The one on my wife’s Ford Fusion has gone and is going to cost an arm and a leg to replace.

A new one fitted is going to set us back about £500. Is this reasonable? Was told that a genuine Ford one was £500+ just for the part!

They can fail. Email me the car details, I know people.

Thanks, but it is being done now.

More importantly, the garage need to find out if the cat failure was caused by another problem such as overly rich mixture, too weak a mixture or possibly oxygen sensor failure. If they just change the cat without proper diagnosis the same thing might happen again.

How old is the car and how many miles has it done?

Oxygen sensor had failed.

Car only does 1000 miles a year and needed a cat flush to get through the previous MOT.

The cat for my MX5 was £79.99 + postage on ebay 😀

that’s about what I was charged for wife’s 2002 Golf. Often doesn’t get driven for weeks, apparently that’s the problem.

Yep, oxygen sensor failure would cause that. With no feedback from this sensor the mixture will either be rich causing soot build up in the cat or weak causing overheating. Normally a light on the dash comes on showing the sensor has failed.

£500 does sound steep though. I’d be shopping around.

£129 for a new cat for my Passat , Plus about the same for fitting .
Big windows in the stealership ?

It is a bit of a sod to get at apparently.

If the oxygen sensor has failed then it is not possible for the system to diagnose a failed catalyst. The dealer will be relying on fault codes, and a catalyst failure is normally a P0420 or P0430 fault code. The oxygen sensor codes I can’t remember, but make sure the dealer isn’t replacing bits that don’t need replacing at your expense.

If he says the sensor has failed, ask which one (upstream or downstream). The upstream controls the short term fuelling, the downstream the long term adaptations (and monitors the catalyst).

It is possible though that a common cause has affected both sensors and catalyst (really really crap fuel, misfire, oil being burnt, leaded fuel etc)

It was in for service and MOT and failed on emissions.

They told me that the sensor had gone and the cat was “blocked up”.

I had a cataclysmic convertor fail once, nothing too bad happened.

What large 418 said.

Also, a coolant leak (head gasket) into the exhaust can see off oxygen sensors which in turn might have seen off your cat. Would probably be a significant loss of coolant though.

Just had the cat and oxygen sensor replaced on a 57 plate zafira £620 ????
Your price Sounds about the right price to me. I would also get them to check the spark plugs too.

£400 for cat and back box on an Alfa here, all fitted. £500 for the cat is very steep, I’d go elsewhere.

Cat failed in my old Fiesta. Braced myself for a big bill, but it was very cheap. Can’t remember how much, but I was amazed. Definitely under £200.

Mate of mine had the cat fail on his Corolla. He knew the oxygen sensor was shot & carried on driving it – few months later the cat died.
I think Toyota wanted almost £1k but he got it for about £300 from a motor factor.

Cat failed on the other half’s Pug 308 a few months back – is only a 58 plate so we were a bit surprised! Peugeot did it under warranty.

£500 on a Fusion sounds a lot…

Look to be about £130-£180 new on Ebay, & by the look of it its basically just a new exhaust manifold. Two hours tops on the drive, an hour for a workshop.

£500…!!!

😉

The trouble I’ve found with the aftermarket catalytic converters like Walkers is they are generally rubbish, and only seem to get you past 1 mot and don’t last very long afterwards, if you get a chance pick up a genuine cat and compare it with an aftermarket one, the original will normally weigh at least twice the weight!