frog3

Hey everyone. I've got a 2002 TA with almost 69k miles. The other morning my check engine light came on so I took it to a mechanic. They got back to me saying it's the catalytic converters. They said one cat would be like $640, the other would be $460, and labor would be around $240. My buddies are telling me those prices are absurd and I can get this taken care of for a lot less. I don't know a lot about cars so I wanted to see what all of you thought. Thanks for your time.

KonkeyDong

If you dont live in an Emissions state just cut em out!

pdxmotorhead

Random Tech cats are cheaper than that and the one on my jeep has been passing inspection in Oregon for about 10 years..

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

Frog where are you located? Ihave a pair of stock cats that are good that were about to go to the junk yard.

Might just be a bad front or rear O2 sensor instead of the cat. O2 sensors. O2 are $50 to $75 each. The car has four of them.

That quote is about what my xwife paided to have the cats replaced in her 2002 Z28.

I think the labor quote is high. Probably quoted high in case issues occur and would be a little less if no issues occured.

Try Repairpal for a rough estimate in your area.

http://http://repairpal.com/estimator

Labor: $66 - $85
Parts: $498 - $1227
Estimate does not include taxes and fees.
Included Parts
Catalytic converter
2 catalytic converter gaskets

frog3

I live in Texas in the DFW metroplex. I was just talking to a guy I know who used to be a GM mechanic and he was saying I could probably just get some universal cats for a lot less and have a muffler shop install them (I saw some universal Magnaflows for under $100 and a direct fit Walker for about $140). Any reason that would be a bad idea? I'm mostly hesitant to pull the trigger on that quote because I just had them diagnose and repair another check engine light issue a week ago. Definitely going to try the O2 sensor first though.

RevGTO

iTrader: (12)

Using the universals will necessitate having the exhaust shop do some fabbing to get them to fit. If you are going to do all that, the best thing would be to have a set of long tube headers installed with a catted Y. You'd get a huge bump in performance and still come in cheaper than stock cat replacement. The Walkers sound like the least expensive fix.

Random Tech offers hi-flow cats with their own Y pipe, which is a nice setup if you're not going with headers, but fairly expensive.

No way you want to pay that kind of money to replace the stock cats.

farmington

iTrader: (14)

used ones can be bought for next to nothing. do a little searching

Mappinsj

Lol at the price they gave you. Please don't do that

garys 68

iTrader: (1)

Um, if you put new ones on, you might fry them too.
They usually go bad due to an engine issue (sensor, misfire, injector). Putting on new ones could clog them too.

4150

iTrader: (13)

Another option would be direct fit cats from Magnaflow, since you aren't in California you can run the cheaper federal cats.

Here are the P/N's from Magnaflow along with the prices I found on Amazon

Part # 23477 Left/Standard/Direct-Fit $192.87
Part # 23489 Right/Standard/Direct-Fit $273.31

Still a lot of money but cheaper than OEM or the CARB compliant ones.

Or just go with direct fit cats from another brand, you don't have to worry about CARB compliant cats so you have a lot of options.

slogo

Do what that guy said, universal cats and muffler shop install.
That expensive quote is for bolt in replacements. no need for that.
We do the universals at muffler shop all the time at work, instead of bolt in replacements
I'm in DFW as well, no problems with doing it that way here.

hurley711

iTrader: (5)

The LS1 gods have spoken. It's time for LT headers and a catted Y.

bad_408_vert

iTrader: (6)

Can you post the codes you got?
If you don't have a scanner any parts store can scan them for you for free.

Really curios to know if codes are for sensors or cats themselves.

99 Black Bird T/A

iTrader: (4)

Sending PM

frog3

I just saw all these replies. My bad! Life's been crazy. I'll try to knock these out without a mess of quote text.

@garys 68: I do have a slight misfire right now. Pulled the plugs and they're toasted. That's high on the list considering the awful mpg I'm getting - I'm at about a half tank right now with just over 100 miles on the trip meter. Could that have been what blew my cats?

@RevGTO/hurley711: Haha I don't even know what that means. I'm an absolute layman just trying to make his car quit its shenanigans without going broke, but always open to ideas. Have a lot to learn.

@bad_408_vert: I can try calling the initial mechanic to see if they know. When I got the car out of there, my light was off, so AutoZone couldn't find any active codes. I guess I just have to drive a certain amount for it to come back on.

@slogo: Is there any downside to not going direct fit? Does the labor of welding and all that typically negate the savings on parts or make it impossible to bolt stuff on later down the road? If I'm making no sense feel free to tell me

@99 Black Bird T/A: Thanks! Just got back to you.

Thanks for all of your time, everyone. My pre-purchase inspection definitely missed a lot, and you have all been great on helping me navigate this and other issues. I'm so naive I didn't even realize I wound up with a fake WS6 til last week, if that gives you any idea. Thanks again.

Snake_Skinner

iTrader: (12)

Took my 01 WS.6 to the dealership and they replaced a cat for FREE, couldnt believe it. There was a recall is why, this was like 5 years ago though.

garys 68

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that's exactly what kills them. You can wipe out the new cats in 10 min driving if you're spraying a lot of unburned fuel into them.

DANOZ28

iTrader: (1)

if your replacing orig factory cats take them to a scrap yard for money, i believe they have some platinum in them if memory servs. i found out the hard way.

mac62989

iTrader: (1)

I bought my car in 09 with a code thrown knowing the cats still had to be replaced. Took it to a Pontiac dealer that was about to close but the cats were warrantied for so many years by the federal govt. Pontiac dealer was billing GM so even though only one cat had to be replaced they gave me two new ones. The price you were quoted looked about right but I say just do LTs and a catted-y for cheaper.

frog3

Light came back on and I had O'Reillys read the code. It's P0410. Anyone familiar?