Ironic Or What?

[Jigfishn10]

A couple of weeks ago my "check engine" indicator came on and the truck had about 80,400 mi on it. I finally got it checked with 81,780 mi on it and the diagnostic came up with a P0430 code - a catalytic converter. The warranty on a catalytic converter is 8yrs/80,000 mi, so out of warranty and a $1,200 estimate from 2 places.

IDK, I'm thinking "or what".

[K_Mac]

That sounds about right, although $1200 for a catalytic converter is crazy.  Still cheaper than a new truck!

[Fishing Rhino]

I've never replaced a catalytic converter on any of my trucks that had them.  One I traded at 120,000 miles and the other at 135.000 miles.  Neither offered you a discount?

I'm assuming you went to a new car dealership.  Otherwise the issue of a warranty would not have come up.  Here's some interesting info.

Converters do not wear out and should last forever. Or until they develop a rot hole.

The only "functional" part of a converter is a ceramic open-ended honeycomb with a platinum-palladium coating. It functions by converting any bonded nitrogen and oxygen molecules that come into contact with the hot plstinum-palladium into nitrogen and oxygen seperated. The freed oxygen is then caught by the passing CO to creat CO2 and the passing unburned HC molecules to "combust" into CO2 and H2O (ideally).

The only two modes of failure are coating of the ceramic with deposits from excessive oil consumption, which prevents the molecules from touching the platinum-palladium and stops the converter from performing, and physical destruction (crumbling) of the ceramic, which can block the flow of the exhaust. Crumbling of the ceramic is rare in today's converters. If you had crumbled honeycomb restricting your exhaust your performance dropp would be dramatic.

So, if you're not burning excessive oil and the ceramic is not crumbled, the converter is everlasting.

The sulpher smell is irrelevant.

If it were me looking for the source of little less power and slightly lower gas mileage on an engine with that mileage I'd start with a compression check. If the compression were good I'd probably want to get a scope and look at the ignition traces to see that the amplitude and form were good. If those were good I'd look to fuel pressure and finally the injectors.

[dave]

Try a custom muffler shop.

[Jigfishn10]

Ironic (no pun intended) that you posted that Rhino, I had another person check my truck...he actually came up with the diagnostic initially...and he had me take it back to the dealer to see if it was warrantied. Anyway, he mentioned that in the past he's worked on vehicles that had a cat converter P430 code and he gave the vehicle and "old fashion" tune-up and the code went away. I've never had a cat converter go either in any of my vhicle, guess where my truck is now?

[Jigfishn10]

8 minutes ago, dave said:

Try a custom muffler shop.

I came out of the dealer and to a muffler shop...same price.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

Just remove it and go about your business. Hell straight pipe and chip the truck. Then you don't have to worry about it. Only thing worse is the stupid O2 sensors they put on modern cars.

[slonezp]

GM product? 

[Fishing Rhino]

You may get away with that in Alabama, but not MA.  When you get your inspection sticker they check the exhaust.  No catalytic converter no sticker.  Actually, it's worse than that.  You do get an inspection sticker, one that says in bold graphics, "REJECTED".  You have seven days to correct the problem, or you can lose your plates.

Chips suck, plain and simple.  Our daughter and son-in-law got a new 2000 Ford Super Duty Diesel.  Being a good ol' boy from GA, your neighboring state, he had a superchip or some such thing installed.

It worked fine for a couple of years, then it began dying on the road.  When it did, they'd have to pull over to the side of the road, shut it off, and let it sit for a couple of hours.  Then they could go on their way.  Over time, the condition got worse.  Finally, they had to have it towed to a Ford dealer.  They popped the hood, checked the ECM and found the chip. 

Guess what?  The chip voided the warranty and it cost them several hundred dollars to get the engine fixed.  That was several years ago.  The truck hasn't skipped a beat since.

Those aftermarket chip makers are not smarter than the manufacturer.  A manufacturer builds an engine to operate within certain limits.  You can easily exceed those limits by adding superchargers, turbo chargers, blowers, and high performance chips.  They can boost the horsepower by more than one hundred horsepower.

The problem is that the engines are designed to handle X horsepower.  Exceed that at your peril.  Our son-in-law put a supercharger on his half ton pickup.  He put his foot in it one time too many, and grenaded the engine.  All those aftermarket add-ons don't care if you blow up an engine.  It's not their problem.  Auto makers have to guarantee their product, and they will not build an engine that has more power than the components are designed to handle.

