Hey all,

My check engine light is on. Mechanic says it is the catalytic converter. Priced the part at $650 + labor. I did a little research and apparently, my cat conv is attached to the manifold which makes it more expensive?

Has anyone had any experience with this? If so, where can i find a good replacement part, and do you think it its within my means of installing it myself?

Kyle

 

I just did this on my 97 DX, and it wasn't hard at all. The HX and the DX may have the same set up. Mine had a crack by the oxygen sensor on the top. You could remove the aluminum heat shield and check yours out.

Assuming you don't live in California, the cost of the part should only be like $250 at an advanced autoparts or autozone. If you place the order at Advanced Auto online and then pick it up at the store (or have it delivered to you), you can probably save like 5 or 10 percent. The brand they carry is Dorman. You probably want to get an oxygen sensor socket to get the O2 sensor off the top of the manifold. I was eventually able to get mine off with a wrench, but it was the hardest part of the job. I have minimal mechanical skills, and it only took me about 2 hours, 50% of which was getting the O2 sensor off.

If you want to upgrade your exhaust system, you could check out the EX conversion. Addiction2bass provided an amazing DIY: https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ad.php?t=73504

As soon as I get the funds and the time, I'm going to try it out.

Good luck!

 

I have been looking, and I can't find one for less than $400. Especially Dorman. Do you think you could send me a link, or help me find it?

 

Would this one suffice? I have never bought car parts off of ebay before, how would the warranty stuff work?

 

PM'd with link to part. I'm not sure about how warranties work on e-bay. I think it would probably depend on the seller, so I'd check their feedback and rely more on that than what their ad says.

 

Is this manifold inclusive of the cat conv? And it is only eligible for local pick-up in Richmond, VA. But thankfully, almost all the local area stores have it

 

yep, the manifold and the cat are covered with separate heat shields. Everything covered by the top one is the manifold, and everything covered by the bottom one is the cat. The part is actually 3/4 cat.

 

Alright cool. I am gunna grab it. Thanks for the help. Are there any vid tutorials or good pic tutorials for switching it out?

 

I recently did one on a 99 DX. It's painfully simple but time consuming. With help, it took me two hours.

Let the engine cool completely before you do this. In addition to an intake manifold gasket, I'd also replace the gasket from the cat to the downpipe. It's a small ring about the diameter of a half dollar. Its available at Autozone for cheap.

You'll have to pull the heat shield, then the o2 sensors. (unplug the o2 sensors, you'll see the plugs if you follow the lines.) Get under the car and pull the 3 bolts off the downpipe. Then there's an obvious bracket holding the bottom of the cat to the block, just one bolt.

Go back up to the top and start removing the 9 nuts on the head studs. Once they're off, you'll have to wiggle the thing out through the top. This might entail having a friend pulling the AC lines back towards the radiator.

Once the thing is out, put the new manifold gasket on and then place the new manifold onto the 9 studs. Line them up and put one or two nuts on a little, one on each side. Go to the bottom and get the downpipe situated. Replace the gasket, line bolts up, and tighten them by hand, readjust as needed. Once the downpipe is secure, THEN finish bolting up the manifold. Then, put the secondary o2 sensor in. Last, put the primary o2 sensor on, put the heat shield on, run the o2 sensor wire back where it was and plug it up.

Torque to spec, start up, good to go.

Sell the old catalytic converter. It's worth about $35.

 

^^^

Good advice. The manifold I picked up came with the gaskets WellFedHobo mentioned. I'd check in the box before you buy them, just in case. It could save you a trip back to the store.