Hello I have a 2000 Hyundai Sonata GLS and after checking why my check engine light can on they said I need both front and rear cat converters. They appear to be dealer item only and the cost per is around $600 ouch! Does anybody make an after market converter that is good for California? Please help.

The car is not under the warranty ...

 

Sounds like a load of crapola on the TWO catalytic converters, however I"m not versed on California emissions things. The first thing I would do is find out what the codes are that is causing the check engine light. Take it to Autozone for a free code scan, write down the codes and tell us what they are.

 

If in fact the cat has failed, there are suitable replacements from the aftermarket. Any reputable custom muffler shop should be able to do the job for 1/2 the dealer price on that job.

 

I found out yesterday that the front Cat on my V6 Sonarta is cooked, the only trouble I'm having now is to find an aftermarket Cat that uses 2 sensor's. The ones I've seen only have the single hole for the bottom sensor , so could I abandon the top sensor would this screw up the ECM or running of car

 

Do not remove the sensor. You will mess up the ECM. If you can't fins an aftermarker cat with the both then buy the correct cat from Hyundai.

 

After more research, Its my main cat under the car not the pre cats on the headers so its sorted,just got to buy that one

 

Could you please explain why it is you are so sure your CAT is bad? They usually don't go bad unless you were burning something you're not supposed to. Some common reasons:

You were burning leaded gas from another country.

You had a blown head gasket that was leaking antifreeze into the combustion.

You were putting to much stuff like injector cleaner into the gas.

If you didn't have a problem like something mentioned above, then I would suspect some other problem, and the CAT is the last thing I would suspect.

Another thing: A CAT going bad means the material inside has corroded away. If you take off the cat you can look inside. If the material inside is still relatively intact, chances are it's ok, and again you have some other problem.

 

Well the engine was bogging down so did the usual checks on fuel pressure from pump and vacuum pressure ran live data test with my scan tool and revealed that engine was not getting rid of the exhaust gases, to much back pressure. Pulled the o2 sensor's and did another quick drive and problems gone. Stripped the exhaust down underneath and the mid cat under the car was completely broken down so problem solved. Its not always the obvious that causes the problem

 

Ok, you answered the question. The catalyst material collapsed and plugged up the system. But like I say, they just don't go bad without a reason. If you are sucking antifreeze, then chances are the O2 sensors are bad too.

So I'm trying to say that you should try to figure out why it went bad to avoid this happening again.

Good luck finding the part.

 

Well I bought the car with 99.000 miles on it, no real history with it apart from regular oil changes I changed out o2 sensor's last year when the engine light came on. I've ran injector cleaner through it once since owning it (4 years). The cat is an original Hyundai so it maybe the original ?? the car now has 119.500 and still going strong apart from the odd problem now and then so all in all I think its done me well so far and it does not owe me a dime foe what I paid for it