Mazda Forum - Mazda Enthusiast Forums - OBDII Catalytic Cov

OK - To make a long story short, some crackhead stole my catalytic convertor right out from under my 98 MPV. Did a good job on the cutting I must say, real clean. I went to a muffler shop as I needed the car up and running asap, I was desperate as I could not lose time from my job that particular week. Anyway, he charged my $350 for the job, sounded rather cheap, I figured out why....

I had just replaced both my o2 Sensor before this happened and she was running smooth, not a problem, now, afetr this new cat, P0141 is showing up, and I will find out this weekend for sure, but I think the muffler guy put an OBDI cat on it instead of a OBDII, one of those cheap universal eastern catalytic models that run like 50bucks.

Anyway, I want to do it right this time, and a friend of mine has a guy that will do the work for me for cheap in a couple of weeks, but I said I would buy the OEM part online and have it shipped that way theres no questions as to the part that should be on it. My problem is that whole OBDII thing isnt listed on most Cat websites, so anybody have any ideas on an actual model number for the part, I mean obviously only a handful of companies own the market share and are making these cats, so it cant be that hard, but when I look, I get two different kinds, some say "EXC CA" which means me as I am in CA. Also I have heard on the forums that I may have had two cats, but I swear I only had one, the model I had was like a small cat then a real long pipe leading to the muffler, so the cat piece was maybe 30 inches from the manifold pipe begining.

Anybody have any clues, perhaps someone with a 96-98 has replaced thier cat before, I have called alternative muffler shops in the area and they say if I want to go OEM it will be 1000 bucks, and I know they are trying to rip me off.