everlastingman

Myself and two mechanics at two different shops are stymied...frustrated...confused. My 1999 Acura 3.2 TL's OBD II system is driving us crazy.

I took my car to Advance Auto Parts a few weeks ago to have them check a code (I was getting a check engine light). The problem was "EGR Flow Insufficient" and something else related to an O2 sensor.

A couple of weeks later, I took my car to the trusty mechanic down the street, a reliable, honest, and knowledgeable fellow. He hooked up a somewhat fancier computer to my TL, and found that the EGR valve was indeed operating below proper threshold, but there was no sign of an O2 sensor problem. Instead, the one-year-old catalytic converter was dead. It was doing absolutely nothing. When the engine went rich, the catalytic converter's exhaust was rich. When the engine went lean, the cat went lean.

My mechanic replaced the EGR valve and cleaned the ports. I then went down to Midas, who installed my catalytic converter one year ago. Since the cat was still under warranty, they installed a new one free of charge. After the catalytic converter was installed, I went back to my mechanic's shop and had him hook up his computer, just to make sure that the catalytic converter was functioning properly. Everthing looked great. The cat was burning off everything, and the graph depicting the cat's exhaust showed a flat line.

That evening, my CEL and TCS came on again. The next morning, I went back over to my mechanic's shop. He hooked up the computer, and once again it showed "EGR Flow Insufficient." He was obviously surprised by this, and spent the next two hours doing everything he could think of under the hood to figure out what the problem was. The ports were quite clean (I saw this myself), and putting an air hose on the exhaust port resulted in a stream of air coming out the tailpipe. My mechanic also cleaned the new EGR valve itself, and mounted it back onto the engine.

Later that day, I got another CEL. I went back to my mechanic. He hooked up the computer again. This time, it said "Catalyst Flow Insufficient." Apparently, my two-day-old catalytic converter had already failed. The graphs seemed to verify this. Once again, the cat graph was "chasing" the engine mixture graph, meaning that the catalytic converter didn't appear to be doing anything.

I went back to Midas. On the way there, my TCS light came on to accompany the CEL. The guys at Midas were surprised to see me. I told them that my catalytic converter was already malfunctioning. They hooked my TL up their computer. Not only did their computer show that the catalyst flow was insufficient, but the "EGR Flow Insufficient" code was back. The shop manager offered to order a bigger catalytic converter, but also implied that the problem was probably related to the EGR. (I don't see how this can be the case, since the graphs seem to show that the cat isn't doing its job even when it's already warm, and my understanding is that the EGR valve is CLOSED when the car is idling.) The guys at Midas cleared the codes, and told me to come back when the new muffler arrived, but also hinted darkly that either the EGR or emissions computer itself was the problem. :shakehead

I'm sorry that's so long, but hopefully it will give you an idea of how mystifying this all is. The EGR has been replaced. The catalytic converter has been replaced. Both are still giving the same codes that they were showing before replacement. Help!

Thanks.

Bob_F

Did Midas install an Acura catalytic converter or an aftermarket replacement? If it's an aftermarket unit perhaps it was not up to the task. And they might be thinking the same thing with their offer to install a bigger unit.

Good Luck!

Bob

seattle dale

i have a feeling it has something to do with the o2 sensor.

99BamaTL

You've got a cloged port in the intake that goes to the egr valve. That is exactly what my 99 was doing. It is a common problem with the older TLs. There is a thread on this somewhere.

Lionel567

that happend to me to and i have yet to sole the problem so i dont know wat to tell you

99BamaTL

I cleaned mine out myself. It's not that bad. If you can locate the thread about this there is a link to the TSB from Honda on how to do it. It basically requires an 8mm drill bit and several cans of carb cleaner.

danielteacher

i had a check eng lght, and i clean out my egr valve port myslef, and the light went out. like previously said, there is a great post somewhere on this site that shows how to clean the egr valve port yourself. well worth the time. it took me like 4 hours, and 2 cans of carb cleaner, but the light is out.