My '02 Corolla LE, 122K miles, was recently told by my Toyota dealer mechanic that I would need a new catalytic converter soon, at a pricey $1100. What would happen if I did not replace the cat conv??
I plan on keeping it at least another year, it runs great and still gets great mpg. Would I be doing the car a disservice by delaying? The car runs and sounds GREAT, dont want to spend money I dont have to, but just need to know what the possible ramifications are if I did not replace the cat conv...
Also, I have gotten all the factory recommended service performed at the Toyota dealership since day one. I am putting on about 9,000 miles or so per year on the car, less than before.
Thanks in advance !
Wow, hope I caught you before you bought Corolla Gold. STOP! He wants to sell you the whole deal, when the cat may only be needed at less than $100 part and $60 installation. First is first though, did he give you the code from your dash light that came on?.
Is their diagnostic based only on CEL trouble code P0420?
It won't affect your engine at all even if it needs to be replaced, as long as it's not clogged. It still runs well and sounds normal?
Like Sonix mentioned, you can have it replaced at a muffler shop for much less.
Just like to mention that Toyota over builds them with a lot of Stainless because they would have to replace a lot of of exhaust systems if they fail early. They are covered in the Federal emissions requirements. Now they want you to replace expensive stainless pipes that would be good for 10-20 years. If you had only 50-60 thousand miles on the car that 1000 DOLLAR CAT AND PIPES WOULD BE FREE!
Thanks for the replies, guys...NO, there have been no "check engine" lights or anything like that....the mechanic just happened to tell me at my last service "you're going to be needing a new catalytic converter soon" and I thought it was sort of out of the blue...esp when the car is fine, sounds fine, feels fine, smells fine, drives fine, still gets great mpg......
I am going to explore all my options before I spend any money on anything !!
Do yourself a favor and never go back to that shameless dealer! If what you say is true he needs reported to his zone manager asap!
It all makes sense now.... and my 1988 (260k miles) and my 1998 (192k miles) Corollas, that I still have, both have the original cat conv on them....not sure why they say I need a new one. I am going to really put the screws to them the next time they mention a new cat conv....
Mechanic is probably going by general lifespans of typical catalytic converters - generally last between 80K-120K miles or 7 to 10 years. In cases where the car is running fine, not unusual to push 150K-200K+ miles, 15+ years but those tend to be in the extreme. Though some manufacturers seem to be better than others, like Toyota. Take my personal vehicles for example:
- 1996 Camry LE: 380K miles, all original sensors/engine/drivetrain - still daily driven family car
- 2002 Corolla S: 205K miles, all original sensors/engine/drivetrain - still daily driven work car
- 2003 Matrix XRS: 120K miles, replaced downstream O2 sensor (wiring was messed up)/engine/drivetrain - perfect, looking to be better than the Corolla until it was rear-ended
- 2009 Matrix XRS: 50K miles, all original sensors/engine/drivetrain - zero issues so far
- 2009 Rav4 Limited: 35K miles, all original sensors/engine/drivetrain - zero issues so far
As for popping up the CEL, you have quite a bit of leeway there - the converter efficiency can be significantly compromised and still not flag the CEL.
But to come out of the blue and say - that part will need to be replaced soon, it totally bogus. There is no benefit, to the car, to pre-emptively change the catalytic converter before it fails. Sounds like you are on the right track - just keep driving and servicing the cars the way you have, questioning any unncessary repairs/replacements - that Corolla will keep chugging along until you get tired of it.
Man. are you nice! My engine's manuel goes to 100K, should I go to Toyoty and have them repace the motor, or the car? J/K
