any mechanics in the house? please can you help me out?

bdyman

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Sep 9, 2008
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having a problem with my 03 oldsmobile alero 2.2 ecotec
car sat for 3 yrs once a week ran the car, well as you see i finished the car, have been driving it allot, and now i have a p0420 code

iam leaving for lansing michigan next thursday morning, so i kinda need this fixed before i leave dont want to break down in the middle of no where with my kid in the car

iam unemployed dont have allot of money my personal mechanic is being a dick, but he says it could be a vacum leak or stuck injector, i dunno iam a body fender tech not a mechanic, so if you can fix my car i can fix your car kinda deal

i get discounts off parts but if someone can beat prices on parts i`ll go with what you have to offer, i need a starter for the same car please, also i need my tire fixed it has a leak in it anyone care to hook me up??

please people i need help bad
thanks
 

Eagle

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P0420 means poor catalytic converter performance... if the car isn't noticeably driving any worse, or if your mileage hasn't decreased significantly - then I'd say you could probably roll with it. Have you tried just to have the code cleared to see if it returns? Chances are you probably have a bad rear o2 sensor.

As for the tire, why not just toss a can of stop leak in it?

Whats wrong with the starter? Called any junk yards for prices?
 

Sinister Drag Designs

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Aug 3, 2007
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cats are legally suppose to last the lifetime of the vehicle, I thought... I would call up the service dept at your local gm dealership and you should be covered if it is cat related.

not a lifetime on any we have heard of. I know ford and few others offer up to 75k mile replacement as long as the o2's were working properly.
If you replace those or there working you can bring the car in for work. They can blame the failure on the sensors not working properly.
 

bdyman

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Sep 9, 2008
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sorry i didnt clearify, car runs fine gas mileage is fine, no rough idle, no black deposits from the exhuast, no vacum leak, cat was replaced before it went away, and i dont not want my local gm dealership to touch this car, its on air ride and if the tech forgets to release the air from the bags and blows a strut bag iam fucked!!!

so you guys think its the rear 02 sensor then??
 

Eagle

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Sure? No... I haven't seen the car myself. If you can clear the codes yourself, pull the rear O2 and torch the exhaust end of it for about 4 minutes (yes, like with a MAP gas torch), reinstall it and clear the codes. If the code doesn't come back for a couple hundred miles, then its the sensor. Torching it cleans out some of the carbon build up and should allow it to function again for awhile...

You said you already replaced the cat once... so the chances of it being dead again is pretty slim unless you have a serious fueling issue and are dumping a ton of raw fuel out the exhaust. But you also stated that the car is running fine, so I doubt that's the case...

It's just my hunch. O2s are cheap tho, so it can't really hurt to give it a shot.
 

Sprayin

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If you can clear the codes yourself, pull the rear O2 and torch the exhaust end of it for about 4 minutes (yes, like with a MAP gas torch), reinstall it and clear the codes. If the code doesn't come back for a couple hundred miles, then its the sensor. Torching it cleans out some of the carbon build up and should allow it to function again for awhile....

Wouldnt that mean that there is something fouling out the sensor, and that while the sensor may be bad, there is a different problem that should be fixed before he just throws a new part at it?
 

bdyman

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Sep 9, 2008
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right thats what iam saying, something is causing the code to come up, car has power, no rough idle, nothing wrong that i can feel or see, and i did buy a cheap obd2 reader from matco, it works and i cleared the code

fuck!! my mechanic is such a douche bag he wants to charge me to hook up his scan tool to check the injectors and the 02 sensors, i would so appreciate it if someone has a real scan tool and can scan my car, i would buff your car or something when i get back from michigan

anyone??
 

Eagle

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A real scan tool isn't going to tell you much about your individual injectors, or O2s. They're pass fail, and since you've been clearing codes so much, chances are they haven't even ran through enough cycles to be in pass/fail state yet.

O2s often go bad in cars that don't get driven much, I'm jus sayin'.

Injectors DO get stuck open SOMETIMES, but if that was the case, it would idle like shit. The more common scenario would be a clogged injector... WHICH WOULDN'T CAUSE A SENSOR TO FAIL...

It's cool tho. Over analyze everything I tell you. Did you torch the old O2 yet? Did you even take it out to see how crappy it looks?

Eh, I think I've covered the bases here. Good luck with your fix.
 
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