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What's up everyone, how are you. I'm new on here so try to bare with me. I have a question for anyone who might have an answer. I have an 03 Civic which just went past 185,000 miles and I had absolutely no problems with it till about 184,000 miles. I changed the timing belt on it at that time and soon after I started getting the check engine light warning. I took it to my mechanic and had the codes read and found out one of the codes was for a crank assy sensor and another code was for the catalytic converter. So I had the crank assy. sensor replaced and the codes cleared by my mechanic, about a week later the check engine light came on again and I started smelling a foul smell coming from the exhaust so I knew that it was a the catalytic converter. Although my mechanic said I should change the O2 sensors first and see if that clears the codes. So basically I need advice on what sort of catalytic converter I need to get since I don't plan on getting it from the dealer which costs about $1400. Anybody have any suggestions?

 
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get a lightly used oem cat from the junkyard or ebay if you cant afford new. there is no way a new one is that expensive tho. and you have to keep in mind that these cats will last 10 yrs or longer. so divide that up and it comes to $100 a year. getting a cheaper aftermarket cat may fail emissions testing and prolly wont last more than a year or two. do you have ex or lx model?

 
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I'm using a vibrant hi flow race cat, $75, cleared my cat code. Just gotta get the flange welded on.

 
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Before you buy a new cat you might want to take a further look into this. Is your car acting up in anyway? I mean anything at all? And your O2 sensor on the manifold could be causing the "foul" smell. Your O2 sensors try to heat up the cat when the car is cold, and if the sensor is bad it will never sense that it is warmed up, thus causing over fueling.
I would test my O2 sensors first before dropping any money. You can also try to look at the catalyst material itself by removing the pipe and visually inspecting it. The end closest to the motor will look melted and deformed.