[ScottH]

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... ;-)

 

[ScottH]

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.

 

[ScottH]

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

 

[ScottH]

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?

 

[ScottH]

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? ;-)