First some background:

My 2001 Tribute (LX model) has been running sporadically for about a year. Power has been down, fuel consumption has been up (even worse than usual). Every once in a while there was some stumbling or hesitation in the engine, either at startup or at lower speeds. There have also been several symptoms that I am not sure are related: 1) high fan comes on and stays on, even after short trips, but usually only during city driving and, 2) the battery light comes on intermittantly. About a week ago, my wife was driving it when it seemed to lose all power. She said the engine was still running fine at idle, but it was like the transmission wasn't engaged or there was not enough power or torque to drive the wheels forward. We had it towed to the dealer. Dealer spent a week trying to figure out the problem. No trouble codes were present. 1st they said the transmission was probably shot. Then it checked out ok. Then they said the PCM was bad and they had to talk to mazda headquarters. That checked out ok too. Now they are saying that the catalytic converters (all three... one integrated in each of the exhaust manifolds, the "upstream" catalytic converters, and the regular "downstream" catalytic converter) are all clogged. Since I am in California, my only option, apparently, is to buy factory replacements, which are the only ones that are CARB compliant. The dealer is quoting me about $2800 for the parts and labor.

Here are my questions: If I get some non-CARB compliant aftermarket parts (which will run about $800) how likely is it that my car will fail CA emissions? The car has always tested well below the alotted parameters. I guess they do a visual inspection, but can they really tell the difference? Is it possible/worth it to try to locate parts from a used/wrecked vehicle? My intention would probably just be to fix it and then sell it out of state in the next year or so, before my next inspection. I just can't afford to fix, or be without a car in the short run. Any help or suggestions are appreciated.

 

the after market cats will fail visual inspection, but won't have any problem passing emissions (assuming that similar catalysts are used and they have the same surface area as the old cats). you can try and just risk it to see what the inspectors say. in my state, those are gray areas, but you are in california so that is definitely a dark area.

 

2 things here: Firstly the problem you described would not be caused by the cats, especially when you said the engine ran fine at idle, but drive would not engage. Clogged cats will cause the engine to stall, run very weak. I'm not saying the cats aren't faulty but I don't think its the cause. Secondly, 2 of the cats are part of the exhaust manifolds so I really don't think you'll be able to find an aftermarket replacement. These are very expensive and 2800 seems like a reasonable price considering the difficulty in actually removing them (extremely difficult!). Hope you get this sorted, would be interested to find out if this sorts the problem.

 

I would try another facility for a fresh set of eyes.

How many miles on your vehicle?

 

I have a 01 tribute v6 3.0 and it has gotton really bad on fuel i get about 270 to 300 km per tank of fuel now my engine light is on with the code p0430 but i couple of years ago i had the catalytic converter cut off because it was pluged up and everything was fine untill a couple of weeks ago my light came on and it is really really bad on fuel does anyone know what i could do to get my milage back to where it should be

please help me