4 times now......seriously?

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 05:39 PM

welp driving my incredible car known as the alero when that wonderfull little light called the SES light comes back on, for the 4th time for the same thing 4 times in a row.......

P0420.........- awesome "Lower catalyst efficiency below threshold"

im on my 4th cat, and have had 2 brand new O2 sensors recently installed the last time.

3 cats were magnaflow highflow, not exactly cheap.... 4th one was free replacement and seems to be a catco cat.

i have no idea what in the name of eff keeps causing this over and over and over and over, i dont understand i take such good care of it, and it effs me over like this.....

list of issues right now p/s dying, rough idle in drive and now this

i have no idea how to satisfy this motor.....sigh

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 05:40 PM

i think seafoam and DHP PCM 1.0 are the culprits

jabartram · 09-07-2008, 05:47 PM

i had the same issue with my highflow cat and exhaust, you can either get a o2 simulator or disable the programming for the downstream o2.

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 05:51 PM

effing A........sigh welp i guess if jon cant help me, then i guess ill have to fork out 600 on the powertuner

Redog · 09-07-2008, 05:53 PM

Did you ever try a cat cleaning?

They did that to my wife's Altima. You think our cat's are expensive. OEM Nissan cat's are close to $1,000

Look it up, I know you unplug one spark plug wire and rev to 2500 RPM's for about 2 to 5 minutes. Don't know if it's a certain plug or not, or if they can do it with GM cars/trucks

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redog

Did you ever try a cat cleaning?

They did that to my wife's Altima. You think our cat's are expensive. OEM Nissan cat's are close to $1,000

Look it up, I know you unplug one spark plug wire and rev to 2500 RPM's for about 2 to 5 minutes. Don't know if it's a certain plug or not, or if they can do it with GM cars/trucks

hmm well no offense but your wifes car is a inline DOHC motor, im sure it reacts very differently than the pushrod slant six. i dont even recall my car being able to maintain an idle long enough without bringing a tear to my eye because it was in pain....

but thinking about it now im leaning towards seafoam doing this.... and if i have to ill replace the cat and never run seafoam again, or i can remove the cat and have it removed from the computer...

god its times like this i really wish i had a second hand motor to work on

alerored04 · 09-07-2008, 06:08 PM

Redog how would that clean the cat? Sounds like unburnt fuel from a plug not working would clog the shit out of the cat. Alero did you run a large amount into it at once? I can see that happening if there was enough in there that it did not burn completely and clogged it up. Jon should be able to disable codes for you if you can meet up. Otherwise I would go with an 02 sim.

[ion] C2 · 09-07-2008, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Alero-

effing A........sigh welp i guess if jon cant help me, then i guess ill have to fork out 600 on the powertuner

If it's just the high flow code and there's nothing wrong with your cat who gives a shit. It's a light. You can turn it off using HPTuners (IMO, far superior to PowrTuner, the interface, the 3D graphs, it's far cleaner all in all).

Also, Redog's method is how you KILL a cat and gut it, not how to clean it lol. That causes catastrophic cat fragmentation being very loud, very smokey.

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 06:10 PM

i have an o2 simulator and with that bitch in it gives me "bank 1 too lean" half a week later

but yes to be honest i really think it suck in alot at once...

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [ion] C2

If it's just the high flow code and there's nothing wrong with your cat who gives a shit. It's a light. You can turn it off using HPTuners (IMO, far superior to PowrTuner, the interface, the 3D graphs, it's far cleaner all in all).

er sorry powertuner/hptuner i dont know the difference cause ive never used any of them

[ion] C2 · 09-07-2008, 06:12 PM

DHP PowrTuner screenshot.

HPTuners screenshot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRw1ap6q6us
(How to kill a cat: Use Seafoam)

Redog · 09-07-2008, 10:09 PM

No offesnse taken, personally I don't think it's a good idea anyway. I know that's what the dealer did to her car.

Maybe if the car is done right the first time, this wouldn't be a problem

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 10:11 PM

are you saying my exhaust wasnt done right i dont get it

surreal_awakening · 09-07-2008, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Alero-

or i can remove the cat and have it removed from the computer...

Don't do this now that you're in Maryland. Maryland has some fairly strict emissions laws. The will do a visual inspection to verify that your cat is in place when you have your emissions test done. Also, the way they will do the emissions test is to plug in to the OBDII test port and just pull readings, so you'll definitely want to get to the bottom of it before you come due for emissions.

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 10:20 PM

if only i could get to the bottom of it...im gonna try to take it to the dealership on wednesday hopefully they will take it in sigh

Redog · 09-07-2008, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Alero-

are you saying my exhaust wasnt done right i dont get it

Yes.

You say you put on a high flow cat, that's the first problem

jabartram · 09-07-2008, 11:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redog

Yes.

You say you put on a high flow cat, that's the first problem

huh? this confuses me? please explain?

-Alero- · 09-07-2008, 11:28 PM

i dont think a high flow cat would of hurt it....of course i understand its probably not nessecary but i dont see how the high flow would hurt it

jackal2000 · 09-07-2008, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by [ion] C2

DHP PowrTuner screenshot.

HPTuners screenshot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRw1ap6q6us
(How to kill a cat: Use Seafoam)

how are you gonna post a PT 1.0 screen shot when no one who owns one uses that version?? rofl

[ion] C2 · 09-07-2008, 11:49 PM

It's the first and main website Googled for PowrTuner, I can only post what's out there. Besides, PowrTuner's discontinued.

Quote:

Originally Posted by -Alero-

i dont think a high flow cat would of hurt it....of course i understand its probably not nessecary but i dont see how the high flow would hurt it

Wouldn't. It's just a code. You have an O2 simulator so whatever SES related to the cat isn't going to give you much information since you're already giving the VCM fake info. So if it doesn't correspond to what the cat's actually doing it's useless information. It's a light.