Code 1: O2 sensor? (FIXED: CLOGGED CAT)

progressprogress Wagonist
in Engine & Drivetrain
I will delete my other thread "new clutch, new problems" when I get home as I can't do it from my phone.

So, I had my clutch replaced in my 91 rt4wd and it works wonderfully. The problem now is a loss of power when accelerating or climbing. Pedal to the metal and no acceleration when trying to pass or climb. On occasion it will accelerate but that is usually on the downhill. Downshifting doesn't help as the wagon will just go even slower. It was suggested I change my plugs and wires so I went and replaced the old ones with NGK plugs and NGK blue wires. I also went and replaced the fuel filter.

I reset the ECU, and am still getting the lack of power issue. The CEL will come on and the ECU is throwing a code 1 for the O2 sensor.

All grounds are good, nothing is unplugged. I am planning to replace the O2 sensor today but is there anything else I should be looking at? Fuel pressure regulator? Other sensors?

Thanks in advance! And yes, I did search but it was inconclusive.

James

Comments

  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    Are you getting an engine light as well? I've just gotten rid of my engine light and code 1 by replacing my O2 sensor with a bosch direct replacement. $35 at autozone. I couldn't get the old one out (its right behind the radiator in the exhaust manifold), even with an O2 sensor socket (which is needed...$10 or so). I drove the car up to temp and then had a hard time getting it out again. I ended up keeping it at temp, turned it off, then using a small pipe to extend my socket wrench and got it out.

    With it installed I saw my code go away. I didn't see any power gains, but I did see an increase in mpg.
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    One more thing... can't seem to rev past 4k. starts bogging, sputtering around 3.5k
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    superhatch wrote:
    Are you getting an engine light as well? I've just gotten rid of my engine light and code 1 by replacing my O2 sensor with a bosch direct replacement. $35 at autozone. I couldn't get the old one out (its right behind the radiator in the exhaust manifold), even with an O2 sensor socket (which is needed...$10 or so). I drove the car up to temp and then had a hard time getting it out again. I ended up keeping it at temp, turned it off, then using a small pipe to extend my socket wrench and got it out.

    With it installed I saw my code go away. I didn't see any power gains, but I did see an increase in mpg.

    Yes, I got the check engine light and the ECU was throwing code 1. I bought a Bosch O2 sensor from Napa at lunch. Do I really need a special socket? My pops might have one but that sucks if I need a special one.
  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    You can just use a box wrench or open end wrench as long as you unplug the sensor. The socket allows you to take it off with a socket wrench, and to use a socket w/o having to cut the wire.

    Not being able to rev isn't an O2 problem most likely.

    I normally search honda-tech for stuff like that. Way more info there and almost everything has been covered already. :D
  • LoneWolfLoneWolf Band Wagon
    Did you check the ground on the thermostat housing?
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    progress wrote:
    One more thing... can't seem to rev past 4k. starts bogging, sputtering around 3.5k

    i had this issue when i did my MPFI swap, turned out i had two wires flipped at the ECU.

    however, i also had this problem when my distributor went bad. but it was throwing a code 4 then.
  • bam-bambam-bam Council Member
    Possible exhaust restriction? Unbolt the cat flange and see if it runs differently.
  • The_HeadThe_Head familEE
    Some codes make the ECU lower the rev limit to like 3200. Mine was doing it was I was having code 9 issues.
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    Finally got home after leaving work at 6pm. It's 12:05am now. About 7pm I had to pull over at a rest stop and call my dad to meet me with his tools. This is what we did...
    - noticed the fuel filter was leaking. Managed to snap the smaller bolt head tightening it up. Found a bolt that fit. All is good.
    - Managed to install the new O2 sensor and reset the ECU. No more code 1, and engine seemed to be running well.
    - took off down the highway only to have the bogging/lack of power issues come back.
    - Closer to home, we were pretty much crawling along at about 15-20 mph, letting others pass us.
    - When the engine is running, in neutral and I press on the gas, it will rev fine up until 3K and then it will hesitate/bog.
    - Gas mileage sucks. Had half a tank when I left work and ended up close to empty about 30 miles later.
    - The shop said they didn't touch anything but the tranny. Had bad thoughts that they swapped my engine for a shitty one. Don't think they did though as I can verify with VIN numbers right since it's the original engine right?
    - Haven't thrown any other codes other than Code 1.
    - Could my timing have been thrown off somehow?
    - Could the distributor/rotor/cap gone bad?

    I'll try everyone's suggestions when I get a chance to look at the wagon. Any other ideas?
  • superhatchsuperhatch Moderator
    Without any other codes I'd check dizzy/timing, plugs. Id say youre not running on all 4, which would explain power loss but not 3-4k rev limit.

    There are like 3 billion thread on various forms about d series not revving past 3k. Dizzy, grounding, injectors, and wiring are the main failures.
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    Drove the boat to work today and left the wagon in the driveway. When my dad got home he went to work trying to figure out the problems. One of his mechanic buddies told him it could be the clutch. I said no cuz why would the clutch be causing any bogging/hesitation/lack of power issues? I don't think they would be related? Right?

