor. Could that have been a mis read or something?

I'd prefer that the car last for several more years. At least it will be under extended warranty for another 18 months or so. But if gas goes to $2.50 here in the US, I can probably sell it for whatever I ask if it keeps wanting to go to the dealership.

I wonder if it responds to threads? ;-)

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jsanford

· #14 · Oct 18, 2004

Re: The plot thickens

ScottH said:
But if gas goes to $2.50 here in the US, I can probably sell it for whatever I ask if it keeps wanting to go to the dealership.

For the record, I paid $2.47 yesterday for gas.

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