Bought an 08 Type S here in Canada with 154k...When i went to see the car, it was warning about the "Tighten Fuel Cap" but no engine light so I thought it will be an easy fix and bought the car. Drove it for 4 days and the warning light would come on for sometime and go away but wont stay permanently. I googled and found its the PCV Solenoid so I ordered the part. Today the warning light went away and engine light came on. I checked the code and it came as P0420 "Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold" but i don't notice any misfire or anything any time. No codes for the PCV... I know my car noise is louder than the stock TL and someone told me that my resonator are deleted. My questions are:

Why is the PCV code not showing when I checked the code reader?
P0420 usually refers to 02 sensor but if i were to change it then i believe the sensor is working fine its just the resonator that is causing the problem and wont go away till the install back the resonator?
I noticed the Fuel Cap light usually comes up when the car is low on fuel, I usually keep half the tank and don't see the light at all.
Is it safe to drive with both the problems or would it damage things overtime?
What happened to the PCV issue now? I did unplugged the connector on top of the valve cleaned it and put it back.
Should I consider changing the PCV Solenoid or no?

Please answer all questions so I would know what is going on and can decided which one to fix....Any help or suggestions is highly appreciated folks!

 

Purge Valve Canister does not confuse with Positive Crank Ventilation part. With that being said the purge valve canister will not throw a CEL, its only give you warning on the MID. Annoying but its harmless, you might not pass state inspection (in some state), P0420 is the main Cat itself. You can try and replace the 02 sensor and see if the code go away. If the code coming back then its the CAT itself need to be replaced.

 

But its only showing code P0420 nothing for the 02 sensor so changing the sensor will not work i guess what do you think?

 

Don't guess. P0420 says catalyst below efficiency. There is an o2 sensor upstream and downstream from the cat. The sensors are what tell the car if a cat is working or not Your best bet is to replace the o2 sensor and hope for the best. Else you need a new cat.

 

+1 to this.
Went thru exactly the same. Gladly spent $79 on a post-cat O2 sensor first. It gives the same error as the old sensor, therefore the cat itself is the root cause.

Rock Auto has replacement cats for $200ish each, but I went with RV6 high-flow cats from Heeltoe Auto dot com

 

^Listen to him, he knows a thing or two about Cats :meow:

 

ok so here is my concern, The CEL came up after almost 6 days of daily driving including highways, why so late or is it like that in Acuras? I noticed that the Tighten Fuel Cap was stored in the MID but ever since the CEL came up, there is nothing in the MID or it does not show the Light at all, Is it possible it is a temporary malfunctioning occurring from time to time, should I worry about replacing it? Lets say if i were not to replace the CAT, would it damage more parts overtime? What if I replace the CAT and go with straight pipe, would the CEL disappear or it will stay?

 

Also 02 Sensor Bank 1 is the one attach to the engine right?

 

is there any way to test the CAT or 02 sensor before actually replacing it? Also what about CATA Clean Cleaner, do those adhesive help should i give it a try? which one would you guys suggest?

 

Let me repeat again the purge valve canister and P0420 are two separate issue, they are not related in anyway. No its not normal for a CAT to goes bad on a Honda vehicle and I am pretty sure maintenance has something to do with it.

Bad CAT will give you sluggish power and your engine will spend a ton on time on fuel trim. Now either replace the sensor and hopefully its fixed the P0420 (it did it on my old Accord) or you can buy a new CAT.

 

lol catzilla yeah thats prolly what it is

 

Tighten fuel cap is a laughable common problem- search this forum and the issue began popping up when these cars were nearly new.

When a catalytic converter fails, there is no product you can buy that fixes it - except for a new catalytic converter.

Welcome to 12 year old Acura ownership. These cars are staunchly reliable- until they get old, then they need soooo much maintenance.

 

CAT then Purge Valve, or Vice Versa.....we're done here!

 

Hello TL-S owner..I also have a 07 TL-S, and that warning bugged me for a few years. 3 gas new gas caps latter, still no change, still got the warning.
Finally found in this thread the answer....purge control solenoid. I bought from oemacuraparts for about $118, (part 36162rdvj01) and installed it myself (found a Youtube clip)...pretty easy with needle nose pliers.
Hope that helps...i have 256,000 happy km on my car!