    On a good note, he found a vacuum hose that wasn't connected to anything. I took a cell pic of it but can't seem to upload it to the comp so my description of it's whereabouts will have to do.

    It's located on the passenger side of the engine bay right behind the battery and a little bit lower. It comes out straight up but we don't know where it connects to. I'll try to get a pic uploaded as soon as I can. I've even got a shop manual and I can't figure it out. I'm hoping this is the cause of my current issues with the wagon.

    Thanks again!

    James
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    Still can't pics downloaded from my phone. Upon further inspection, the hose is directly behind the passenger side motor mount, sticking straight up. It's about 5 inches long and I have no idea where it goes. Maybe it's not even a vaccum hose!
  • JakerJaker familEE
    What diameter is the hose? There's a hose about 1/2" ID that goes to the bottom of the charcoal canister on the firewall from that area. With regard to the bad mileage and the code 1, I suspect the wire that goes from the O2 sensor to your ECU is somehow broken/cut. You should check to make sure you have continuity on that wire. That bad gas mileage and boggin still tell me the O2 sensor isn't working.
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    Jaker wrote:
    What diameter is the hose? There's a hose about 1/2" ID that goes to the bottom of the charcoal canister on the firewall from that area. With regard to the bad mileage and the code 1, I suspect the wire that goes from the O2 sensor to your ECU is somehow broken/cut. You should check to make sure you have continuity on that wire. That bad gas mileage and boggin still tell me the O2 sensor isn't working.

    Jaker,

    The hose is about 1/4" ID or even a bit smaller and is no more than 5" or 6" long. There doesn't seem to be anything nearby for it to connect to though. Weird.

    I'll check the O2 wiring when I get home.

    Thanks!
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    Is there any way that if the wrong clutch kit was put in, that i would be getting these problems? My dad and his mechanic friend think that's what my problem is.
  • JakerJaker familEE
    In my opinion, no. Try and get them to rationalize what it is they are trying to say.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    I would definitely check the timing, and it wouldn't be a bad idea to pop off the distributor cap real quick (just the plastic not the whole thing) and make sure there isn't any kind of moisture in there and that the contacts on the inside of the cap aren't missing or deformed. Any idea when the last time the fuel filter was replaced? I think it is fairly inexpensive.

    Other than that, I think I remember hearing that the ECU can throw a code which looks like code 1 for the O2 sensor, but is actually a 1 code for a faulty ECU. Definitely double check the grounds on the thermostat, they are the main ECU/fuel system grounds. You don't happen to have a spare ECU do you?
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    I don't have another ecu to try. Haven't really had much time to eork on the wagon.

    On a side note, would a cracked OEM header or a possibly clogged cat cause my bogging and loss of power issues?
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Clogged cat can cause issues, but it would have steadily gotten worse over time, not all of a sudden. Crack in the header should be no problem.
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    udubrx7 wrote:
    Clogged cat can cause issues, but it would have steadily gotten worse over time, not all of a sudden.

    hmmm, i disagree. i had a clogged cat that busted in one day. the internals collapsed one day while i was driving down the interestate and soon as i exitted i couldnt go faster then 45. eventually one this same trip home (20 miles) i could go past 25. it was bogging like CRAZY.

    progress, this could be your problem.
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Ah OK! I didn't think about it all just disintegrating in there all of a sudden. Glad you jumped in on this thread dizzle!
  • leWolfleWolf Senior Wagonist
    Yeah the cat in my sunfire did the same thing, just flew apart one day. I unbolted my cat and viola problem solved!
  • progressprogress Wagonist
    So last nite we removed everything from the cat back. Once the cat was removed from the rest of the exhaust, I held our shop light on one end and couldn't see the light through the other end. It was so plugged up! I've been burning oil since forever and there was an incident when my clutch was first showing signs of failure where I actually overfilled the engine with oil and was creating super smoke screens one night until I drained some oil out. I'm sure that incident helped plug up the cat. I'm going to hollow out the cat for now.

    If my header is cracked, does it need to be welded? Or can I just get another OEM header from any other D series engine?

    Started the wagon for a few minutes since it wss pretty late and no more bogging or hesitation at 2500 rpms! Hopefully we've solved my engine issues and I can get my wagon back on the road.

    Thanks for everyone's help!
  • udubrx7udubrx7 Senior Wagonist
    Nice! I don't know for sure on the RT models, but you should just be able to use any stock d-series header, I think if anything only the separate intermediate pipe in between the header and cat is different on the RT. So I think you can just use any d-series stock header and the RT intermediate pipe and you should be good to go. Hopefully one of the RT owners and can jump in and confirm this....
  • wagodizzlewagodizzle Council Member and EDM expert
    word :mrgreen:
    glad to see the problem is solved. almost :o
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