catalytic converter experience? mileage/age?

[Todd H.]

Howdy all,

My 01 Outback wagon's catalytic converter evidently threw a check
engine light at me that stayed on for most of the week, but then
cleared itself after a long trip yesterday. I had the code read today
and it indicated "catalytic converter bank 1" iirc. My car has 105k
on it, and is 6 years old now, and I live firmly in the rust belt.

I'm curious about the mileage/age others have had their cat. gave up
the ghost, and what it cost to replace so I can start budgeting.

My non-subie-specific mechanic who read the code guessed in the $380
range, but said he probably wouldn't do anything with it until the
code was consistent and remained.

Also, are there 2 cats on this car?

TIA for any shared experience.

Best Regards,

 

[grizzlyandgirl]

I have a 2002 Subaru Outback wagon and my cat pooped out just under
the warranty period of 80,000 miles. I had it taken to an independent
shop that told me it was the cat, called Subaru and they told me I had
to have it taken to the dealer to have it warrantied. Unfortunately,
because I had the independent shop look at it first, it cancelled out
the check engine light, and when I went to the dealer they told me
that they found the code, but I would have to wait until the check
engine light came back on the verify that it was indeed the cat. They
told me that it possibly could have been bad gas.
Ok, got upset, but there was nothing I could do, so I drove it around
for a while. The check engine light didn't come back on until around
86,000 miles- way outside of warranty. I took it back to the dealer,
but then the light disappeared and now it's been gone and I am at
100,000. I still believe that the cat is bad, because I can kind of
smell it burning now, so I had it taken to a local muffler shop that
we trust and had work done on another vehicle and I was quoted $150.
We are going to have it done when we get out tax return.
Unfortunately, this isn't the only thing that is going wrong with it.
Now we are discovering that our fluids like oil and coolant are slowly
becoming empty (faster than normal, but not at a rapid speed). I tried
to do a search for information, but I couldn't find anything close to
what I needed, so look for my post if you can help me out. Thanks and
good luck with your problem. Hope this information helped.

 

[Carl 1 Lucky Texan]

Howdy all,

My 01 Outback wagon's catalytic converter evidently threw a check
engine light at me that stayed on for most of the week, but then
cleared itself after a long trip yesterday. I had the code read today
and it indicated "catalytic converter bank 1" iirc. My car has 105k
on it, and is 6 years old now, and I live firmly in the rust belt.

I'm curious about the mileage/age others have had their cat. gave up
the ghost, and what it cost to replace so I can start budgeting.

My non-subie-specific mechanic who read the code guessed in the $380
range, but said he probably wouldn't do anything with it until the
code was consistent and remained.

Also, are there 2 cats on this car?

TIA for any shared experience.

Best Regards,

90% its your front O2 sensor.

Carl

 

[Todd H.]

90% its your front O2 sensor.

Carl

HI Carl,

I was wondering about that....

Is that to say that the 02 sensor can fail and the ECU lacks any
smarts to differentiate between a failed front 02 sensor and a failing
cat?

It's an 02 sensor that feeds the "bad catalytic converter" CEL code
right?

 

[Edward Hayes]

The front 02 sensor sets the fuel to air ratio. The rear 02 sensor
checks that the front sensor and cat are doing their job.

 

[Grizzlyandgirl]

Hey, I need to edit my post. I just called the muffler shop I was
going to get it replaced at, and I learned something new. On the 2002
models only, the exhaust including the CAT is a one piece bolt on
system. So if you replace the CAT, your replacing both of them, and so
now he is quoting me double, which is 300. Sorry for any confusion. I
am getting it done on Tues.

 

[DDi]

I have the same problem with the check engine light on my Forester. Dealer suggests a Cat as
the code indicated. I asked if the sensor is causing the problem and he said a different code
will be obtained if that's the case.