advice needed on cat converters
 

i have been chasing down a ses light for weeks and finally gave up and went to the dealer. in have a clogged cat in bank 1. the cats are $750.00 a piece plus insatllation. they told me you mime as well replace them both because to take out the one that needs replacing you have to take them both out. i am a diy'er and would like to attempt this job but not to sure on the way to tackle it. the job books out at the dealer at 6hrs which means it will probbaly take me a full day. my question is, is this a diy job? any idea where to by oem cats for less money? or should i just give it to the dealer for $2000.00? :dunno:

Someone else can correct me but it seems that cats have by law a 100,000 mile warranty correct? http://www.epa.gov/otaq/consumer/warr95fs.txt However If your X is out of warranty what's to prevent you from ordering the parts from BMW and having the local muffler shop do the job. I just had a similar job done on my MBZ and my previously owned 7 series. I found a muffler shop that came highly recommended and everything went great. Just get some estimates first then proceed.

my mileage is 81500. :mad: do you think that maybe they would cover half or part? that would be great. what about oem parts? any place that would carry them cheaper than BMW?

bring it to a muffler shop.. It will be quite a bit cheaper. It's not a DIY since there will be some cutting and welding involved. But definitely explore what Barry said in the other post.

MixMan:
My '01 MY Warranty book states on page 35, that Catalytic Converter (s) are covered under Fed law for 8 years or 80K miles, whichever comes first.

You didn't state your mileage, but if it's under 80K, I'd lean on them.
GL,md

Thanks bro. I knew there was something like that. Is federal or state?

QwkAG: This is like a term paper project, :p

The fine print will make your hair hurt:

For US & Puerto Rico reg'd cars: it is Fed law on CatCons for 8 yrs, 80K miles.
For California cars, it seems to read that CatCons are covered for 7 yrs, 70K miles, :confused: , but if "your SAV is between 7 and 8 years old then it is elgilble for extended coverage under Federal Warranty Law..." on parts on the "list", page 39, and on that fooking list is 3 way Catalytic Converter, (for Cali cars).

JeeshhH Murphy...I knew I shoulda gone to law school when I nailed the LSAT, :bustingup

That's what I know/interpret from my '01 Warr. info...
GL,md

[email protected]!

yeah im at 81500 miles. i guess im out of luck. anybody know of a place that sells these oem cats at a cheaper price than the dealers?

Try contacting Crevier BMW..

If it was within the mileage/time limits, the converter warranty would only apply if the converter failed for certain reasons, ie manufacturing defect, etc. It would also likely be covered under the emissions warranty if it was deemed to be consequential damage from the failure of a covered component, ie the oxygen sensor.

If it failed for another reason, for example overuse of fuel additives, warranty would not apply in any case.

This does raise the question of why it failed. If there is no obvious cause (such as continuous use of non-recommended fuel additives) I would have the dealer check out the other systems to make sure the replacement converters did not fail similarly.

Supersprint and Random Technologies both make aftermarket cats for way under what the dealer quoted you.. time to upgrade! :thumbup:

yeah i think you are right upgrade time. as for the cat failure their reason for me was its just old and they go bad after time which i could see happenning. it is amazing though my dad has an 88 buick with 268,000 miles with the ORIGINAL cats and motor. maybe BMW should call buick and tell them to start making cheaper cats so they fail like they were meant to and not last for the life of the car. :p

That is strange. I hope my cats don't fail on me but if they do I want them to do it before my 100K mile extended warranty expires.

If BMW can use GM transmissions they might just use a Buick cat. :rofl: