My father owns a 2000 Accord Sedan. It recently developed a rattling sound from underneath the vehicle. I immediately said it sounded like something in the exhaust was loose. He took it to our dealership. At first they thought it was the heat shield, but they tightened that down and it didn't stop rattling. Then they said it might be a flange, but they eventually ruled that out. Now they say that the catalytic converter is just bad, needs to be replaced and "it'll be about $3000". Now, I've never heard of a cat going bad. I mean, it's basically a tube full of reactive pellets, what would be rattling inside the thing? And $3000, I hope they just read a sheet wrong, because the OEM part directly from Honda themselves is only $150, and it can't take more than an hour to replace. Hell, for $3k he could probably find another used 2000 Accord.

I think the thing is just loose, sounds just like my exhaust did after the same dealership loosened all the bolts on my middle clamp (I have no idea why they did that, it was just in for an oil change, and when I got it back they informed me that they had checked my new exhaust out to make sure it was "properly installed"). I haven't had the time to get underneath it and look yet, so I don't know for certain.

Anyway, my question is, is there any way that just replacing a cat could possibly cost $3000?

 

sounds WAYY over priced...try going to a mom and pop exhust shop, i can get a couple new custom exhusts made for that much, with a new motor..mabey it was $300?

 

LOL where do you live? Cats can be had for under $100.

 

That sounds wrong, the whole job can be done for like 200 installed. Just go to a local muffler shop and they will know if it went bad.

 

Cats aren't that hard to install either, unless the bolts are rusted.

 

Haha. I got a cat for $80 and installed for $50. 3k? Are you sure they said that?

 

You could put a freaking hi flow cat and a turbo on that accord and still have money left!

 

Chances are that the rattling sound is the heat shield on the cat rubbing on the cat itself. My stock cat had that problem because one of the corners of the shield had rusted through near the bolt that holds the shield on. So, I yanked the sheild off and guess what...no ugly noise. As for the $3K for a cat...faqu is what you need to tell that shop...even if they are charging $300 its still overpriced!

 

Just go on ebay and order a carsound cat for about $55. Good deal. $3000, wtf?!

 

it could be that the filter inside the cat broke apart and settled at the bottom and hardend almost like a rock.