Need some Catalytic Converter advise

2011 Ranger Sport 4.0, 125K miles.
Trouble light code is P0420 CAT efficiency bank 1

Repair estimate is $1,500 at the dealership who condemned the part. There are no driveability issues (yet).

Are there better options, maybe generic options rather than OEM? Maybe cut & clamp a new one in? I can't afford that kind of cost for one catalyst replacement

Any advice would be appreciated

 

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Hi allanJ. Aftermarket converters are available from a variety of sources. Any of the parts stores will be able to supply a suitable generic replacement BUT fabrication will be needed to make it work with your truck. Go to a private exhaust shop in your area to ask about it. The cost will most certainly be less than the $1500 your dealer quoted.

 

If you know how to spin a wrench and can weld, you could probably straight pipe it for less than $20.
Don't forget to include a bung for the all the computer crap to hook to.
….and if you get caught, I never told you a dam thing!

 

Haha!! Good advice Dean. Only bad thing about that suggestion is that your truck will be louder if you straight pipe it. I’d go universal from a parts store. They’re usually around $100 & you can even get a stainless one. Good luck

 

No it really wouldn't.
You still have the muffler, you're just going around the cat.
One time I drilled a 1/2" hole in a plugged cat and all these little plastic balls came flooding out ('80's GM).
When it was done pouring out, the car ran much better. A little louder, but if he'd have welded up the hole, you wouldn't have noticed any difference in the sound of the car.


Dean

 

We drove the guts out of the catalytic converter on my sons 03’ Escape. The guts looked like a honeycomb, except you couldn’t see through the holes in it. It was noticeably louder when we reinstalled it. Those baffles also worked to deaden the sound. It probably changes depending on the type of converter you have

 

I agree. Could also be the difference between two different companies or a testament of how exhaust systems, as they exist today, compared to how they were engineered in the 70's and 80's.
When I was a teen in the 70's, we did straight pipe a car I had (replaced the cat, but muffler remained) and the sound didn't change.
Same with that 80's GM car I "repaired" (once he had the hole welded up).
Seems today, the cat's may be more integrated into the entire exhaust system (of course, now there's more of them, too)...either that or you missed something, like a gasket, and what you were hearing was exhaust blow by, which can be very loud.
It can happen to the best of us and if we're not thinking, we can just chalk it up to pulling the guts out of the cat.
...but I'd like to think its not the case in this instance....still.....


Dean