Jhall83

Ok, service engine light came on so I scanned the ole girl and it said GM error code 157. Google informed me that meant o2 sensor.

I took her to a local mechanic and he told me it was actually the passenger side catalytic converter. I laughed and said no it isn't and left.

Next I took her to the Chevy dealership and they concluded it was the o2 sensor and replaced it and cleared the code.

Here I am 48 hours later and the service engine light is back on!

Agh... Any thoughts on what the heck is going on?


2002 anniversary Camaro SS, 37k miles.

BadBirdie

which o2 sensor? did you scan the car again? same code?

1 FMF

iTrader: (1)

have you read http://www.obd-codes.com/p0157 ?

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Damn, you don't even need that sensor. Should have come here first to ask.

Curious, what did you pay for that 02 sensor at the dealership?

Cat just might be bad............

.

Jhall83

Yeah I screwed up lol.

Dealer cost for o2 sensor = $265.00ish

That will be applie toward a new Cat if that's the true problem.

Still at work do I haven't been able to scan the cars comp yet, will post as soon as I have an answer lol. In the meantime, thank you all for any info you can conjure up regarding this.

Jhall83

Hell I bet this is it. There is a hairline fracture in the piping right after the passenger side cat from when the previous owner bottomed out.

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Thats what I thought......the same exact brand, identical 02 sensor that GM uses....Denso brand sensors......cost $40.00 each at rockauto.com and amazon.com.
5 minutes to install it......

GM uses Densos in their AC Delco boxes........dealerships are rip offs.

It is the cat.........

.

Jhall83

Welp...... Lesson learned. I'll be here instead of the dealership from now on lol. Since I have already spent money there I have to go back to have them correct the problem. I'll let you know what they say.

Thanks again!!

LS6427

iTrader: (2)

Yup....ALWAYS here first. Lots of free fixes and we'll tell where the cheapest quality parts are.

At least they'll be putting it towards a new cat......but man I bet they'll get that bill over $1,000 somehow.......

Good NEW aftermarket brand Cats go for $150-$230 each. rockauto.com
Just so you know what they cost. Not sure what an AC Delco Cat costs at the dealership, probably $500 knowing them. Maybe you can buy one and bring it to them, let them put that $265.00 towards the labor.

Or.....tell them you want your old 02 sensor back since that was not the issue. THEY DIAGNOSED IT ALL WRONG. Buy one for $40.00 and put it in yourself in 5 minutes. Then have a shop other than the dealership put the new cat on.

Where are you in Texas?

.

Jhall83

Haha that's a good idea, I'll just tell them to refund money for o2 sensor, then hit up a muffler shop for the cat.

Oh, to answer your question, I'm in Fort Worth (Hurst).


I bet they'll have it for 2 days to verify they screwed up though -_-

Jhall83

Answer: Dealership confirmed it was a bad bank 2 cat. They offered to install 2 new cats and "not bother with labor" for a mere $875.00 lol.

Took it to a local muffler shop and had bank 2 cat replaced in 20 min for $175

Thanks for all your help fellas!

alexus6798

iTrader: (24)

If you have an 02 and your factory exhaust, your cats are still under GM factory warranty. Mine is at the dealership this very moment getting fixed for free under warranty. by the way the warranty is 10 years or 120000 miles..

Jhall83

Hmm weird. I thought the warranty was 8yrs/80k miles?



I'm glad they're getting it fixed for you though!

jam01

no they upped the warranty, but they go by production date. i had both of mine done this year under warranty. i would check when your car was manufactured and the date they replaced the 02 sensor, if it was before try and have the money refunded.

alexus6798

iTrader: (24)

Yeah, just letting people know. I picked mine up today with two brand new cats. Service man said it was under special circumstances that made it go to 10 yrs or 120000 miles. Not sure what circumstances they meant, didn't care to ask once I knew I wasn't paying. Maybe because of high performance exhaust, but not sure. They do go by in service date though.

FiredUpZ28

I don't like this thread. It is perfectly understandable that a cat code would come up after 02 sensor replacement. The PCM monitors catalyst efficiency via the 02 sensors, and if the
sensor(s) fail their test, it wont test the cat. So you need a good 02 sensor set before the PCM will test the catalytic converters. Besides, the OP never threw a P0420, which is the catalyst efficiency code so how the hell would the shop know there is a cat problem? Cats do NOT throw P0157 (an exhaust leak may, but the catalysts performance will NOT)

Everybody thinks the dealership is ripping them off when in reality, F bodies are just total peices of **** to work on (I own 3 at the moment). Everything breaks when you take it off, theres no good diagnostic info anymore, you fix one thing and something else pops up totally unrelated. You REALLY need to be familiar with these cars and simply put, not many technicians are anymore. We don't see these cars anymore, they aren't under warranty so nobody brings them back. I see MAYBE 3-5 F bodies a month come in through the shop, usually for stuff like engine or trans work, not driveability. I'm not saying there aren't dealerships that rip people new holes, its just it seems the general concensus is that EVERY SINGLE ONE DOES. GM takes care of their customers. If you bitch, they listen. Try contacting General Motors - it'll get you WAAAY farther than bitching at a dealers service advisor/director.

Alexus - "Circumstances" mean they run your VIN through their vehicle inquiry system and if it says "extended coverage for converter failure" (or something the like) then your've covered. Unfortunately now, you have an aftermarket cat which would void the coverage, since the parts dept needs to send back the defective parts.