My car was recently diagnosed with a plugged catalytic converter. Because of California, the mechanic said there are no aftermarket ones and they quoted $1,512.

I know these cars have 5 year/100,000 warranty, but the car is an 08 with 92K miles (past the 60 month mark I assume; We bought it used in December of 2010).

I called a Chevy dealership, and they quoted $1,700.00 for the part alone and out the door with labor it would be about $2,000. He said if it had less than 80,000 miles, they would have done it for free though because of Chevy extended coverage? He said because it had 92K though, he could probably get us a discount called Chevy Assistance. I gave him my Vin and he said it would probably cost about $500-1K depending on what Chevy says. WOW, huge discount! I asked him to verify with me on the phone that out the door it would be no more than $1,000. He wouldn't answer me outright and said he would "do the best I can". Didn't get the warm fuzzies about that and I don't want to pay to have the car towed there only to be told nope, it won't be under $1K.

I plan to call a few more dealerships around here, but I wonder if anyone with some expertise on the warranty/Chevy Assistance could comment?

 

catalytic convertor warranty is federal mandated for 80 000miles and I think 5years. Since you are past that, they aren't required to help you at all. If they are offering to goodwill some of it...take it.

it hard to quote this over the phone because they may find other problems when they look at it. Convertors don't die on there own...something killed it and you had better find the root cause or it will happen again.

Imagine quoting a repair over the phone that someone else has diagnosed on a car you haven't seen...what if its diagnosed wrong or something was missed? It they give a definite $ then they get screwed as the customer wants the first quote.

 

Good post, makes sense.

One last question, if I wanted to change out the cat myself but first wanted to verify that the reason the car won't start is indeed a clogged catalytic converter, would it do any harm to take it off and turn the car to see if it will at least idle for 10 seconds?

I realize the oxygen sensors will go off like crazy, but will it do any damage just to idle it to confirm that without the clogged cat it will start?

 

just unscrew the pre cat 02 sensor from the exhaust. This will allow the clogg cat to be bypassed.

The 02 sensor data is ignored during starting and open loop operation...until the 02 sensor comes up to temp to generate a signal. So just unscrew it and start the car.

 

Ok, so take off cat and unscrew pre-cat O2 sensor and then try to start it. Should I also unscrew the second O2 sensor that is downstream of the cat?

 

no............
if the cat is clogged unscrewing the o2 sensor before the clog will give the exhaust gases somewhere to bypass the clog

unscrewing one pre cat 02 sensor is all you need to remove...don't remove the cat.

 

I unplugged the upstream O2 and bam! She started up and idled like a go-cart. Already ordered a new direct fit cat, thank you for the help!

 

great.


make sure no dtc are setting, especially misfire or rich fuel trim codes. if yes, fix it asap or history will repeat itself.

 

I'll d/c the battery and check to see if any codes pop up after everything is said and done with the repair, thanks for the advice.