What’s the best after market catalytic converter?

[Jeremy]

What’s the best brand after market catalytic converter? Napa? Bosal? Magnaflow? It’s going on a 2007 Ford E350 super duty cargo van. I’m not in NY or CA.. I just want a direct fit and prefer the check engine light stay off.

Topic

[waleed]

Aftermarket cats can be hit or miss. Anything will a decent warranty like walker would be fine. I would try to use a spacer first on the downstream sensor to see if it can make the code go away, if not replace. Original is the best, but they are too expensive for most cars compared to aftermarket.

[Mike]

The California/NY cats are more expensive because they contain higher amounts of the precious metals catalysts.
As for which brand to buy, you can look on Amazon for customer reviews of 3 of the 4 brands.
In the past I’ve been happy with Bosal and Walker. NAPA typically uses good quality manufacturers.
No personal experience with Magnaflow.

Make sure it really is a bad cat before you spend the cash.
A failed downstream oxygen sensor will set a P0420, too.

[Jeremy]

It’s definitely clogged. I have a po420, no power on acceleration, if I really get on it the check engine light flashes, if I really really get on it, I hear it rattling. Also , fordtechmackaluco,on YouTube says it will seem like a shifting issue, not wanting to shift, It does that too.

[Aaron Kimmel]

With P0420 how can you tell if it’s a sensor issue or actually the cat? 2009 Versa 195000 miles.

[Jeremy]

Multiple other symptoms, like mine is doing, I posted above in a reply. Also the outlet should be 100 degrees hotter than the inlet, according to Eric. If not, it’s not doing it’s job.

[waleed]

Have you tried cleaning it first before replacing?

[Mike]

With noticeable loss of power and a flashing check engine light, make sure that there’s no ignition trouble–such as a bad plug, wire or coil—that caused the converter failure.
The flashing check engine light is alerting you to a converter damaging misfire.
The vehicle may idle OK but once there’s a load on the engine, a misfire occurs.

If only the converter is replaced, without addressing the issue that damaged it, you will damage the new converter, too.
https://ericthecarguy.com/kunena/8-Service-and-Repair-Questions-Answered-Here/48518-97-f150-4-6-4×4-check-engine-light-flashing?limitstart=0

cobaltcoupe2.2
ETCG video on checking converter

[Author]

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