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Aftermarket Cats.

T

tophe7d

CEG'er
Joined
Aug 20, 2007
Messages
180
Location
Chicagoland Burbs
Anyone use any aftermarket cats? I'm looking at replacing the manifolds on my car and am wondering if I have to go with OEM or do the aftermarket ones work just as well? I've seen listings for Eastern Cat, Magnaflow and Walker. The Eastern and Walker's are about $425 per side. The Magnaflow's are about $700 per.

Thanks,

Chris
 
tophe7d said:
Anyone use any aftermarket cats? I'm looking at replacing the manifolds on my car and am wondering if I have to go with OEM or do the aftermarket ones work just as well? I've seen listings for Eastern Cat, Magnaflow and Walker. The Eastern and Walker's are about $425 per side. The Magnaflow's are about $700 per.

Thanks,

Chris
Click to expand...

wow just wow. Are you saying brand new pre-cats that are on your manifolds.
Heck i will sell you my set with only 45k miles for 60 dollars:shrug:

If your talking about a main cat, just replace it with a high flow one from performance curve. Look for universal cat. Its like 35 dollars all SS material too.
 
Harrry said:
wow just wow. Are you saying brand new pre-cats that are on your manifolds.
Heck i will sell you my set with only 45k miles for 60 dollars:shrug:

If your talking about a main cat, just replace it with a high flow one from performance curve. Look for universal cat. Its like 35 dollars all SS material too.
Click to expand...

I may take you up on that if you're serious! I've got family in Ypsi that would be happy to pick those up for me. :D

I'm looking to just get this thing through emissions with no problems and have a reliable ride for the next couple years. No performance necessary, just transportation.

Chris
 
Dyoel182 said:
Well you shouldnt need the precats to pass emissions in the first place.
Click to expand...

Correct to a degree. Two issues: 1.) CEL on won't pass emissions, 2.) Clogged precats could potentially be dangerous (excessive heat could cause car fire/melt things).

I don't want to put mil eliminators on it because that's just a band aid fix. I believe that they are legitimately clogged and need replacing. I do a lot of traveling between Chicago and Detroit so there could be a potential hazard with continuous hwy driving (5hrs.). I really don't care to do headers or gut the cats either. I'd rather just spend the money, fix it the right way and not have to worry about it. Plus, if I sell the car later I won't have to explain anything to a buyer except "Yes, it will pass IL emissions with no problems". :D

Thanks,

Chris
 
I've honestly never heard of clogged pre-cats on any vehicle besides on the internet where everything seems to happen.
 
tophe7d said:
Special thank you to Harry for helping me out w/the manifolds! I really appreciate it. :cool:

Thanks,

Chris
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the props.

Your mom was nice, your dad seems like a really good guy. He wasn't hesitant to shank hands when we met.

Hope you like them. Keep me updated on your project though. BTW you are right, bank 2 is the front. I get them confused some times:crazy:
 
Why do you think that you need new cats? Are you having a problem with cat efficiency codes? Many times those codes are phantom codes on our cars. Unless you know that the cats are actually plugged, you may be doing far more than you need to resolve your problem.

I still have all the original cats on my car at 240,000 miles. I bought it new. For several years I would occasionally get a cat efficiency code. Usually for the rear bank cat, but occasionally for the front bank cat. It would happen about six months to two years apart. I would clear the codes and keep driving. About two years ago I had a code for the rear bank upstream oxygen sensor and replaced both. I have not had the cat efficiency codes return since then.

Unless there is more that you haven't told us, I would not be too anxious to spend big dollars replacing the precats.
 
jim, u think the p0420 code may be getting tripped by something other than failing precats? my bro has the code and ford replaced his under the 8/80 warranty. he very quickly changed the new precats to headers and now i have the p0420 code with no other codes. since they are basically brand new and lying around, i was going to install his new precats on my car. am i jumping the gun? i had an o2 sensor cel a while back and replaced the o2 and the code has never come back. the 420 code is for the precat that i replaced the 02 on. could the 02 fail again but not give an 02 sensor code and install trip the 420? i need to change my lcas so i was going to drop the subframe and since it was being dropped i was going to swap out the precats at the same time. my car still returns the same mpg averaging 23 but maybe thats 23 average with bad precats that have been that way for a while? i dont think i've noticed any sluggishness or loss of power. i cleared the code and it came back a week later. i left it on and its still on and getting 23mpg with the code on.
 
