Question about Catalytic Converter

Well, followup to this thread: http://www.aveoforum.com/forum/f108/...g-wires-15712/

Ford dealership said the valve gasket leak was drowning out the spark, so they replaced the gasket.

Still won't start.

Fast forward to today, and now they say the catalytic converter is plugged. Because of California, they say there are no aftermarket ones. They quote $1,512.

I know these cars have 5 year/100,000 warranty, but the car is an 08 with 92K miles (past the 60 month mark I assume; We bought it used in December of 2010).

I called a Chevy dealership, and they quoted $1,700.00 for the part alone and out the door with labor it would be about $2,000. He said if it had less than 80,000 miles, they would have done it for free though because of Chevy extended coverage? He said because it had 92K though, he could probably get us a discount called Chevy Assistance. I gave him my Vin and he said it would probably cost about $500-1K depending on what Chevy says. WOW, huge discount! I asked him to verify with me on the phone that out the door it would be no more than $1,000. He wouldn't answer me outright and said he would "do the best I can". Didn't get the warm fuzzies about that and I don't want to pay to have the car towed there only to be told nope, it won't be under $1K.

I plan to call a few more dealerships around here, but I wonder if anyone with some expertise on the warranty/Chevy Assistance could comment?

Also, I wanted to ask this question: If I got an aftermarket non-CA catalytic converter for $100-200 and it was bolt-on and fit fine, would be it plug and play? Would I have to get the computer re-programmed?

Which cat? The precat or the actual cat under the car? Do they do a tailpipe test at your location? If not then you can totally chop the actual cat out with no negative reprucussions.

They do a full test in California, but I'm not worried about smog, my focus is just to get the car running. I guess that's a good question, I did not know there were two cats, I guess I will have to call and ask Monday. When I looked at our exhaust diagram, I thought there was only one catalytic converter right where the manifold is in the engine bay? Then a resonator then the muffler?

Another question, if I take off the catalytic converter and try to start the car, will it hurt it if I let it idle for 10 seconds?

I just want to confirm it will start without the clogged cat before I invest the money.

The precat has a downstream o2 sensor so you can't run it without that. But you can run it without the primary cat under the car with no harm

Do you have a link to anywhere that sells the underneath cat? All the cats I am seeing look like the one that is at the manifold.

The 08's only have one catalytic converter attached to the manifold. I think that catalytics are covered up to 8 years but I don't know if you are past the mileage for that warranty.

Good to know about there only being one cat, that clears a lot of confusion for me.

The mileage limit is 80K I was told, unfortunately I am about 92K.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by daltron

Another question, if I take off the catalytic converter and try to start the car, will it hurt it if I let it idle for 10 seconds?

I just want to confirm it will start without the clogged cat before I invest the money.

---

I would definitely do this. I've never heard of a clogged cat not even allowing the car to start. I think you would have notice a huge drop in power before this all happened. I doubt it is a clogged cat.

If that doesn't work DO NOT go to a dealer to have this part replaced. Hit up a junk yard and buy a used exhaust manifold with the cat since its a single piece. Its a simple bolt in part and will probably cost less than $100 and some time. Search here to find one: Car-Part.com--Used Auto Parts Market

Thank you for the link, I will check it out.

As for testing the car without the cat on it, should I disconnect the upstream and/or the downstream O2 sensors first?

Nah, I'd just loosen the manifold bolts, pull the manifold away from the head a bit so it can breathe (you might need to wedge something in there), and see if it'll fire up.

Thank you for the help. I'm having it towed to my work this afternoon and I'm going to try that.

I took out the upstream O2 sensor in the headers, left the cat on, and started her up. Idled like a go cart for 5 seconds before I shut her down. Already ordered a new direct fit cat, thank you for the help!

sounds like you solved the problem. Im not on here as much as I used to be.. sorry, but you went with what I would have suggested.

I'm just thankful for a forum like this.

Just an update:

Old cat was destroyed, pieces down the exhaust pipe. Cleaned it out as best as I could, put new cat in, car kept dying. Muffler is clogged, so disconnected it and car ran fine, except for the fact it sounded like a ricer. I need to order a new muffler to replace it.

Check engine light came on, though after a couple days -.-

I replaced the muffler on my '05 with a Walker from Rockauto this past Summer due to the connector pipe rusting out. This muffler was a perfect fit for the hangers and mid pipe flange. Perhaps a bit high at $100 + shipping, but the easy drop-in replacement made it worth the $$ for me.

That was the EXACT one I was looking at! Thanks for the confirmation. I was looking at that one for the same reason, perfect fit.