juror

I'm not a native Mass hole (seriously, that gets censored?) but I live there now, which means dealing with the annual inspection.

Our 2005 Civic EX Special Edition developed an exhaust leak last year, and I took it to my usual garage to get it fixed. They put it on the rack and quickly determined that the downstream cat was the source of the leak. They replaced it, I pulled the ECU fuse to clear our recurring P1457 evap code, and I got a sticker for the car. Hooray!

Now that the weather is finally(ish?) approaching reasonable for working on the car, I'm going to order a CVS solenoid from Majestic and get the MIL off for good.

I scanned the car yesterday to see if there are any additional codes that I'd need to order up parts from Majestic to address, and lo and behold, I have a P0139 as well :-(

Based on my reading, the Service Bulletin to update the ECU doesn't apply. Can somebody please confirm?

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/w...9&d=1252107997

When they replaced the cat, they were able to save and reuse the O2 sensor. Do we think it's coincidence that the old one died 2 months later, or is it likely linked to the repair. A pinhole exhaust leak, perhaps, as mentioned here?

https://www.civicforums.com/forums/3...ml#post4686204

So, real question: Take it to the garage and have 'em look and see if there's a leak, and if not, pay 'em to replace the sensor, or throw $30 at the problem and see if it goes away?

juror

For the benefit of anybody finding this via search in the future who needs a sensor, Denso says the part for the car is a 234-4220, and they sell it for considerably less than Majestic.

Slumpertcivic

As you noted, the bulletin is not for the EX models so it doesn’t apply.

If they passed your car without any of the readiness monitors being set then your state has incredibly easy emisssions inspection. Are you sure they actually even put on a CARB certified or OEM replacement? Those $100 models don’t really work the same.

ezone

Bulletin for software update does not apply to EX models.

The usual fix on the EX would be replacing the rear sensor, assuming all else is ok.

Can't really blame the last one to touch it right now, because it apparently worked for quite a while after the cat was installed.

Please note that after the bad sensor is replaced (or code solved, whatever that involves), the PCM will then be able to test if the new cat is good or not. Be ready for it.

juror

Thanks to both you and ezone for confirming.

The P1457 has been intermittent; In particular, it tends to light shortly after filling the tank. If I reset it when the tank isn't all the way full, it'll stay off for a while, usually through half a dozen cycles until I fill up again.

From the invoice the part was $425, which seems to be in the ballpark for a non-OEM CARB compliant cat on e.g. rockauto. I was surprised by how low the labor was. The shop seems to be run by pretty upstanding guys; I just hope they're charging enough for labor to stay in business in the Boston area.

Hard to tell how long before the 0139 came up since the MIL was on for the CVS solenoid. As you pointed out in another thread I didn't link, that's the hazard of driving around with the MIL on

Nevertheless, I certainly don't blame them; I've done enough work on older cars to understand that sometimes when you touch one thing, other things break. Especially on the rusty underside of a car, and on the exhaust in particular. Which is why I don't do exhaust work. I'd cause a lot more cascading failures than a pro, and I can't bend tubing or weld.

I should roll it up on ramps and **** an ear towards the exhaust pipe and see if I can hear a leak.

Slumpertcivic

If your really adventurous you can remove the charcoal canister and if it weights more than 5 pounds, hook a air pump up to it and let it vent (outdoors) overnight.
Mine lost almost two pounds of gas doing that.

Just saying if your pulling it anyways for the repair.

juror

Haven't put the car up on ramps, as it's a little chilly this weekend to roll around underneath it in my driveway, but I gave a careful listen from outside the car, and it's sounding a little muscular for a Civic again. I'll take it to the garage this week and see what they think.

Also, that sounds like a totally reasonable thing to do, except I don't have an air pump :-(

juror

CVS solenoid ordered. Given some decent weather, I'll get that on and hopefully get the MIL consistently off for the first time in a couple of months!

Slumpertcivic

Best method is to remove the one main mounting bolt then the whole assembly slides off the car. Take couple pictures Incase all the hoses get confusing.

mac25

Just making sure but you did replace the cat with OEM or at least a cate with the bunt whole in the middle of the cat., like OEM, right?

If you went after market and the cat has the O2 sensor bunt hole before or after the main body of the cat. it will most likely through a code, because the flow conditions are different than it is calibrated for.

juror

The exciting conclusion of all of this:

I took the car to my usual shop. They confirmed that there's no exhaust leak and that the O2 sensor is bad. I paid 'em to replace it.

As of Friday: No P0139

On Friday, however, I did have a P0459 in addition to my aforementioned P1457. I just replaced the CVS solenoid and reset the ECU via fuse 6. We'll see what if anything comes up in the next week or so.

As promised in another thread, the screws were rusted to hell. I bought an impact screwdriver a while ago, and gave it a try with that, and succeeded in stripping out the P2 bit that came with it. Sounds about right for something I bought at America's leading seller of single use tools...

I put a pair of channel-locks on the screw head, and succeeded only in twisting the insert out of the plastic, so I went and twisted it back in, and cut the screw heads off with a hack saw. The CVS solenoid is now held on with zip ties. We'll see what happens.

As always, thanks for the advice from everybody!

Slumpertcivic

juror

Today I learned...

I had no idea those are a thing. I'll order up a set for the next time I need 'em. For this time, I think I was pretty well dicked. I will say that I'm impressed that the screw demolished the bit and not the other way around though.

Thanks for the lesson. I'm one of today's lucky 10000.

ezone

No screwdriver in the world would have made it better.