We had been getting some rattling noise from the front under the hood, I thought it was just the heat shield loose. About a week later the check engine light comes on, car's not running full power, rattling noise is much louder. Of course I'm imagining the worst (tranny, motor, etc.), but I was hoping it might just be the catalytic converter. My experience with bad cats didn't have the noise coming so much from the front, though. I finally got a chance to get to auto zone today, they gave me the codes, P0420 & P1259. Of course, I came home and looked it up here, it could indeed just be the cat . I thought Acura waranteed this under emissions for 100,000 miles, called Acura customer service, they said the warantee is 8 yrs or 80,000 miles. , we're at 8 yrs, 85,000 miles. So, I called Meineke, confirmed a price I had gotten for a cat on our CL that got totalled, & had them check it out. It did indeed seem to be the problem. They replaced it and so far no more CE lights.

While I was there I asked what they charge to adjust valves, since we have a slight valve tap that's more noticable when the car's first started, quiets down after a minute or two. They said they don't do that kind of work, but another mechanic from a used car dealer who was waiting to have a cat replaced said the valves on the VTECH motors are not adjustable Is this TRUE???

 

what... am confused dude... so you got your cat replace.... so then why the used dealer was waiting for you to have a cat replace again?

ok to the point... me and my friend did a valves adjustment on his 1999 honda accord se 2.3Lit.. was a pain in the ass the first time... his car was vtec. so no that not true. correct me if am wrong tho. it been awhile and sorry i cant remember how to do it but you need special tools. you have to take out your spark plugs and crap like that

corect me if am wrong people!!!

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I was trying to keep it brief. I don't know why, but a young guy who works at a used car dealer's was in the Meineke shop having a cat replaced by them. Said it was a "friend's car". Meineke said it had all kinds of codes in the system, but he just wanted the cat fixed. He'd do the rest. I got the impression that he was capable of some repairs, but not others

So you CAN adjust the valves?

 

valves can be adjusted, my friend tells me its a pain in the ass to reach some of the ridiculous spots.....but its easy enough for me to do it myself than pay a mechanic.

 

it took us 3 hour the first time and the second time he did it on his own took him 1 hour. lol.. we did baby step one step at a time and crap. oh yea forgot if you remove the cover remember to replace the gasket x_X because we didnt and it start to leak... after he drive it for a few day.

do it right the first time or nightmare coming your way.

 

So the "rattle" was your cat? Did it rattle all the time? I am trying to find a suspicious noise on my car, and I can not pinpoint it.

 

No, it rattled on acceleration mostly, and even then not all the time. The rattling came from a different part of the car than my past bad cat experiences. It's a very metallic rattling sound.

 

i had that in my 99 2.3, both heatshields on my cats were f-ed, and had to end up replacing my entire exhaust system.

cats were fine, but my exhaust was rusted through for some reason. wonder why it took 3 visits to the dealer to find that. i even asked them to check that the first time i brought it in.

BTW, Honda exhausts are an wallet rape and a half...