There is no cat in the intake manifold. Either you misunderstood him or he missed his AA meeting.
Ha ha. Yes I could have heard him wrong. It sounded like what he said but maybe not.
Seems like I'd let the local mechanic run some tests. The frachise place is just replacing lots of parts figuring one of them will take care of the failed DEQ test.
I was suspicious of that. Especially since the 1st local mechanic didn't say straight out that I needed to replace the part.
The other local mechanic said he could run a diagnostic test for $100 and then know what is causing the problem. If it is just the oxygen sensors then that would cost me around $200 for parts as opposed to $800 to replace the manifold catylitic converter.
More info on the vehicle; make, model, year, motor size, # of miles, etc. might help.
2002 Mitsubishi Lancer ES 4 cyl. 230,000 miles