I have a 99 Accord EX and the cat converter went out at 78K miles which Honda replaced in warranty. Now the car has 158K miles and the Check engine light is on and off for weeks at a time. I had the auto parts store check the code and they say it's the cat. Honda charged me a lot of money to verify that but they want tons of money to replace it.

I know a retired Honda mechanic who may agree to do the dirty work and wonder if there is a good aftermarket replacement of should I get a OEM cat to do the job?

 

I'd probably just go OEM. I've seen a few aftermarket cat's on eBay and elsewhere that claim to have better flow that are usually around the same price or cheaper than OEM. I can't attest to any though. I'd hate to spend the time and money to replace with an aftermarket and find out I can't pass inspection.

 

Thanks for the advice.

I'm not so much worried about flow as reliability. I've taken good care of the car so far with all of the factory suggested maint. My neighbor wants to buy the car from me now and I don't want to stick him.

I hoped I could get off with a Cat. from Auto Zone or some such place.

 

That's a great question. I have wondered myself if it was possible to replace your catalytic converter and O2 Sensors with something more sensibly priced then dealer parts.

I have seen Cats from Bosal and Walker in the $150 price range and if they really don't work... how can they be sold. There are cheaper sources online than Autozone. I read a post that talks about the lifetime of those parts being about 2 years vs 15 for Honda parts from other posts. There is a costly material in them that is the catalyst and maybe the brands I mentioned just use less?? not sure. I would like to see a response from anyone who successfully put in a similar brand for the Honda Accord and had a track record of success.

Also I saw postings that people had replaced O2 sensors with Bosch and engine codes came back very quickly. Those are $70 each vs the Honda which is $250 ish I think. Do those not work either? I thought Bosh was a good brand. Maybe those owners replaced the wrong parts?

I have the code for the cat and have been living with the check engine light. Performance and fuel economy are still good and somehow I got past inspection earlier this year with the light temporarily off.

 

Magnaflow makes good cats. They have even passed emmissions in Cali. You can get a direct fit for a lot less than OEM.

 

That is a dead link.