Catalytic Converter Replacement

[davlys]

Has anyone replaced a catalytic converter on your Sonic? Mine is going bad and it looks like a somewhat difficult procedure just to remove the heat shield. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks.

I have a 2013 with a 1.8 and manual transmission.

 

[Smartdave]

It’s actually super simple..

remove heat shield,
unbolt o2 sensor
Unbolt 3 bolts between cat and pipe
Unbolt exhaust manifold and done



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[davlys]

It’s actually super simple..

remove heat shield,
unbolt o2 sensor
Unbolt 3 bolts between cat and pipe
Unbolt exhaust manifold and done



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Were you able to remove the heat shield prior to removing the O2 sensor?

 

[Smartdave]

Yes. I left it in and removed the heat shield.


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[davlys]

So far, I have removed the O2 sensor, the heat shield bolts, the oil dipstick tube and one other bracket that was doing nothing. I still can't get the heat shield past the air conditioner lines. I am thinking I will try to unbolt the exhaust manifold and see if the heat shield will them come off when I remove the manifold. Any tips are appreciated. Thanks.
1 hour later:
Never mind, I found a path to get it removed by pulling straight up. I had to thread a flange on the shield through a small opening and also had to use more force than I was originally comfortable with. I basically had to bend the a.c. tubes a little. I also learned that it is a bad idea to remove the oil dipstick tube without draining the oil first.

 

[Smartdave]

I also cut the shield just a tad Where that heat shield is tight die to the ac lines

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[Jlsat3]

How do you get the manifold out. I'm stuck at this step.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

What should I expect a shop to charge for this? Not very savvy on auto repair personally. My wife called the dealer who wants 800 something. We have a 2016 with the 1.8. I'm glad this car is paid off. In the past year we've had the timing belt, water pump etc swapped. It's also had new thermostat and housing installed(thermostat replaced twice because Meineke charged me for changing the thermostat, but didn't change the housing, when the plastic factory housing ended up breaking I had to go to another mechanic.

Had the car to the mechanic for engine codes today, and was told that catalytic converter may be starting to go bad. Only have 106k on this car. I don't think I've ever owned a vehicle that I had to change the cat.

 

[davlys]

The part at the dealer will probably be $400 to $500. They might also charge a diagnostic fee of about $100. I imagine the labor for this would not be more than 1 hour, which will also be about $100. So I am coming up with about $700 plus tax.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Ok, thanks. My wife checked with the dealer, and they estimated 800 something for the part itself, and that didn't include the labor. The local shop that I had the car at did an estimate of 750 installed. So that seems like a fair estimate. For now they cleared the codes and it seems to be running better, so I'll keep an eye out to see what it does.