Paleus

I joined this forum for advice on an issue in having currently with my 2005 4.0L. The car is stock, no mods at all, 96,000 miles. I was hearing a rattle from under the car. Took it to the dealer to see what the issue was. They told me it is the catalytic converters coming apart. So, has anyone had this issue? I talked to a "former Ford engineer" at a repair shop and he said DO NOT put universal fit "cut-in" cats on the car because they won't be the exact specs the O2 sensors want to see and the car won't run right and could potentially develop other problems because of that. That guy wants $1100 to do the job and the dealership wants $1400. I've been quoted as low as $320 to have universal cats installed. I've found what I believe to be OEM spec parts for around $600 online.

So, I believe my options are:
1. Pony up $1100 to the repair guy for the OEM parts installed.
2. Buy the $600 OEM cats and install them myself.
3. Have Universal cats installed for $320.
4. Cut the cats out, buy a tuner to turn off the downstream O2 sensors (no emissions testing in AR).

Thanks in advance for the advice. Please enlighten me if I am missing anything. The rattle sounds like crap, but I am more concerned with the cats clogging and tearing something up.

95 BLOWN GT

go to tech section.

Sleeper_GT

Welcome to MF and +1 on the tech section.