Catalytic Converter question? 99 Honda Civic DX?

Question

Are there any mechanical parts in a catalytic converter. My mechanic says my converter is bad. If I take my converter off and clean it out and blow it out, will it function better and prolong its life. My car died the other day and my mechanic said it was the distributor. He replaced it and my car started once again. 10 minutes after leaving his shop, my check engine light came on. He said the code was P0420 which meant my converter was bad. He quoted about 1300 to repair the problem. After doing some research on that ODB code, a potential cause of that could be spark timing is off. Since they replaced my distributor, I have a feeling that is what caused the check engine light to come on. Now my car, does not seem to accelerate properly and it almost jumps into acceleration when I hod the gas down. Also, it sound kind of like it is going to stall when it is idiling. Anyone have any info on converters. Thank You

Answer 1

" When a vehicle's computer spots a potential problem with a catalytic convertor it will turn on the "check engine" or "service engine soon" light and store a code that can be retrieved using a diagnostic scanner. Note that this DOES NOT necessarily mean the catalytic convertor is bad. As with any code stored, the PCM can only point to a potential problem, and many tests, expensive testing equipment, and knowledge are required to pinpoint the exact fault. Before having your convertor replaced, make sure the technician inspecting your vehicle understands the system and knows the proper testing methods that I will explain in the next section."

http://www.aa1car.com/library/converter.htm
http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/catfailure/
http://www.troublecodes.net/articles/wheretostart.shtml

Answer 2

Sounds like you got a sharp mekanik. Knows how to get your money. Are you sure you got a new distributor ? I would guess he purposely set your timing wrong so you would come back and he could sell you a new, way overpriced, converter. I would get out of there and go to a muffler / exhaust shop and get the converter checked. You cannot clean a converter when they go bad that's it. If you do need a converter. The PO420 code doea not point to a bad converter for sure. It says efficiency low. If you do need a new converter go here and save some $$$

http://www.car-stuff.com/catalyticconverter.htm

Answer 3

the thing that happens to converters is that collapse inside and block air flow this creates backpressure(like sticking a banana in the tail pipe). sorry no way to fix or clean. mine went bad in my 02 impala. one way to find out if thisa is it, unhook exhaust from manifold and run car, it will be loud but if this is the problem it will run fast with no back pressure on it. hope this helps