Don't make an offer that you can't honor! I live 15 mins south of Philadelphia, and visit some very good friends in Syracuse/Baldwinsville several times a year, and actually LOVE coming up in the winter time! When there's snow, I drive up in my F150. No snow, we drive the LS up there. I'll email you my cell and personal email after I send this off!

Thanks again!

 

I am not getting my stock exhaust off till spring or summer of this year my ls430 is in storage till all the salt is off the roads

 

If you can get your Y pipe off then you are only really a couple of bolts away from swapping out the catalytic converter. I had the drivers side P0420 going off. It had broken apart and lost internal material. The other side was good. I replaced both with Bosal aftermarket and the code's have disappeared. I would just replace one side $150 including shipping and a few minutes work.

I was able to do it on jacks in my garage. The reason I would only do the side throwing the code is you don't want to snap a bolt off replacing a working Cat. IMHO.

 

Might be able to get a catalytic converter from this car. Only 85K miles. he is parting out the whole car.

https://portland.craigslist.org/clc/pts/d/parting-out-2001-lexus-ls430/6438688053.html


I sold my used cat on eBay for $150 shipped or something like that.

 

Guess what guys? My P0430 code is probably solved, and I don't think I have bad a bad cat! (Well, I have 1 bad kittycat, because he always kicks litter out of the litterbox, but that's another story!)

Last night, it was about 14deg F here in Delaware. When leaving my parent's house, I started the LS up while leaning across the passenger seat, and when closing the passenger door, I saw smoke/condensation/exhaust coming from UNDER THE CAR!!! Needless to say, I nearly did a Pete Rose head-first dive (bellyflop) onto the driveway, and saw where the smoke (condensation smoke) was coming from. Apparently, there's a bad GASKET that is LEAKING before the cat, and before the downstream sensor (under the passenger side of the car).

I did read about some of you who said exhaust leak! exhaust leak! exhaust leak!...but I wanted to believe that NOT MY LS! Never in a million years did I think I'd have an exhaust leak! But.....I DO. The good news is, I probably won't be replacing the cat anytime soon! I'm going to order the gasket, and while she's up in the air at my buddy's place (former Lexus tech), we'll probably do the rear diff oil, transmission fluid (he said keep it simple, if no pre-existing issues nor shift problems we're going to refill with exact amount we extract), and probably change the coolant.

I'm including a still pic and a 10 second video, shot from the passenger side of the car looking up under the LS.

I'll let you guys know how I fare after we work it up!

Thanks to all with the suggestions, and even the offer for an exhaust (Jim from CNY)

EDIT----i couldn't upload the video..says too big. I hear that often.

 

Well, I won't say I told you so, but...

All kidding aside, glad to hear it's going to be a cheap fix. When I found mine leaking, I was elated as well. If it had been warmer outside I no doubt would have done it myself, as it's a fairly easy fix. But with the temps as they are, I spent the 90 bucks and had a shop fix it. It's been 3000 miles and no reoccurrence.

 

Yeaaaaaaaa. I'll say it then. You told me so!

A special thanks to you and Stu for knowing what the cause of my P0430 was. Thanks again guys, and wishing everyone on here a Happy New Year! (my 2018 will inevitably be better than my 2017.)

 

My pleasure. This is what makes the forum. Shared knowledge. And I couldn't agree more with 2018 VS. 2017... Good riddance...

 

Hi guys. I'm following up on my P0430 CEL that I've been living with, and driving with, for nearly a year. Can you say annoyyyying to see the dash lit up at night?!

Well, I purchased a Toy/Lex Y-pipe from Ebay for about $600. On Friday night, I had my buddy remove the old, and install the new. He also sourced the front 2 gaskets where the Y-pipe bolts up to the exhaust manifold/piping/flanges. The rear of the Y-pipe is simply a slip fit to the exhaust pipe which eventually splits up to go to the dual exhaust.

Took him about 2 hours total, to include drinking some beers, eating cheese steaks and a lot of chit-chat (John---next time you're in Delaware, I'm directing you to eat at Claymont Steak Shop!!!)

Let me tell you what------the LS is now an absolute pleasure to DRIVE again!!! My old Y-pipe was like swiss cheese and made the car SO loud. We also cleared all the codes too. She's absolutely fantastic to drive again. It's like a NEW CAR!

For those of you who have a CEL and know that your Y-pipe has a hole/leak/etc, it won't be long before you get another hole/leak, then another, then another, then you're going to hate driving it. That's what happened to me. I hated driving it so much, I let it sit for a month only to return to a dead battery, lol.

Anyway....at 160k miles, the LS is amazing to drive again, and so QUIET again. It was SO quiet, when driving to a Christmas party last night, the GF asked me what that water splashing noise was coming from the rear of the vehicle when we were driving? Don't worry hunny, I said---that's just vodka in the bottle of Ciroc in the back seat.

 

I solved my p0430/p0420 codes by replacing the y-pipe as well. Make sure it is a snug fit(use muffler and exhaust joint and crack sealant in addition to new flange gaskets) and maybe clean your rear O2 sensors while you're at it. I used deep creep by Seafoam. Other easy maintenance items to keep your cats clear are changing the PCV, air filter, cleaning MAF (all easy), and changing spark plugs (medium). I changed my front O2 sensors a few years ago and probably didn't even need to. Techstream helps to monitor and test A/F (air/fuel) on each side of the exhaust (banks 1 and 2) to rule out problems with your O2 sensors. I'd say Techstream alone has saved me over $2000 in repairs and diagnostics. Wish I had bought it sooner. Most dealers will want to go straight to replacing the catalytic converters, which are not bulletproof, but EXTREMELY robust on our LS430s. If your cat is bad you will have crappy engine response and probably get that egg smell. If the cat is just a little clogged either use cataclean a few times as directed(never tried but heard it works), or even better remove the catalytic converter and soak it in a solution of citric acid or similar. Good Luck

 

I forgot a pro-tip an old mechanic taught me on removing the rear O2 sensors for this job: Heat the pipe area around the O2 sensor(not the sensor itself) with a torch until its very hot, then toss or spray cold water on it and be ready with your 7/8 wrench to break it free right after that. It will break free no problem. Don't take my word for it, go try it yourself and see lolz. I replaced my Y pipe at around 230K with the Davico on rockauto. Shipped to my door for $195 after applying the 5% discount code.

 

Thankfully, I didn't need the torch method to change mines. Just made sure the car was running until cats get hot, spray the sensor with penetrating fluid, and used a jack to apply constant pressure to the socket wrench.

Kinda regret replacing both my cats before installing a new Y pipe. Even though I did smell a bit of rotten egg, was getting consistent p0430, and still getting the occasional p0420 right now all at 200k.

The signs were for me to change them but I believe the Y pipe is my main culprit. After a good year, the p0430 code has never come back even with my old y pipes so it was maybe time. Could anyone give me the OEM gasket part for those pipes.