Hey all,

Ok so got my y pipe install today(TY Cattman). Meinekee guy tells me rear precat is blown out. Tells me $650 to replace. I tell him just bolt it up. Anyway this seems ridiculously high to me. So I tell him I can get rear precat for 184 online and he tells me he would still have to charge $400 for the install. So i said what about other precat and he said $650 for that too. Question is how many hour job should i expect this to be? I figure i should prob change out both cats at same time while i'm under there? Any insight would be appreciated. 8 hour job really? Y pipe was just replaced so those bolts have all been broken. Let me know what you think.

 

Its certainly not a cheap job but that seems awful high to me. Another estimate to me seems in order. Your pre-cats only come into play before the main cat is warmed up so in reality you do not NEED them to pass a sniffer emissions but a visual emission test is different.

 

Gutt the precats, O2 SIM, problem solved.

 

You should definitely try to find another reputable muffler shop,atleast a refferal that way you might get a better price.But that estimate is pretty high

 

Dude just gut the cats 80% of ppl who put on a y pipe gut the pre cats anyway its kind a a mod plus then there is no chance they will fry the rings in your motor

 

This isn't on you, it's on the Meinekee guy... but that doesn't make any sense.

"Blown out"? What is that supposed to mean? Did he show it to you? Cats are a pretty constant thing, and it's unlikely to have one fall apart.

$400 for replacement labor doesn't make sense either. The old pre-cat comes off and the new one goes on, and that's not going to take 8 hours to accomplish, particularly if all the y-pipe bolts are freshly turned.

Just walk away. Network through your local speed shops for opinions on reputable exhaust shops, then go talk to them without telling them about your experience with this Meinekee guy, that will only put them on edge that you're predisposed to distrust mechanics.

 

Thanks for the replies. I questioned him about it being blown out and he prodeeded to bring me in the shop and show me a cat conv. He said the mesh/honeycomb type material had a whole through it and the piece was hanging up in there. He says he pushed it back in.

I have never worked with this guy before. The old owner was a stand up guy. Just to give you an idea about the shop he charged me $250 for the y pipe installation. This included re-hanging the muffler due to some movement but very minor work other than Y pipe. He did it on the spot so i went with him. Seemed high as well.

Let me just say this car is really rusted to **** under there. Seen a lot of snow and salt. Also i've owned this car from day one, there is definately a distinctly different sound and slight performance loss. So im not really questioning wether or not something is wrong as I believe something is definately up with exhaust still.
Still cant believe he said 400$ for each side. It could be one of those things where he quoted me a high price so he didnt have to be bothered. Shop seemed to be drumming up plenty of business.

 

The goal for Meinekee and other chain shops like that is to make money. And independent exhaust shop will do work for less money.

 

Likely he just wants to reach in your pockets. If you don't notice any performance affect like a clogged cat then you are fine. If it is clogged you should notice pretty quickly...

If it is just blown out, who cares? It is just the pre-cat and has no affect performance wise. It may affect your O2 reading and throw a code which you can address later if it does.

 

FIXED.