5th & 6th Generation (2002-2006 & 2007-2011)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 2002-2006 & 2007-2011
Topics of discussion range from fuel economy, safety, modifications, performance all involving America's favorite family car, the Toyota Camry.
Okay, so (I think) 140K miles arrived and my '02 Camry XLE 2.4L now has a Check Engine Light. I haven't have it scanned yet, but I'm kind of afraid it will be either the O2 Sensor or Catalyt Converter. The O2 will be cheaper to fix, but heck the Cat is going to cost me almost a grand. And I'm broke!
Okay, so (I think) 140K miles arrived and my '02 Camry XLE 2.4L now has a Check Engine Light. I haven't have it scanned yet, but I'm kind of afraid it will be either the O2 Sensor or Catalyt Converter. The O2 will be cheaper to fix, but heck the Cat is going to cost me almost a grand. And I'm broke!
if it were to be say the cat, you may have options. you can get a rebuilt one, or a generic one, usually sold at places like Midas or any other muffler shop in your area. do a google search on "rebuilt catalytic converters'.
as for the 02 sensor, if it is that, then you can also get a NAPA sensor, heck, even a recent junk yard unit "might" work out for you as well. no matter what, though, as you know, you will need to spend some money.
Just tonight, driving home from work, I noticed that if I set the fan to max, during stop, the fan speed went down to like 2 or 3 (5 is the highest speed). Upon pressing the gas pedal to go, the fan went back to max speed. If my memory serves me correctly, this may be that the alternator's charging capability is not working efficiently. Or it's failing...if someone can shed more light, that would be great. I'm taking it to AutoZone to scan later today...hopefully nothing big.
Just tonight, driving home from work, I noticed that if I set the fan to max, during stop, the fan speed went down to like 2 or 3 (5 is the highest speed). Upon pressing the gas pedal to go, the fan went back to max speed. If my memory serves me correctly, this may be that the alternator's charging capability is not working efficiently. Or it's failing...if someone can shed more light, that would be great. I'm taking it to AutoZone to scan later today...hopefully nothing big.
a loose fan belt, worn fan belt can cause this also. and yes, stepping on the gas would increase the alternator output as it will be spinning faster as well. it should stay relatively steady at either idle or higher rpm's.
Well...I had it scanned and the code is: P0420. It's as expected, but it can be a number of things. Bad cat, AF sensor bad, a leaked air before HOS2 or it can also be any of the two OS sensors. My question is: Which one is it? I don't want to spend a whole lot of money replacing one by one, hoping it's the one. Help...
Well...I had it scanned and the code is: P0420. It's as expected, but it can be a number of things. Bad cat, AF sensor bad, a leaked air before HOS2 or it can also be any of the two OS sensors. My question is: Which one is it? I don't want to spend a whole lot of money replacing one by one, hoping it's the one. Help...
Speaking from my experience and a lot of chatting with my mechanic, P0420 is almost ALWAYS a bad cat. In my case, though, I got lucky and only had to replace the after-cat O2 sensor. There is a test to verify O2 sensor operation that most shops can do by hooking up to the OBDII port with a diagnostic tool. It involves checking voltages after the car goes into closed-loop mode. If the numbers are WAY out of tolerance between pre and post cat, I'd replace the post-cat O2 sensor. If they are just out of tolerance, you've got a bad cat.
Let me be realistic with ya, though on two points... First, catalytic convertors are good for around 175K. Yours is getting towards the end of it's life and, without the other typical O2 codes being thrown, I'm pretty sure it's your cat. At the same time, I would also like to point out that this code is strictly emissions related. If your pre-cat sensors are working right, the ECU is getting the readings it needs to modify the A/F ratio. The post-cat sensors are really only to measure the efficiency of the catalytic convertor.
