Most aftermarket cat isn't carb compliant. Only dealer cats are carb compliant. If you get them from a website, be careful because Some are just 49 state legal. Make sure you read their description and find out if it is California legal.

 

Who tried to charger you 1800 for a cat and sensor?

Worth giving your cat a whack to see if the honeycomb is loose and beheaded your sensor. That's a possibility, and will require a most costly fix.

 

i would either get a low mileage, used, OEM cat or a new, high flow, aftermarket one. buying a new OEM one is just $illy.

as far as CARB legal cats, I wasn't aware that there's such a thing. technically, if your OEM cat is damaged & no longer functional, a shop can sell and install an aftermarket equivalent. it's in the CA vehicle code handbook somewhere. with the recent craze of thieves stealing cats for their scrap metal value, there have been quite a few people replacing their cats.

 

A high flow cat will work. It's a visual thing they just inspect to see if you have one. You could dress up a test pipe if you wanted too. Not saying it would pass the sniffer with a test pipe but it's a visual inspection of the cat.

 

^^^ i forgot to comment on the visual aspect of smog & vehicle inspection tests. sorry, i'm at work.

in any case, the visual test is where people run into probs when replacing cats. some shops are paranoid whenever they see anything non-OEM. others are not as picky, for lack of a better word. i've had high flow cats on my other cars before, including turbo ones. i haven't had an issues passing the sniffer tests, and the smog shops i've used haven't hassled me about non-OEM cats.

many shops are being more stringent nowadays though, so YMMV. just like w/law enforcement and their inconsistent treatment of "CARB legal" mods, incl headers, intakes, etc., an aftermarket cat might be "legal," but some smog shops just shy away from dealing with vehicles equipped with them. you have to pay to play in this hobby, so if you just want the peace of mind, go ahead and stick with OEM.

 

Edited
Since I can edit your post I'll go ahead and do that

Membership is only 20 dollars

 

Worst case scenario if you can't find a used cat Magnaflow makes weld on's and bolt ons. They have a 20,000 mile warranty on them I think too. That sucks this happened, this is why I took my cat off in place for my berk TP. I have my cat on now but I'll be swapping it back out after I get the smog done. $1800 for a cat and 02 sensor is just robbery.

Check the carb website to see if they make Magnaflow's legal for S2000's. I know they have them for most vehicles and smog shops have to abide by the aftermarket CARB approved cats. If they turn you away for it being aftermarket they are just feeding you bullshit. (according to a well known smog tech in the area where I live)

 

What year S2000 do you have? I thought all cars no matter the brand or model have a 10 year /100, 000 mile warranty?

 

I've started looking for a used one, but thanks for the info. I heard they passed new regulations on CAT's this year that make some of these illegal now.

 

Wow unbelievable I would still look to be sure though as CARB needs to keep that list updated.. That's just sad though that they almost force people into spending that kind of money for a cat.