Please help. 01 pathfinder catalyst inefficiency

[ray-peg]

Service engine soon light on 2 weeks ago, checked with a 50 bucks OBD2 scaner, P0430, thought might be a loosing gas cap, after 400 miles, light is back on.

Got a friend work for Honda, with a SNAP ON scanner, just want to know what's exactely going on with my pathy, give me a code saying catalyst inefficiency.

My friend said there's too many reason for this code, just wondering is there any of you guys dealed with this before? And how much do I look for getting this fixed? 01, pathfinder, 120k miles

Thanks, really appreciate that.
Modified by ray-peg at 12:10 AM 4/1/2010

[Infinitiguy19]

http://www.obd-codes.com/p0430

[Chuck Tribolet]

FSM says: P0430 (LEFT BANK, -B2) THREE WAY CATALYST FUNCTION.

That's the US driver's side.

FSM lists the following causes:

I Warm-up three way catalystI Exhaust tubeI Intake air leaksI InjectorsI Injector leaksI Spark plugI Improper ignition timing

and then goes into five pages of diagnosis. I'd suggest acquiring an FSM.

Chuck

[ray-peg]

update:

Still didn't have a chance to go to the dealer see the new ecu reprogramming working or not.

But, after 150 miles highway driving this afternoon, the SES went off by itself... anyone have any idea why?

gas cap? maybe, it never feels tight, I always stop screwing the cap after 10 click.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

A catalyst function DTC generally indicates catalytic converter inefficiency, this is no way related to the EVAP system or your gas cap. It also seems as though the issue has corrected itself (probably temporarily) and the ECU has changed the left downstream O2 sensor to ready status. This doesn't mean you're out of the woods yet, the issue may return soon. There are a lot of different things you should check (all of which are in Chucks post above) to prevent the issue from returning.

[Chuck Tribolet]

The SES light will go off if the problem the ECU detected does not reoccur for "a while". The definition of "a while" is a bit unclear.
I read somewhere that it was five "drive cycles" where a "drive cycle" is from cold to hot, and maybe a minimum distance or time. But
I have' had one go off in what appeared to be less than that. But the net is, the problem stayed away for a while. Maybe because
it's fixed, maybe because you didn't do what provokes it, maybe because who knows what.

[body80]

I've come up with a fix for this problem. I have a 02 and they don't have a reprogram for my PF.
I'm going to need to get some picture in a few days to show how I did it but after 4000 miles and 3 months the light hasn't come back on again when is use to come on days after I reset the light.

I'll write up a post soon.