Is the cat a user-friendly replaceable item or do I need a shop with welding machine to fix it?
well i haven't crawled under my toy lately, but it HAS BEEN my previous experience that most cats are bolted at both ends. so maybe a torch to cut the bolts, then replace it with new bolts/nuts.....if you can find them go stainless steel nuts/bolts, but since it'll be a long time again before this cat would need replacing, just use what you have.
you would need an ohmmeter i believe to test the components to verify if they are good or bad. some shops have a "known good" component they substitute for testing to verify the bad part, but i do not believe you would have this. it might be best to actually pay someone for a correct diagnosis, as right now, you are taking someone's word ( the other poster) your cat is bad, simply because he "talked with" a mechanic........
You may not need to replace the cat! P0420 popped up on our '98 Sienna last winter (1MZ-FE engine) and I replaced all three o2 sensors with Denso universals (available from Rock Auto for $40-something) and that did the trick. $120-something for the repair, P0420 is gone and we're still driving on the original cat. The van has 279,500 miles on it.
Is the cat a user-friendly replaceable item or do I need a shop with welding machine to fix it?
I just checked the manual and it looks like both 6cyl and 4cyl engines have bolt-on cats. Get a big ass breaker bar and go to town on those bolts. They are most likely rusted and "welded" into place - save them if you can, but don't expect much... don't forget to use plenty of penetrating lubricant. Plan to break the bolts and you'll need to replace gaskets at either end of the convertor, too.
You can also measure resistance between the top two terminals on the downstream O2 sensor (top is the side with three nubs for clips). At room temperature it should read 11 - 16 ohms (per the manual). For the upstream sensor, you measure the top two terminals (with top being the side with three nubs for clips... there should be two on the left and one on the bottom) and expect 1.8-3.4 ohm's at room temperature. If that measures bad, replace the sensor.
One thing to warn about, though, is that this test isn't testing the O2 sensor in action.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Glenn8963
it might be best to actually pay someone for a correct diagnosis, as right now, you are taking someone's word ( the other poster) your cat is bad, simply because he "talked with" a mechanic........
Fair skepticism, no doubt. But I posted the information in my first response for a reason. Think about the purposes of the O2 sensors depending on their location. There's only two things that can go wrong in that part of the exhaust metering - the O2 sensor is bad, or the cat is bad.
In truth, the only way for the ECU to know that back O2 sensor is bad is if it's flat-out not giving a reading or there is no physical continuity in the wires (again, no signal). Given that, I wanted to point out that it can still be your O2 sensor. This is why you need to hook it up to a sensitive ohmeter and watch it switching after it goes into closed loop mode.
The cat being bad... well... that's why this code is a PITA. The ECU is relying 100% on the O2 sensor to tell it if the cat is within emissions threshold. So if you have a bad sensor... (I'm sure you can fill in the blanks)
My suggestion, like the others - replace the O2 sensors, starting with the down stream sensor. It's possible that's all you need to do. Besides... if the cat IS bad, you should replace the O2 sensors when you do the work anyway.
Everyone has been very helpful. I will need to get myself a multimeter tester and start with testing out the two sensors and go from there. Will update this thread as I go along but since I'm broke now, it might have be later than sooner. Thanks again...
Well, today I retightened the gas cap, disconnect the battery and that the cleared the code...drove it for a day without the code coming back, so I think it was just the gas cap. In the possible causes list, I forget to mention there was a line that said, "Fuel system fault." I take it that it refers to the gas cap not tight enough, maybe? All is good for one day at least...will see how it goes this coming week when I drive it to work regularly.
Well, today I retightened the gas cap, disconnect the battery and that the cleared the code...drove it for a day without the code coming back, so I think it was just the gas cap. In the possible causes list, I forget to mention there was a line that said, "Fuel system fault." I take it that it refers to the gas cap not tight enough, maybe? All is good for one day at least...will see how it goes this coming week when I drive it to work regularly.
The gas cap is problematic on the Camry but it doesn't sound like it'd trigger your code. It probably just takes a while for the CEL to trigger, but I'd be willing to bet that your CEL is gonna be back.
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