Catalytic Converter Failed, What Do I Do?

"sm70- why not Duesenberg?" (sm70-whynotduesenberg) 10/10/2015 at 17:55 • Filed to: None

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Okay Oppo, the reliability streak of my old A8 has been broken. One of the car’s two catalytic converters has gone, and my dad fears that the other one may go as well. He doesn’t want to repair/replace it with a new factory converter because he says he doesn’t want to spend thousands of dollars replacing a part on a car only worth six grand. He wants to either leave the broken converter and hope for the best, or bypass/remove the converters all together. He would also be open to fitting a used or aftermarket catalytic converter. What’s my best option, Oppo?

Slant6 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 17:58

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Aftermarket converter. They ain’t bad.

Shark-Attack > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 17:59

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I’d say go with the bypass if possible. It’s easy welding, and the pipe is cheaper than another cat.

G_Body_Man: Sponsored by the number 3 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 17:59

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Go for some Walker cats. I find that they’re reasonably priced and perform just as well as OEM.

Arben72 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 17:59

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Are you in an area that gets emissions tested?

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Slant6 10/10/2015 at 18:00

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What sort of price difference am I looking at? Our mechanic friend told us they are cheap but more prone to fail.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Arben72 10/10/2015 at 18:00

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No.

jkm7680 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:01

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Aftermarket.

I consider cats a maintenance item though.

jkm7680 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:01

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Straight pipe it and that.

My citroen won't start > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:03

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Just get some magna flows

Slant6 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:04

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LIke $160 each. Which compared to oem is pretty damn good. You’ll be fine with them. Even if they fail they’re easier to drill out than the thicker oem.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:04

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Zoomies

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > My citroen won't start 10/10/2015 at 18:04

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Does an aftermarket exhaust bypass the cats?

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. 10/10/2015 at 18:04

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What?

Arben72 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:10

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Gut them.

bob and john > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:11

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straight pipe dat shit.

Urambo Tauro > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:12

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Even if your area does not require emissions testing, a bad cat is going to throw a code. If you’re okay with that, you’re going to want to check codes about once a week to make sure nothing else is tripping the light.

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:13

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Theyre open headers often used on hot rods.

K-Roll-PorscheTamer > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:14

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Meh, if you’re not in a state where they test that crap, I say leave it as is, or even hack both out and put something else in for lols. :p

Milky > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:14

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De cat!

Sorry for otherwise shitty video, exhaust sounds good though.

My citroen won't start > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:14

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Magnaflow cats I mean, they are probably cheaper then original ones.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Arben72 10/10/2015 at 18:16

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What all does that imply?

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:17

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I don’t think I’ve ever seen a photo of your A8?

XJDano > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:18

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I just looked up a 99 A8 cat and priced at $385 at Oriellys. I was unsure of your year, but is something that’ll have to be fixed if you need inspections.

Some junkyards will buy the converters, although it may not be much.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > bob and john 10/10/2015 at 18:18

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Isn’t that more to do with the muffler than the cats?

PS9 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:18

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Gonna say what everyone else is saying; Aftermarket. Cheap cats will do the job just as well as factory.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Urambo Tauro 10/10/2015 at 18:18

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Let’s say for now that I’m not okay with it.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo 10/10/2015 at 18:20

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I feel like I post it constantly.

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/second-attempt…

Dr. Zoidberg - RIP Oppo > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:23

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Such wheelbase!

We replaced the cat on my wife’s Sable less than a year ago... our oxygen sensors also failed. Anyway, if you choose to replace the one, I would definitely just replace both as suggested.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > My citroen won't start 10/10/2015 at 18:25

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Will they also improve sound, by any chance?

jvirgs drives a Subaru > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:26

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PS9 > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 10/10/2015 at 18:29

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Hack out the whole engine and put the Twin Turbo V10 in it’s place.

E92M3 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:29

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If you don’t have to pass emissions just leave it as is. It’s not affecting the car in anyway, only the environment.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > jvirgs drives a Subaru 10/10/2015 at 18:32

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no go away

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > E92M3 10/10/2015 at 18:32

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It’s making an exceptionally loud, annoying sound, like rocks in a tumble dryer.

Sam > K-Roll-PorscheTamer 10/10/2015 at 18:34

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The problem is that you then have a CEL that could cover up something catastrophic.

E92M3 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:35

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In that case get some test pipes.

PowderHound > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:43

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Straight pipes.

whoarder is tellurium > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:44

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Ignore the check engine light like I do on my A8 (for catalytic efficiency) and go WOT uuryday.

Steve in Manhattan > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:49

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Call a junkyard and see what they have. If you take them out, you’re asking to get fined.

911e46z06 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 18:59

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Fuckin gut the cats with a sawzall and register in South Dakota.

911e46z06 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 19:00

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Lol. Fuck that then dude. Just cut em out or gut em.

bob and john > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 19:00

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both.

cat-back is post cat. straight pipe is just a pipe from headers all the way out back. no cats no mufflers no nothing.

TheHondaBro > PS9 10/10/2015 at 19:03

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This is good advice.

pip bip - choose Corrour > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 19:13

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rockauto?

non gen listing maybe?

shop-teacher > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 19:21

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I would go with aftermarket cats like everyone else.

GeorgeyBoy > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 19:28

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I think you should focus on why the cat failed.

samssun > PowderHound 10/10/2015 at 19:47

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Open headers. Pointed up for downforce.

sm70- why not Duesenberg? > GeorgeyBoy 10/10/2015 at 20:04

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The car has 130k miles on it?

Arben72 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 20:23

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Take off the exhaust and hit the spider web looking thing in it with a stick until you can see all the way through.

GeorgeyBoy > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 20:46

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Cats don’t just go bad by mileage or time. Usually is duedue to the engine running poorly. I would assume at 130k you probably are due for a tune up. Does it have cops?

gmctavish needs more space > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 21:43

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Aftermarket should be fine, or removing them, just don't leave the bad one in, if it's plugged and not burning through, it could cause the system to start leaking upstream, and screw with your power/fuel economy. That's what happened to my dads car and my old e24

Frank Grimes > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/10/2015 at 22:41

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get a new universal one and weld it on.

bryan40oop > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/11/2015 at 04:04

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What kind of design are the converters? Most of the time you can just hack and wield in a universal converter.

Magnaflow sells cheap universal converters at parts stores (o’reillys/advanced auto) from $60-$80. They work just as well as OEM.

Cheap, works. Unless you have a converter set up like ...

Something built into the exhaust manifold to make it impossible to hack a universal converter into.

Tohru > samssun 10/11/2015 at 18:17

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Mad Max style.

 > sm70- why not Duesenberg? 10/11/2015 at 22:52

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Gut the cats.

Profit extra horsepower.

Point at Diesel Jetta and exclaim “if he can pass so can I” at the next e-test.

Seriously though don’t do straight pipes. It’s ghetto as fuck and will sound like ass, especially on a luxury sedan. Either go with aftermarket or gut them if your state doesn’t require e-tests. If you go with aftermarket, get some stainless steel ones. I know Magnaflow direct replacements are stainless and flow a little more than OEM.

Walker aluminuzed stuff is junk. Will rust out in 2 years and you will be doing the job again.

 > whoarder is tellurium 10/11/2015 at 22:53

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Check engine would only come up if secondary o2 sensor is bad or if there is an exhaust leak. Has nothing to do with cats.