Catalytic Converter Replacement Costs?

[Connoisseur]

Soo I have a 2004 Nissan Sentra SE-R Spec V. I barely drive it as I live in the city and only come home to drive it on the weekends. It's only got about 50k miles on it. Recently, the Check Engine Light came on. Took it to the local Midas and they said that it was a bad catalytic converter (and manifold?) They said the labor was cheap but the original Nissan part was expensive (around $900). Am I getting ripped off on the parts cost? Replacement of that piece alone is like $1100 total. i looked it up online and noticed that replacements for Toyotas/Hondas/Nissans DO cost that much but I wanted to get additional opinions.

 

[PottedMeat]

did they give you the code or did they tell you 'you need to replace the cat'?

i'd get a auto parts store to dump the code for you before spending the cash

 

[KK]

can they cut out the old and weld in a new one? thats what they did on our minivan, cost was under 150 for two of them.

 

[HarryLui]

Call the Nissan Dealership. If the catalytic converter is truly your problem.

Specified major emission control components
are covered for the first 8 years or 80,000 miles.

http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

 

[Connoisseur]

can they cut out the old and weld in a new one? thats what they did on our minivan, cost was under 150 for two of them.

I think they mentioned that the entire manifold needed to be replaced. Cheapest OEM parts i'm seeing online for the whole setup seem to be 700-800 ish. I would be very receptive to after-markets or cheaper jobs except that this car is in great shape and only has 50k miles on it.

 

[Connoisseur]

Call the Nissan Dealership. If the catalytic converter is truly your problem.



http://www.epa.gov/oms/consumer/warr95fs.txt

Wow thanks for that. I had no idea. I'm taking it to a dealership first to have it checked out.

 

[Connoisseur]

Woohoo. Who says AT isn't useful? Thank you for the prompt replies! Called dealer directly and they indicated that it can probably be covered. The forums may have just saved me $1,100 (hopefully).

 

[Viperoni]

Those cars had known problems with cat's dying too quickly too. Glad it's going to get covered.

 

[CrackRabbit]

And you have learned lesson number one of owning a car. Never take it to a chain mechanic for ANYTHING other than a simple oil change.

 

[HarryLui]

Woohoo. Who says AT isn't useful? Thank you for the prompt replies! Called dealer directly and they indicated that it can probably be covered. The forums may have just saved me $1,100 (hopefully).

Do I win a prize?

 

[Connoisseur]

And you have learned lesson number one of owning a car. Never take it to a chain mechanic for ANYTHING other than a simple oil change.

Yup. Still paid around $400 for stuff that could've probably be done for MUCH cheaper.
Air Filter
Cabin Air Filter
Alternator Belt
New Battery

With the exception of the alternator belt, I highly suspect I could've done all the other things at a fraction of the cost in about a day. However, I live in NYC and come home once every couple of weeks only. I mainly fixed the car via the shop cause my family needed a second one at home quickly and I couldn't stay here all day fixing it/learning it myself.

Unfortunately, i don't have a "trusted" auto repair guy. There are a bunch around here but I don't have a rapport with any of them. There are two major chains in my area: STS and Midas. I would've taken it to STS but their lot was packed early in the morning and they're first come first serve.

In summary: I took my car to Midas because they were the only ones who weren't packed in the morning. That should've told me something about their service right off the bat but meh. Still got reamed, just not nearly as bad as I could've been.

 

[Meghan54]

Yup. Still paid around $400 for stuff that could've probably be done for MUCH cheaper.
Air Filter
Cabin Air Filter
Alternator Belt
New Battery

With the exception of the alternator belt, I highly suspect I could've done all the other things at a fraction of the cost in about a day. However, I live in NYC and come home once every couple of weeks only. I mainly fixed the car via the shop cause my family needed a second one at home quickly and I couldn't stay here all day fixing it/learning it myself.

Unfortunately, i don't have a "trusted" auto repair guy. There are a bunch around here but I don't have a rapport with any of them. There are two major chains in my area: STS and Midas. I would've taken it to STS but their lot was packed early in the morning and they're first come first serve.

In summary: I took my car to Midas because they were the only ones who weren't packed in the morning. That should've told me something about their service right off the bat but meh. Still got reamed, just not nearly as bad as I could've been.

I hope they lubed you up good before you got that reaming you took. $400 for that work? Outrageous, I say!

 

[dawp]

^depends on how the belt is routed. if it's a serpentine and you have to lift the engine to replace it, I could easily see it costing that much.

 

[Connoisseur]

^depends on how the belt is routed. if it's a serpentine and you have to lift the engine to replace it, I could easily see it costing that much.

It is a serpentine belt. They did ream me a bit on a new battery. I could've bought one at half the price and installed it myself saving probably around 80-90 bucks total. I know I could've prolly done the filters just as easily but I'd never replaced them myself before and as I mentioned did NOT have the extra time.