Catalytic Converter
 

Is there any place other than the dealership that sells oe cats? I had one replaced 11 months ago from my oe one and the comb inside is all ready rattling so I had the guy that installed it just take it out. I'm in california, but I'm not going to put another cat on until I'm close to my smog inspection again which is next year in June. My original cat was a substantial size, im guessing 3 ft and the new one (universal cat by catco) was half the size. Can anyone help with this? thanks

1990 190E 2.6

I've had no issues with my Magnaflow cat replacement and its been on the wagon for about 50k miles now and passed CA smog twice, and AZ smog.

Cat's die prematurely due to oil consumption and bad mixtures. If everything is in check, a cat should last a long time. Of course though, the factory cat's are the best. But paying $1k+ for an OE cat is a little much.

Search the internet for "timevalve". Not nice to post direct links here.

Cheap cat will last about a year as you can see. 3-4 years max on a quality MagnaFlow before it starts losing a lot of efficiency. Do you want to pay now (OE Cat) or put a new cat on every 1-4 years? It's up to you. Original cat on my car *knock on wood* and it passed CA smog flying.

Just checked XXXX and it's $2900 for a new OE cat....

Platinum ain't getting any cheaper. And there's a lot of it in those OE cats. :D

Find someone scrapping a car and buy the cat assembly off of the thing.