Agreed. And If a bottle of cataclean will buy you more time, why not!?
There is that $200 core charge per cat. I believe that cost is figured into the job. The old cats are recycled by the dealer for the catalyst material. Given the high cost of replacement, it'll be hard to find someone who will give that up.EdBwoy wrote: ↑Wed Jul 17, 2019 5:17 am
Agreed. And If a bottle of cataclean will buy you more time, why not!?
***
I think there is a way you could help.
My ask has been that I get a manifold that has been diagnosed with the catalyst codes. I reckon you will be paying out of pocket since you're out of the standard warranty period. If yes, then the dealer should not have any reason to keep your old unit.
When you get the job done, could you ask that they carefully remove this "bad" one and save it for you?
At that point, if you have no use for it yourself, please get in touch with me (EdBwoy at gmail dot com) and we can make arrangements for me to get it.
If the dealer/repair shop saves the box from the new catalyst, this old one can be packaged in the same way and make shipping easier. Otherwise, I'd just have FedEx/UPS pad and package it for you, at my cost of course.
The dealerships around me have no problem giving me my old part back without having to pay anything extra. I am unaware of the $200 figure and where it came from, but the people I called would not charge me any extra if I took it home with me, neither would they give me a discount for leaving it behind.
The core charge is there. Infiniti Parts USA is $190:EdBwoy wrote: ↑Thu Jul 18, 2019 3:32 pmThe dealerships around me have no problem giving me my old part back without having to pay anything extra. I am unaware of the $200 figure and where it came from, but the people I called would not charge me any extra if I took it home with me, neither would they give me a discount for leaving it behind.
I do know that selling the manifold to a recycler would yield between $20-$80, depending on location, integrity of the cat etc.
However, I'd like to say this to everyone - if you intend to help me with this research for the good of the community and the only thing holding you back is the $200, just let me know and I'll be glad to pay for that as well.
Yes sir this will probably be the route I will take if I decide to have it done. Since they have to jack the motor anyway, I may elect to have both of them replaced.Larz wrote: ↑Sat Jul 20, 2019 10:07 amI bought my new CATs from Infinitipartsonline and saved hundreds on what the dealer charges for new CATs. They returned my old CATs to me in the boxes I received the new ones in and I shipped them back. I received my core deposit about 3 weeks after shipping. I didn't need to ask them to return my old CATs. They automatically gave them to me as I was the one who paid for the new CATs directly. Hopefully other dealerships will do the same, though I doubt they actually have to.
I acknowledge that people are different and therefore others have a little more of a giving or sharing nature than others... especially when $200 is the decision to be made.Given the high cost of replacement, it'll be hard to find someone who will give that up.
I guess a little clarification is due on my part - yes you may take your manifold home. I never said that you couldn't. My point is that you're not going to take it home for free. That $2400 quote is based on if they keep the manifold. If they quoted you $2400 AND told you that you could keep it, then the original price was $2200. I apologize if I didn't make that clear. I verified that with my dealer Modern Infiniti here in Winston-Salem this morning. I also spoke with my service advisor about my ongoing P0420 DTC, and had him run some numbers for me. If you think your quote is high, try $3590 for the AWD model replacement. (add $200 if I keep it). Try $4644 for both manifolds (add $400 if I keep both) He suggested that I try the emissions cleaning service first. This is the service that they recently added, the one I mentioned in my last post. It costs $235.18, and he said that if the light came back on, they would reimburse me for 1/2 the cost if I ended up having the manifold replaced. I will definitely shop online for the manifolds like Larz did, and have them perform the labor. Anyway, I dropped my car off, he had a 2019 QX80 loaner for me to run around in so I wouldn't have to wait around. (Holy cow what a tank LOL) Anyway, got my car back; seems to run better so we'll see what happens.EdBwoy wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2019 9:52 am***Armybrat, I called an Infiniti dealership and inquired specifically about the exhaust manifold work on an Infiniti M56x. It was not a general question to a random shop about random parts. Their answer was that I may take my old parts home.
Granted, their quote was $2,400 so if any core charges are to be involved I am sure they more than covered it along with the manager's boat payment.
I am not ready to go back and find where I said I was not willing to pay anything but it is indeed true that ideally, I'd love to receive these manifolds delivered at my doorstep at zero cost to me (as many people in my position would). After all, I'll be putting hours of research including facing the possibility of spending a few grand for analysis and redesign... all for the good of others.
However, let the record show that more than once I have declared that I will pay for shipping, professional packing services where needed, the core charge if the shop demands it, and even some gas money for your troubles.I acknowledge that people are different and therefore others have a little more of a giving or sharing nature than others... especially when $200 is the decision to be made.Given the high cost of replacement, it'll be hard to find someone who will give that up.
I however, don't particularly like this statement and if it doesn't discourage others, it does seem self-defeatist to constantly point out how impossible it is gonna be to get damaged items back from the dealership. The least someone could do is ask, right?
