Need help with CEL code

ScooterW's picture

check engine light is on on my 2005 Quest. Checked it at O'Reilly and their machine says:

Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold (Bank 1)

does anyone know what this means? What needs to be replaced?

Thanks in advanced

iLlMaTiC21390's picture

Ahh yes the this code again

Ahh yes the this code again lol. I've got this code before. Catalytic Efficiency Running Below Threshold. Basically the Quest has 2 Catalytic Converters. Bank 1 and bank 2 tells which Cat is having the problem. Yours happens to be bank 1 which I do believe is the left side. Basically the Catalytic Converter is suppose to be running at 100% efficiency. If it starts running at 75% or below in efficiency it will trigger the code you got. It means the Cat is not running as efficient as it should be. In other words the inside of the Cat is burned out. This is a VERY VERY serious issue and I'd advise you get it fixed right away. The reason for this is since the inside of the Catalytic converter is burned out, those pieces inside break up inside and have no where to go but get sucked back up in the engine and will destroy it over a period of time. The code you got is either P0420 or P0430. You need to change that Bank 1 Cat right away.

2004 Nissan Quest 3.5SE with 99,110 miles. I was the second person in the U.S to take delivery in 2003 :)
2009 Infiniti G37s Coupe
2008 Infiniti EX35 Journey

CanadaQ2005's picture

Is there any evidence to the

Is there any evidence to the theory of 'sucking parts of cat back into the engine'?

I would think that there is positive pressure in the cat from the exhaust gases, is there not?