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Old 01-25-2013, 01:23 AM   #1
jaypdub
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Michigan
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Default Advice on a 1996 Cat Issue

My CEL came on last night, took it to Autozone after work today and they said it's the catalytic converter. From what I've read so far in other posts, off-brand cats will only work for a short period of time, and an OEM will cost about as much as the car's KBB value ($1,200-1,500). I haven't had many problems with this car since I bought it at 83K miles, but now it has about 135K miles, and I'm not sure I want to risk putting that much money into a car that is probably just going to run into more and more problems in the near future. I already replaced the 02 sensors and control arms (which I hear are common problems), but other than that I've avoided any other major repairs. I don't live in an area that has emissions checks, and the car runs fine as far as I can tell. I never would have suspected anything if the CEL didn't come on. What would you suggest I do? If I know I can get ~50K more miles out of this after replacing the cat, I'd do it in a heartbeat, it's just so risky with the possibility of so many other things going wrong. And most importantly, how long can I safely drive around with this issue? I may have to start looking for a new car, but I'll need to get around in the meantime.
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