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My wife's 2002 Civic EX, 2dr, MT with about 130k miles needs a new catalytic converter. The emissions or check engine light came on, we took it to the dealer who indicated the problem was the cat and quoted us $1800 (possibly less depending upon what they must repair, apparently). What have other folks paid for this service? Is this even worth doing on this car? Is the car still marketable with a busted cat? Any insights are appreciated.

Sidenote, it is on its original clutch, which I assume will likely need to be replaced at some point as well. In the past year the car has gotten new suspension components (I can't recall what exactly) and new tires.

 
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Depending on where you live, you can get aftermarket cats. California is very strict but other states allow more options. You might also be able to find a used one as well.

RockAuto.com has cats from $200 to $450

 
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Oh really? Thanks for the heads up, I will do some more searching.

 
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Update - It's a Christmas miracle - the check engine light went off today of it's own accord. Any bets on whether this baby will pass emissions in Mass. in July?

Relatedly, I had a theory I thought I would throw out to the forum regarding the cat in the 2002 civic. It seems everyone that I have know that owns this generation of civic has had a problem (severe rattle) with the 'heat shield' over the catalytic converter. It starts rattling, then needs to be replaced, reattached, or removed. I've heard of folks doing all three. In our case the dealer recommended just removing the shield, which we did. And now ~30k miles later the cat was throwing an error code and the little orange engine indicator (thankfully not at the moment). Any mechanically inclined folks want to opine on whether these things are related?

 
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I'll address you're original question, even though your CEL is now off. If you do ever wind up having the cat replaced, get an OEM one, do not get aftermarket. Aftermarket you're just looking at another failed cat in a year or so.

And if you do have the cat replaced, how mechanically inclined are you? I ask as I replaced mine about 6 months ago, and it took me about an hour and was VERY simple to do. The dealer that quoted you $1800 should be shot. Parts and labor for that should be $800 - $1000 max. I was lucky that I got my cat at dealer cost plus 15%, then did the labor myself. Saved me a ton of money.

As for the heat shield, it's on there for a reason. I would leave it on. The rattle you hear may actually be the internals of the cat, and not the shield (mine rattled before I replaced it). And if the check engine light comes on again, take it to AutoZone and have them read the code and let us know.

 
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Thanks for the reply.

My risk-aversion tendencies would probably have me leaning towards going OEM, so thanks for the reinforcement on that issue. I am fairly mechanically inclined, but live in an apartment and park in a public garage, so doing this level of repair myself is right-out, unless I immediately make some new gear-head friends.

Alas, the heat-shield issue has come and gone, as I believe the dealer simply removed it.

I will certainly go to autozone next time. This time I feel like a smuch for having paid a dealer's $100 assessment fee...

 
Rep Power: 161

Yeah, and AutoZone will do it for free.

As far as replacing the cat, all you need is a ratchet and a few sockets. You don't even have to remove any other parts like the radiator or anything to get it out. There are only 5 nuts on the block and two bolts underneath to remove, and you simply unplug the two oxygen sensors (you remove the sensors and heat shields after the cat is out). And you can reuse the exhaust manifold gasket and flexible gasket to the downpipe.

Really, it's a very simple job. I'm not even a shade tree mechanic, and this was very easy to do. It was harder to replace my radiator than it was to do the cat.