i drive a 97 crown vic and my check engine light came on. according to my manual (which i have to go by cause im car retarded) says that its the emission system so im guessin that means a new catalytic converter for me, anyone know how long something like that takes and where i could get it done?

9/28/2005 2:07:53 PM

damn dude, more than likely it isn't your cat. take it to autozone and get them to read your fault codes. it's free.

[Edited on September 28, 2005 at 2:09 PM. Reason : r]

9/28/2005 2:09:07 PM

^ what he said, far more likely it's an O2 sensor or something

9/28/2005 3:07:57 PM

ok i went and got the test done, it brought back something like this:
PO455 EVAP emission control system leak (large)
they said it could just be something simple like air or water in the gas or a bad hose. i put some fuel injector cleaner in and looked at the hoses around the engine, they appeared ok. ill prob get them professionally checked out but is there anything else that could be wrong they didnt think of? is there something worse it could be? cause i was plannin on drivin home this wknd and id kinda like to make it alive and not kill my car.

9/28/2005 3:27:48 PM

its not gonna quit running just because of an emission control problem, it'll just run less efficiently, so find it and get it fixed soon cuz it will drag your engine down.

9/28/2005 3:35:45 PM

yeah ill definitly be doin that over the wknd, maybe ill swap cars. but thanks for helpin me out. if anyone else thinks of somethin please add ill take whatever help i can get.

9/28/2005 4:03:05 PM

Does the car exhibit any other symptoms besides just the light being on?

9/28/2005 4:05:06 PM

no thats the only one ive noticed, though it just came on like 4hrs ago.

9/28/2005 6:29:33 PM

Quote :

"i drive a (fullsize ford) and my check engine light came on."

Par for the course with those big suckers, at least with the clientele of the shops I have worked in. I have consulted some very smart, expericed mechanics about this and they say when theyre stumped they call bruce at university ford parts dept in durham. bruce is the man.

[Edited on September 28, 2005 at 6:56 PM. Reason : call]

9/28/2005 6:40:41 PM

Quote :

"evap leak smoke test time"

quoted from a ford mech.

9/28/2005 6:49:05 PM

In my experience the p0455 and p0456 is usually a evap.system line that has cracked or fallen off. In older crown vics such as yours it can be caused by the gas cap not being put on tight or the seal on the gas cap deteriorating. The best way to determine the cause of the leak is to use a smoke tester(which we have at Crossroads Ford) to find the leak vs. just replacing evap. emissions components till the code goes away. I would take it to a shop that can perform the smoke test but before that locate the evap (aka carbon)canister at the rear of the vehicle(pretty sure its back there but they moved it around over several years) and make sure the lines are seated properly and nothing looks broken or cracked. If you decide to bring it to a dealer University Ford in Durham has a good reputation as stated earlier or you can come to Crossroads and talk to my service writer Mike Carter. Either way its not usually a difficult problem to diagnose and shouldn't cost more than an arm and a kidney(jk). Good luck with it.

9/28/2005 7:00:05 PM

well.. quoted from him ^

9/29/2005 12:33:02 AM

well thanks for all the advice. i never had a problem like his before so i knew nothing about fault codes and smoke testers. ill prob be takin it home to have it serviced just cause we know a handful of good mechanics around town and if it cant be done in a weekend i can still trade cars with my parents and have something to get to school in. but i would have been very lost without all the help so thanks again.

9/29/2005 11:56:16 AM