2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

[Neomoon]

I bought the car (01 Firebird) last year and before buying it I noticed the SEL light was on.

Before I bought the car the dealer (local dealership not large chain) replaced the cat to fix the SEL bad cat code being thrown by the car and also had the inspection sticker renewed. Dealer told me if I ever had any problems to let him know since the cat was under warranty (The contract states this in writing).

Well fast forward a year & my inspection sticker is up again. The SEL returned about 4 months after I bought the car and when I took it to Autozone they told me it was displaying only a bad cat code. They cleared the code and I went on my way only to have the SEL come back on 2 weeks later (I've been like that ever since).

I took it in last week to have the diagnostics performed since I wanted to get the SEL taken care of (knowing what the result would be). They tell me the codes pulled are for the EGR & that the cat is bad (surprise). I go ahead and let them replace the EGR and hold off on the cat since the dealer told me it was still under warranty.

The go on to tell me that the cat the car has on is an aftermarket cat and defiantly bad and it will continue to fail unless a factory one is installed. Price quoted for a factory cat is ~$600.

My questions:
Did the bad cat cause my EGR to go bad?

Does having a dealership cat really make a difference?

I've heard of a high-flow cat will this help me?

Thanks guys

[dangerz]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

If I remember correctly, high-flow cats go bad pretty quickly. This could be a problem somewhere else that is causing the cat to go bad.

[Neomoon]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

If I remember correctly, high-flow cats go bad pretty quickly. This could be a problem somewhere else that is causing the cat to go bad.

What kinds of things could be causing my cat to go bad?

[vr4gasm]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

have you personally inspected the cat? is it clogged.. and heads up i have had my carsound 3" in 3"out for 2 years still works great!

[Neomoon]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

have you personally inspected the cat? is it clogged.. and heads up i have had my carsound 3" in 3"out for 2 years still works great!

No, unfortunately I have not inspected the cat. I am not a very automotive technical person & I don't have any proper equipment since I live in an apartment.

I recently had the EGR replaced and I'm thinking it's something else that's causing these cats to go bad.

[akcamaro02]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

if your going to have to spend $600 dollars on a cat, might as well spend that money on a full exhaust system...unless the cat is paid under warranty then I'd just let them buy it...as far as the EGR goes...I'd have the mechanic who inspected your car to check and try and prove that the EGR might have failed due to a bad cat b/c I have a warranty like that and something with my exhaust went bad and made the O2 sensors go bad and they tried to get me to pay for the O2 sensors since they weren't under warranty but I got a statement from the mechanic stating that the O2 sensors went bad due to a malfuncted something in the exhaust piping and they had to pay for the O2 and the exhaust issue.

[Neomoon]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

Excuse the long post I know I might lose a lot of people.


In case anybody cares, I took my car to another local (and recommended muffler wheel/tire shop) to have a second opinion.

After spending some one on one time talking to the mechanic he explained that my cat seemed to still be in good operating condition and did not seem to need replacement. The first thing he noticed was that the temp in the exhaust right before the cat seemed a little low. He suggested that we try to figure out perhaps what was causing the cats to go bad or throw the code instead of automatically assuming it was the cat.

Some things noted were that the dash's water temp gauge was reading 210 (right in the middle) however once we had the car on a lift his laser thermometer was reading 180 at the water hose and in the couple of minutes we were talking dropped to 160 (where it stayed).

He suggested that I might have my thermostat checked since it could be stuck partly open causing my water temp to stay low. This in turn could be causing the engine to think it wasn't running warm enough sending more fuel into the engine causing it to run rich & making the cat throw the error making it seem as if it was bad. He suggested I also have the sensor that registers the water temp on the dash looked at since it might be causing it to read wrong.

The mechanic (grizzled ~65 man) seemed like he just loved talking to somebody about cars. He assured me that the car didn't seem to need a cat and wouldn't sell me one if it didn't need it. He suggested I have that issue looked at first (thermostat) then once we were sure the thermostat was not an issue we go back and see if the temp in the exhaust before the cat was warmer.


LOL, in the end I just ordered an O2 sim and plan to install it and have the codes cleared so I can pass inspection (which expired already so I need it to pass inspection ASAP) once that's done I'll look into the termostat issue.


Thoughts? Comments? Does this old man have a clue about was he was talking about, or he just senile?

[PaganEgyptian]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

The thermostat will only richen the mix until its get to operating temp, after that, it doesn't matter. My guess is your SES light is showing Catalyst insufficient flow of Lean/rich? That very well could be a bad O2 sensor down stream of the converter. Thats my first guess. An O2 sim will fix that problem. unless you get a sniffer test, just sim it.
I also hope the mechanic did a pre converter back-pressure check. It should be less than 3-4 psi, anymore and your cat is clogged.

[Neomoon]

Re: 2 Cats in 2 years..... problem?

An O2 sim will fix that problem. unless you get a sniffer test

When you say sniffer test are you referring to the type of text conducted on my car while trying to pass inspection?

I live in Texas & honestly don't know exactly what type of tests they do on my car for emissions.

I have already ordered the sim, should I go ahead and put a new downstream O2 sensor before installing the sim?