Can someone answer my catalytic converter question, pleeeease?
I need someone who knows Honda's to advise me on a question i have. My gf's 98 accord has a problem with cat converter. Now, we just spent $400 replacing the EGR valve and having the ports cleaned, but the problem with the car still prevails. Mechanic told us that the cat the car has is a
universal one and it most likely has to be replaced since the code shows up on that scanning machine. Will replacing the cat stop the car from hesitating when it drives long distances? It almost feels like the car is running outta gas and then it jerks foward, does this have to do with a bad cat converter? Oh and the CEL is also on, fixing the EGR did nothing to turn the light off. HELP PLEASE!! Oh and before i forget, mechanic told us that he can put in a new cat and install it for another $400!! and that it comes with a 5 yr warranty. Is that about right price wise??
The mechanic is way over his head on this one. Cleaning the EGR and passages was a good thing to do so that is not wasted money, but I am sure the catalytic converter is not causing your problem and is probably not what is really causing the check engine light.
Look at a few of the oddities: if the catalytic converter is a universal one it must have been replaced for some reason (valid or not) and a 1998 should not have needed a catalytic converter yet. I presume she has only had the car for a while because she is not supplying info that the converter is only x years old, but the previous owner has probably had the same problem she is having and went through the same thing. Replacing the catalytic converter looks like it would be repeating somebody's earlier mistake. And no, I've never known of a catalytic converter to cause the hesitation you describe.
I recommend throwing a bit of money at one thing - a replacement fuel filter - because it should be changed every 30K miles (nobody ever does) and can cause the symptoms you describe. Cheap, easy enough to do yourself, has a fair chance of fixing the problem, and can cause P0420 codes that mimic a bad catalytic converter. The filter should be on the firewall near the throttle body and is not a bad DIY job.
If the hesitating problem does not go away, the distributor is a suspect (but not nearly enough to blindly replace it!) Distributors can be visually inspected by removing the cap, rotor and dust cover - if red rust or black engine oil is seen around the shaft that means trouble. A more convincing diagnosis is to see if the timing is steady and advances as expected.
BTW, Honda does not use MAF sensors, so although that would be a good suspect in some cars it is not in hers.
Did the mechanic say what codes he was reading, by any chance?
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