Engine light came on, went to autozone, code said catalytic converter bad.
went to adavance auto parts ] purchased bolt on converter.
has anyone have any experience on replacing converter.
is there anything that i should be aware or should do before i attempt the job

 

Soak the exhaust bolts in PB Blaster for a few days beforehand. Wear mechanic gloves and eye protection. Be prepared to buy new hardware. The old hardware is probably rusted and will break/bend/strip.

 

Yeah if you have the bolts with springs on the back end the bolts will almost certainly break when you try to remove them, but you can just buy new ones.

For this kind of work I consider going to a shop, because they can lift the car off the ground and weld stuff instead of trying to bolt it. It's worth a few dollars not to have to mess with it.

Be sure the converter is really bad, sometimes the sensor after the converter is bad and the ECU can't tell the difference.

 

the code i believe was 42, i checked the secondary o2 sensor and it ohmed out ok

 

Exhaust work is one of the few things I consider letting a shop do, just because it's usually a PITA. Surprisingly, it was incredibly easy to do exhaust work on my Civic...because the pipes aren't welded or slip-fit like on my Jeeps. I just put it on ramps, cut the bolts, and dropped the pipes. 'Bolted the new pipes into place with new hardware and it was all good. The Jeeps, by comparison, are usually a weekend-long fiasco for me.

Those little Jap bastards sure know how to engineer a car like they actually have brains in their heads.

 

I always try to remove the exhaust boltsafter I warmed up the engine after a couple days of shooting of WD40.