If they offer the emissions cleaning service where you live, I would give that a try. As I posted above, the AWD manifold replacement cost is outrageous. I will try anything before having the manifold replaced. If I do decide to bite the bullet, I will source them online and have the dealer install them like Larz did. They quoted me 12 hr labor at $1600 but I can't remember if that was for both sides. There's a lot more work involved in replacing them on the AWD models because of the transfer case/transmission, hence the higher cost vs RWD. Since you have to jack the motor anyway to do the passenger side, it would make more sense to go ahead and replace both at the same time if you have the AWD. (if you plan on keeping the car long term, which I plan on doing)
So far, I have about 1280 miles since my last post when I had the emissions cleaning service performed, no DTC's. I haven't run any live diagnostics to verify the operating temps pre-cat and post-cat but so far the car runs great.
There are separate O2 sensor codes; so far, I've only been getting the P0420. You can determine a lot by looking, so I unbolted my X-pipe and did a visual inspection through the exit end of both cats. From what little I can see and feel, the substrate seems to be intact, not broken or loose, and the holes look to be clear with no abnormal build up. As far as getting proper cleaning, if I'm not getting DTC's, or if they are far between then I can guess that the cleaning regimen is working. My driving is mostly highway/interstate roads, commuting back and forth to work. I don't race or beat on my car, other than a stoplight run or a pull from a roll here and there. I run BP 93 octane, but for a while, I was running 93 ethanol free gas from Quality Mart. It was around this time that I started getting the P0420 codes. It could've been coincidence (my mileage was around 95k when I got the 1st DTC). Another thing that crossed my mind was possibility the Uprev tune and/or custom exhaust, but folks with stock tunes and exhausts are having the same issues, so I ruled that out. I bought my car used, 3 year old lease turn in with 52k miles. It originally came from Pepe Infiniti in White Plains, NY but ended up in Tennesee, where I had it shipped from Carmax there to Carmax here in Winston-Salem, NC. I know that the previous owner (a woman) had the car serviced regularly, and did a pretty good amount of driving based on the mileage, but I don't know what kind of driving she did.Larz wrote: ↑Fri Aug 30, 2019 6:59 amYa know, there is comfort in community. Am I the only one who actually changed his CATs when the warning light came on? Granted, we went through the 'lets try the sensors first' but, but the new sensors also sent a code. I'm told that IF the CAT is just dirty, cleaning may fix the trouble ior at least extend the life, but if they are clogged from dislodged substrates, they must be changed. My question is this: How can you determine if a CAT is just dirty or blocked and how can you determine if you're getting a proper cleaning or just snake oil?
I had another P0420 pop up at 108,085...it lasted 1595 miles since the cleaning service. My dealership owes me 1/2 the cost of the cleaning service if I decide to replace my manifolds. I added a bottle of Cataclean, and did a reset at 108,138. I've been using BP 93 all of this time, so I decided to try a different gas going forward. They just opened a Mobil station on the way to work. I filled up with their 93 octane gas after the Cataclean treatment, so I will see how this gas performs compared to the BP 93. Maybe a different blend will make a difference.
Welp. I got to 589 miles and just 30 seconds after I checked my Torque app to see the status of my tests and how many miles I have gone with it off, it came back on. That, and I made a comment about this issue on the FB group. Totally jinxed myself.
My tag renews at the end of this month. I had an interesting development that I wanted to share. Last oil change was at 105k. I'm close to 110k miles now, so I will be due for another oil change - 5W30 Mobil 1 full synthetic. Every 2.5k I check my catch cans, and drain any oil that I trap. I want to note that since I replaced my PCV valves I am not trapping as much, maybe about half of what I was trapping...hardly any from Bank 2, mostly from Bank 1. Anyway, recently I was getting a P0174 code, lean condition on Bank 2. Of course this makes the car run rich, and as a result I also pulled a P0430 code along with it. (first time ever getting a P0430) My emissions inspection is due by the end of this month, so I needed to see what was going on here...so I popped the hood with the car running and heard a slight hissing sound on the passenger side, like a vacuum leak. I found that the drain valve on the catch can was slightly cracked and was sucking air, probably from when I did my check 2500 miles ago. As soon as I closed it off, the car idled back to normal (lean condition causes car to idle higher) holy crap maybe I fixed both issues. I reset the codes and took it to the station but they couldn't get a pass/fail that quick. I drove it to work and tried again the next day, and it passed no problem. P0420 is still intermittent, didn't rear its head this time around.
Yep that part is very important to proper emissions function. It will rattle even new, main thing is that it doesn't leak by. Even a slight leak in the valves will let excess oil blow by which in the long run, will cause your cats to clog up. A breach in the hoses will suck air which will make the car run rich, as I found out last week. This will also affect cat function.