2001 corolla catalytic converter

kmamaril · #1 (**permalink**) 10-19-2007, 10:25 PM

Hi I have a 2001 corrola. Recently I had the check engine light come on with code 0420, catalyst system fault. I decided to make sure all the litle things were done. I did a lucas fuel treatment. Cheanged the plugs and air filter. I even decided to change the 02 sensors the car had over 100,000 miles so I guessed it couldn't hurt. No Luck. Looks like I'm going to have to change out the Cat. Only problem is that it appears to be welded in. I don't weld but I have friends that do. They said they would rather have me pull the whole exhaust pipe with the cat then do the welding underneath. I was looking and it appears that the muffler is welded on but I can't really see any place other than the exhaust manifold off of the engine to unbolt the pipe. I have a haynes manual but it doesn't give diagrams of all of the different configurations possible. Does anyone have a diagram picture or idea of how this exhaust cat combo run together? Has Anyone run into this before? Hope some one can help. Thanks

Thanks

mral1515 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-03-2007, 10:15 PM

Take it to a muffler shop they are not that expensive there. Remember that converters are covered for 8 years or 80,000 miles under the federal emission warranty.

kmamaril · #3 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 12:04 PM

Thanks I went to all data DIY they had much more detailed schematics of my car. It turns out that it does seperate after coming out of the exhaust manifold. There is a clamp right after the turn that goes into the cat. I was able to undo the clamp un bolt the mufler and drop the cat. My friends cut the old one out and wleded the new one on. I did have to cur a few old bolts out and replace the nuts because they were frozen up. It took me about 3 hours with some help of my friends that weld.

On another note one week after replacing the cat I ran the obdii readiness monitor on my car and got code p0130. It appears that the upstream O2 sensor is not reading correctly. As I mentioned earlier I replaced this with a Bosch sensor I got at advanced auto parts. I called them and they said I should wait a few weeks and see if the code clears that the pcm could be relearning the new sensor and cat. Any ideas or thoughts on this? They said I can get a replacement sensor for the one I bought from them if I want to pull the one I have and bring it back. Should I wait a while or just bring it in?

mral1515 · #4 (**permalink**) 11-06-2007, 03:26 PM

Bring it back in. Those guys don't typically know much about diagnosis. If it has a code there is more than likely a problem.

Ravenbeaut · #5 (**permalink**) 11-30-2007, 10:42 AM

That catalytic converter thing must be some sort of defect in the 2001 model. I have a 2001 S with the same problem. Two of my coworkers, my boyfriend's sister, and a woman I met in the beauty salon all had issues with their catalytic converter too.

kmamaril · #6 (**permalink**) 12-03-2007, 10:54 AM

Ok It has been almost three weeks since the code came up and I have check for it about every 5 days since then. It appears to have gone away. Now my only issue is that I haven't go the catalyst test completed for my emission readyness to be completed. I have gone about a month of driving and it hasn't completed yet. The catalyst road test says to warm your car up for two to 5 minutes then drive your car at 45 to 55 mph for 5 to 10 minutes then reduce speed to 35 to 45 mph for 5 to 10 minutes. I pretty much do this when I go home but with any suburban area I cannot not always predict the flow of traffic. Does anyone know how to get this test completed? I want to get my car tested in the next month and I'm not sure it will pass if this monitor has not gone off yet.