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Car Problem, have them fix it or other alternative?

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us3rnotfound

Diamond Member
Hi,

I have a 2001 Infiniti I30 with about 100k. The service engine light has come on periodically over the course of 3 months for the catalytic converters (there's 3 of them). The car finally quit starting up. The Nissan dealership I took it to said they were first gonna replace the spark plugs and do a fuel injector cleaning to save money and see if that'll clear the codes. (by the way, if the codes are cleared and don't come back on, does that mean the cats are fine?)

Well if it turns out the cats are still the problem parts, it'll run me $3000 to have them replaced! I'm hoping at that point I can take it to other places and get a hopefully lower estimate.

If it means anything, I'd really like to keep this car for the long term and I'm not interested in selling it for another used car, I think I'll just get problems with that one too. However, it does have 100,000 miles on it so it will have problems. It was running great before I hit this wall so I'm thinking everything else is solid mechanically. What do you people think?
 
How do you know the service engine light is for the catalytic converters? Did you have the code pulled by an OBD scanner, or read it manually by querying the ecu? If not take it to autozone or another parts store that's willing to pull the code for you and tell you what the computer thinks is wrong.

That being said, failed catalytic converters rarely cause a car to not start. A usual symptom of bad cats is for the car to start and run for a short time, then die because of the excessive exhaust backpressure. If it won't start at all, it's unlikely the catalytic converters being bad is the cause.

A shop that recommends replacing parts in a "shot in the dark, let's hope this works" attempt to clear codes is a shop you should steer clear of. Find out specifically what is causing the codes, and work back from there to find the problem.
 
Seems pricy. I have an 00 Maxima, which is basically the same car as yours. Spark plugs are quite an easy change on this and very accessible. Certainly shouldn't cost more than an hour of labor.

Per last post, though, if you know the code or sure I don't see how new spark plugs would fix that.

Call also another shop because the stealership will always charge a lot. Ask for a quote from elsewhere on what the labor would be.

What does nissan want for the plugs and injector cleaner (you can buy a bottle of BG44--I think that's the one the stealership will use--for about $20 from them and put it in the tank yourself).
 
Originally posted by: SJP0tato
How do you know the service engine light is for the catalytic converters? Did you have the code pulled by an OBD scanner, or read it manually by querying the ecu? If not take it to autozone or another parts store that's willing to pull the code for you and tell you what the computer thinks is wrong.

That being said, failed catalytic converters rarely cause a car to not start. A usual symptom of bad cats is for the car to start and run for a short time, then die because of the excessive exhaust backpressure. If it won't start at all, it's unlikely the catalytic converters being bad is the cause.

A shop that recommends replacing parts in a "shot in the dark, let's hope this works" attempt to clear codes is a shop you should steer clear of. Find out specifically what is causing the codes, and work back from there to find the problem.
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Sorry I forgot to mention exactly what happened. It would start up then die after the RPM got to 1500. It was very quick. THen from there I was just flooding the engine. Sounds like excessive backpressure to me :shrug;.

By the way yes the code did point to the cats.
 
I think there are 3 cats on those cars. Similar problem with a friend of mine from my church. Very expensive :'(
 
Well I got the car back. They replaced the spark plugs (never been done before, 100k miles) and fuel injectors were cleaned, and it's running fine with no service engine light on yet. My fingers are crossed that the problem is resolved. I'll update the thread if I need the cats to be replaced.
 
Originally posted by: us3rnotfound
Well I got the car back. They replaced the spark plugs (never been done before, 100k miles) and fuel injectors were cleaned, and it's running fine with no service engine light on yet. My fingers are crossed that the problem is resolved. I'll update the thread if I need the cats to be replaced.
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Cool, that would be great!

 
Originally posted by: LTC8K6
They don't seem to be that expensive via Rock Auto.
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yep RA has all 3 for about $600. Looks like they bolt up so labor should not be to bad.

Also a good time to replace the O2 sensors.
 
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