I have a 2002 Volvo S40 with just over 66,000 miles on it. Last night the Check Engine light came on, although the car seems to be operating normally. The mechanic says the problem is that the catalytic converter is bad. Seems to me this is rather low mileage for the converter to have gone bad; am I dreaming, or is this normal for this car?
It’s unusual. They’re covered by an 8 year/80k mile warranty, so it might be covered. Often it’s something else in the system thats causing the CEL to go on, and replacing the cat won’t fix the source of the problem. Do you know which codes were triggered?
That’s great info - I have the mechanic checking on it now. The car is a 2002 that I bought used in Sept 2003 with 13,000 miles on it. I do not know what the original in-service date was, but if it was after Jan. 13 2002 it should be covered.
Meanwhile - I asked him what the code was and he say ECM5A - what does that mean?
OK - so today’s my lucky day. Thank you SO MUCH. The in-service date for this car was July 25, 2002 so that makes it less than 8 years old and well less than 80K miles, so this miserable thing is covered. Yippee - you just saved me $1,200 with that piece of information.
Good, you’re ‘in date’. While I can’t vouch for the following post’s accuracy, I found this on a Volvo board, and oxygen sensors do wear out, so it’s worth a check:
“OK that one I have an answer for, [ECM5A] P0422 is for three way cat efficiency. The implication of the code is that the cat is not doing it’s job. In fact most Volvo cats are 8years on the warranty, but before doing a cat, the rear O2 sensor should be replaced cause that is the sensor that mainly determines the cats efficency.”