Hi, I just bought my 04 RX8 yesterday. It threw the CEL on the way home and says I need a Catalyctic Converter. I love everything else about the car, so I dont really wanna take it back to the dealer and throw a fit. I am not sure if I should just replace the cat with a stock one or if I should buy an aftermarket high flow cat. I just bought the car so my budget is limited, but I am planning on putting exhaust on eventually. Therefore, is it worth it to go ahead and get a high flow cat now? If so, what kinds do you reccommend that work good, sound good, and dont cost a lot of money? I searched this earlier and I only found people asking about really expensive cats, are there any cheap ones? Thanks, Sean

 

The emissions warranty is for 8 yrs/80,000 miles. As long as you are under that, Mazda will replace it.

 

If your not under that 80,000 Rotary performance has a nice supercat

 

Mazda will replace it even though I bought it from a small used car dealer with the sticker that was checked "no warranty" ? That would be great!

 

the emissions warranty is mandated by the US government on every new car. So this warranty will never expire for any reason unless its a salvage title or something similar.

Also check your car fax or check with Mazda, the local dealership may be trying to get out of responsibility, but its still a Mazda product with OEM warranties. Unless someone did something to the car you should still have the new extended power train warranty.

 

Awesome! That just made my day a whole lot better. Thanks guys.

 

you should just go catless and will get more power and will sound nice jsut keep the stock cat and bolt it back on when its time for you to get your car checked out by the state

 

I dont know, I dont really want the smell in the car, at least not quite yet.... Another question I have is, when the CEL came on, the car had started making sort of a vibration and a loud noise. Almost like something was loose and bumping up against the floorpan, but it is a sound that is hard to identify. Im wondering if this could be a symptom of a bad cat. My dealer is supposed to look at it this weekend but I still want to try to narrow it down. Also, there is a strong smell of gas. I know that with no cat there would be a smell but would there be a smell one with a bad cat?

 

Regardless of what you decide to do get your cat replaced while you can for free.

 

if he goes catless wont the O2 sensors go off?

 

go with a high flow cat, its worth it

Rev8 exhaust with stock cathttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYEaT6DSQek

With hi flow cat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9lvcO9Vr-Y

 

^I think, I may have labeld the videos wrong...idk lol
let me know if you can tell a difference

 

Thanks. I have been looking at that RP Supercat...now Im just trying to decide what kind of exhaust I want. Any suggestions? Also, my dealer is looking at my car on monday so Im hoping the CEL and the noises will be fixed then. Hopefully anyways...

 

there are tons of threads on what exhaust to pick. I have the borla and it sounds like amazing. nice and deep and with the RP supercat it sounded even better.

 

I was one of the ginea pigs that tried the OBX exhaust off of ebay and it is a very good exhaust not loud but under WOT or higher revs sounds very very good.....I reccommend that or the borla which sounds good also

 

I have the Borla and love it. I'm working on getting the RP supercat to compliment it.