About a month ago my 98 CRV passed inspection. About a week ago my check engine light came on. At first I thought it was my gas cap, I retightened the cap and drove for a few days. After a new tank of gas the light had only gone off for about 30 miles and come back on. Yesterday I took it to autozone and they used the obd to find that it said P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold. I am suspicious that my dirty air filter is the problem, is this a possible cause? The real problem is that I have a 4th of July vacation that I am leaving for today, approx 250 miles round trip, is it safe to keep driving and bring it to a honda dealer when I get back.... or should I (gasp) cancel my vacation. I would appreciate any help I can get on this....Thanks

RC

 

This could be a bad cat or it could be a bad O2 sensor. If you have access to a diag tool you can compare the first and second o2s output and see if one is degrading/etc. The cat could be clogged as well. You do not mention how many miles are on the car though. I personally wouldn't cancel a trip because of this code, but that is me.

 

You need a new catalytic conv. If the o2 was to blame then a secondary o2 sensor code would store and not the p0420. Its a pricey piece from Honda but will last longer than anything aftermarket.

 

Bumping this up. My 99 CR-V is throwing the same code. I'm skeptical that the cat has gone bad at only 90K miles, but you never know.

Been thinking about doing the O2 fooler trick on the rear O2 to see if that helps.

Has anyone found that another problem could be causing this, such as a distributor, plug wires, fuel/air filter, etc?

 

It's the converter. You're lucky if they hold on till 90K miles

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ross 2.0 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">It's the converter. You're lucky if they hold on till 90K miles</TD></TR></TABLE>

If that's the case, I'm going to gut it and run an O2 fooler for now.

Didn't know CR-V's of that generation had such an issue with cats.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Todd00 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

If that's the case, I'm going to gut it and run an O2 fooler for now.

Didn't know CR-V's of that generation had such an issue with cats.</TD></TR></TABLE>
Every Honda has that issue. They just don't last forever.

 

just do the o2 extender on the secondary o2, and you'll be fine.