I was told I need a catalactic converter for front and rear. My check engine light is on and I smell exhaust fumes when my car is running. Could that be the problem?
Sure, could be. Car exhaust can kill you. A bad cat will prevent you from passing local emission tests plus that dash light will always be on.
Check on this with your dealer if you have less than 80K on your car. The Federal Emissions Warranty can cover emissions related component repairs for vehicles up to 8 years old or up to 80,000 miles, whichever comes first. If the cats are bad, you might be right on the limit of warranty at 8 years.
Believe there is a recall on the manifold/cat converter.
Check with dealer.
+1 to the preceding comments, but I have to wonder if there is an underlying engine problem that led to the early demise of the catalytic converters. 8 years is rather early for cat converters to go bad… if the engine has been properly maintained, and if it was running properly for the past few months.
Was there a prior instance of the CEL being lit up?
Or, much worse, was there an instance of the CEL blinking/flashing before the converters apparently went bad?
I agree - very unusual for a cat to fail without protracted poor running, or physical damage. I think many “bad cat” diagnoses are wrong.
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I have replaced dozens of catalytic converters under warranty, I don’t have time to worry if the failure was premature. If there were to be a hidden cause of failure the vehicle would return with the same problem.