Quote:
Originally Posted by spidertri  When you took it to the mechanics did you tell them that you thought it needed a new cat before they did anything to the car? I'd be worried that they are trying to take advantage of your fears and are simply saying, yes it needs a new cat, because you already believe that to be the case.
If you still have the patience call up another shop and tell them as little info as possible, just that it failed emissions and you are not sure why. Pulling the codes from the car takes 5 mins at most. (You can even take it to Autozone and they will get the codes for free.)
If it does turn out to be the cat be aware that 99% of aftermarket cats will still throw a check engine light. Original BMW cats, from the dealer, cost from $1300 - $1600. If you can get a used one from someone on here that will be your best bet. |
I have two separate issues here:
1) check engine light DID NOT come on when the inspector started up the car - automatic fail.
2) might need need a catalytic converter.
No i didn't mention anything prior to. My car failed emissions because the check engine light DID NOT come on when he started the car. After my primary mechanic went into the cluster and found that the check engine light was actually there and not missing or burnt out, i thought i was good to go so i went for the state re-inspection. They hooked the hand-held machine (scanner, i guess?) under the dash and it came back with needing a cat. i wanted a 2nd opinion and the first thing he did also, was connect the hand held thing and it came back with needing a cat. My question still remains, why would my primary mechanic say that he didn't get any indications of needing a cat?
Maybe i'm confused with the scanning process; isn't that what the two mechanics did to determine i needed a cat? What does Autozone do differently than what the other two mechanics have already done?
If i do in fact need a cat, i'll order brand new oem online.