It helps to understand how the cat monitors work. They run occasionally ofter certain driving conditions have been met. It may take a week or two or three for them to run after dumping the PCM memory. When the monitors have not all run you will have a P1000 code showing that.

The upstream oxygen sensors (upstream of any cats) are continually reading the oxygen content of the exhaust. They generate a mild voltage in the absence of oxygen. A reading near zero (.1) volts indicates full lean, and a reading of near 1 (.9) indicates full rich. Because of the pulses of exhaust, they are constantly switching throughout the range. The PCM uses this information by averaging out the readings and adjusting the injectors pulse width to control fuel mixture.

When the exhaust pases through a cat, the rapid switching is moderated. An efficient cat dampens out the mixture fluctuation.

When the cat monitor runs, it compares the upstream oxygen sensor's rate of switching to the downstream oxygen sensor's rate of fluctuations. When the fluctuation after the cat too closely mirrors the readings before the cat, the 420 or 430 codes are set.

So anything that allows the two oxygen sensors to be too close in response can set the codes. A lazy upstream oxygen sensor can do it. A cat that has cooled off too much can do it.

For some Contours, Ford recognized that the PCM was programmed too sensitive, and later PCM programs were developed that widened the parameters so it was harder to have phantom codes. When I check for my car, there was no later code available.

It also probably helps to keep the injectors clean. Even a slightly dripping injector could throw off the mixture under certain driving conditions enough to cause some hard to diagnose problems.

What I would strongly recommend is to first, clear the codes and see if they repeat in the next month or so. If not, quite worrying about it.

Second, catch up on any maintenance that might impact the situation. Clean the injectors. Do a vacuum suck intake manifold clean and combustion chamber de-carbon. Make sure the oil is in good condition. Confirm the air filter is clean. Confirm that the mass air flow sensor is not dirty. Confirm spark plug and plug wire condition and replace if at all questionable. Replace both upstream oxygen sensors if there is any indication that they may not be up to snuff.
 
I've done a ton of searching in both the current forums as well as the archives. I've read, and tested, a number of different scenarios as to what the issue could be and this is the conclusion I've come up with.

History: My parents bought the car new back in '98. It has spent literally (not figuratively) 3/4 of it's life with the CEL on. I believe that this is the main cause of the bad precats (richened fuel mapping). It already has newer o2 sensors from trying to get rid of the CEL in the past. When I got the car it had a host of Codes (P0171, 0174, 0401, 0420, 040 and the code of death 1744). Some were a fluke, but others kept coming back. I've slowly but surely addressed and remedied all but the 420 code. Everytime I reset the ECU it comes back either the same day or first thing the next morning (about 20mi city driving). I recently did a well needed UIM and LIM rebuild on it. It was also recommended cleaning out the system w/Berrymans B12 to help with the o2 sensors, but the CEL reappeared shortly after the next day.

I believe that I've done my homework and this is the logical conclusion. My final test is to again replace both the bank one upper and lower o2 sensors (one by one for diagnostic purposes) with known good sensors out of my old Focus. I do not expect any change to occur, but I have the parts so it's worth another try.

Regardless, I will be pulling the engine in the next few weeks as it has both a rear main seal and front cover oil leak that is in serious need of being addressed. Swapping out the manifolds will easy while the engine is out. I also need to replace the TC as it likes to slip. I've already installed both a new TSS sensor and the CD4Ejr shift kit that remedied the code/bang shift, but the damage was already done to the TC.

So that's the long and short of it. As always, I appreciate the opinions/suggestions. :)

Chris
 
There might still be a less expensive way to solve the problem. Someone recently bought a set of pre-cats on ebay from a late model Taurus (seems like it was an 01 to 04, but I don't remember). The photo looked like they may be the same configuration as the Contour ones. The buyer told us he wanted to use them on his Contour. I don't remember a follow-up post letting us know that it was successful. You may try to search for the thread and send a PM to original poster.
 
thats all maintenance that i do regularly but i'll check the last time i've performed them. i have to drop the subframe for lcas and have a spare set of practically new precats so changing wont be too much of a hassle. but not having to swap them is definitely better. i'll check the o2 sensors with my scanner to see how they are switching.
 
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