Topic: Cost of Cats

[JeffBett]

Just curious, there is a cheap deal on a 05 X 4x4 and the owner says it has a check engine light because it need catalytic converters, anyone know what the parts only cost is on them, he is saying $1200 with labor, seems low?

[lutsie]

Do you have a shop you would take it to?  You could call and get a quote.  Depending on the shop the seller got it from,  that could be a high or low quote.

Replaced my wife's cat a few years ago in an Integra cost a little over $400,  $350 of it was the cat alone.  Took it to a little shop in Escondido.

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[fourxfunk]

Unfortunately in California no matter how clean your car runs during the smog test if your cats dont have a CARB stamp on them they will fail you.  Make sure that the cat the mechanic wants install is legit or you'll be doing it twice.. Like I did.  Stupid CA laws.

[knightrider]

Also, don't do aftermarket cats, OEM last much longer than aftermarket cats.

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[Ghost65]

What knightrider said.

Cats on my 05 X cost about $2,300 for all three installed...and two failed 3 years later.

Should have lasted 10 years...


Get factory cats and find a reputable mechanic to do it right the first time.




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[(Sir)JohnOfFullerton]

Like others have said, don't even look at aftermarket cats. I went down that road and wasted way too much time on it. In the end, I bought Nissan cats and even they didn't have a stamp on them. Had to show the receipt to get it passed . I have family at a dealership and got the two cats at a decent discount for my 2004, $800 and installed them myself.

[JeffBett]

Do all 4 fail or is it often only 2 need replacement.  Does anyone know any fail pattern, I have 160,000 on my X and don't think they have been replaced and I am not sure how to tell.  What happens that you know they need replacing?  Can you junkyard source them?

[knightrider]

no you can not buy cats from junkyard. CARB

[JeffBett]

At the risk of seeming naive, what could be the problem with using a factory part from a junk yard.  They could be brand new if a car has a crash shortly purchase.  If it makes the vehicle pass smog, it should be no ones business where the cat comes from, the final outcome should be all that matters. 

Sometimes I forget I live in California! 

[JFanaselle]

At the risk of seeming naive, what could be the problem with using a factory part from a junk yard.  They could be brand new if a car has a crash shortly purchase.  If it makes the vehicle pass smog, it should be no ones business where the cat comes from, the final outcome should be all that matters. 

Sometimes I forget I live in California!

CARB regulations are such a joke. You're preaching to the choir around these parts. Why can't they just set limits on how much pollutants your vehicle is allowed to emit, and not worry about anything else? Micromanagement = $$$ for the system, and shops will exploit those regulations to get $$$ too.

Like the whole concept of automatically failing a smog test if you have an illuminated check engine light, even if the car pollutes less than a fart from a church mouse. Or like the stupid fuel can nozzles that are supposed to keep fumes from escaping, but make you spill more gas than the amount of fumes that would have escaped.

[knightrider]

Yes in an ideal world, it would only matter what comes out the tailpipe, as that is the whole reason for their existence.  CARB is a cash cow for the state. 

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[JFanaselle]

[Ghost65]

.  What happens that you know they need replacing? 

With my 05' Xterra, it literally stopped running.  I thought it was an injector issue, as it was sputtering and power diminished as it got worse.  Limped it to the mechanic, and had the cats R&R from there.

From what I understand, engine performance and mechanical issues can contribute to the demise of the catalytic converter units.  In my case it was the IPDM relay issue that supposedly caused my cats to clog and fail.  But honestly, I think catalytic converters are frikkin' expensive unicorn tubes made to f*ck you out of useful mod money.

But I'm not bitter. 

[(Sir)JohnOfFullerton]

Do all 4 fail or is it often only 2 need replacement.  Does anyone know any fail pattern, I have 160,000 on my X and don't think they have been replaced and I am not sure how to tell.  What happens that you know they need replacing?  Can you junkyard source them?

Typically it's the two upstream cats that go. Mine was due to running rich for too long, which was a result of a slowly failing coil buried inside the dizzy. Not a problem you second geners will deal with, a lazy coil pack maybe. I was at 204k when it went out. Sometimes they clog and the back pressure causes the engine to run like crap, sometimes you get the rotten egg smell. And sometimes you get an SES code from your downstream O2s. YMMV