catalytic converter experience? mileage/age?

Howdy all,

My 01 Outback wagon's catalytic converter evidently threw a check engine light at me that stayed on for most of the week, but then cleared itself after a long trip yesterday. I had the code read today and it indicated "catalytic converter bank 1" iirc. My car has 105k on it, and is 6 years old now, and I live firmly in the rust belt.

I'm curious about the mileage/age others have had their cat. gave up the ghost, and what it cost to replace so I can start budgeting. :-)

My non-subie-specific mechanic who read the code guessed in the $380 range, but said he probably wouldn't do anything with it until the code was consistent and remained.

Also, are there 2 cats on this car?

TIA for any shared experience.

Best Regards,

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Reply to
Todd H.
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I have a 2002 Subaru Outback wagon and my cat pooped out just under the warranty period of 80,000 miles. I had it taken to an independent shop that told me it was the cat, called Subaru and they told me I had to have it taken to the dealer to have it warrantied. Unfortunately, because I had the independent shop look at it first, it cancelled out the check engine light, and when I went to the dealer they told me that they found the code, but I would have to wait until the check engine light came back on the verify that it was indeed the cat. They told me that it possibly could have been bad gas. Ok, got upset, but there was nothing I could do, so I drove it around for a while. The check engine light didn't come back on until around

86,000 miles- way outside of warranty. I took it back to the dealer, but then the light disappeared and now it's been gone and I am at 100,000. I still believe that the cat is bad, because I can kind of smell it burning now, so I had it taken to a local muffler shop that we trust and had work done on another vehicle and I was quoted $150. We are going to have it done when we get out tax return. Unfortunately, this isn't the only thing that is going wrong with it. Now we are discovering that our fluids like oil and coolant are slowly becoming empty (faster than normal, but not at a rapid speed). I tried to do a search for information, but I couldn't find anything close to what I needed, so look for my post if you can help me out. Thanks and good luck with your problem. Hope this information helped. :)
Reply to
grizzlyandgirl

90% its your front O2 sensor.

Carl

Reply to
Carl 1 Lucky Texan

HI Carl,

I was wondering about that....

Is that to say that the 02 sensor can fail and the ECU lacks any smarts to differentiate between a failed front 02 sensor and a failing cat?

It's an 02 sensor that feeds the "bad catalytic converter" CEL code right?

-- Todd H.

2001 Legacy Outback Wagon, 2.5L H-4 Chicago, Illinois USA
Reply to
Todd H.

The front 02 sensor sets the fuel to air ratio. The rear 02 sensor checks that the front sensor and cat are doing their job.

Reply to
Edward Hayes

Hey, I need to edit my post. I just called the muffler shop I was going to get it replaced at, and I learned something new. On the 2002 models only, the exhaust including the CAT is a one piece bolt on system. So if you replace the CAT, your replacing both of them, and so now he is quoting me double, which is 300. Sorry for any confusion. I am getting it done on Tues.

Reply to
Grizzlyandgirl

I have the same problem with the check engine light on my Forester. Dealer suggests a Cat as the code indicated. I asked if the sensor is causing the problem and he said a different code will be obtained if that's the case.

Reply to
Anonymous

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