My car engine light is on and I need to pass my smog test since it‘s already late. So I‘m wondering about whether to change my cata converter at the dealership or an auto shop. In terms of labor fee, time, cost of the part, which would be a better choice?
Good answers here - mine is too late to be best. I will echo the warning that your catalytic converter is not the top suspect. The youngest converter I have seen that was bad was 18 years old and was on a car with a carburetor. Get it diagnosed and fixed rather than throwing money at it. I have never seen a car with a P0420 code (catalyst efficiency below threshold) that needed a new catalytic converter. Sometimes putting a new converter on will make it enough better for the light to go away for a few months, then it comes back. Fix the cause, not the symptom.
