Emissions warranty periods are governed by federal law everywhere except California, where CARB regulations apply. I do believe in 04, federal was 8/80 and CA was 7/70.

 

Thanks jbrew. I guess I best talk to the dealership. I don't know any of the techs but I have a pretty good relationship with one of the service managers. He seems to be a straight shooter. I just ran my truck by a shop down the street and told him of my problem. He said in his experience, it is usually a bad O2 sensor and not a cat. He said if the cat was blocked that I would have no power. I scheduled an appointment for Monday so he could look into it a little further.
If I do find out there is a 100,000 mile warranty I am going to pitch a b!tch about my van too. I have a code on that one about the Evap canister which, of coarse was not covered by my extended warranty even though I purchased the premium package.
It seems as though I am always dealing with a OBD code with these Fords while my foreign car owning friends never have engine problems. I am just thankful this all happened after the emissions test. I have until October to get the van up to snuff. Without the test I cannot renew the tags.

 

Well, that's not correct, - in your favor. Faulty HO2S sensors do not produce the DTCs P0420 and P0430. The sensors must all be tested and shown to be reliable before the Catalyst Monitor can be called by the Executive.

Your Monitor Executes this way, = Once per Driving Cycle. This test must be failed three times before the MIL light is switched on.

This is not a blockage, -it's an efficiency DTC.

 

I didn't think so either. I have read many times on here the the O2 sensors rarely fail.

 

If a rear sensor fails, it will throw a different code. P0430 means it's doing its job just fine. Do you maybe have an exhaust leak between the front and rear sensors?

 

I took the truck to the aforementioned mechanic today as I had already made an appointment last week. He hooked it up an read the code even though I told him what it was. He still insisted on the the O2 sensor change but I told him I did not want to pay for an O2 if I was just chasing a problem and that if the O2 was bad then it would have thrown a code for that. Basically, he had no idea. He cleared the code and told me to drive it for a while and that maybe I just got some water in the fuel. I won't be going back there. I think I am just going to find a good muffler shop and see if they can't weld a new cat in for me. I am just worried about an underlying problem that caused the cat to go bad. I have read that the fuel injectors on this truck can stick open and that Ford will replace them up to 100k miles. I have never smelled gas. I once had the engine light come on an flash when jumped on the accelerator to pass someone. It cleared itself shortly after though. Other than that the trucks has performed well. I have not changed the plugs yet. I bought the truck used so I have no idea if they were changed by the previous owner. All I have done to it so far is oil changes and new tires and an air and cabin filter.

 

Good idea to leave that shop in the rear view mirror!

I wouldn't just throw a cat at it, the days of the $80 cat replacement are long gone. The cat would be way more than the o2 switch and most likely the problem will come back.

Check the emissions warranty thing first before you throw money/parts at it. Also check on the injector recall before you do anything. If it is the injectors and they are covered you may also get the cat for free!

How long ago was the flashing DTC light thing? There could have been a stored code for that, but it is probably gone now b/c that guy cleared the codes.

Is the cat discolored? Check the link I gave you in post #5 and arm yourself before you take it in, you may still come out smelling like a rose. Also might want to try a different dealer to see what they have to say.

Good luck
Jim

 

We have already determined that it has expired. He's on his own here. His only chance is his extended warranty.

At this point, take it to the dealer or a shop that is certified by the extended warranty company.

 

Did we? My bad, I thought that was still up in the air.

 

The problem with the injectors getting checked, if they turn out to be good then I am on the hook for probably a couple c-notes just for having them test it. Testing myself is way over my head. Though about doing a compression check to see if some oil was blowing by but then I have to deal with the whole spark plug issue. I guess there is now what to get around spending some cash on it this time (for labor anyway). Thanks for the input guys.
Oh, and the flashing CEL only last about 15 secs and then went steady. It went off altogether shortly thereafter. While it was flashing I had a major loss of power. Felt like my old 98 Windstar when the EGR ports were clogged.

 

The injector warranty info is posted here https://www.f150online.com/forums/v8...ram-07m08.html but states 11yr or 120,000 miles. They will only replace them if they are stuck open or closed. I went through this similar issue. Replaced 1st cat under warranty year later needs another cat no warranty and never had a CEL either so I am trying to figure it out. If I find anything that can help you I will let you know.
Dave

 

He has 94k on it.

Now, there are other things besides a cat that CAN trip a P0430, but you need to have it properly diagnosed. If this were mine, I'd pay the dealer for a diag, if they say it's definitely a bad cat I'd go find a shop that could put proper aftermarket cats on, or just live with it till the cat clogs. (Assuming it's not covered under the extended warranty)

A WDS diag is usually menu priced, usually about the same as 1 hour book labor.

 

Definitely not covered under extended warranty.