430 engine light due to low CAT efficiciency: revisited | FerrariChat
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430 engine light due to low CAT efficiciency: revisited

Discussion in '360/430' started by aahtt, Aug 31, 2011.

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  1. aahtt

    aahtt Karting

    Mar 24, 2009
    69
    San Diego
    Full Name:
    Anthony H.
    #1 aahtt, Aug 31, 2011
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    I would like to share my recent experience with an engine light warning I got on my 2005 430 a few weeks ago.
    Light came on during normal driving and the car continued to behave normally, so I hooked up my OBD2 scanner and found the dreaded P0430 code: Cat system efficiency below threshold, bank 2.
    I figured it was a fluke at only 11k miles and I reset the light and thought it went away for good until about 200 miles later when it came back.
    I did some more research on this site and found a couple of posts about this happening sometimes due to an exhaust leak around the Cats.
    At the same time, I got my first notice for a smog test! So before taking the car to the dealer, I decided to take a look at the exhaust and Cats and what I found was unreal.
    On both sides, 2 of the 3 spring bolts were either partly or completely lose!!
    I did my best to retighten everything which is a pain due to the location of the bottom nut, then reset the light and drove the car until all 7 OBD2 monitors checked out.
    The car passed the smog test and showed better than average emissions from both cats.
    Below are the bolts I am talking about and I am going to check on them pretty often from now on.
    Thanks to the forum for sparing me a trip to the dealer!
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  2. SfefVan

    SfefVan Guest

    Nov 28, 2008
    1,370
    Switzerland
    Full Name:
    Stef
    #2 SfefVan, Sep 1, 2011
    Very well done Anthony. You're right, these bolts can get loose easily and this is caused by the stress on the exhaust line. I've mesured that the exhaust line expands about 1,5cm/0.6''. With the very tight stock exhaust brackets, all this backwards pressure acts on these bolts and will eventualy losen them. If they don't, it's the headers which will take the stress. So all in all, it was rather good that your bolts got loose ;) But these bolts should normaly be checked by your shop at each service. Make sure you applied the right torque when you tighten them and it's good also to apply there some copper grease like Permatex.
     
  3. lilleprins

    lilleprins Formula Junior

    Apr 19, 2010
    446
    Torslanda , Sweden
    Full Name:
    Anders T.
    #3 lilleprins, Sep 1, 2011
    Thanks for sharing.
    Stef - what kind of torqe figures are we talking about? It is alway difficult when the bolts are spring loaded. Should be better with a measure of the compressed spring.


    //Anders T.
     
  4. SfefVan

    SfefVan Guest

    Nov 28, 2008
    1,370
    Switzerland
    Full Name:
    Stef
    #4 SfefVan, Sep 1, 2011
    Hi Anders,

    A torque of 75Nm nust be applied on these 3 bolts.

    Stef
     
  5. aahtt

    aahtt Karting

    Mar 24, 2009
    69
    San Diego
    Full Name:
    Anthony H.
    #5 aahtt, Nov 22, 2011
    just a quick follow up on the low CAT efficiency code. The light stayed off for about 1000 miles and came back the other day, same code same bank.
    Took it to the dealer who diagnosed a bad right side CAT. A new one is on the way and thankfully it will be done under the 7 year/70k miles emissions warranty, otherwise it would have been 6600$ just for the CAT!!.
    I have owned several porsches over the years and drove most of them over 50k miles and i have never seem a bad CAT. My car has 12k miles, is this a common problem with F cars?
    I am now worried about the other CAT going bad after the warranty expires in less than a year.....
     
  6. Mattyrae

    Mattyrae Formula 3
    BANNED

    Apr 17, 2011
    2,048
    #6 Mattyrae, Nov 22, 2011
    Most factory cats on high end sports cars are garbage. Sometimes lower mileage or a car with less usage is harder on cats than on driven often. You have 12k miles, so a little surprised. Glad you caught everything before any bigger problems occured.
     

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