Thanks for the input. My Camry has about 116K miles on it. A few months ago my CEL Light came on with the following codes:
P0171 System Lean Bank 1 P420 Catalytic Converter Operating Below Threshold P1135 Air/Fuel Ratio Performance
I changed the Air/Fuel Ratio sensor first. The car did fine for about a month and the CEL light came on again...once again it was the P0420. So that is why I am replacing the cat. Unforturnately I drove it a little too long with a bad A/F Sensor and it damaged my cat.
I know it is not good to drive with a cat that is going out. Mine has California emissions, and my car needs to be inspected since it runs out the end of this month. Let me tell you California cats are hard to find. It is going to take about 10 days for me to get a new one that is the direct fit type, being the pipe and all. I don't want to drive that long with a bad cat, so I am going to go ahead and replace just the it for now, and in January when I get my income tax $$ I am going to replace the whole thing. Since I know the guy that owns the shop, he only going to charge me $120 to replace the cat. I know I am repairing the same problem twice, but since my car needs to be inspected soon, and I don't want to drive the next 10 days and wait for the new one, with the potential to cause further damage, I think I am going to go that route for now. Spending the $120 now to fix it would be much less than what it would cost for engine repair. I had a cat go out in my other car, and I mean it completely stopped up. Well when they replaced the cat, I guess the computer couldn't re-calibrate itself and it dumped fuel into the engine and I had to replace the engine in my other car. I was told that if they had changed my oil after replacing the cat since it was clogged, that would not have happened. Now, I am by no means a mechanic, and it could have been a coincidence that it happened. In fact, it was recommended to change my oil before I replace my cat, since it isn't clogged, but since the cat isn't operating properly it isn't burning fuel properly either, and I don't want to take any chances.