Need suggestions for new Catalytic Converter

[CroughtonE32]

Five years ago my OEM Cat went and I replaced it with one made by DEC. I got it from BavAuto. Thought it would last longer but it's shot now. My mechanic had it on the rack and all the noise I hear is coming from the CAT. Sounds like marbles. He can't seem to find a direct fit like the DEC was, and most other companies have ended this part. I did some searching and found a place in Canada.....here.....https://www.ebay.com/itm/26501037386...3ABFBMjsGT8a5f

I wrote to them under contact seller to make sure it is a direct fit with the pipes going up to the manifold. Not looking to cut and weld something into my car. Has anybody purchased a CAT recently and can you send me in the right direction. Thanks



I just got a message from the place in Canada telling me theirs would fit but there is no port for my O2 sensor. Does that make sense? Where else could I connect the O2 sensor if not on top of the pipe connected to the cat? I'm getting lost here.

[masbury]

Not being familiar with Florida or it's rules, but is there a classic age cutoff, where emissions testing is no longer required? My German Euro spec 750i is 30 years old, so here is Idaho there is a classic car program and emissions testing is not a requirement. To make matters even weirder, my car came from the factory without any cats whatsoever, so prior to it's hitting it's 30th birthday, it actually passed emission testing. Go figure...

Maybe just a pipe to fill up the missing cat(s) and be done with them?

Just sayin'

[CroughtonE32]

I actually have no inspections here in Florida. Not for the last 15 years or so. If I did have somebody cut out the cat I guess I would have no place or reason for my O2 sensor, which means my dash light would be on all the time telling me to check engine? I've been emailing back and forth with the ebay place in Canada and she said she had her shipper personally check and there is a place for the O2 sensor on top of the cat. So basically I think this would be very much like the DEC cat that I installed that lasted 5 years. Pricing is about 400 bucks. Waiting for one more contact and then I'll clear it with my tech who has the car in his shop. We'll see. Thanks

[m60power]

Like you said, in Florida you can just cut out the cat and replace with pipe; although it may be difficult finding a shop that can do OEM-like quality of welds and fitment. The exhaust will smell more and obviously it's not very environmentally friendly. You would still want to keep the O2 sensor to avoid a check engine light. If the 735i is like the 740 it should only have oxygen sensor(s) in front of the cat (no post-cat O2 sensor), so you could still leave it in and the car won't know any difference with the cat removed and replaced with pipe section. Ditching the cat becomes an issue with more modern cars that also have post-cat O2 sensors.

Do you still have your OEM cat with the front down pipes? You could reuse the pipes with O2 sensor port (or reuse the front down pipes from your failed DEC cat) if you go without a catalytic convertor. This is assuming the O2 sensor port is forward enough of the cat to allow for welding pipe behind the O2 port...

[CroughtonE32]

All this sound well and good and for me a bit scary. Keeping the car so stock for more than 30 years. I decided to order the direct fit cat from Canada. i found out who the seller got the cat from and called the manufacturer. Was not an easy feat, but ended up with a manager who gave me lots of good info. Mostly that the Canadian company I was buying from were very reputable and a large customer of his. The company that makes the cats is called AB Catalytic. Really nice people. The guy told me that DEC was basically a competitor of his and that my DEC cat should not have blown in just short of 6 years. Said I should have my mechanic check that the car is not running too rich. Could be as my miles per gallon has fallen off the past two years. Either way it should be at my guys shop by next Friday. Everyone is Canada is so nice to deal with after working with people in the states for so long. They were all so helpful. So I hope for the best, and we'll see. The down pipes are the same as the OEM as well as the DEC and it does have a spot for my O2 sensor to screw in just before the Cat on the pipe. Like always. Now it's just up to FedEx. Here's the manufacturer and the place of sale. https://www.ebay.com/itm/29409394868...cAAOSw3mJhLPtb


http://www.abcatalytic.ca/

[shogun]

check rockauto, they have for your 735 a cat for $312, DAVICO 17027 E.P.A. Compliant, quote: E.P.A. Compliant Converters are not legal for sale or use in California or Colorado. Restrictions apply in New York and Maine.Davico Exact-Fit™ Catalytic Converters fit like the O.E. Part, Designed for today's advanced engine management systems, All brackets attached where needed, Heavy Duty Stainless Steel double braid flex sections used where needed, Made in the U.S.A.DAVICO 17027 Specifications: Gaskets Included Yes, Over All Length 68 in., Width 12 in., Height 12 in. unquote
the price is nice and the pic looks good. Also check directly their website https://www.davicomfg.com/

[Cactuar]

Ouch, six years is really not a long service life for that cat, even if it's aftermarket.
I was eyeing this cat from AB Catalytic too (does AB stand for Alberta?). I'm excited to see what the result will be, please update us.

