Emissions · Diagnostic trouble code

P0420

Catalyst system efficiency below threshold (bank 1)

What it means

In plain terms

The downstream O2 sensor is tracking the upstream one too closely, which tells the ECM the converter is no longer storing and releasing oxygen the way a healthy one does. It does not automatically mean the converter is bad.

What sets it

The trigger condition

The post-catalyst O2 signal mirrors the pre-catalyst signal beyond the calibrated switching ratio over a complete monitor cycle.

Generic SAE definition. Manufacturers extend and sometimes override these, so the enhanced code on the vehicle in front of you may be narrower than what is written here.

Common causes

5 things that set P0420.

This is the list every other P0420 page will give you. Read it, then read the part underneath it.

What P0420 gives you
  • Genuinely degraded catalytic converter
  • Failing downstream O2 sensor, or a lazy upstream one
  • Exhaust leak before or between the sensors
  • An unrepaired misfire or rich condition that damaged the converter
  • Engine oil or coolant consumption poisoning the catalyst
5 candidates · no ranking · your call
What AceDx gives you
One ranked call
Named specifically enough to order the part, with a confidence number and the evidence printed underneath.
1 call · evidence attached · you can overrule it
A frequency ranking is about every vehicle that ever threw P0420. You are working on one of them.
The actual problem

That list is not a diagnosis. It is a to-do list you did not ask for.

Every one of those 5 causes is now a decision somebody in the bay has to make, under a clock, on a car a customer wants back today.

We haven’t published a verdict for P0420 yet.

We could mock one up. We’re not going to. A fabricated example of our own product’s output is exactly the kind of thing this page is criticizing. Verdicts appear here as the pilot produces them on real vehicles, with the evidence they actually stood on.

Related codes

What often shows up beside it.

All diagnostic trouble codes →

Stop working P0420 from a list.

The pilot runs on your existing scan tool and your live repair orders. Bring us a car that's throwing this code.