98 lesabre, o0420 code..some cleaning ideas!

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Hi again all! I replaced my upper plenum,gasket,lower gaskets.had a code p0420. Catalyst inefficient bank 1. Cell went off. About a week later,80 miles or so,cell came back on. P0420. Got 2 new oxygen sensors,as Delco brand,try too install tomorrow. Did some googling,and came across, carb cleaner sprayed in cat, !
Liquid kilt sucked through brake booster line, cataclysm in a bottle, distilled water sprayed through intake,and lawyer thinner,a gallon too half a tank. Think any of these are worth a shot? Figured since I'm gonna have the sensors out,spray car cleaner in, some distilled water,followed by the laque r thinner thing. Scotty kilmers thing.
 
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I've never heard of a widely accepted method to clean out a cat without gutting it - seems that once they're plugged, they're done.

With the right scanner you can watch your O2 voltage feeds to see if it's your sensors or the cat itself...
 
"Cataclysm in a bottle" = malt liquor.
Not sure what "lawyer thinner" is, but I like the idea.
 
Get say ahhh 3 pounds of plastic explosive, a thousand feet of detonation cord, detonation initiator, and viola... Problem solved.
 
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I have a 1996 Toyota Tacoma with the 2.4 L engine. Bought it in 2006. After owning it for about 3 years, I got a check engine light (CEL). Read the code, it was P0420. Did some reading on the internet, found out that I could reset it by temporarily disconnecting the battery. As time went by I started to get the CEL more and more, was having to disconnect the battery twice a week. I waited until this past summer, on a day when the temperature was just right, in the mid 70's, and I replaced the catalytic converter (bought a Walker brand one from RockAuto, $103 with shipping). I was lucky, I only needed to remove 4 bolts and the cat fell out. I have 3000 miles on this cat now, no more CEL. I tried "Cataclean" in my gas tank, it did a good job of cleaning the injectors but still had the CEL come on
 
Originally Posted By: Ethan1
I honestly can't comprehend a lot of what you write.


I enjoy reading his posts. The "lawyer thinner" got me.
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Get say ahhh 3 pounds of plastic explosive, a thousand feet of detonation cord, detonation initiator, and viola... Problem solved.

Fill up with E0 first.
 
Register car in MA. Emissions void after 15 yrs. You can run it rich for a 50 miles, then lean and hot for a few hours In a lower gear to keep revs up at legal speeds.
 
I would go with the $5 fix. Use a Dorman HELP spark plug nonfouler modded for the rear O2 sensor. It backs the rear O2 out of the exhaust flow a bit, which the ECU thinks is awesome catalyst efficiency. In a day or 2 poof, out goes the light for good. But remember, that oil burning will eventually plug the cat, and the car will choke and stall. And cause other various issues due to heavy oil consumption. And if you're fogging your cats with pale oil (AKA Seafoaming) don't. Plugs the cat even worse.
 
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Get say ahhh 3 pounds of plastic explosive, a thousand feet of detonation cord, detonation initiator, and viola... Problem solved.


That’s right Captain. Heck, throw a whole bottle of MMO in there for good measure
smile.gif
 
The coolant and oil that it was probably burning may still have left deposits on the cat, so after some time it may clear up on its own. You can do an O2 spacer as long as the cats not clogging. Ive also seen cat cleaner in a bottle as well. Ive had luck with a big bottle of techron, and doing the 50 miles or so in 4th gear at highway speeds, getting on it every now and then to try and get it really hot., and then immediatley going to inspection, but only bc in NJ we have to until the car is 25 years old. Not sure if you need it to pass anytime soon.
 
ziggy - Do a backpressure test. You do that by unscrewing the upstream oxygen sensor and installing an exhaust backpressure gauge. Anything over 2-PSI is considered clogged. If it's not clogged, ignore the P0420 code unless you're trying to pass smog.
 
Originally Posted By: bbhero
Get say ahhh 3 pounds of plastic explosive, a thousand feet of detonation cord, detonation initiator, and viola... Problem solved.


I think the saying you're referring to is:

"There are very few problems that can't be solved by a suitable application of high explosives."
 
I'm so sorry guys!!I'm using an Amazon tablet, and the screen was small,and Spell check for the best of me.that's messed up,but funny,lol lawyer,ect.I am so sorry all!
Basicaly, that cataclyn in a bottle. Saw YouTube vids,if some guys,spray car n cleaner in a hole they made in the cat...I'm thinking,if using,the lower i2 hole,when sensor removed. Spray maybe 24 odd of distilled water through throttle body...and if code is thier, then resort too going too walmart,and buying gallon of laque r thinner. All this done,after new sensors installed,if course. See if the code goes out first,with new sensors.
The car,already had, 111,200 miles on it,when I bought it. Less than half a thermostat was in it, yes,just the ring around the thermostat was thier,and gasket. Green coolant,not orange. Zzperformance, bought new upper plenum,gasket,torqued it down,3 steps, a little past 89 inch lbs..around 109. New a.c. Delco plugs,got a new a.c. Delco filter other day amazon...made in usa!!.
Got the new 92 sensors..as delco. Someone,used automate plugs they were near shot.wires,are brown...mann or another brand. I decided,it's pro a mess in thier,so go back too using factory stuff,till the bugs are fixed. Gets good mileage though! 14 gallon tank, city driving,done about 4 tanks shell gas,top tier, 230 miles! No other car i ever had made it past 190 miles. With the exception,of my last car,98 corolla,using 2 cycle wtc oil..3 ozs. Per 10 gallons,hit or miss.sometimes made it 237 miles,average was 180 miles.
 
Mileage is now at 111,800 miles.got it September 1st.
When I first got it,did oil change, some no name filter,oil came out thick,n black. Flushed it, with 5 quarts fresh old oil o have stashed, ran it 20 minutes in park.oil came out as black as if it was used. As Delco filter (98% efficient) don't remember if it's single or multi pass efficiency.
I've noticed,past couple weeks, coolant has gone down a bit,tad...but stops when it's. Still at upper radiator level. I'm guessing,no keaks,just going into overflow tank. No coolant smell at tailpipe,no visible leaks where intake and plenum is. See what happens tomorrow,after new 02 sensors installed.
 
The cat did make some weird noises when I got it,like metal scraf ring on start up, a few seconds,hasn't done it since replacing the upper plenum.
 
You're proud of 16.4 mpg? Unless that's 100% city driving, it's pretty lousy.

You're wasting money on new sensors and cleaning brews. If the only code is P0420, that means both sensors are good but the cat is bad. The rattling noise suggests that a previous owner may have (partially) hollowed it out. In that case of course forget about trying to clean it. Really, in any case, forget about trying to clean it. It doesn't work. Save your money for a new cat. If you just want the CEL to be out and don't care about pollution (everyone should care about pollution though), put an anti-fouler under the second sensor to fool the PCM into thinking the cat is OK.

On Android, above the keyboard will be three suggested words to auto-complete / auto-correct. The one on the left is always exactly what you typed. Instead of pressing the spacebar, hit that word instead and it will go literally into the post instead of auto-correcting.
 
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