Check Engine P0420 and P0430
 

HI I have a 2011 XC60 and my check engine lite is on. After hitting the parts store I see its code p0420 and p0430 which states that is my catalytic converter. Over the last year my car seem to burns more oil than it should. Is it possible that the both Catalytic converts are shot or its most likely an o2 sensor? It just seem that the chance of both of them being bad seems low. Any thoughts?

Thanks

My 2010 XC60 throws the P420 code pretty often. It goes off by itself and I got the bluetooth scanner and turn it off.
I live under emissions control and a week or so before I have to test it I pour cat cleaner in the tank and it seems to pass with flying colors. CDC brand?? About $15 at O'Reilys. It says guaranteed to pass on the box FWIW.

State emissions s/w will kick it out if there is any sign of code issues.

Anyway, I'll read that people put lacquor thinner in the tank but for a 45k car Im not going to go there.

I've also heard you can remove the cats and soak to clean.
Again haven't tried, maybe I will before I shell out the $$$ to replace.

P420s can point to the fuel injectors - so using a detergent additive in the gas may help. You can also pull out the injectors and get them cleaned as well - there are services that do that for about $10 an injector (essentially they use solvent and an ultrasonic "jewelry" cleaner ).

lacquer cleaner worked! Yeehaw!
 

I tried the lacquer thinner and it totally worked! I did it twice, adding 1 qt lacquer thinner from home depot to 1/4 tank of gas and ran it all the way through. After the first time, the light went off but then came back intermittently. Tried it a second time and it hasn't come back! Actually, the entire car feels and sounds smoother now :cool:

If that didn't work, I was going to buy this aftermarket cat (Magnaflow 51007) and get a local garage to install it for me. I think it would've cost around $800 vs a $3000 using Volvo parts.

https://www.magnaflow.com/products/5...l?aces=6166035

How did you come up with $3000 for volvo parts? A genuine Volvo cat for a 2011 XC60 is about $1400 - expensive yes but not $3000. At least with genuine Volvo you don't run the risk of a CEL from not having a proper spec'd cat on the car.

$3000 including parts and labor as quoted by the Volvo dealership. My car is 10 years old now and it's becoming increasingly expensive to maintain (I've had nearly $10,000 of repairs done under a now-expired extended warranty that I thankfully had) and I don't know if I can sell for much more than this $3000 repair so I'm not going to spend that much to repair it.

The Mangaflow would've cost $800 including parts and labor.

you didn't mention how many miles on your car but the cats don't generally fail that often unless the engine is burning oil or something is going on that can contaminate the unit. what the code is saying is that the front and rear o2 sensors are measuring too close to one another suggesting the cat is not working efficiently. This can be a false positive for the cat as air intake and exhaust leaks can cause the front o2 sensor to be off or you can have an issue with one or both of the O2 sensors. Given the cost of a replacement it may be worthwhile to test for intake and exhaust leaks, test/replace the O2 sensors and even consider trying a oxygen sensor spacer on the rear sensor (aka "CEL-boss") to avoid the CEL issues, particularly if the car is capable of passing NO and HC emissions as is. If you put in an after market cat, you may wind up needing the oxygen sensor spacer just the same.