[CroughtonE32]

I'm not sure what AB stands for, but I do know they only manufacture. They don't sell direct. But they sell to many places in Canada as well as one place in the states. I found their website and contact phone number by just hunting around online to try and get some info before placing the order from one of their sales people. Really nice people. This is the manufactures web site.

http://www.abcatalytic.ca/

AB Catalytic
1133 Haultain CourtMississauga, OntarioL4W 2K1 Canada

905-212-9774

[m60power]

All this sound well and good and for me a bit scary. Keeping the car so stock for more than 30 years. I decided to order the direct fit cat from Canada. i found out who the seller got the cat from and called the manufacturer. Was not an easy feat, but ended up with a manager who gave me lots of good info. Mostly that the Canadian company I was buying from were very reputable and a large customer of his. The company that makes the cats is called AB Catalytic. Really nice people. The guy told me that DEC was basically a competitor of his and that my DEC cat should not have blown in just short of 6 years. Said I should have my mechanic check that the car is not running too rich. Could be as my miles per gallon has fallen off the past two years. Either way it should be at my guys shop by next Friday. Everyone is Canada is so nice to deal with after working with people in the states for so long. They were all so helpful. So I hope for the best, and we'll see. The down pipes are the same as the OEM as well as the DEC and it does have a spot for my O2 sensor to screw in just before the Cat on the pipe. Like always. Now it's just up to FedEx. Here's the manufacturer and the place of sale. https://www.ebay.com/itm/29409394868...cAAOSw3mJhLPtb


http://www.abcatalytic.ca/

That is some good digging you did. I agree that you should try to keep it as OEM as possible, I was just trying to give some ideas if you decide to delete the cats. I would normally suggest to buy new cats directly from BMW but they are NLA for your car. I wonder if the the Euro cat-less front exhaust assembly is still available from BMW? That could be a viable OEM option too.

EDIT: Just realized you said you ordered the one from Canada; that's what I get for replying before reading the entire post haha. Well if it doesn't work out you could take a look at euro 735 cat-less front pipes as a potential alternative.

[CroughtonE32]

Yep, it was ordered two days ago, and I just got the shipping Fedex tracking number an hour ago. These people seem to mean business. If the part is packed well and does the job for the price I paid, this will have been a great deal all around. I still can't get over how nice these people are. From the seller to the manufacturer, just everyone I made contact with. I guess it's a "Canada" thing. Born in Brooklyn and living in South Florida for 45 years.................well, let's just say really nice vendors are not easy to come by.
Jeff

[CroughtonE32]

So the Cat from Canada that I was so excited about came in just a few days, but ended up not being as much as a "Direct Fit" as we expected. My mechanic said he could not get it to fit to the down popes. Just ended up with spacing at the exhaust manifold with lots of leak noise. Lucky for me this company in Canada had been as nice with the return process as they were with the sale. I got a message today that there was no problem with them sending me a prepaid FedEx label and a complete refund upon receipt. When I ordered it and posted here that I did, it was seconds before Shogun said that Rock Auto had one made in the USA by Davico. So I ordered that one yesterday and it should be shipped tomorrow. We'll see how that one fits. If I end up with two that don't fit well it looks like I'll have to go for the more expensive 50 state Cat from DEC. I know that fits because I have the 48 state DEC in there now. I know it failed in only five years, but it could have just been a bad one. The 50 state one has a lot more precious metal to meet California specs, even though we have no inspections here in Florida. I had my guy change the plugs and told me everything was nice and dry, my injectors are only six years old so as far as running too rich causing the Cat to fail.......well I just don't know. I have no fault codes, the car runs perfect and I guess I'll replace the O2 sensor with the new Cat. Any other things you guys think I should have him look into as to why the Cat failed in only 5 years, I'm up for listening to. Thanks.
Jeff

[paulmer]

Do you ever use Seaform or other products -- anything other than fuel and motor oil in your engine? I've heard scare stories of them clogging or otherwise damaging cats, not sure if that is true or not. But just a thought.

[CroughtonE32]

I have never used any products in my car. About six or so years ago when I replaced all six injectors I searched high and low for the exact OEM injectors. At the time Bosch had replaced them with a thinner dark brown replacement, but Mr. OEM here searched and found the exact injectors that we pulled out. They were discontinued but I found a place in South Florida that had a dozen of them on their shelf. They were $90.00 each, but at least I got what I wanted. The place was called Green Eye Auto Parts. Only used them that once. After installing them along with a new fuel rail and PFR I decided to go back to the fuel my 1990 BMW was built to run on. There was no ethanol rule back in those days and so for all these years I've been running the car on Non Ethanol fuel. After all it's what I used for it's first eight years or so until all the fuel in the US came with 10% sugar. I mean ethanol. I can't imagine that doing any harm. The car runs perfect. Maybe I just got a badly manufactured Cat five years ago when I replaced my OEM Cat. The reason for that was a horrible noise coming from it. Just for the hell of it my mechanic took it apart the next day before getting rid of it. I saw an H shaped purple block of I guess the precious metals broken up into pieces. It should have been a solid block. That one lasted a little more than 25 years and at the time I think about 160,000 miles. Hey, you want to keep these cars perfect, nobody ever said it wasn't going to cost you. On the bright side I haven't had a car payment since 1994, and I'm driving around in something certainly a great deal nicer than the cars today. You can't even tell what's what any longer unless you put on your glasses and get close enough to read the model. Even the emblems look almost the same.

