Hi folks. New guy here. I have a 2000 f150 with a 4.2l V6 that appears to have a catalytic converter problem, but I need your help in at least giving me an educated guess that I'm moving in the right direction.

It sounds like one of the catalytic converters on the right side is either broken or has a hole in it. Whenever I start the truck and hit the accelerator a little it sounds hollow or really rough or like it has a hole in it. I can't tell because it gets really hot really fast whenever I try to see if any exhaust is leaking out of it. I don't see any exhaust black staining the pipe, but the heat shield on the catalytic seems to be intact. I just don't know at this point. So I'm here for a little help in the right direction. I've done a search, but I haven't found anything or anyone who seems to have this problem. It may have found it, but I didn't see it.

I live in San Diego, California and I've already priced out Catalytic Converters from ford and they want almost $1000 just for the right side alone. Ridiculous, so I've hit the junk yards, but no luck. I've seen cats elsewhere online, but it seems that a lot of them will not ship to California. Are California cats different then outside of California? I don't get it. Can anyone help me if possible? Thanks

 

I just ordered a set of converters for my 97 from the sponsor of this site,I believe its bearriver converters.It was MUCH less expensive than Ford,and even less than my normal parts supplier rockauto......This site is awesome!

 

You might begin with a cold truck and put the rear up on some jack stands. Then take some sort of ribbon or something and put some pieces around the cat. Have somebody start the truck while you watch for some tell-tale flutter of the ribbon.

 

Just get a free inspection at a local muffler shop.

 

Yeah, I looked at bear river converters and they don't ship ford cats to california at all for my year anyway.

 

Bummer, I have two of their high flow converters on my Mustang and they flow pretty good. High quality stuff.

 

I'm sure they are, but unfortunately it looks like California love to screw their citizens by cutting them off at the knees. As if the air we have here is any different than the air you have where the other 49 states are. Little do the idiots at CARB (california air resources board) know that the atmospheric circulation that hits most of the west coast comes migrates from asia. And they seem to think that if they penalize the citizenry from buying their own catalytic converters that somehow air quality will change.

So now I will have to go to a shop that is strictly licensed to deal with catalytic converters. Not all muffler shops in california are certified. It's stupid.

 

Yeah, I think I'll do that, but I'm a big DIY guy and it's just frustrating that I can't take off that segment of the pipe and refit another one in it's place. I really am starting to hate this state and the nonsense it puts on us.

 

Do you have to use a ford cat, or could you use a aftermarket cat as long as a certified shop installs it?

 

No, I suppose I don't, but I was trying to keep it as OEM as possible. An aftermarket cat would work fine I imagine as long as the pipe run conforms as closely as possible to get the same or better performance out of it. However, I'm trying to keep my costs down and a certified shop in california is going to charge me an arm and a leg.

 

Sorry to hear all of this...you need to move

 

Yeah, Californias smog laws really suck. Its all about power and control. We have cats the work, the problem is the red tape. California has to approve the converter for the application in question. This approval costs money (of course), and so to get the certification, the cat manufacturer has to feel that there is a large enough market. The certification cannot be shared with other vehicle classes or engines either. In many cases, it can't be shared with other years either, unless the part is truly identical across multiple years. the whole program was set up to either force you to buy dealer parts, or buy a new car. California would just as soon have a no aftermarket converter policy. The only reason they allow them at all is because someone figured they could milk some money out of the whole affair.

I think someone should start a class action lawsuit against them, because I think they have gone too far.

 

Man oh man. It's just disheartening to read what you've just said and all because it does come down to power and control and for what? Money. Plain and simple. Out here in San Diego we have a fairly big distaste for CARB and their policies and there are actually movements afoot to have them get disbanded for the way they have draconian measures to separate us from our money with these ridiculous air standards laws.

I also did a little research and have found out that they intend to extend their air standards to OBD compliant vehicles up to OBD-II standards. So if you have a car that is from 1995 or older and your catalytic converter goes out, you will soon have to comply to OBD-II cat standards. It's total BS. I'd love to join a class action to sue the pants of off CARB for these measures, but the money involved to make it happen makes it completely prohibitive. They nail California citizens with this kind of stuff incrementally and creep it behind the scenes so not only do you not know about it, but they do it slowly so you don't even care by the time you need to fix something.

However, what I am really curious about and I was having a discussion with a friend here at work about it is, are the catalytic converters in the other 49 states actually different than california OBD-II catalytic converters? I'm an engineer and I was thinking like one. My truck was build in Oklahoma and we were finding it hard to believe that Ford would have set up two different component lines for each catalytic converters; one for California only and the other ones for the rest of the 49. So our thought was that they are actually all the same, except they don't have the certifications like you mentioned. So we were wondering if you could by a modern catalytic converter from somewhere outside of california and replace it and see if it passes smog. Can you verify this? I'm really curious to know.

On a positive note. I deduced that it wasn't my pre-cat but the cat right behind it and I took it to a shop that verified it for me and they are going to replace both cats for $500 using universal aftermarkets out the door. So I can technically buy two of them for the price of 1 ford cat. I have smog certification coming up in a couple of weeks, so it was timely I guess. But the whole thing has just been very frustrating. Either way, I got off fairly light. In the wallet that is.

 

Brother, you have no idea how badly I want to leave this money pit of a state.

 

I heard on the news yesterday that they wanted to start all that emission testing bull**** here in FL also.