Catalytic Converter Bad on 2018 at 38k miles?

Got the CEL today. Anyone else have this issue or know what possibe underlying condition would cause the CC to go bad so early? I literally got it Certified Pre Owned last March and I've put less than 2000 miles on it. It has the warranty for the first 12 months so it should be covered, but WTH Toyota?

Oh, it also needs its second battery too in the 3.5 years if it's short life.

 

post oxygen sensors determine if catalytic converter is working. Catalytic converter a known an proven technology. As long as yours are still on your truck my guess is O2 sensor or wiring harness. That being said a buddy with an F150 had a catalytic converting go bad at 8k miles so what do I know....

 

I was wondering if the PO may have pulled it before selling ( I bought online) and made a quick buck. Seems like it would be louder and stinkier if it was though. Just having some buyers remorse as it should not be having this and other issues with the tranny I've been seeing. Not sure if this one was made on. Friday or after a work party the day before? Lol

 

From my understanding, besides the wiring and O2 sensor, converters should last a long time unless the engine is not running properly. I had a 97 F150 V6, it spun a bearing because Ford at 76,000 miles. Got the engine replaced under warranty. About 10,000k later the cats went bad. The pre-cat basically fell apart and clogged the secondary catalytic converter‘s. $1100 later and I was back on the road LMFAO.

I can only attribute that to the engine failure.

I feel that your problem is more likely an O2 sensor or the wiring. At least I hope so

 

Thanks. I hope that is the case, but this isn't the only thing that has me worried on it. To spare you the gory details, I got screwed by a shady dealer while buying online so they took advantage of that I couldn't see it in person. MF'rs. Thank God prices are through the roof right now and I'll basically break even. I'll buy some junker and drive that for a couple of years until things calm down a little. I'm not proud. Lol

 

Why not spend a lil' and have a good mechanic give it a thorough inspection. It's still a Tundie, if it's not totally f'ed off, it's worth some effort.

 

Finding a good mechanic right now is like looking for a golden unicorn with a rainbow shooting out its ass and winning the lottery at the same time. Skilled labor is the new 6 digit career, mark my words.

Thank you for the reply though. I'd love to have a local person to give it a good inspection. I think I'm going to dump this turd before I end up with more problems. I believe in Toyota, I just think some slip thru the cracks or the dealer who owned it took advantage of his position and beat the hell out of it.

 

Not to say it never happens, but it does. Unusual for one to go out that early though. If you have access to a scanner watch rear O2 voltages and compare. Downstream sensors should produce relatively flat voltage signals of .4-.6V with a little fluctuation. If the voltage on the rear seems sporadic or flatlines occasionally, probably a bad sensor. If the voltage fluctuation is greater (.1-.9V) but consistent, you have a bad cat. As always, check harnesses for good connections and chafing.

 

Where are you located? If you’re in San Diego take it to Japanese Auto Tech. Young is as straight a shooter as it gets

 

Appreciate that brother, but I'm in the great lake state of Michigan. Thank you though.

 

That's pretty unusual. Have you taken a peek underneath to see if they were replaced? They could have been stolen at some point and from what I hear, Toyotas don't like aftermarket cats.

And factory batteries suck.

 

Take it to the stealership.. I do believe those are covered to 100k miles regardless of your 60k mile warranty

 

I haven't yet, but will. Not sure what I'm looking for. I assume what looks like a second muffler? I'm old, so not sure the difference and they a look like mufflers to me. The fact these are going for so much pisses me off the dealer screwed me on it. I'm sure they did.

Thank you for the reply.

 

These are your cats here, I believe there are only 4. It could be something unrelated but taking a peek under there isn't going to hurt just to see if the o2 sensors are attached and not broken or if there's been obvious work to the cats

 

You’re either buying cheap batteries or they are poorly maintained due to sitting.
As for the other issue, that sucks. Sorry. Every dealer I’ve ever encountered is littered with shady people.
I also agree with you 100 percent on skilled labor. To many pretty boys that feel they are to good to get their hands in the mix will and is leading to a shortage of skilled labor.

 

There's a lot of us that got about 2 years out of our factory batteries.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/toyota-batteries-suck.47485/

https://www.tundras.com/threads/factory-battery-expectations.72398/

 

Yes, the stock battery isn't great but going through 2 in 3.5 years like the OP said is excessive.

 

Yeah, I guess I read it a little differently. He said it needs its second battery, not 2nd battery replacement. Not sure which he meant but if he's in fact on his 3rd battery, that would be excessive.

 

3.5 years on the stock battery is better than average.

As far as your cats being bad, did you pull the code to see exactly what's going on?
A CEL doesn't automatically equal bad cats, it could be literally dozens of things.
Its more than likely an O2 sensor if you're getting a related code, more likely than a bad cat anyways.
If your engine had an issue that would destroy the cats it would be all of them, not isolated to just one.

Its also possible that the factory cats were stolen at some point (very common and getting worse) and were replaced with aftermarket cats. As mentioned earlier, these trucks don't like anything but factory cats.
Look underneath and see if it looks like fresh welds before and after the cats, sloppy welds, different color than the surrounding piping, etc. it should be pretty easy to tell if new cats have been welded in recently. If you can't tell by looking then snap some pics and post them up and someone on here should be able to tell whether they are the originals or aftermarkets.

 

The CATS are warrantied for 8 years/80,000 miles as someone previously indicated. You don't have to be the original owner. The O2 sensors are not warrantied beyond 3 years/36,000 miles but they are much, much cheaper.

 

I went and read it again. I believe you’re correct. 3.5 years on the stocker isn’t bad at all.

 

Converters are covered under federal emissions warranty. Should be 8 year 80,000.

 

Lond tube headers mid pipes and exhaust problem solved