Morning, friends
Just bought my first MX5, and I am so enjoying it in this summer weather! It’s been good to start to meet up with fellow enthusiasts.
One small problem – it turns out I need a replacement catalytic converter: the engine management light (EML) is on, and my local garage has advised that’s what’s indicated. However, I am reliably informed that Mazda don’t make a cat for my vehicle. A specialist Mazda parts supplier has advised that “with aftermarket cats, the cat may take longer to get up to full efficiency. In this case the timer in the engine management system expires before the cat is up to full efficiency and the system usually logs the P4020 “Cat below efficiency” code. If this happens for 2-3 consecutive heat cycles, the engine management light is lit. This happens on most of the cheaper aftermarket cats unfortunately because the matrix in the cat is too small to be anywhere near full efficiency in the required time period.” They have advised a Klarius cat may, however, work.
I am slightly out of my depth here, so my questions are:
–Is this good advice? Should I source and fit a Klarius cat?
– are there other good cats out there that you good people would recommend? Or is there another way to reliably solve this problem?
Many thanks in advance for your help and advice.![Doh!]( "Doh!")
This post sounds to say the least innacurate.
I had a P4020 on my Impreza sorted by replacing the rear faulty Lamda sensor. The cat is checked by doing the MOT emmissions test and seeing if it passes.
First thing is to advise year, engine size and Mark i.e. Mk2, Mk3 etc of your car.
I think you mean P0420 - this is a catalytic efficiency code but that is generated by comparison made between the upstream and downstream O2/lambda sensors.
P0420 indicates that the downstream sensor is working fine so as Drum says could be Catalytic converter or upstream/precat lambda sensor.
Guess the car is a MK2.5(2001 - 5)?
I am sure you would be able to buy a Mazda cat from the dealer at great cost but aftermarket cats are available with good guarantees at a fraction of the cost if required.
I am sorry I omitted details of the car – I provided them when I registered on the forum, so assumed they’d be visible somewhere, but clearly not. My apologies.
It is 2001, 1.8 petrol, automatic gearbox (so rhino666 is spot-on!)
I quoted the parts supplier regarding the error number, but I think both of you are right, there was a typo, and it should in fact be PO420. I have had both Lambda sensors replaced and the error message has returned, so am led to believe that the cat must be at fault.
I am reliably informed that Mazda don’t provide this particular cat, so I need to look at an aftermarket one. Does anybody have any particular knowledge that Klarius cats are better, or more highly regarded, than other aftermarket cats?
Many thanks to everyone who has replied and helped so far.
The Mazda parts list advises this is parts number BP6L-20-55XC with a cost of £653.16 plus VAT. A bit expensive.
You have not advised if the car will pass an MOT by having an emmissions test done on it. If it does pass I would leave it alone.
The engine fault light is not an MOT failure.
I can advise the Automatic car ha a different cat parts number than the manual car.
There are a number of other exhaust suppliers selling this part.
Autolink has one secondhand
Try these guys if your garage has a problem sourcing them
http://www.mx5bitz.co.uk/mx5/store.php
I have no knowledge of Klarius cats.
I assume the parts number you kindly quoted is for a manual, as a number of people I have spoken to (including Mazda dealers) says a cat for my automatic is no longer made (I guess this is why one part number came up - the manual cat, not the automatic one, I assume).
The car passed an emissions test in May, so that is not an issue at the moment… presumably if I leave it, the cat will deteriorate and then become an MOT failure, won’t it?
Thanks so much for your advice re. AutoLink and MX5bitz. I think I am making slow progress with this now, just got to find the best aftermarket one I can, I think.
Really appreciate the help of everyone who has taken the time and trouble to help an MX5 newbie! Happy summer motoring to all of you.