[Jigfishn10]

It turns out that a good ol fashion tune-up did the trick. She's back to normal.

slonezp...Ford

[Jtrout]

Take it off knock the guts out and put it back on.

[Fishing Rhino]

3 minutes ago, Jtrout said:

Take it off knock the guts out and put it back on.

That's smart.  When they stick the probe in the exhaust pipe during the annual inspection, it will fail, and you'll have to buy a new one.

Why do so many think they can game/beat the system?  Why suggest doing something that is illegal?

[Jigfishn10]

33 minutes ago, Jtrout said:

Take it off knock the guts out and put it back on.

LMAO! Not with my luck...Fricken police will show up within hours of taking the tag off the mattress.

I'll stick with the tune-up. LOL

[Last_Cast]

Mine go on me all the time with cars. I just let it be.

[Raider Nation Fisher]

20 hours ago, Fishing Rhino said:

You may get away with that in Alabama, but not MA.  When you get your inspection sticker they check the exhaust.  No catalytic converter no sticker.  Actually, it's worse than that.  You do get an inspection sticker, one that says in bold graphics, "REJECTED".  You have seven days to correct the problem, or you can lose your plates.

Chips suck, plain and simple.  Our daughter and son-in-law got a new 2000 Ford Super Duty Diesel.  Being a good ol' boy from GA, your neighboring state, he had a superchip or some such thing installed.

It worked fine for a couple of years, then it began dying on the road.  When it did, they'd have to pull over to the side of the road, shut it off, and let it sit for a couple of hours.  Then they could go on their way.  Over time, the condition got worse.  Finally, they had to have it towed to a Ford dealer.  They popped the hood, checked the ECM and found the chip. 

Guess what?  The chip voided the warranty and it cost them several hundred dollars to get the engine fixed.  That was several years ago.  The truck hasn't skipped a beat since.

Those aftermarket chip makers are not smarter than the manufacturer.  A manufacturer builds an engine to operate within certain limits.  You can easily exceed those limits by adding superchargers, turbo chargers, blowers, and high performance chips.  They can boost the horsepower by more than one hundred horsepower.

The problem is that the engines are designed to handle X horsepower.  Exceed that at your peril.  Our son-in-law put a supercharger on his half ton pickup.  He put his foot in it one time too many, and grenaded the engine.  All those aftermarket add-ons don't care if you blow up an engine.  It's not their problem.  Auto makers have to guarantee their product, and they will not build an engine that has more power than the components are designed to handle.

We don't have inspections down south. At least not in the deep south. 

I'm not great with car and truck mechanics. However, I know with the Mercedes that get imported over here, not so much the diesels, that they are chipped down and "under powered". A Mercedes E55 AMG will run at around 180 to 200 MPH. However, it is governed to 130 MPH in the states. That engine is designed for higher performance then what the US will allow it to do. It was also selling at 105000 new when they were still making them. 

My Harley has stage 1 exhaust, air cleaner, and chip set. The chip set was designed by Harley Davidsons Screamin Eagle team. The bike was also Dyno tested and the parameters reset for the optimum torque and horsepower, as well as for better fuel consumption. 

You are correct I need what you say in regards to motors being built with a maximum horsepower in mind. However few are ever put to the potential that they can handle. I do agree bolting a turbo charger or supercharger onto a engine that is not designed for it is a bad idea. It will blow the engine unless you do the other work to it necessary for it work correctly.

[Fishing Rhino]

I have no problem with chips that are made by the manufacturer, or, with their approval.  But by a separate entity, not so much.  It's like asking for trouble.  It used to be that you could pull an aftermarket chip and reinstall the factory chip when you brought a vehicle in for service, and no one was any the wiser. 

Now, the computers in vehicles will show that the chip was changed and the engine was run outside the parameters of the original chip.

Our son-in-law took me for a ride in the half ton, which was also raised and outfitted with huge knobby tires.  Going down I-20 between the loud dual exhaust, and the rumbling groan of the tires, you could not hear yourself think.  He thought it was great.  I thought it was horrendous.  Different strokes for different folks.

[tomustang]

Which Ford? Cats are just one issue in fords that really are a result from bad coil plugs/packs

[Big C]

I gotta get an emissions test done on a 2000 Chevy Silverado with 250,000 miles and the check engine light on. 

I'll update after it passes.