Bought this vehicle last week. 2 days back while driving in rain, check engine light popped up. yesterday, got it checked from autozone and they mentioned about this code P1420. it is still there today but the car seems to be working nice. I read some old posts about the CAT and software updates stuff. Can some one guide me through this?
Thanking in anticipation.

 

This may help you:

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/p0420/A07-036.pdf

 

Thx a lot Gairwyn for your help. I will look into this.

 

Gairwyn,

I looked into the link you suggested. My vehicle is SULEV which may fall in category of PZEV vehicles, so this software update might not be applicable in my case. Any other suggestions? I will highly appreciate your help

 

Yeah, If your car is SULEV, then this TSB would not apply to you.

Not sure if you would want to bring it in to a dealership's service department to check it out, but they could probably diagnose whether it's a bad catalytic converter or maybe just a faulty sensor. If you're in California or one of the other original CA-emissions states, the emissions parts fall under warranty for a longer time/ more miles than for those of us in other states, so if that's your situation, you may be covered. How many miles are on the car?

Here's a link regarding the warranty that may be helpful:

http://www.amid.com/docs/sulev_2003c...xtwarranty.pdf

Here's the link for the "other" states:

http://www.ahm-ownerlink.com/Documen...t/APL24918.pdf

Depending on where you live, and how many miles are on the car, you should be able to get some idea whether you're covered or not. Over the years, some other states were added to the "CA-only" rules.

 

Gairwyn,

Thanks a lot. I am in CT and 120,000 miles are on the car. Do I qualify to apply under warranty? I will really appreciate your help.

 

Hey, I'm in CT too.
How'd you get a SULEV? Mine's a ULEV. Maybe your car was originally sold out of Massachusetts or Vermont. Those seem to be among the few original CA-emissions states.
CT is one of them now, but I really don't know how it works for those of us who bought these older cars used. Your best bet would be either to check with one of the Honda dealers or call the main Honda number out in Torrence, CA. Maybe they could interpret where an owner of a 2003 SULEV in CT stands with regard to the warranty parameters on the catalytic converters, etcetera.
Your car seems to run fine, but I think the problem would come when you have to go in for the emissions inspection; I think we have to do that every 2 years. Your car probably runs pretty clean, but I don't know what they'd say regarding a check engine light being lit. Maybe if you're lucky it was inspected recently and won't be up for renewal for a while yet.
For now, ask around about the warranty and what applies to your car, try to determine what exactly is causing the car to throw the code that made the check engine light come on.

 

Thanks a lot for your kind suggestion. I will surely look into this. Good to know you are in ct as well. All the best.

 

I had the P1420 code too. it would pop up every month or so after i ereased the codes. i bought a new O2 sensor for the one under the car at the rear cat under the passenger seat (the last sensor) in the exhaust. that solved my problem now for about 5 months now. I was told it would fire this code for 2 common reasons. 1- sensor going bad. 2-cats not working properly any more and with almost 150,000 miles i figure it is going to be time to replace both cats sooner or later. a friend of mine has a 2003 HCH and it kept tripping the same P1420 code even with all new O2 sensors but he does not have the cash for a whole new exhaust so he did a thing called a "CEL fix" till he saves up enough money to replace the exhaust. it has something to do with 2 antifoulers. google it im sure you will find it. it only cost him like 6 bucks for this temp fix. maybe somthing to liik into.

 

Great Gazoo,

Thanks a lot for your kind suggestions. I will certainly look in to it and then would share my experience. Thanks again.