need replacement advice? Car is a 1998, and out of warranty for the Cats since January. I had a friend that is very good DIY'er take a look, and the right side Cat is bad. He is good, but not that experienced to do the job for me. I wanted to get some advice from the members on replacement cost. And if possible, do ya'll think I could wait until Tax Return time to replace?
Vehicle: 2001 E320 - Brilliant Silver/Ash: MBCA member
Location: The Mountain State
Posts: 6,363
I had cats go bad (supposedly, it didn't fix the problem) about 15 years ago, still under warranty, on my Plymouth. That cost Chrysler about $800 at the time.
As to when, unless it was bothering me a great deal, I'd wait until I had the money to spare (as you mentioned at tax refund time), or right before my next emission inspection.
Good Luck!
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need replacement advice? Car is a 1998, and out of warranty for the Cats since January. I had a friend that is very good DIY'er take a look, and the right side Cat is bad. He is good, but not that experienced to do the job for me. I wanted to get some advice from the members on replacement cost. And if possible, do ya'll think I could wait until Tax Return time to replace?
Thanks!
Texas;
When you say that the 'cat is bad', what specifically does that mean? Is an internal baffle rattling around, which would be noisy but no big deal, or is the cat actually breaking down and sealing up? This would cause a loss of power, a drop in fuel economy and possible engine over-heating. None of which I would want to happen to my vehicle. Saving dollars today could end up costing you big time down the road if additional damage is done because of a catalytic converter failure...
I am no profound mechanic by any means, but reading through some of the posts by other members, I was guessing the converter(s) where the culprit of the rattling noise under the car. I had my buddy, a pretty good DIY'er take a look. He checked all the heat shields to be sure they were all tight, and they were. He even looked all throughout the engine and underneath to see if maybe something had got caught up on something to make a rattling sound. He mentioned that one time on one of his cars, a mechanic dropped a socket in the engine compartment and it was left there, which caused the socket to rattle about on a ledge. He then took his wife's back massager vibrating thingy (at least that is what HE told it was), and placed it on the right side Cat. And yep, you could hear something vibrating inside. Which reassured me that something inside the Cat had broken up. I am not experiencing any power loss, low fuel economy, or engine overheating problems. But I agree, something is wrong that could lead to future failure and more money out of pocket. I am just hoping I can get away with waiting until April!!
I am no profound mechanic by any means, but reading through some of the posts by other members, I was guessing the converter(s) where the culprit of the rattling noise under the car. I had my buddy, a pretty good DIY'er take a look. He checked all the heat shields to be sure they were all tight, and they were. He even looked all throughout the engine and underneath to see if maybe something had got caught up on something to make a rattling sound. He mentioned that one time on one of his cars, a mechanic dropped a socket in the engine compartment and it was left there, which caused the socket to rattle about on a ledge. He then took his wife's back massager vibrating thingy (at least that is what HE told it was), and placed it on the right side Cat. And yep, you could hear something vibrating inside. Which reassured me that something inside the Cat had broken up. I am not experiencing any power loss, low fuel economy, or engine overheating problems. But I agree, something is wrong that could lead to future failure and more money out of pocket. I am just hoping I can get away with waiting until April!!
Texas;
Most notably, when a cat has a 'melt down' inside, you'lll notice a power loss when taking off from a stop or climbing even small grades. In city driving, you could see an increase in engine temperatures due to the exhaust becoming blocked or restricted.
Double check with dealer for recalls. Supposable in CA some exhaust have recalls with 10 years warranty.
The danger of driving with bad cat is, that:
-it can clog the exhaust
-the particles can travel and damage the muffler.
I wouldn't wait.
I just diy'ed the cats on my '96 E320. $441 from thebenzbin.com (DEC is the manufacturer) Based on the price from the dealer, this route was much less expensive and no codes thrown in the first 5k miles driven with them. If you choose to do it yourself, save some aggravation and replace both O2 sensors at the same time. Total time to complete the work including drilling out one broken bolt on the exhaust manifold - 2 hours.
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