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Haven't heard about cats going bad on any toys. What year is the corolla? I don't go to dealerships anymore either. The service writers get paid on commission. The techs work on a flat rate. The service writers don't write enough service over time and they're gone.

Clearly, the Toyota mechanic did your sister a good turn. This is a part that is almost always cheaper from a Mom & Pop Garage than from the dealership.

Having said that, the next time the Service Engine Light is on and you want advise on what to do, post the Service Code.

Maybe, but you often get poor quality cats, and sloppy installation. I agree that the quoted dealer price was insane. But you have to be careful with these third party places. The cats are usually cheap, and not near as good as the OEM versions. But also many will cut the thing out and weld a new one in, where as it should be unbolted and a new one bolted in. I had a third party cat installed at a muffler shop back when I had my Accord. Whoever installed it must have been working at Taco Bell a week before. :/ It had a bolt on cat originally, but they replaced it with a sloppily installed weld on. I'll never make that mistake again. I'll buy an OEM mount cat and install it myself if I ever have to do it again. And yes, bad cats are pretty rare. And if you do have a bad cat, there is usually another problem that caused it to go bad. Too rich, etc.. With a normal running car, they last a real long time.

Frankly, who CARES what the cat does as long as the car RUNS properly and passes the required tests? Machiavelli was correct--end justifies means.

Yea, you must right. It probably is a good idea to get a cheap universal cat with the bare minimum amounts of palladium, rhodium, and platinum, which will be lucky if it lasts 3-5 years before it's useless.

It's also a good idea to have the exhaust system butchered up, and weld in the cheap converter in the manner of an ex taco bell employee. Which often includes cutting or torching off the original body mounting flanges, etc. After all, if one is going to use cheap parts, might as well have the whole system jury rigged up so one can never use the proper part again without replacing the whole exhaust system. I have to admit that it makes a lot of sense. After all, if I install the OEM part myself, it will cost me a whopping $30 more than the cheap universal part with taco bell labor. "$168 for the OEM converter for my 05 online".

You are right. Why would I want a OEM cat that might last 20+ years when I can get a cheap universal that might last 3-5 years for $30 less. BTW, the last universal cat I bought blew higher NOX scores than the 19 year old OEM converter that it replaced. That's obvious top notch quality there. :/ Yep, I admit..I must have crap for brains to even have suggested such a thing.. :( Do carry on, and try to excuse my foolishness.

Let's cut to the chase. Simpler to cut or unbolt the OLD one out and simply replace it with a piece of exhaust pipe. No fuss. No muss.

And a OBD II light on all the time, which means no inspection sticker. :( I'm impressed. If there is a Canadian version of NASA, you surely must work there. It's obvious to me you must be a rocket scientist.

My 07 Corolla exhaust smells of rotten eggs on and off since I got it new in 06. I've tired changing gas brands and it 's hard to say if it made any real difference. I figure that my catalytic converter will probably fail prematurely due to the sulfur in my fuel and the fact that I don't drive my car very much, and when I do it's usually only for very short distances.

When it finally does go, what is stopping me from removing the converter all together? We don't have emissions testing here in CDA yet ( that I know of ). Will the Corolla ECM be able to adjust the fuel air mixture correctly to compensate for the lost back pressure created by a removed catalytic converter?. Will the engine warning light remain on indicating a problem?

Normally they should only do that when cold. That's the only time I notice it on mine, and I consider that normal.

If you have no emission tests, then you really don't have to have it. But it should turn the warning light on. The comparison of the front and rear O2 sensors should flag a cat error code if there is no cat. I don't know if the error would effect air/fuel mixture or not. Myself, I would just keep driving it until it flakes out. When that case comes along, it should flash the light and spit out a flaky cat error code. Myself, I would keep the cat, even if you had to replace it. Taking it off would lower the resale value of the car, not to mention it's output would be dirtier. If some day you sell the car, not being able to pass any tests could be a problem to some buyers. And taking the cat off really isn't going to give you much extra power.