2008 F250 5.4, 99,000 miles. Engine light on, dealer said "needs bank 1 catalytic converter and monitor". Price $1549.00. OUCH!!
Can I trust a muffler shop to get the correct cat? I saw some other posts that talked about getting the correct size. I don't have a shop that I normally deal with, haven't had to do anything exhaust wise in over 15 years.
What do you guys think?

 

Do you use your truck to tow heavy?
If so, you want an OE size and style. Should be able to find online for under $500....
If you mostly drive empty, you can have a decent shop weld in a universal cat. They are usually under $100/

 

It will have an occasional heavy load (16' trailer w/load of wood or 4000# tractor). Not real heavy, I know.
Most of time will be smaller loads, 20' fishing boat or 18' camper.
I did call a shop and got a price of $250 each for "original equipment replacement". I plan to go by there and see what they have. They said both should be replaced due to different back pressures if only 1 is installed. I can understand that and would replace both for that price. The brand name was "Catco".
I would assume that if the overall dimensions and the pipe size is the same, these new ones should be OK.

 

I deal with catalytic converters. Here is my recommendation.

First off, lets go over how your truck is setup. I am going off the 2007 model, the 2008 should be similar. There are two converters in the front y-pipe (some heavier models do not have these), and a single larger converter behind that. These are not that difficult to do with weld in converters, but you have to use the right ones. At $250 each, that sounds wrong. That is tin the right ballpark for a weld in, but Catco does not make any suitable units. It is completely off for the rear converter.

If you have the y-pipe int he front with cats in it, the bank#1 is the passenger side. No need to replace the other side to "match backpressure" as the aftermarket cats have the same flow characteristics as the stock cats do. If your setup only has the single larger cat, then thats the only one that needs to be replaced.

For a visual reference, this is what your setup probably looks like (2007 shown)

and


Now I could be wrong about what is on there, I have not seen a 2008 system yet. In either case, the Catcos aren't good enough for a 2007, and in 2008 the emission standards get even tougher. The brand I have found that really seems to shine, and works on newer vehicles is Eastern.

 

Thanks Khan. The 2008 has a different setup. It does have 2 cats. Each one is shaped similar to your second picture. I will do more checking around.

Any other opinions out there. I know most 2008 still have warranty, so you haven't had to worrry about cats yet.

 

Just a suggestion have you checked the emissions warranty from Ford. I know some components are covered for like 5 years and 100k miles. I would check the emmissions warranty in the owners manual.

 

here's what his cats look like. Mine went out at 56K in my '08 V10. Another poster here had his go out at 56K in his 5.4. It's beginning to look like Ford had a problem with '08 gas engine cats.





Check out these threads.

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...lyst-code.html

https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/9...converter.html

 

I'm pretty sure its some federal law that all dealers offer at least a 60Kmi warranty on all cats...parts and labor included.

 

Thanks for all the replys. My truck already has over 90,000 miles, so I'm SOL on the warranty.
My cousin has a scanner, we are going to do some O2 sensor swapping, side to side and front to back. Maybe it could be a bad sensor making it look like the cat is bad.
I will keep you posted.

 

What's the going rate for replacement of the front part of the exhaust system? (2008 F250, 5.4) Manifolds to Y pipe, including the cats.
I know about the warranty, but mine is past that.
I saw an earlier thread where JKBRAD had to replace his cats and it came as a welded one piece from manifolds to Y pipe. His price was $1300 at the dealer.
My check engine code says 1 cat is bad. My dealer quoted $1549 for ONE cat ONLY!! That can't be right. I need to check with them again to make sure that is correct.
Mine is rusty between the manifolds and the cats. The heat shields and clamps are really bad. I was thinking about doing the whole thing while I'm there.
I'm concerned about the cats that muffler shops use. I would have to ask a lot of questions and do research before using them.

 

My dealer told me that one cat was bad. But the replacement part was the entire assembly as I described.

If this ever happens again, I will remove the assembly, gut the cats and put straight pipe inside. Then I will get the O2 sensor resistors and re tune the truck.

I honestly believe that there was bad engineering or a vendor issue with early '08 catalytic converter assemblies though.

 

Dude, go get a good quality aftermarket cat, like the ones from Bear River Converters, and have a shop weld that in. It will work.

O2 simulators are not legal and do not even work. Allow me to explain why. The sensors detect the amount of oxygen in the exhaust. The front O2 sensor does two things, firstly, it makes sure the oxygen level indicates the correct fuel to air ratio. Secondly it makes sure the oxygen level is constantly switching from slightly rich to slightly lean because this works with the converter to improve its performance. If the converter is present and working, the rear sensor will see a drop in the oxygen levels, and a stable waveform, which indicates the converter is properly storing and using oxygen.

In an O2 sensor the voltage increases as the oxygen level in the exhaust decreases. If the oxygen level is higher, the voltage decreases. So here is a quiz.

If you install a resistor on the sensor, what happens to the voltage?

How will the computer interpret a lower voltage?

Do resistors produce stable waveforms?

The simulators worked on some early model OBD-II systems because the early models only looked at waveform, and the commercial simulators produced a steady signal. But the newer cars are more sensitive, and can detect a simulator. They look at voltage and waveform, plus they want to see a certain amount of fluctuation on waveform during extended lean or rich cycles.

 

Here is Bear River Converter's contact information:

http://www.bearriverconverters.com/contact.aspx

Bear River Converters
1877 West Park Avenue
Riverton, UT 84065

Toll Free: (888) 782-8825
Local: (801) 514-3327
Fax: (801)446-4511