Screw Nissan and their defective cat problem

[body80]

Screw Nissan and their defective cat problem

First off I just want to start by saying “I love having a welder.”

Nico club exclusive!!!

I’ve had an exhaust leak since I bought the pathfinder over a year ago but I finally decided to do something about it since I was doing a lot of maintenance work. So after looking around forever on the net and reading about a ton of people talking about the $80 exhaust patch that Nissan issues for the defective cracking cat problem. I couldn’t find one picture showing the problem or even this famous patch job they do to fix the problem. Well I dived in and sure enough I have a patch on both cats; took some picture of the problem; Nissan’s solution; and my permanent solution.

And I’m giving Nico the exclusive pictures.

The problem;The seam of the cat cracks and splits. Causing a bad exhaust leak.

Well here is Nissan’s stupid fix. They take 2 V shaped brackets and fill them with exhaust putty and then use 2 clips to hold them in place.

Here’s the problem with that. MANY MANY people say that the same problem appears again 5,10,15 thousand miles later and all Nissan does is put on another patch.

Now here’s my fix. Weld that s*** up nice and tight. LOL



Oh it sounds soo much better and I don’t have to worry about it failing on me. It’s really easy. It’s about $6 in gaskets and about 2 hours of time. Well worth it to never have to be troubled about it again.

There you go. Pictures showing the problem and the patch Nissan installs. Only place on the net.

[Qxxx4]

damn, nice work! i have a leak that I cant find where its from, that might be it! how many hours did it take you? i need to find a good welder in my area to fix up my running board and take care of this while hes at it

[GRNMACHINE]

Nice job, nice writeup, great pics-thanks! By the way what year is your Path?

[body80]

damn, nice work! i have a leak that I cant find where its from, that might be it! how many hours did it take you? i need to find a good welder in my area to fix up my running board and take care of this while hes at it

Honestly, I'd pull both of them down and have someone take me to a muffler shop to have them welded up. It shouldn't cost too much and like I said it's a permanant fix compared to nissan's fix.

Nice job, nice writeup, great pics-thanks! By the way what year is your Path?

My pathfinder is a 2002

[Fisherdude]

if your willing to pay nissan to fix ur old s***, you could invest in some high-flow cats as replacements-killing 2 birds with one stone

[Qxxx4]

how does that work? because I saw magnaflow catalytic converters before....would that just bolt on to our pathys?

[Chuck Tribolet]

Nice welds. MIG, TIG, or gas?

[body80]

if your willing to pay Nissan to fix ur old s***, you could invest in some high-flow cats as replacements-killing 2 birds with one stone

That seems pointless IMO. It'll be far more expensive then having Nissan fix it. You'll gain nothing from high flow cats other then a lighter wallet. 2-4HP is pointless. Pull then down pay a muffler shop $30 to weld it and pickup $6 in gaskets to reinstall it. Done deal for $36.

Nice welds. MIG, TIG, or gas?

I have a Lincoln 135 MIG set up with shielding gas. I've come to terms with the fact that my welds will NEVER look pretty but they sure as hell will hold. I've practiced enough to not have any pin holes in one pass.

[Empty V]

Is this problem related to rust or just a natural separation?

Billy

[Pwnin O'Brien]

It's caused by rust; I think the original weld was so thin that it just rusted apart easier than it should have.

[abadlovesong]

Damn. My pf has been throwing a p0420 and p0430 code for some time now. Haven't noticed any issues, no drop in mpg or performance. So, this may be all that is wrong with my cats. At least i hope so. And if it is all that is wrong, i'm definitely going to try to get a shop to patch them up quick. I'm tired of that SES light.

[Pwnin O'Brien]

I should point out that these aren't actually catalytic converters (even though they look exactly like your standard cats). These are actually resonators that are right after the down pipe and under the driver and passenger seats.

[Innovazn]

I should point out that these aren't actually catalytic converters (even though they look exactly like your standard cats). These are actually resonators that are right after the down pipe and under the driver and passenger seats.

thanks for clearing that up... i was staring at those pictures for the longest time ever and my new cat that i had got in the mail and thought that i made a big f*** up on ordering the part..... lol

[Ryman]

so my qx4 has had its SES light on since i bought it and the code it throws up is p0420..... i read the posts with the p0420 DTC code in it and i was wondering if this would fix the code or if replacing the o2 sensor will do it..... people say that it's not anything bad i just want the SES light off so i know when something really happens i can fix it right away

[carnal_c30]

my Nissans have been awesome with the cats, my Toyota Camry has been a cat/evap nightmare

but damn nice work, if I have that problem with mine I'll definitely check it out

[body80]

so my qx4 has had its SES light on since i bought it and the code it throws up is p0420..... i read the posts with the p0420 DTC code in it and i was wondering if this would fix the code or if replacing the o2 sensor will do it..... people say that it's not anything bad i just want the SES light off so i know when something really happens i can fix it right away

P420???
Catalyst system efficiency below threshhold Bank 1...............right????????????????????

I have a crazy fix for this code but first alittle background.

I started throwing P430 which is the same code as you but for Bank 2 side. I played with it for months resetting the code and paying attention to when it would come back on. I can watch the O2 sensors with my scan tool and could tell from the freeze frame of the code it was only tripping the code because the efficiency was just barely out of tolerance. Now sometimes I can drive a month and sometimes only a few days before the light would come on. Which basically means my Catalytic converters were only bad from an environment stand point and just barely. There's not anything really wrong with the pathfinder.

N-E-ways.... The BIG dollar fix is to replace back Catalytic converters which would cost quite a bit. Or trick the ECU into thinking that everything was just fine.
I choice the cheaper route. Only cost my $10 LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Here's what you need.


Buy a package of non foulers, Start small and slowly enlarge the hole all the way up to a 1/2" drill bit.

Now pull the rear O2 sensors and install the non-fouler onto the O2 sensor and then screw it back into the exhaust. I did it to both sides so they are the same. Everything only took my about 30 minutes.


Now the theory behind it is the O2 sensor is now pulled out of the direct stream of exhaust gases. Because of this it's seeing less of a sample of exhaust gases. Rear O2 sensors are not used to adjust air/fuel ratios. It's there for government emissions measuring. Now that it's seeing less of the bad stuff it's sending that to the ECU and the ECU likes it.

So far I've driven 8000 miles with this fix and haven't had a single problem. Fuel mileage didn't change AT ALL.