Hey everyone,

I am in a situation where I need some help.

My check engine light came on recently so I took my '98 Accord to the dealer to get it checked out. Apparently there's something wrong with my catalytic converter and they wanted to charge me $570 for the converter and $200 for the O2 senser if needed. Overall the bill would've been $830 if the O2 senser was saved or $1150 if not.

I decided not to do it for now, but some advice on what to do would be appreciated. I need to renew my inspection sticker this month, would I need to fix this problem in order to pass?

Thanks!
Jer

 

The dealer may or may not be totally honest with you. To determine if they're pulling your chain, first reset the light. You can do this by disconnecting the battery for about 5 minutes then reconnecting it (disconnect the negative lead by the way, that way you don't have sparks flying if the postive lead touches the frame or engine). Make sure you have the code to your stereo if you do this (if you have a crappy honda factory stereo) as it will reset the stereo as well and you'll have to enter the code to make the stereo work again. After reconnecting the battery turn the car on and see if the light comes on. It might come on immediately or after a while. If it doesn't come back on then it may have just been a glitch. If it does come back on, take it to an autozone and get them to read the code. They might be able to tell you what the code means, if not, google it or post it up here. If it turns out to be the catalytic converter after all then I'd recommend you replace it yourself. You can get a new CC online for between $150-$200 and replacing is not very difficult for even a novice DIYer.

If you're not much of a Do-it-yourself kind of guy then you can opt to have another shop give you a quote or have the dealer do it since they will offer a warranty. I personally would get a quote from a shop, they may be able to get the part cheaper. Shop around for a catalytic converter and if you can get it cheaper, buy the part yourself and then have a shop simply do the labor and put it on.

But as I said before, just do it yourself if you're at all mechanically inclined. Get a Haynes, Chiltons, or preferably a Helms manual which will guide your through the steps. It's quite easy. It's just forking out the couple of hundred bucks to buy the converter. Still better than the thousand bucks the stealership wants to charge you.

 

Unfortunately, those prices are fairly accurate. Because of the key component (platinum) inside the cat, replacement parts are very very expensive.

The cat is fairly toxic too. I'd be very careful handling this. Also, depending your region, your entire exhaust system might be rusted together. Jacking up the car and removing the cat via ratchet set might be impossible. You'll need a torch.


You can look for a "race" cat. It's a replacement and should include the O2 inlet, or dongle. These run about $300, but still might trigger that CEL (Check Engine Light) and might not be CARB (California Air Resources Board) exempt.


Do you currently have a CEL on? If so, reset it ... but I need to know your model / year / trim / engine type of your Accord.

 

Thanks for the replies!

I noticed the CEL was off when I drove the car home from the dealer. I'll wait and see if it turns back on. If so, I'll check it out at AutoZone. I was considering going somewhere else for (hopefully) a lower quote but I'll wait it out and see how it goes. I would consider doing it myself if it's reasonable.

I'm assuming I need this fixed in order to pass inspection?

My car is a 1998 Accord EX with 4-cyl. engine and a 5-speed manual transmission.

 

You can only get a Converter from the dealership and having the CEL on is an automatic failure for emissions tests

 

Well, I mentioned it is currently off.

 

where do u live?

 

New York. Should of mentioned that...

 

if u were in houston, i could've taken care of ur car.

but u should just replace teh oxygen sensor. u can get a generic DENSO brand for anywhere b/w 50-100 and hook it up urself. there're four wires coming out of it and i forgot what the colors were.
but any ways, u can play around w/ it, messing up on wires wouldn't hurt the car in any ways. so try that until u get it right. usually its pretty easy. i had it right the second time.


also, i wouldn't worry about the cat for right now, just get the o2 fixed first

 

Are you sure? I've seen a few online and eBay. Not sure if they were OEM though.