99.9% of the time it does. Where you will sometimes see a difference is if the downstream O2 sensor is failing and reading slow. That is why you start by looking at the O2 sensor data and seeing if the voltages are in range and if the sensors are tracking each other when the converter is up to temp. On most engines the upstream sensor is doing the work of setting the fuel mixture in the engine, it does that by telling the ECM if the exhaust is rich or lean and correcting it hundreds of times a second. The downstream sensor in most cases only tells the ECU if the cat is working, but it can also become a control sensor in the event the first one fails or in some vehicles it is used to help fine tune the fuel mix.
The system self-tests by deliberately running the fuel mix either rich or lean for a set time, then it looks at the upstream sensor response if things are okay, it then looks at the downstream sensor for it's reaction. The ECM has a table in it that it uses based on the time the test started, it knows the distance between the sensors and calculates that from the time the test starts to the time it sees the downstream sensor reacts and how far it reacts voltage wise to determine the health of the sensor and the health of the converter. That table and test is what the common trick of using anti-fouling adapters on the downstream O2 sensor attempts to fool. The ECU knows that the fuel mix goes rich, it expects the upstream sensor to go to a certain voltage in a certain amount of time. Then it next expects the exhaust to take a set time to travel the converter and next it reads the downstream sensors reactions to the same test. It knows it should take a set time for the converter to react and reduce the exhaust and that if it's doing it's job the exhaust contents should change and how long that takes in a good unit. If it sees that the times are either short or long or that the voltage change is to high or low it sets a code. If it sees that the upstream and downstream voltages are changing at very close to the same amounts and at the same times it sets the specific converter codes like the P0420, P0430 that are common.
Saturday, December 17th, 2022 AT 4:49 AM