Catalytic Converter Questions

[Micronesia KJ]

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.

 

[tjkj2002]

OEM cat's are 100% legal every where and work at 100%.High end aftermarket 50 state legal cat's are about 60% efficient compared to OEM and those cheap aftermarket cat's can be as little as 30% efficient compared to OEM.


That is the reason OEM cost so much more,they work and are the highest flowing cat's on the market also,more flow then even those self proclaimed "high flow" cat's.

 

[TwoBobsKJ]

FWIW I installed Walker brand cats on my '03 about 60,000 miles ago and I'm still running fine. Can't speak to Troy's point about flow but I do know they fit perfectly and there have been no codes over that time. IIRC they were installed about 2 years ago. They ran on my original '03 3.7 as well as on the block from an '07 Dakota that's in my KJ now.

That's my experience - your mileage may vary :waytogo:

Bob

 

[Micronesia KJ]

Update for anyone interested:

I have the problem with the cat resolved now. I originally was going to get the OEM cats from a local dealership. I only had the problem with one cat and the dealership only sells the whole system with all three cats so I was just going to have everything replaced. After ordering the parts the dealership started delaying everything and was giving me way more hassle than they ever should have. Partly due to frustration with the dealership I cancelled everything with them and bought a single cat to replace my bad one. I bought walker brand just based on what TwoBobsKJ said. I got the one I needed for a really good deal online and had it thrown on without any hassle. Passed emissions with the new one and haven't had any problems yet. It's been about two weeks since it was put on.

 

[CobraNutt]

Good to hear, Kevin! Sounds like you're getting everything sorted out! :happy107:

 

[Ray Mahoney]

I resently purchased a 2003 Jeep Liberity for $2300. It needs a new cat. Should I resell it and try to get my money back or spend $1500 on the new cat. It has 165678 miles on it. Thank for any help.

 

[Deb'nKJ]

Mine came with 2 universal cats, indifferently welded in place, because, it seems that's all we can get, so there were lots of little leaks, how PO got it through inspection I'll never know. I had to remove both downpipes & have the welding done properly - & leak tested for good measure. Even at "mate's rates" it cost me more than I hoped. It passed inspection on emissions, although it just as loud as it was when it leaked.

 

[DadOSix]

I resently purchased a 2003 Jeep Liberity for $2300. It needs a new cat. Should I resell it and try to get my money back or spend $1500 on the new cat. It has 165678 miles on it. Thank for any help.

Muffler shop can fit universal cats for you. If you are not in an area that does emission testing, or your jeep qualifies for historic tags (20 years here) then why worry about it?