My 1996 900S 2.3 (non turbo) did not pass the emission test due to a bad catalytic converter, in addition, one of the oxygen sensors is bad, too, I think.
Has anyone had this problem in this car? Will a replacement of the catalytic converter with a universal catalytic converter solve my problem? The factory replacement is too expansive. I live in the U.S.
It's not unheard of. Cat's usually get killed by too much raw gas being dumped into them. That can happen because the O2 sensor went bad. The O2 sensors on these do wear out eventually.
You can replace them, but you should do a general/major tune-up and inspection on the engine to make sure everything is in order. Also check the computer for any other codes.
Parts can be obtained here:
There are two oxygen sensors on these 96 900S's: before entering the converter and after. Should the one entering be the bad one? Thx
I can't say as I am not that familiar with the specific problem. I'm not sure if the computer tells you. If the O2 sensor caused the problem, I would suspect the one before the cat, but I'm not sure that's definitive.
As I also advised David in SF, do check the vacuum hose to the fuel pressure regulator - if you have one that is. It recently failed on my Bosch LH equipped 93 year 2.3i. CO emissions rose to unacceptable levels, presumably because the pressure is not reduced at idle.
Frode
Yes. The O2 sensor after the cat is only used to tell the OBD2 that the cat is working correctly. The one before the cat is used to provide feedback to the ECU on mixture richness. If the front one is bad it can result in a rich micture which will eventually kill the cat. If the sensor goes far enough out of whack it will cause the ECU to throw a check engine code of "mixture out of range" or something similar.
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