GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Hi all, Been lurking a little while. I just bought an 04 shadow 3 weeks ago. I had a Trailblazer but 300 a month for fuel finally got to me. I've always liked the Vibes and I am enjoying this one. I have the dreaded 0420 ? code. poor catalyst eff. Had it looked at under warranty and was told the cat was flow tested and good. They added BG fuel cleaner and erased the code but it lit up about 100 mi. later. I tried the same with Techron. Same result. The car runs fine and gets 29 mpg. every tank, which makes me think the cat IS fine. Could a flaky 02 sensor be tripping the code? A friend mentioned something about a wideband sensor or tuning device that might cure it.. Any ideas would be welcome.BTW Great forum. I have enjoyed reading and learned a lot. Thanks Dave

welcome to genvibewhen my cat failed, I had no driveability issues, but replacing the cat got rid of the code ( about 80K miles ago and no re-occurence) Mine had just stopped working, maybe the catalyst was used up, but I had no isses typical of a restricted exhaust, so I don't think a flow test would fix it. An O2 sensor could be a cause, but that hasn't been the case in vibes. If its under warranty, then they should fix it. Some say it could be other causes, I say it's most likely a bad cat. http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=19728 There are tests a dealer can do to test the O2 sensors, and to see whether the converter is converting or not. Don't let them try to brush you off with a fuel additive.

Don't let them try to brush you off with a fuel additive. I agree. I have put well over the 1000 mi. since I bought it. The warranty is only 50/50 so I pay half. I may do this myself and be done with it. The car had 140k mi. when I bought it . I have been reading about the aftermarket cats on here. Is it the Walker that is subpar? I don't really want to pay 500 plus for a factory cat/pipe assembly. But I don't want to end up doing this again in 50k mi.

welcome

Welcome!

Welcome!

I don't know about aftermarket cats Most of the threads I could find here were about high flow ones, and there appeared to be a lot of statements about them not lasting very long. I went with the stock cat again. Was pricey, but easy enough to replace. The stock one just bolts on, an aftermarket you would have to cut the old one out, and (hopefully) weld the new one in place, so maybe go to a muffler shop and see what they would charge for an aftermarket cat & install. Some of those places offer lifetime warranties, which could come in handy if you keep the car for a long time.How many miles on the car? The factory warranty for the cat is 80K miles, if you're under that, then you should be able to get GM to replace it and not have to pay half.

Thanks all for the welcome! The car has 140k mi. on it. I need to take some pics. Not sure if I can post any yet but I might put them on my photobucket.