Note I read all the forum entries pertaining to P0420 but they aren't year coded so hard to tell what is current/alive and I didn't find what I was looking for anyway, sorry if this post is redundant.
The situation: we purchased a 2001 GTS Automatic with 222k on it a couple months ago. Runs and drives wonderfully and in overall very good condition. We like it very much. About one month ago the CEL came on and Autozone was checked the code and advised P0420. Me being er... thrifty, I tried the lacquer thinner in the gas trick and it did not erase the code as I had hoped. I chose the lacquer thinner as it is $8 per gallon rather than the $25 for 16oz Cataclean. NOTE: I don't *think* Cataclean has a strong advantage over lacquer thinner, anybody know different? I would certainly try it if I had better info.
Doing 'research' on the code it seems it could be 02 sensor related, catalytic converter, or exhaust leak. The car has quite a few miles on it, so perhaps the cc is the issue, but I hate to just take the dealer's word for it and spend a ton of money on an old car (that I admittedly like a lot!).
I ordered a highly rated OBDII code reader yesterday from amazon, the XTool AD20 Pro, thinking this will help me determine which 02 sensor is bad or if it is truly the cc.
Any advice from someone who has been through this (especially on a similar mileage vehicle) would be greatly appreciated. BTW also wondering if the 2ZZ GTS engine will engage VVTLi with the CEL on or does that system shut down in these conditions - just curious!
