Wht is it about the 2003 HCH that makes it blow a catalytic converter every 40,000 miles. I'm not going to pay $1,300 for anew one if it's going to blow up at the 160k mark. I think I will buy a Fit or a Prius just before the next emissions inspection (due in September 2009).

 

you probably have oil getting into the exhaust. My friend had this happen and luckily he did some detective work and diagnosed the real problem as the dealership just wanted to put on catalytic converters as your experiencing.

I cant remember the exact cause of the oil in the exhaust, something like the PCV valve or something like that. It was like a 10 dollar part.

anyway someone on the boards will probably have an idea.

basically the oil gets on to the catalyst then heats up and burns it out.

 

Didn't they have a reflash available for this? The ECM was saying low converter efficiency when the unit was fine or something along those lines. Is that the problem or did you fail smog?

 

There is a pcm reflash for this code. See your dealer and if they charge more than 1/2 hour labor question them because warranty time is only .3

 

My catalytic converter died at 97,000 miles on my HCH. I complained to Honda America and they replaced it for the cost of labor - $120.00.

I told Honda America about complaints on this board and that they know there are problems with cat converters on these models. I had the corrections made when the recall was issued but I was already some 40,000 miles in at that point - so the cat converter was probably done for anyway.

Honda was very cooperative as was the dealer I took it to. I've driven a Honda of some sort since 1995 so I'm glad they've come through for me in the pinch. I'm nervous, however, that this will happen again in 40,000 or so miles and Honda won't be so understanding then ...

But, that's a worry for another day.

 

I think honda is also paying people back for replacing catalytic converters if they were charged for replacements. Did you ever get the recall notice?