rcflyer15

Hello Everyone,

I am a new owner, or husband of a new owner of a Scion xA, year 2006.

First off I gotta say it is a great little car. I'm currently driving it and getting over 30mpg like its nothing, loving it.

A little history on the car. I pulled that baby out from a car auction, it was in a wreck and salvaged. It has 117xxx miles and running strong.

Although when I received it the catalytic converter was stolen, so I needed a new one.

I drove out to Michigan (8hr drive one way) to buy a used exhaust pipe assembly off a Toyota Echo, because as you know, putting an aftermarket cat on it would not be good since the ECU is tuned to that specific cat.

Well long story short, I ran into some trouble. Im getting a P0420 code, catalytic converter efficiency low.
I tried pouring "crc guraranteed to pass emissions" formula which people said helped, did not fix the problem for me.

I was looking at washing the cat, but people say its pretty much useless. So the last option is to get a new cat.

The thing is they have to be OEM and the price is the issue here. Does anyone know of an aftermarket cat that will function close to the OEM so I will not get any check engine lights?

Any other possible solutions?

Thanks!

Basebllstar

Welcome.


First, the 420 is definitely the Cat code. It sucks you drove so far, but it looks like whoever sold you the replacement, sold you a bad one.

As far as aftermarket Cats, the ECU will relearn if there is a difference, which most likely, there will not be. Besides, the ECU learned to run on the crapy Cat, why wouldn't it learn on a new one?

Never use products like the one you mentioned you poured in. Like radiator Stop leak or Fix-a-flat, that stuff is only temporary until it causes other problems.

So that leaves us here. You need a new Cat. There's good news and bad news. I like my dessert first, so here we go. Good: The cat is not integrated into your exhaust manifold like many other Scions; it's in the midpipe! Bad: MSRP for that Piece (Toyota P/N: 1741021441) is around $1100.

The options are as follows.

1. Ignore the check engine light and drive until something breaks. (I wouldn't do this)

2. Be a cheapskate, purchase an antifouler for the O2 sensor and let the car think the cat is good, until something breaks. (I also wouldn't do this)

3. Prove you've lost your mind and spend $1100 plus Installation Costs on a brand new xA midpipe from the dealer. (Again, I would not do this)

4. Take the car to a reputable exhaust shop in your area. Explain your problem and ask them to cut the old cat out and weld in a new CAT (OE specs or maybe even a Performance depending on your taste) for a fraction of the cost. (This is what I would do) This would run around $2-300 dollars in my area. This will solve your problem and the car will not know its not OEM. Expect an uptick in MPG and restoration of any lost pep-iness.

Good Luck.

rcflyer15

Thanks for the reply!
Yes I wish I knew more about this cat stuff. When buying the used exhaust, I asked the guy how many miles he had on his echo. He said it had over 260k, so the cat is shot for sure, I just never thought they can go bad.

Are you positive that an aftermarket cat will not give a CEL?

I agree that is way too much to pay for a new cat, its a low fraction of what I payed for the car.
I do not want to ignore the problem, I need to pass emissions and I like my mpgs

If I can further confirm that an aftermarket cat will not throw a CEL code. I can buy one online for around 100$ and weld it on myself.
I know how to weld and love working on cars, I always wanted a welder. The price of the welder and cat will for sure be cheaper then having a muffler shop do it. But I will have a welder

Basebllstar

But a Cat from a reputable company, say Magnaflow, and you'll have 0 issues. They sell several versions, you want to get one that best matches the exhaust diameter and length of the old one. I believe they sell them around $50-$150 for basic Cats.

The aftermarket Cat will perform as good or better than the stock one.