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Hopefully not another annoying question about precats and cats


Horj

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Hey all :) I have an '02 Ranger Edge, 3.0 V6. I have been through a lot of BS getting my truck back on the road. Long story short, my original problem has been my cats. Dunno which one yet. If I'm not mistaken, I have two precats and two rear cats. Pretty sure one of my precats has gone bad causing the next one in line to go bad. Been getting quotes from local muffler shops to get it fixed However, a local garage here in town told me he could eliminate the precats altogether and just go with two new main cats. Does this sound ok? I've researched on this forum and a couple others and am getting differing opinions. Some say it's ok, others say "if it wasn't needed, it wouldn't be there". Also, if I go with this option, won't the computer sense that the precats are gone? Just looking for some clarification. :) Thanks :)
 


adsm08

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Federal felony to remove any cats. You need all of them.
 

Horj

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Thanks :) It sounded iffy to me, but just wanted to make sure
 

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He was probably going to replace the two separate cats with one cat that does the same thing.

Different companies do different things, especially aftermarket.

Places like Summit offer drop in OEM style replacement cat assemblies, last I checked the pricing wasn't too bad either.
 

Horj

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I didn't feel right about what that guy said, so I had another shop do the work. They replaced both of my rear cats. Apparently there was nothing wrong with the precats at all. My good ol' truck is as powerful as she ever was :) However, now I have to research torque converters, because that is now what my truck is telling me is wrong. According to the guy that did the cats.
 

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He was probably going to replace the two separate cats with one cat that does the same thing.

Different companies do different things, especially aftermarket.
This is a good point.

Ford likes to make 3-way cats as a two-bed unit, essentially, and for legal purposes, a single unit, that appears as two units to the untrained observer.

Many aftermarket companies that make cats that aren't direct fit do them as single bed.

Your truck probably only has 3, with the last one being a two-bed unit.



What's wrong with the converter?
 

Horj

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AllanD

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An '02 Ranger would have TWO "pre-cats" one in each "leg" of the Y-pipe before the typical two bed catalytic converter that lives next to the transmission.

What the muffler shop is likely suggesting is to swap-out the Y-pipe with the built in pre-cats for one from a late 90's ('96 or '97) that shares the same mounting flange to the main catalytic converter.
 

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