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The Check Engine light came on in my 1998 Toyota 4Runner (old car, but only 75K miles on it). Took it to the mechanic and he ran the codes. Turns out that both my oxygen sensors are shot. While they were under there, they saw leaks in most components of the exhaust system and some holes in the muffler. Not a surprise, considering my car's been pretty loud recently, it's all original down underneath, and the salt from the streets of Chicago are pretty rough on undercarriages. They're recommending a completely new exhaust system, which I'm inclined to agree with.
The problem is with the price they quoted for everything, which comes to the tune of almost $1800. A big chunk of that was nearly $600 for a new catalytic converter. But it still seemed pretty high for everything. So, I did some investigating and found that I can get a direct fit catalytic converter for a little over $200, and the rest of the pieces (muffler, sensors, tail pipe, gaskets, etc) should only run me about $800 or so for the whole system. Do I go ahead and attempt to replace the exhaust system myself to save the nearly $1000?
I'm not really savvy about car repair, but this seems to be pretty much a remove and replace kind of thing. Everything just hangs and clamps together, right? It doesn't look like I need to weld anything. I'm pretty handy with tools, but if there's some secret ninja car exhaust replacement stuff I'm not aware of, I'd like to find out now, rather than when I have a bunch of rusted-out pipes sitting on the garage floor.
I thought about just doing a cat-back replacement, but I fear with a 13-year-old converter under there, it's just a matter of time before that goes as well, and if I'm under there already, shouldn't I just swap it all out?
I have access to my father-in-law's heated garage and all his tools (in his day, he competed as a club-circuit racer of Corvettes and other cars). He's over 80 and hasn't seen the underside of a car in about two decades, otherwise I'd ask his advice.
I'd appreciate any knowledge you folks can share.
The problem is with the price they quoted for everything, which comes to the tune of almost $1800. A big chunk of that was nearly $600 for a new catalytic converter. But it still seemed pretty high for everything. So, I did some investigating and found that I can get a direct fit catalytic converter for a little over $200, and the rest of the pieces (muffler, sensors, tail pipe, gaskets, etc) should only run me about $800 or so for the whole system. Do I go ahead and attempt to replace the exhaust system myself to save the nearly $1000?
I'm not really savvy about car repair, but this seems to be pretty much a remove and replace kind of thing. Everything just hangs and clamps together, right? It doesn't look like I need to weld anything. I'm pretty handy with tools, but if there's some secret ninja car exhaust replacement stuff I'm not aware of, I'd like to find out now, rather than when I have a bunch of rusted-out pipes sitting on the garage floor.
I thought about just doing a cat-back replacement, but I fear with a 13-year-old converter under there, it's just a matter of time before that goes as well, and if I'm under there already, shouldn't I just swap it all out?
I have access to my father-in-law's heated garage and all his tools (in his day, he competed as a club-circuit racer of Corvettes and other cars). He's over 80 and hasn't seen the underside of a car in about two decades, otherwise I'd ask his advice.
I'd appreciate any knowledge you folks can share.
British by birth....English by the grace of God. 
Yes Jamie...it is big isn't it....
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