They're called stealerships for a reason. Trust them at your own risk. I'm more inclined to trust a mom 'n pop shop. Dealerships are always trying to upsell and get you for a power steering rack when you're just in there for an oil change.
Free Auto advice from a certified mechanic !
- Thread starter TexMex247
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Well, it's at a local mom n pop muffler shop now that's known for giving back to the community, and I've never heard a bad thing about em in general. They've been here 18 years, I believe, so that's plenty of time to build a solid reputation - good or bad.
It's not going to cost me much more just to have them do it vs me paying the troubleshoot fee and doing it myself, so I'm gonna just let them. Besides, after this morning I'm not sure if it would make it up the hill to my house anyways. It was pretty bad.
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It's not going to cost me much more just to have them do it vs me paying the troubleshoot fee and doing it myself, so I'm gonna just let them. Besides, after this morning I'm not sure if it would make it up the hill to my house anyways. It was pretty bad.
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I'll look them up, and call the shop tomorrow and talk to them about cat options. The current ones will take a few days to get here, so I have time to do research.
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Dude, Trademotion has EVERYTHING but the plugs. Lol Ignition to the coils - no plugs.
I'm gonna call NGK and see what they can tell me tomorrow. I want the technical explination - not just the manufacturer specs. Lol
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I'm gonna call NGK and see what they can tell me tomorrow. I want the technical explination - not just the manufacturer specs. Lol
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Uh oh...which part. The website, or the spark plug info I'm curious about?
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Ohhh, yea I thought it was kinda funny. Maybe they don't know which type of plug to use either. ;D
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The 02 sensors were changed about a week ago, CEL codes? I'm guessing those would be the fault codes meaning the sensors are bad?
I do not know what codes it had, the 'check engine' light came on so I took it in to find out what was going on, both the 02 sensor were out and the CAT is finally failed. So far as I know the 02 codes are cleared.
As God is my witness, I FUCKING HATE COMPUTER CONTROLLED CARS!!!!!! Times like this I just want to go outside & hug my beetle & my truck.....
Good dealerships are the exception not the norm.Do you still have a check engine light? If you already replaced both O2 sensors, and you no longer have a CEL, then your car is fixed.
The light is back on due to the CAT being failed. The mechs told me running the car for the time-being as-is will not hurt it. Soon as I get the chrome back for the beetle I can finish reassy on that & drive it while I jack the honda and replace the CAT. That should be no more than 2 more weeks. Then I can put the honda on jacks and get started.
I am thinking the wisest course is to simply replace the CAT, all of the other suggestions sound good but IF something does foul up then where do I start to figure all this out? Just put another new CAT on there & I'm thinking if anything goes wrong, then the system is still stock and any diagnostic should follow factory procedures and/or codes?
Based on others experience, which is much greater than mine in regards to late-model such as this, this is the wisest course? Whatever cost be damned I'd rather have it stock so no headaches with the computer system.
Add edit: In talking to the mechanic, he said the culprit for the CAT failure was the 02 sensors failing. They read 02 level in the exhaust and send that reading to the computer which adjusts fuel mixture to keep it from being too rich and dumping excess fuel into the CAT? Does this sound correct?
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That is a possibility but not guaranteed. Replacing the cat is an easy enough fix for you and should fix the CEL. There is absolutely no harm in driving your car with a bad cat. The cat is only there for emissions control. It does not affect engine performance, unless the cat is so clogged that it chokes the engine and it stalls (which it isn't).
If you put in an O2S simulator like others have suggested, in conjunction with a straight pipe (in place of the cat), then there is nothing to foul up, and nothing to go bad. That downstream O2S is there ONLY to measure catalyst efficiency. The upstream O2S is the one used to measure O2 in the exhaust to help the computer adjust air/fuel mixture. The O2S simulator is popular for tuner cars for various reasons, but is also a solid option to fix recurring cat converter issues.
If you put in an O2S simulator like others have suggested, in conjunction with a straight pipe (in place of the cat), then there is nothing to foul up, and nothing to go bad. That downstream O2S is there ONLY to measure catalyst efficiency. The upstream O2S is the one used to measure O2 in the exhaust to help the computer adjust air/fuel mixture. The O2S simulator is popular for tuner cars for various reasons, but is also a solid option to fix recurring cat converter issues.
Yes, but opposite to a certain degree.
O2 reading lean would cause the computer to use more fuel which could melt the cat.
I wouldn't think the computer would have that much adjustment in the fuel tables.
Also, I doubt these o2 sensors are wideband sensors, so they are basically an on/off switch.
An upstream oxygen sensor stuck at a lean value could cause the computer to add fuel up to it's compensation limit. It would do that by increasing injector pulse width or dwell or "on time". There is a possibility that it contributed to the failure but sometimes they degrade from mileage and tune-up condition. Either way, replacing the upstream sensor is/was important if it was defective, to get your car running right.
As far as the best way to fix it... If it is not causing an exhaust restriction, I would save the money and install a "test pipe" that replaces the cat and has threads for your oxygen sensor. Then I'd install the sensor spacer/adapter on the downstream sensor to make your cars computer happy.
If the cat has already been hollowed out, you have nothing to loose by just installing the adapter/spacer in line with the sensor. That would require no welding or removal of anything other than the sensor itself. An original equipment converter for that car is gonna cost a several hundred dollars and an aftermarket one will still be a couple hundred and will have a much shorter lifespan than the original.
If you decide to replace the converter instead of running a spacer, make sure your spark plugs are in good shape before replacement.
"As far as the best way to fix it... If it is not causing an exhaust restriction, I would save the money and install a "test pipe" that replaces the cat and has threads for your oxygen sensor. Then I'd install the sensor spacer/adapter on the downstream sensor to make your cars computer happy."
I"m extremely hesitant to ask this question, let me preface it with this. I am asking this only out of lack of knowledge & to make sure I have a correct understanding, not any accusation or questioning what you're saying in terms of it being correct.
This "test pipe" you reference, IF my understanding of what you're saying is correct, and I may be missing something here. This test pipe entirely replaces the cat? If so, the car was originally equipped with a cat, since it's now been replaced or deleted from the car entirely via the "test pipe" . How then does the car pass a smog test legally?
The car had a cat oem, now it doesn't. If my understanding of the smog test is correct, and I could be wrong, doesn't the car have to have a catalytic converter to pass a smog check if it was originally equipped?
Also, a cat does address by whatever chemical means, the emissions coming from the car, if it's not there how would the emissions coming from the car untreated still pass a smog check? I'm assuming without the cat the emissions are untreated and hence would exceed allowable limits?
Am I missing something here as it seems?
Most counties just read the computer for the emissions test. Does yours actually do a sniffer test? You could also register your car in a non-emissions county and not even bother to fix the CEL
In which county is the car registered?
That will help us determine how much leeway you have.
For example, Harris County does a visual and Emissions readiness test. It would be very difficult to pass with a test pipe and o2 simulators.
Most counties just read the computer for the emissions test. Does yours actually do a sniffer test? You could also register your car in a non-emissions county and not even bother to fix the CEL
How easy/legal is it to register a vehicle in a county one does not live in?
