Auto Q: Catalytic Converter

I have to replace the CC on my 2002 CRV. Of course the dealer's price is STUPID - $1900. A local muffler shop says they can do it for $350. The question for this incredible group is - is there a quality difference sufficient between the dealer's part and the after market part that would affect the engine performance and life span of the engine? I realize that I may be replacing the thing again in a few years (if we retain the vehicle) but at that price I can replace it five times and just equal the dealer price.

So will the engine or performance be affected by using an aftermarket part?

Go with the aftermarket part. The factory part will probably be quite a length of exhaust pipe, starting at the exhaust manifold and going somewhere to the rear of the current catalytic convertor. The aftermarket part will likely just install by cutting the pipe where current convertor is and installing the aftermarket part in its place. $350 is on the high end of what I think that should cost, but if they provided a nice warranty on the work and part I would be ok with it. These aftermarket parts will perform well in my experience. You might find it runs better if your current unit is very restrictive from contamination.

Do I dare ask how many miles are on it? Only reason I ask is that we have a Corolla that started telling us the cat was bad at about 100k miles. I knew that was BS and tracked it down to a bad mass air flow sensor at the intake. I ended up having to clean and/or replace that sensor every ~40-50k miles after that as well to keep it happy. In the process, I also ended up having to fix an intake manifold gasket leak, exhaust manifold gasket leak, and replace the doughnut gasket between the downpipe and cat. Each thing I replaced made the light go out and stay out for another year or so. Finally......the corolla has just shy of 300k miles on it, still on the original cat....and it might actually be bad this time. At this point, I don't care and have already replaced the vehicle and its going out to pasture.

Long story short.....your cat is probably ok unless you have a ton of miles on it or it is rusted through. Through my research, and the #1 reason I never replaced the cat on the Corolla, I found out that the Toyota ECU's are super finicky about emissions readings and an aftermarket cat will most likely still cause the system to throw a check engine light. Honda's might be a little more relaxed on that, but you might want to do a few Honda forum searches before you plunk down money on anything.

is there a quality difference sufficient between the dealer's part and the after market part that would affect the engine performance and life span of the engine?

The short answer is no, assuming the installing shop is using a universal converter specfied for emission package on that vehicle.

The longer version is,after installation the codes and adaptives should reset before starting the vehicle.The converter should be run thru a break-in process before driving to to properly expand the matting around the substrate to seal it in place.

last but not least,after a few miles to let the fueling adapt,have it checked to see if there are any other codes are showing and if the fuel trims are within tolerances.

Given all that was taken care of,there should be no problem using the aftermarket

Thank you everyone for your comments. As to the mileage, it has 178000 on it.

It seems unusual for the CC to be bad but possible. Muffler shop deal should work fine if it passes inspection. You might save a bit more finding a used CC but may not be worth it and the muffler shop should have a guarantee.

Btw I know about STUPID dealer prices: One rear park-distance sensor went bad on my 13-year-old 2004 BMW 325 convertible. Dealer wants $925 to replace it. Forget it -- I turn my head anyway when backing up because I never trusted the beeper.

I would also check the flex joints for leaking. They will throw a bad cat code