Catalytic Convertor

poppasmurf_bewdley

Had the Cat go on my kids 2000 Astra a couple of months ago.

Quotes from the Kwik Fit outlets were all around £300.

My son then arranged for his mates dad, who is a mechanic, to do it on a Saturday afternoon for £120 - £100 for the Cat and £20 to fit it. Took just under two hours all in. :beer:

Lum

s_b wrote: »

oh dear..........

Currently it's perfectly legal, providing you can still pass emissions, however there are supposedly changes to the MOT on the way that will fail you for removing the cat.

s_b

Lum wrote: »

Currently it's perfectly legal, providing you can still pass emissions, however there are supposedly changes to the MOT on the way that will fail you for removing the cat.

i am aware of legal aspects its the fact this is a money saving forum and you are telling OP to waste their money on a straight through exhaust
this will fail an mot i am confident of that and yes when the new rules come in will fall foul of being a decat
so why post it:)

Lum

I didn't post it :P

And you can decat on the cheap just by taking the cat off, removing the contents, and putting it back on. Wouldn't fancy it myself though as I hate working on the underside of cars.

Strider590

ElkyElky wrote: »

Since being told of the blow out, there has been a loudish rattling noise coming from that area. Sounds like a piece of metal is spinning around inside the catalytic convertor when the engine is on. There is vibrations coming from the convertor as apposed to anywhere else on the pipe work so that's how I'm able to confirm that the rattling noise is coming from the convertor.

What a surprise....

When my lambda sensor packed up on my old 306, I went all over the shop looking for answers, got told the exhaust was blocked so I took it to the nearest exhaust place.
I couldn't quite see what they were doing, but I remember thinking "couldn't they find a screw driver that's not 3ft long?".
They did the bracket and then told me the cat was rattling and got me a quote for it before they'd even told me.

"Strange.... It wasn't rattling before" I thought.

Took the car home and it sounded like a bag of spanners..... Drove it for a few weeks before finally getting a new CAT via a friend.
On inspection (they cut it open at the front end) it turned out that the cat had been "mechanically damaged" by a foreign object (hadn't just fallen apart).

What does all this amount to?
Simple...... They rammed a screwdriver into my catalytic converter and then tried to sell me another one for £450!! :mad:

Hammyman

Lum wrote: »

Currently it's perfectly legal, providing you can still pass emissions, however there are supposedly changes to the MOT on the way that will fail you for removing the cat.

They are already here. Wife nearly had her car fail its MOT last year. It was only because we could prove first use before 1/8/1995 that it passed.

Hammyman

laurence_p wrote: »

your a happy cheerful person, how does my exhaust snapped mean that their car is a shed and not serviced.

I've never had an exhaust just magically snap without warning. No exhaust does.

Lum

Hammyman wrote: »

They are already here. Wife nearly had her car fail its MOT last year. It was only because we could prove first use before 1/8/1995 that it passed.

That would have been a fail on emissions, the new regs supposedly include an as yet unspecified check to see if there was a cat present that has been physically removed.

The 1990-1995 period is interesting as you only have to pass a cat check if there is emissions data for the specific model of car being tested. We've had the same issue with my GFs 1994 200SX as it is the older shape (S13) and some MOT testers assume that as a 1994 it will be the newer shape (S14) for which there is data. This despite the fact that they look totally different and use a very different engine of a different size.

I'm just glad that when I had my exhaust done, I had them put a second silencer where the cat used to be. Unless they're going to shove an endoscope down my exhaust pipe I have no idea how they are going to tell if the cat has been removed.

Igol

No it was me who posted.

I decatted my Disco years ago and there has never been a problem with the MOT.

If its not there then it cant be tested and what wonderful things that may happen in the future arent really the point.

EdGasket

Hammyman wrote: »

I've never had an exhaust just magically snap without warning. No exhaust does.

Then you have lived a very sheltered and blessed life !