It’s always best to fully diagnose and confirm the problem and it’s cause and then confirm the repair. The cat is an expensive and time consuming job so you want to get this one right. Also, make sure that all other fuel delivery and ignition problems are addressed first so you don’t kill the new cat.


George

 

I personally would just do a generic weld-in converter unless you have laws to prevent using them. I'm too cheap for the direct fit ones.

 

Yes that's very true thank you. I'll hook up my scan tool after I drive to work in a bit and see what the numbers are saying.

 

I don't have any laws about those generic cats here, I have just heard they don't last very long at all. Have you experienced this too? I would like to go with a weld in cat over direct fit though if anyone could point me in the direction of a good quality one

 

I've heard the weld in one's don't last. Or do and still throws a code, if you don't mind the light, then go ahead... but if you don't have a law on the cats, then maybe just look into a straight pipe lol...

But then again, that just puts a bandaid on something that could go wrong down the road...

I gambled on a none oem cat, which was made to be bolt in. And I'm sure it's causing me problems now... while christine ordered from them aswell, and had to get a shop to relocate the o2 sensor hole... so obviously was a crap job place to begin with...

 

Yeah, that's kind of what I have heard too. I would prefer to keep the light off if I'm going to go to all the trouble of swapping in a new cat lol. I seem to recall seeing a direct fit that came with just the cat then goes to where the flange is so you can just bolt it up, then the other side has clamps or you can weld it in, those would keep the code off as they were designed to go on a vehicle like a blazer right? I have thought about a straight pipe but I think it might be a little loud and raspy, I plan on taking this when I need to go on road trips, etc. I'm thinking of putting this new cat in and while I do that ill put straight pipes in for the muffler to make it sound a little meaner.

 

The only reason for them not to last is a persistent misfire or coolant leak into the cylinder or some other source of contamination (poisoning) of the converter. Like George said, need to make sure things are fixed before installing a new cat or they will be toast in short order (custom fit or generic). I have personally never needed a new cat in my life except when the plug came out of my 80's S10 and all the beads blew out. Muffler shop generic cat worked fine. If you have a welder and are going to do it yourself i recommend Summit Racing as a source. If not I say just buy the converter from the exhaust shop.

 

I have also never needed a cat and I have a Toyota approaching 300k miles. I have read comments here and elsewhere that cheaper after market cats don’t last but I have no working knowledge of this issue. I poked around a few years ago looking for some measure of capacity or rating but did not find anything. Even the warranties looked similar. As Les implied, It would be hard to separate the quality/capacity of a given cat with how well the owner took care of the root cause before installing the replacement.

South Main Auto is the best mechanic on you tube so I took a look at one of his videos. He uses a universal Walker cat to save this customer some money and he shows the part number and mentions it being California Carb compliant. Maybe that is a meaningful assurance that the cat won’t be crap. He also shows his process for fitting a universal replacement to the vehicle. If I am ever looking for a you tube video on vehicle repair I always check him first, followed by Scanner Danner.


George

 

But in this video Eric O. Makes it sound like he is obligated to use a “Cali cat” in NY so I am not sure what he would use in another state, but I trust his work:



George

 

Sorry the first link didn't make it in my response where he shows the Walker cat that he used:



George