Are catalytic converters covered under factory warranty?

[Ground_zero298]

They're tucked up pretty high. I don't think anyone would have a very easy time cutting them out with or without bash plates.

No one’s cutting the cat off a 2.7.

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[Ducati1098]

No one’s cutting the cat off a 2.7.

Agreed.

 

[SpringTXOR]

The only reasons for that cat to go out this quickly is due to an engine out of tune; most likely running rich, or the honeycomb structure inside was physically broken. They don't just go out on their own.

 

[JakeC]

Anyone know if the 2.3 (with Badlands bash plates) is safer than your standard vehicle?

 

[Ducati1098]

Anyone know if the 2.3 (with Badlands bash plates) is safer than your standard vehicle?

Same as the 2.7, it is tucked up very high. So even without bash plates its highly unlikely anyone could get in there and cut it out.

 

[j_marinelli]

Can't speak for the Bronco but I did have a Cat go bad in my Fiesta around 70k miles and it was covered under warranty no questions asked.

 

[Gnomad]

Never heard of a cat being a "consumable" Federal emissions coveres emission parts for 8 years/80K miles,. Period end of discussion really, your dealer is blowing smoke.

The question is how a flowmaster would wipe out a catcon ,which one got killed, and how you wouldn't have noticed the damn thing glowing like a nuclear reactor and not setting your Bronco on fire.

 

[Grumpy]

I really don't see the flowmaster being the culprit. Something else would of caused the cat failure if indeed that is the issue. The O2 sensors fore and aft of the cats would of sense a rich or lean issue and would of thrown a CEL , if the computer could not correct. I don't believe I've ever heard or witnessed a cat go bad in 7 months, unless Ford identified and issued a recall for a bad batch of cats previously.

 

[flip]

8/80 as stated by others. From the mouth of a warranty admin trainers mouth, "even if a missfire toasts a cat (raw fuel overheat), customer pays to have the miss fixed, Ford will cover the cats as long as still under emission warranty.

What isn't covered...impact/fire/water/chemical damage. I say chemical because high silicon content in fuel will kill them too. Had a local fuel distributor that bought their ethanol from a place that had a filtration issue that caused the high levels.

Unless there was some sort of jacked up tune, intake modifications or something extremely obvious that could be directly tied to the failure, it should be warranty. If this happened shortly after filling, you may also check with that station to see if they had any other reported problems. Don't have all the information to make the call but based on what's been said, probably should be covered.

 

[da_jokker]

I was going to say, you to climb under that sucker cut those cats off, and tell your insurance company they were stolen at those prices!

And personally, I can't fathom anyway that a muffler, or even completely removing a muffler, could mess up a converter.

Sounds to me like a dealer trying to get out of warranty work.

 

[Ducati1098]

Sounds to me like a dealer trying to get out of warranty work.

The dealer never said the cat back damaged the cat.
He removed the aftermarket exhaust before he brought it to the dealer.

 

[DD214]

Man I sure hope they're covered. At least where I live they have "California special" they're like $400 for a Honda Civic!

lol. $400. I had 3 stolen from a 2018 Toyota Sequupia and the cats were like $4500 at least for 3. The total cost was $9873 as they hit the transmission cooler with the sawzall. The aftermarket’s were better than $1800

 

[da_jokker]

The dealer never said the cat back damaged the cat.
He removed the aftermarket exhaust before he brought it to the dealer.

Exactly, but even with a new muffler...why would a dealer refuse to warranty the Cats when they are clearly a warranty item.

Now if they found the wrong gas in the vehicle or something, maybe I could see. Or even if the person tampered with a tune and burned them up.

But the op stated " dealer said I blew my cat because my mpg is dropping and I’m loosing boost when I accelerate"

Seems like whatever caused his mpg to drop and/or boost to escape would be a Ford problem, no?

For example, there have been some reports where people have found clamps not tight, or their turbos going bad, etc. Had something like that burned up your Cat converter wouldn't the whole thing be warranted?

 

[Ducati1098]

Exactly, but even with a new muffler...why would a dealer refuse to warranty the Cats when they are clearly a warranty item.

I don't know the whole situation, so that isn't easy to answer. I don't think they would. And it doesn't sound like this dealership did. Every dealership is different though.

For example, there have been some reports where people have found clamps not tight, or their turbos going bad, etc. Had something like that burned up your Cat converter wouldn't the whole thing be warranted?

In most cases, yes. A failure directly resulting in converter damage would mean the converter is covered.
However, that is being extremely general as every diagnosis and repair is different. Seeing as I'm not the one working on this particular vehicle, I can't exactly claim whether it would be covered or not.

 

[RHeinz]

Could it have been physically damaged by the installation of the aftermarket exhaust system? Misalignment or lack of support causing obvious damage?

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