Looking for some insight from the guru's....

[yotabeater]

new on the board, just bought a 98 gt wagon. had a shop inspect it before i bought it, and they said everything looked ok, but there was something weird. they told me that when they hooked up the diagnostic, the catalyst system read "not ready". they said the codes have been cleared, probably recently. it also has a lumpy idle when stopped in gear, pop it in neutral (AT) and it goes away. before i bought the car, it had the timing belt and headgasket changed in the last 6 months. the shop told me that under certain driving conditions it will kick out a reading (i.e.- accelerating from 50-70mph under 3/4 throttle). i called the dealership, and they had no clue. they told me to just reset it again.

anyways, it passed emissions, still reading not ready on the catalyst. the shop that inspected it said the cats might be going out in it, and that new ones will be $900. isn't there somewhere cheaper online to find them? they told me that they don't make aftermarket ones for subaru's, just oem parts, which i think was BS. are they right? any way to get the catalyst system to kick out a reading? what does it mean that it isn't ready? thanks for any help. -Josh

[sheepdog]

Not quite sure what that reading is from, maybe a bad sensor. As for them not making aftermarket cats... that is total BS. You can get a full exhaust with a high flow cat integrated, or I think wisconmark had an aftermarket one welded into his stock midpipe. Regardless, it will be expensive, so be sure the cats are actually bad before you go replacing them.

[badbasser98]

Mark bought the Stromung high flow, which replaces the whole OE converter section :wink:

[backpack09]

#1 funny rumbling at idle in gear. Seams to be the norms with these cars. But I also get it in my high mileage truck and mazda.

#2 A direct replacement is expensive because it is a very funny bend with dual cats. But any decent backwoods muffler shop (muffler king, mikes mufflers, bills house of muffling) should be able to weld you in a new cat and relocate your rear o2 to after it.

But if your car is a 95+ and cat is dead you will have a CEL for it. If no CEL don't bother replacing it.

[Huffer]

1. The higher mileage ATs do occasionally have a heavier idle vibration when in D-gears - get used to it, it's part of dealing with an older, used vehicle.

2. Replacement cats are a piddle to find.
http://www.partstrain.com/products/Auto ... =gproducts (http://www.partstrain.com/products/AutoBody/Catalytic_Converters/1999~Subaru~LEGACY~4~2.2~LEG-4WD-002.html?sku=CC-40237&source=gproducts)

The 2.2 is the same as the 2.5 in terms of exhaust. I have the same one on my car.
Occasionally I get a PO420 - Catalytic inefficiency code, but both my O2 sensors are new, and the reason for the code is because this cat replacement pipe DELETES the rear cat section.

I also have a ScangaugeII which allows me to clear OBD2 codes.
Your car will show a "not ready" on the OBD system probably because it was cleared recently, and it has not been driven enough to cycle through many of the OBD tests.

[Wiscon_Mark]

Mark bought the Stromung high flow, which replaces the whole OE converter section :wink:

100% right!

Yes, on www.boxer4racing.com (http://www.boxer4racing.com) you can get a stromung high flow cat that will replace your stock cat(s). It's completely bolt on.

Otherwise you can find an exhaust shop that will weld a universal high flow cat onto some piping, but not all of them will do so as Midas told me "you can get fined for that" :roll:

douchebags.

Anyways, the stromung is a metal substrate catalytic converter, which means it's definitely worth the 350 for it.

[yotabeater]

well, $350 is way out of my range right now. i think i'll just wait till they give me problems. i just pulled out the bosch platinum 2 plugs that were in it and threw some ngk v-powers in her. took my 2 freaking hours, but i think it was worth it. maybe now i'll get better than 190 miles to a tank.