automotive question

[Beer Snob-50]

so my sons car was acting up the other day (2001 ford escape), we took it to our mechanic and he just called and told me the problem is the egr valve and a hole in one of his catalitic converters ( the escape has three of them) he said it is illiegle to do what he did but it would cost about 2-3k to replace the. anyway what he did was tear out the offending converter.

has anyone else ever did or hear of this? your thoughts.

[NightWatcher]

1. I HAD 3 cat converters on my 00 F150 and they needed replacing

So I hacked off the cats and straight-piped the exhaust.

Liberal faux pass, but as long you don't live in a place where they conduct inspections, I'd leave them off. You might have to find someone to recalibrate the computer, else the check engine light will remain on.

Are you polluting the air more than if you replaced the cats? Yes, just a little, but 3k$ for a "fix" on an 11 year old car is counter productive. Send Greenpeace $100 for your sins and consider yourself absolved.

[Beer Snob-50]

2. they do do emissions checks in this state

tehy are only taking off the one with the hole punched in it and leaving the other two

[NightWatcher]

3. Hopefully that will be enough to keep you legal after the inspections

You should be fine

[Beer Snob-50]

4. thanks.....

the mechanic is an old family friend who we have all trusted all these years but just wanted to get another opinion on this.

[OriginalGeek]

5. I don't know squat about cars

but I do know that a mechanic friend is a wonderful thing to have and to hold until death do you part.


And there is also nothing wrong with asking here, away from where he is, just to understand things. Sometimes you can't ask the guy directly because there is no way to do it without sounding like you are accusing him of something but all you want is to understand.