1999 honda civic ex d16 vtaK

cel came on last night, autozone told me its the cat. i just got this car and didnt even look but i wanna say the cat is right off the exhaust mani. is this correct?

also, can i replace it with an ebay converter? i dont feel like spending $200

any help would be nice, i just want that light to shut up, and car to gimme good miles per gallon

 

I don't think its bad. I've seen it happen many times and this is that the manifolds with the cat. converter have a tendency to crack between the runners. You have to take off the heat shield that is bolted on and most likely it will be that.

 

Thats if the manifold and converter are a one piece unit, otherwise it may not be working correctly.

 

Ex civics shouldnt come with the cat style mani there usually on base models there 4 yours was slapped on 4 some reason. make sure both your o2s are worken with a good cat should fix that light in a jiffy.

 

i didnt check if its on the mani, i just thought it was, it was late last night when i got home and i didnt look.

but final question, will the ebay cat fix this? cant beat $25

 

no those are jus test pipes not real converters. ur better of with the one u have now then an ebay test pipe...

 

jsut to confirm you calling it a test pipe. they do not. is it just a lack of material needed to make it a converter such as the precious metals?

they call it a converter but scrapping real converters would yield higher payout actually. lol i just want the light to shut off with little dollars, not big ones

 

they are just straight through pipes and do not have the honey comb looking filter in them that is in a real converter. u will still have a CEL, your car will stink, you wont pass any type of emissions test, and you wont pass inspection... better of finding something at a junk yard.

 

werd, thanks man

 

Junkyards around here don't usually sell catalytic converters around here. I'm not sure about where you live. A cheap fix is to purchase a spark plug defouler and open it up a bit and use it as a spacer between the exhaust pipe and o2 sensor. Look it up. I've used it several times and it works for not throwing a check engine light on.

 

nice, i might do this

 

but i dont want to put a defouler on and overtime the cat to clog and mess up my fuel consumption.

i think im gonna buy a test pipe and defouler, and put them both on.

this way, it wont clog on me and i can cut the cel. right?

 

u still wont pass an inspection, ur car will stink and eventually ur gonna have to put a cat back on....seems like ur more worried about getting rid of that little orange light asap then the actual condition of the car and the environment

 

first of all.....it isnt nessesarily your cat. someone said earlier to check your O2 sensors.

you have a precat O2 and a postcat O2. the way the computer "knows" that the cat is bad is because it is supposed to see a certain ratio between the 2 O2 sensors. if this ratio is out of spec, and the O2 sensors ARE in spec.........then it throws the catalyst innefficiency code.

BUT just because the computer says the O2 sensors are in spec.....doesnt mean they are. so you need to completely diagnose this problem by checking your O2 sensors before you start throwing parts at it.

 

my guess would be that its your 02 sensor. does it come on all the time or just at random times? my civic wagon has the same problem,
but when you mentioned you have the header/cat combo, i didnt think the ex had that,. i know for sure that the hx has it. let us know what you find out but my best bet would be its a 02 sensor

 

i dont have the header cat combo.

also, how can you test to see if the o2 sensor is bad? i thought there is a seperate code for o2.

also, it just came on last night and i havent cleared it yet.

 

lol what! the environment, did you really say that? you know how many people on here have turbos and dump into the air without a cat... please stfu

and as far as condition of my car, the second o2 matters nothing to the performance.

so yes, all i car about is the light and if the light is off, it will pass emissions, they dont do the sniff test in IL anymore, thanks for your input though.

 

I gutted my stock catalytic converter and used the defouler. The only time the check engine light came on was when I used the A/C for extended periods of time during the summer. I'm not sure but I think that the engine maybe injected more/less gas into the engine because of the "load" that the A/C compressor created.

 

as mentioned, it has an under-car cat.

i'd suspect o2...hard to say which though...

reset the ECU. drive the car until the MIL comes back.

jump the service connector and check the codes yourself.

report back.

 

ok, i reset the ecu and no check engine yet. when it comes back ill go get the code from auto zone. ill report back soon

 

If you do need a new catalytic converter, you can get inexpensive, quality cats on ebay or summitracing. Just look for a carsound or catco catalytic converter; they should run about $60 brand new and they flow better then OEM.

 

and it will do its job? and shut the cel off?

 

nah, don't go to AZ! jump the service connector yourself and read the codes via the flashing MIL!

let me know if you don't know wtf i'm talking about, hehe.

 

I don't know. Seems unlikely, though.

 

Getting the code will tell us more. Or DIY and follow the procedures in the service manual.