Ebay Catalytic Converter?

[Mytrn2brn]

Hi Guys, my cat has a hole in it and I'm getting really poor gas mileage (190 a tank). My O2 sensors maybe bad as well but fix what I know is broken first. are these ebay converters and good and will they bolt on to the stock 2g GSX exhaust?
Trying to go really cheap.
Thanks

 

[knochgoon24]

Do you have a link? Some are real converters, others are just test pipes that kinda look the part.

 

[gsxeclipse97]

i would change the front o2 sensor first before you go cat searching. That be a big cause for poor gas mileage.
Thats really bad i can go 280 on a tank, my g/f went 315 on her last tank. Oh and keeping the brick off the gas pedal makes a huge difference.

 

[Mytrn2brn]

They all look the part. I need to change the cat because I can here the exhaust leak. Plus would a bad converter throw the O2 out of wack. How do you test to see if the front O2 sensor is bad or is it one of those shot in the dark things and just change it?

eBay Motors: 95-99 Talon Eclipse Turbo Catalytic Converter 96 97 98 (item 230276826158 end time Aug-06-08 18:15:32 PDT)

 

[No_Skillz]

A bad cat (meow) will not affect your gas mileage. It will also not make the front O2 fail prematurely.

To test your front O2, simply hook up a logger and look for the volts it's putting out. If it gives a nice consistent oscillation between 0.2 and 0.8 volts at idle and a decent 0.9-1.0 at WOT, it's fine.

 

[crimsondragon]

There are a ton of cats available on ebay. Majority of them are salvaged for people to buy and harvest the metals inside. There are some that are brand new. Typing in the full name seems to get better results than abbreviations. Also do not type in the car. A sure sign it's not a real cat is if on the ebay ad it says "it is for offroad use only."

 

[No_Skillz]

Just read the descriptions carefully to make sure it's actually a functioning cat (meow). Also note what kind of core it is, some are more expensive than others (I think it goes platinum>ceramic>stainless). Most of them will say "for offroad use only" since modifying a stock cat (meow) that is functional is illegal.

 

[Mytrn2brn]

Thanks for the tips. So to test the front O2 sensor can I use a multi-volt meter to check for the voltage, also were should I place the black and red prongs? (not really an electrical guy)

 

[No_Skillz]

I don't know anything about a multi meter either. I was suggesting a pocket logger specific for the car. If you don't have one already, you should def pick it up since it seems like you're the DIY kinda guy.

 

[Mytrn2brn]

what kinda logger are we talking about and where can I find one?

 

[knochgoon24]

That one you listed may just be a fancy test pipe. That's pretty cheap for a cat.