Catalytic converter question

I've got a 96 Explorer with 218,000 miles on it. Lately its been hesitating. Had it in the shop and they say it's the catalytic converter. They say that since it has O2 sensors before and after the converter that I have to get a factory replacement and wanted $1,000 to replace it. Rather than replace it I had them try to flush the system. They added some fuel injector cleaner, an oil treatment, and did some type of fuel induction service. They said to run a tank of gas and that this might buy me 3 months to a year. Well, the first 40 miles I drove it it ran great without any hesitating but the last 80 miles have been very rough. I don't feel confident driving my Explorer in this state as I use it to pull my boat on the weekends. I did find the converter for a better price ($700) and am thinking that I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and have it replaced. Should I run more fuel through the system or just replace it? It is the original converter. Is it common for a clogged converter to cause hesitating?

You need to find a new shop. There is no reason why you could not use an aftermarket catalytic converter. So what that it has O2 sensors before and after the converter, so does very other car and truck made from 96 to date. The aftermarket direct fit replacement converters have the holes threaded for the O2 sensors just the same. They have them on ebay for $150-$200 depending on your engine size.


I've got a 96 Explorer with 218,000 miles on it. Lately its been hesitating. Had it in the shop and they say it's the catalytic converter. They say that since it has O2 sensors before and after the converter that I have to get a factory replacement and wanted $1,000 to replace it. Rather than replace it I had them try to flush the system. They added some fuel injector cleaner, an oil treatment, and did some type of fuel induction service. They said to run a tank of gas and that this might buy me 3 months to a year. Well, the first 40 miles I drove it it ran great without any hesitating but the last 80 miles have been very rough. I don't feel confident driving my Explorer in this state as I use it to pull my boat on the weekends. I did find the converter for a better price ($700) and am thinking that I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and have it replaced. Should I run more fuel through the system or just replace it? It is the original converter. Is it common for a clogged converter to cause hesitating?

If it consistently has low power currently, you could try removing the front oxygen sensor from each bank and drive it around the block. If it now has plenty of power, then, yeah, there probably is an exhaust restriction. A decent exhaust shop should be able to measure the exhaust back pressure though. I suspect a plugged catalytic converter is not really your issue though if the fuel system treatments had a temporary effect. I'd suspect rather that you have a build up of carbon on the valves/pistons or similar.

A decent scan tool with a datastream mode should indicate pretty quickly if the converters are having problems, not to mention that there are algorithms in the PCM that monitor the catalyst efficency on your OBD-II system and will trip a code if the catalyst efficiency is determined to be low. Have you had the PCM scanned for any troublecodes?

-Rod

I should of mentioned that 5 years ago my check engine light came on, I took it into the dealer and they said it was the converter and wanted $700 to replace it. I chose not to replace it at that time so I got another 5 years and around 180,000 miles on it. I did some research and called around and found a muffler center that will put a new one on for $269.95 plus $66 labor, so, a much better price. Thanks for the feedback, it saved me some money.