Catalytic converter already??

[nhlkent11]

2007 Aura XR 3.6 w/ 53K

Recently, I've been seeing "Service ESC" in my DIC every so often so I made an appt. to take the aura in to the dealer. The next day my check engine light came on and stayed on for about 4 days (never went off). I went to autozone and pulled a P0420 - catalyst not performing to efficiency (or similar wording). Brought it to the dealer and sure enough the cat was plugged up and needed to be replaced. They also claim the intermittent "service esc" light is directly related which I have a hard time believing. They changed the converter under warranty of course but I can't believe a 2 year old car would need that. In any case, I'm pretty sure they're wrong about the esc light because it's still coming on after the cat replacement. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[Phaeton Driver]

Originally Posted by nhlkent11

2007 Aura XR 3.6 w/ 53K

Recently, I've been seeing "Service ESC" in my DIC every so often so I made an appt. to take the aura in to the dealer. The next day my check engine light came on and stayed on for about 4 days (never went off). I went to autozone and pulled a P0420 - catalyst not performing to efficiency (or similar wording). Brought it to the dealer and sure enough the cat was plugged up and needed to be replaced. They also claim the intermittent "service esc" light is directly related which I have a hard time believing. They changed the converter under warranty of course but I can't believe a 2 year old car would need that. In any case, I'm pretty sure they're wrong about the esc light because it's still coming on after the cat replacement. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

Your right. The Cat should last a lot longer, typically 10 years or more. Your must have been defective, or you have found a source of aviation gasoline to run in your car. AvGas has Lead Tetraethyle in it which would destroy the Titanium catalyst.
I had one go bad back in 73. The mechanic removed the exhaust pipe and stuck a steel rod into it, stirred it around and pulled out a bunch of crap. Needless to say, it didn't work any more, but is let the car run great.

[jita1]

Yeah, a cat's life should be almost as long as a pet cat's..LOL