Micronesia KJ
New Member
So I'm new to the forum and a new owner of a 2003 KJ. I love the jeep and am excited to hit the trails and get it customized how I want unfortunately, I was screwed over by some people in the transaction (third party sales.... ugh). I had the car inspected by a jeep dealer before I purchased it and was told everything was working fine and there were no major issues. After driving it from the dealer to get it tested the check engine light came on and it had 3 codes. I don't know if the people who sold me the car pulled a fast one and reset the codes so it wouldn't show if I purchased it or the dealer who inspected it cleared the codes that were on it but now I am left with a jeep needing repair.
2 of the codes were leaks in the evap system and I was able to get those fixed without too much hassle. The unfortunate part of this whole experience comes next. The last code that has persisted even after the evap system repair is P0432 which deals with the catalytic converter on bank 2. I've taken it into an emissions shop and had them test everything and they said the catalytic converters are bad (I was hoping it was just an O2 sensor or something easy). I took it to another shop for a second opinion just to verify and was told the same thing. The quotes I got for the repairs are around the $1300 and $1600 dollar range because neither place will touch anything but original manufacturer cats.
I've looked online for other cats that will work for the Jeep and it seems like there are a lot out there. I don't live in California so I don't need the original ones but also don't want to spend money on a junk one that will still give me problems. I am a married college student and don't have much I can afford to spend here but I want to make sure with the new cat it will pass emissions and last a while without causing problems.
Ultimately the question I have after all of this is about the cheaper universal cats or just cheaper cats designed to work more on the Jeep. Has anyone had any experience with these? Do they work or am I going to have to break the bank and get it fixed with OEM parts?
Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated.
2 of the codes were leaks in the evap system and I was able to get those fixed without too much hassle. The unfortunate part of this whole experience comes next. The last code that has persisted even after the evap system repair is P0432 which deals with the catalytic converter on bank 2. I've taken it into an emissions shop and had them test everything and they said the catalytic converters are bad (I was hoping it was just an O2 sensor or something easy). I took it to another shop for a second opinion just to verify and was told the same thing. The quotes I got for the repairs are around the $1300 and $1600 dollar range because neither place will touch anything but original manufacturer cats.
I've looked online for other cats that will work for the Jeep and it seems like there are a lot out there. I don't live in California so I don't need the original ones but also don't want to spend money on a junk one that will still give me problems. I am a married college student and don't have much I can afford to spend here but I want to make sure with the new cat it will pass emissions and last a while without causing problems.
Ultimately the question I have after all of this is about the cheaper universal cats or just cheaper cats designed to work more on the Jeep. Has anyone had any experience with these? Do they work or am I going to have to break the bank and get it fixed with OEM parts?
Any input from you guys would be greatly appreciated.