ARX and engine check light

[servantwong]

96 camry with 150K
I mentioned before that the engine check light is on after 600mil into ARX cleaning phase. It is now 1100mil and the the light still on. I went to AZ last week for diagnostic and the code says it is the catalytic convert problem. I am thinking this could be coincidence since ARX is in the engine oil, it should not affect exhaust. Or may be it could??
Any members encounter similar thing?
Thanks!

 

[TR3-2001SE]

I would think you would have to be consuming lots of oil for auto-rx to effect the cat. I was burning 1 quart every 500 miles when I started my auto-rx treatment and it caused no lights to come on. May want to email Frank to see if he has seen this before on your specific model car. Probably just coincidence.

 

[servantwong]

my camry is not consuming any oil nor leak.
I checked my oil level twice a week during cleaning phase.

 

[Frank]

servantwong your cleaning internal sensors and obviously removing contaminants. Light will go out after rinse and computer resets itself for clean engine. Nothing to be concerned about.

 

[John Hilmer]

This is curious and interesting to me because my wifes '96 Camry with 121K is about 1250 miles into the first A-RX treatment, and we have had no CEL yet.

Not to challenge Frank at all, but what if there really is a cat problem that is un-related to the A-RX? Isn't it possible that this Cat is finally just used up?

Not knowing what I'm talking about I just wanted to throw this out to see what you think about this because I can't think of how cleaning internal sensors would cause a Cat warning and would like to know if this is possible.

Best Regards,

John

 

[Jonny Z]

Cat probably went out on its own. My sister's Protege got a CEL and checked out to be "CAT BELOW EFFICIENCY THRESHOLD" at 101K. CarMax replaced it under warranty (was a certified used car then). On that car there is a sniffer before and one after the cat to detect the delta. They do wear out I was told.

 

[goodvibes]

If it's a Toyota, the CEL can take a up to a couple weeks to go out after the problem is corrected unless reset. You can reset manually by disconnecting the battery for 10 or more min.

 

[servantwong]

Yep. CEL is now off @1100mil cleaning phase and hopefully it stays off becuse my inspection is due next month. Else, I will have to do what goodvibes suggested to see if it meet the inspection.

 

[servantwong]

JHZR2
Changed my O2 sensor 2 years back.

 

[JHZR2]

at so many miles, it could very well be the o2 sensors going bad.

If auto-rx got in there, it would burn right up. There are no cat-damaging compounds in auto-rx.

I doubt that youre cleaning internal sensors, and I doubt that even if you were, cleaning, say an oil temp or pressure sensor, that it would have any effect on the cat.

JMH