Bad cats on 2015 4Runner

[Yotta]

Need some advice.

Have a 2015 4Runner which recently threw a P0430. A mechanic looked at it and said that both cats are bad, temp at inlet noticeably higher than at outlet, plus both O2 sensors are showing the same thing meaning the cat isn't doing anything.

His solution was to suggest replacing everything starting with the exhaust manifold and going back (my flanges there are pretty well rotted) and quoted around $9K.

Now, that doesn't sound reasonable to me. I'm in the Northeast, so lots of rust but none of the CARB silliness.

If I were to fix this -- the truck runs, no problem -- what kind of prices would I be looking at and are non-OEM parts any good??

 

[spartacus]

Get a couple more shops to look at it.

 

[T4R2014]

You need to take another step back. Catalytic converters do not fail on their own. You have a combustion issue, more then likely excessive oil consumption. Though you could be running rich. Are you doing the 10k oil change interval or have you wisely chosen to shorten them? Rectify the root cause first. Then you could try throwing new sensors at the problem to see if that will clear the light. Otherwise this is a job where I'd want OEM cats. I am pretty sure they are welded onto the manifold, which is why the job was quoted that way.

 

[Mrvmax]

If you replace the cats, use OEM. Aftermarket will cause you more problems and will most likely go bad.

 

[Ezlife45]

How many miles do you have? I thought emission items had a longer warranty than typical car warranties.

 

[Yotta]

About 150K miles on the truck and I don't think I have combustion problems. Why would an ECM have an engine running rich, it's not like there could be a badly calibrated carb nowadays. Oil changes every 5-6K, never had low oil.

In any case, I got an OBD2 reader, reset everything, we'll see if that error code comes back.

 

[dp204]

i got a smiliar issue on my 2011 I recently got... Yeah dont throw money at the cats yeah. I dont drive much, but if you have access or buy a scanner that has live data start to monitor it. On my end, I have gotten 2 trips close to 300kms before my engine light comes on. I plan to take it on the highway this weekend and drive at a higher rpm see if it can blow anything out.

To that note - has any members ever used cataclean or motor power cleaners - I have various mixed opinions from mechanic buddy saying yes try it or no not at all.

Anyways keep me posted, I will to on my end, I just upgraded to a innova 3040rs no to break the bank cause it has live data and playback.

Speak soon !

 

[BTO]

I saw a YouTube stating Catalytic Converters can be cleaned by putting a small amount of Acetone in your gas.

But you have to ask yourself, what caused the cats go bad?

 

[T4R2014]

All these little cat cleaning tricks are worthless. Fix the combustion issue first, then get new cats.

 

[_LCW_]

What's the life span on the 5th gen's catalytic converters? I have a 2019 and coming up on 122K. No codes or anything.

With my OBD link the O2s are showing voltage. Nothing seems abnormal.