Someone help please with P0420 code

[joeyl]

recently bought a 1998 toyota camry 4 cylinder. check engine light came on soon after with a
P0420 code. then came low idling followed by white smoke every so often. now today while driving it just shut down on me. wont start back up either. now im stressing and would like a little help. if anyone has any idea what it could be and how to help, it would be much appreciated! i am on a very small budget too

[TrailDust]

Hello, and welcome to TN! I'll move your thread over to the Camry forums so the members there can help you out. You'll also want to use that forum's search feature to locate any past threads dealing with that error code. Good luck!

[ycartf]

Originally Posted by joeyl

recently bought a 1998 toyota camry 4 cylinder. check engine light came on soon after with a
P0420 code. then came low idling followed by white smoke every so often. now today while driving it just shut down on me. wont start back up either. now im stressing and would like a little help. if anyone has any idea what it could be and how to help, it would be much appreciated! i am on a very small budget too

Your code is as follows:
P0420 Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)

The white smoke sounds like a head gasket to me, but there are other things you should look for to diagnose that. Has the exhaust had a sweet smell, been white before? Have you been losing coolant (unexplained)? How does your dipstick look (dark like oil or milky/frothy like oil mixed with coolant)? What is your compression like (test all four cylinders)? Has the car been overheated anytime in its history (especially if overheated and then cool fluid put in while hot)? Any mechanic worth his salt should be able to diagnose a head gasket if that is the problem - hope it's not.