1998 Honda Civic DX
197k miles

Long story not so short: Car stalled out, wouldn't start, had it towed to mechanic. After diag., determined distributor cap assembly faulty, replaced. Car started and ran fine. One day later, check engine light on, brought it back to mech, found error P0420, reset. Mechanic said cranking engine during diagnosis might have fouled catalytic converter, problem should go away - if not, replace cat. Light is on all the time now. Car runs fine, no smells, smooth engine. Does it seem odd that cat should go ONE DAY after repair was made?? Any input greatly appreciated.

Frank

 

Have you reset the ECU to see whether P0420 returns? If so, the original bad distributor likely caused severe misfires that killed the cat. Right now, I would not suspect that anything the mechanic did caused this code.

 

A persistent P0420 code is extremely common for 96-00 Civics.

I agree with RonJ, I wouldn't point the blame at the mechanic quite yet.
Raw fuel in the exhaust stream will destroy the catalytic converter in no time.
Misfires will allow raw fuel to enter the exhaust stream.

Was the engine misfiring at all before it was fixed?

 

Thanks for the replies.

1) error code was cleared twice and returned within 24 hours both times
2) I didn't notice any rough idle at all. Like I said, car ran smooth up until failure, and then again after fix. No rough idle, misfires, good accelleration, no shaky steering wheel while stopped at traffic light, etc.

 

^^BUMP^^

I have same 98 DX model and just had distributer take dump on me. 50 miles after installing new distributer, CEL displayed same code. Car drives fine like stated above

 

^Replace your cat. If you have other question, please create your own thread.