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I am a 25 year ASE Certified professional auto repair technician who works for a prominent repair shop in SE. I have made auto repair my life & career. I was surfing around looking at reviews of my fellow repair shops when I found this review from a previous customer of & concerning the Art of Maintenance, & his feeble attempt to discredit them publicly. All I could do is laugh at his lack of knowledge & steady ignorance! It is obvious to me that this guy is nothing more than a mere know it all & has no clue what is involved in any aspect of auto repair.\r
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First of all, not all catalytic converters are manufactured the same due to epa requirements for a particular vehicle, & exhaust system design. They can range in price anywhere from $175.00 to as much as $1200.00 or more installed depending on the vehicle. The substrate material inside catalytic converters is treated with a precious metal coating that when exposed to exhaust heat goes through a catalyst effect that super heats the unit allowing it to burn off unwanted levels of CO, NOX, & HC, which are byproducts found in the exhaust gasses of all internal combustion engines including both gasoline & diesel. Catalytic converters are cataloged according to a vehicle?s engine size as well as curb weight. In laymans terms, a converter for a 4 cylinder Honda Civic is not the same as for an 8 cylinder Ford F250. A heavier weight larger engine vehicle will require a catalytic converter that is loaded heavier with the quantity of these precious metals therefore making it more expensive. Many factors influence a catalytic converter?s efficiency & longevity. Some of those factors include but are not limited to the condition of tune up components, base engine condition & wear, engine oil usage, condition of engine oil, engine coolant usage, function of the egr system, function of the a.i.r system, function of the carburetor or fuel injection system, weather the engine has any vacuum leaks, etc. These plus other issues can affect a vehicles performance at an exhaust emission test allowing it to pass or not, especially on an ?82 pos van. It is not impossible that this ?82 van may need a converter that is loaded heavier with precious metals than what it is cataloged for just to keep these unwanted gasses in check, indicating that this cheap $75.00 converter he mentioned would not do the job. Would he rather a cheap converter be installed on his van just to find out at the DEQ testing station that his van still doesn?t pass? That would just make him whine even louder! It is obvious this guy has never had a converter replaced at Midas, Meineke, or any other specialty shop or independent shop, or else he would know that the price was fair & on track. Maybe he should go spend $5,000.00 on a gas analyzer, $700.00 for a quality welder & supplies, go to school to learn all of the knowledge needed, spend years perfecting all he has learned, then practice with all of the equipment for as long as it takes to perfect all of the techniques involved? Or maybe he should trade his old ?82 van in on a new vehicle that has a warranty just to find out from the dealership that his needed engine repair is not warrantable due to him not changing the engine oil on schedule & having proper documentation? Or maybe he should give up gasoline powered vehicles all together & just go with a bicycle? (more to come on this) \r
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