[Cactuar]

I love your old school attitude Jeff. I'm the same, if I can drive my E32 for 30 more years I'd be satisfied. There's nothing new I'd want anyway.

About the cat, it's not the first time I read a story like yours. I always wondered why aftermarket companies claim 100% fitment when the part is so far out of spec. It just ends up in more time wasted, what's the point? I hope the next cat fits well.

[CroughtonE32]

Thanks JF. As I said there's always the final approach. DEC still makes the 50 state Cat for my car. I'm sure it will fit as the 48 state one in my car now that failed, was truly a direct fit. I watched it being installed. The problem is of course always money, but when you have to spend you spend. It's about double the price but has a five year warranty instead of the two year warranty and I think that one should outlive me.

[Paul Milton]

Ha, that’s 15min from my house. :-)

[CroughtonE32]

So I decided to just shell out the big bucks on this one. Not so much for the Cat but for the shipping. FedEx overnight. Never did that before. Rock Auto has warehouses all over the country. This one came from Mass. $108.00 and it's already in Fort Lauderdale. Will be out for delivery Monday morning. I'm sure hoping this one fits. We Shall See!

Actually I was wrong. It's not Rock Auto that's in Mass. It's Davico Catalytic manufacturing that's in New Bedford, Mass. Looks like Rock Auto dropped shipped it from the factory. Maybe that's a good sign.

[CroughtonE32]

What an interesting end to this insanity. So to recap.....Almost 6 years ago I replaced my OEM Cat with one from DEC that I purchased from BavAuto. It was a 48 state Cat and was about half the price of the same companies 50 state Cat. A little under $400.00. I still have the BavAuto magazine I ordered it from. They had it in every magazine from 2013 on. That and Magnaflow. Depended on which model BMW you had. So a few weeks ago when it began making noise (lots of noise) even when just shutting the trunk with the motor off, I figured I had a bad one and ordered one from the Canadian company AB Catalytic in Ontario. Looked good, but it did not fit. Two problems, one where the down pipes connected up top by the manifold and another problem where the pipe on the left did not fit the pipe from the center muffler without some welding. My mechanic doesn't do that. Was supposed to be a direct fit. It was a little difficult getting all the paperwork together for the return to the manufacturer. Had to fill out a North American Free Trade Agreement Certificate of Origin. Did that and then I needed to sign three (3) copies of the Commercial Invoice. Each two (2) pages, but that part was easy. Printed them all out along with a pre-paid FedEx shipping label. All went into a large clear freezer bag and I taped it all to the box. So my mechanic will call FedEx and have that one picked up. It was made very clear to me that this needed to be done exactly as stated or it would come back to me from Canadian customs. I think I did it all correct. In the mean time I ordered the one from Rock Auto. That one was dropped shipped from an American company called Davico. My guy (who worked for Vista BMW for at least 20 years), so he knows the E32 said this one connected to the top by the manifold but two problems down below. The pipe on the left was much too wide and the placement of the O2 sensor was in such a place it could not fit the M30 motor because the transmission was well in the way. So I got a return label from Rock Auto and today took an Uber 35 miles to his shop to pick up the car. You might say is he bringing home that noisy failed Cat from DEC? Yes, but without the noise. I told him I'd bring the paperwork and shipping labels for both Cats attach them to the packages and he can call FedEx to pick them both up. Just put the old Cat back on and we'll deal with this when he gets back from vacation at the end of January. So he says no problem. I hang up and he lifts the old Cat and when he started putting it in place, small pieces of the precious metal fell out through one of the pipes. One about the size of a quarter hit him. So he shook the Cat and realized that for sure that's where the noise came from. He got a few more pieces to come out and then no more noise. He installed the old Cat and five year old O2 sensor and all is back to normal. Drove home and heard noting. Pulled into the garage where I really heard the noise and nothing. Opened the trunk to check the new trunk struts he installed and when I closed the trunk hard, instead of hearing marbles I heard nothing. Thought I'd tell this story in case any of you guys with M30 motors ever end up with a noisy Cat. You might want to remove it, shake it up a bit and see what comes out of the pipes. Not worried if the Cat is performing perfectly as Florida has no inspections. It probably is working fine with a few little pieces broken off. I remember once seeing the inside of an OEM Cat from my car and it looked like an H shaped purple stone. Interesting day. Everything else I asked him to do is done, and two Cats are on their way back to the manufacturers. Thank god for Diovan. Kept that blood pressure in order during the entire week. Last time I got this involved in anything was when I had to change out four Comcast HD/DVR's. That was a back breaker.
Jeff


Three pics he sent me while doing the work. Easy to see.

[letank]

Do you ever use Seaform or other products -- anything other than fuel and motor oil in your engine? I've heard scare stories of them clogging or otherwise damaging cats, not sure if that is true or not. But just a thought.

seafoam is diesel gas with other organic compounds... not for fuel injection... may be carburetors...

As far as noisy cat, our has been noisy when cold for the last 5 years, but it quiets down after 2 or 3 mins