Rep Power: 0

Let me start by saying I know NOTHING about cars. My son just purchased a used 2008 Honda Civic Si. It has a aftermarket exhaust system. Before we even got the car from the dealer to our house (about 20 miles) he got a "check engine" light. We called the dealer and he said bring it back and he will fix it. My son had the car checked at a local auto parts and it gave the code of catalyst deficiency. (I think it might have been T4802) He jacked the car up and didn't see a catalytic converter.
We have a emissions test reciept stating the car passed emissions testing on 6/10/09. We purchased it on 6/17/09. We live in PA amd I have been told there is no way that car should have passed emissions testing. Is that true??
So, the car is back at the dealer and he assures me he will "take care of it". His explanation is very vague and he is telling me the catalytic converter is in a pipe so we wouldn't be able to see it anyways. And that it passed testing at a Honda Dealer (even though the emissions recietpt is from his other local dealership).
Now, not only am I worried about the catalytic converter and whatever else might be wrong with this car, but also will the remainder of the manufacture warranty be valid or voided because of this and the aftermarket exhaust system?
Any insight and ammunition you can give me to use with this guy would be appreciated.

 
Rep Power: 0

Take off the converter, and knock out the brick. You will need to do the defouler trick to avoid a 400 code. You can also pass emissions (illegally) this way. This is how I run catless in my CT. You wont make any more power with the converter gone but it will allow you to safely advance your timing and lean it out to make more power. I laugh at how many kiddies say "omg I took off my cat and its so much more powerfull.... less backpressure man!" Power is all in the tune.

 
Rep Power: 390

^^ Yup, I'm doing the same trick with a race header. A race header doesnt have a cat, and a spacer is used to move the O2 sensor out of the exhaust pipe to give a normal reading, instead of a rich reading (rich = more gas per air then normal) which will throw a CEL. Sometimes these wont go off for a couple days after being reset if they are doing a halfway decent job. Keeping this in mind, most emissions tests are done by plugging into the OBD2 port (taps into the cars computer aka ecu). If a CEL isnt on, the ODB2 will send good info on your emissions and you'll pass. This is probably what happened.

Take it back, tell them to unbolt the exhaust and put it in the trunk (in case your son actually wants an exhaust down the road, or if you wanna sell it on CL) and tell them you want a honda header and cat converter on there. Tell them you'll be fine if they mate the current exhaust up to there as long as there is a honda header and cat converter with low miles. This way you'll pass any emissions testing but you'll still have the awesomeness of an aftermarket exhaust, if thats what he wants. If not, just tell them put all honda parts for the exhaust on there and keep that other crap thats throwing cel's. Peep the lemon laws in your state as well. That'll get a seller to stfu uber quick and fix whatever u want him to.

 
Rep Power: 354

take some pixs of ur under car/exhaust/header area.....we will tell u if u have a cat or not

 
Rep Power: 813

he has warranty guys. just let the dealer install a new cat

 
Rep Power: 0

Thanks for the responses. We took the car back to the dealer and after 6 days, we are still waiting. He is telling us the catalytic converter is being shipped from California and it is costing over $700.00. Does that sound right?

The car does still have the remainer of the manufacturer warranty, but I was worried it could be voided secondary to the modifications that were previously done to the car. I can't see that they would even replace it under the warranty since someone removed it in the first place.

Thanks again

 
Rep Power: 390

That actually does sound right. If YOU order it from Honda as a customer you'll pay over a grand. This is what your dealer is getting it for, if not even cheaper.

2601403 001 1 CONVERTER 1024.30 717.01

 
Rep Power: 0

And my test pipe cost me 60$

 
Rep Power: 390

Haha, and my race header ran me 350, but recent studies would show that combined, we've killed almost the entire ozone.