zimmerman,

Its the big rubber hose that has the icv on it, the one where you would fit an air filter too.

Let me know how you get on.

Previous owner may have had service lights reset and NOT had the car serviced, check the service history to see if there are receipts for anything, if not, they may have tarted the car up a bit to sell it...not to worry though, but you should really then have some sort of inspection I or II done on it so you can see where you really stand with it?

Mine was the same when I bought it...4 green lights no history to prove the service so I had a service done and they noticed that it needed a new rear bearing, new front bearing, new drive belt, oil change...cost me about £300 but it was worth it, as it purred nicely after...now i've got to do the damn thing again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! more money aaarrrggghhh

I may be wrong, but I don't think you can get them secondhand... it's illegal for cars built after 1995 to run without a cat, so the chances of finding someone selling one on eBay are slim.

Exhaust centres and scrappies won't be able to help there either, I was told it's because the cat innards are poisonous they aren't allowed to dispose of them the usual way (I wanted to decat my previous car by fitting a secondhand one that had been hollowed out, but keep the real cat to put back on at MOT time)

Companies like Bosal and Timax exhausts make third-party cats, because of their expense it's no longer a manufacturer-only part.

Have you tried Euro Car Parts ( http://www.eurocarparts.com - www.eurocarparts.com ), German & Swedish ( http://www.gsfcarparts.com - www.gsfcarparts.com ) or possibly some of the parts places in the Exchange & Mart?

here you are, i take it yours is an E36?

from German & Swedish...

That price would be + VAT and carriage, but it still works out significantly cheaper than the main dealer would be.

the difference is in the engine type - M50 or M52, in BMW-speak.  If you can find the build-date of your car (trying to remember if it was printed in the engine bay or VIN plate on my E36, can anyone help?) you'll be able to work out which type engine it has from this:

http://www.gsfcarparts.com/downloads/bmw_codes.pdf - http://www.gsfcarparts.com/downloads/bmw_codes.pdf

For example, my car has the M52TU engine (M52 "Technical Update") because it was built in June 1999, the M52TU engine was introduced to replace the standard M52 in March 1999.

The dealer should still fit the part for you and charge standard labour rates, just because you supply your own parts makes no odds to them (although it does to their profit margin, but seeing as most dealers make most profit from labour charges this shouldn't matter too much) but if they won't then either find another dealer or a friendly independent garage.

The difference?  erm.. one comes with a BMW box and part number and the other one doesn't ;)  seriously though, there will be little if any difference in quality - in the dim and distant past I worked in a parts dept. in a (non-BMW) dealer, and later in a trade parts place, day in, day out, exactly the same parts with different packaging and an inflated price tag so people felt they were getting "original quality parts".

Mate,

Why not do away with the cat altogether ?

Slight increase in power

-before scrapping the old cat it might be worth taking it off and lookingat it; if it is just a chunk of the matrix that is loose that moves from time to time and blocks the gas flow, the cat might still work without the loose bit once it is removed.

-also, although 9 years is a good life for a CAT and it may have died of old age, do note there may be an underlying cause of the cat failure in the first place; an intermittent problem with the ignition or the fuelling for example. If there is, you might wreck your new cat the same way.

- If the MOT isn't due for a while, you could consider fitting a cat replacement pipe (about £50) temporarily, just to make sure there isn't another problem. Some people run around with these on all the time except at MOT time. Strictly this isn't legal, and there are such things as roadside emissions tests, but you takes yer chances etc.

hope this helps

cheers

thanks for the reply Brucy  how would i go about checking to see if there is a problem with the ignition or fueling and if there is a problem how would it ruin the new cat??. and also would you pay £350 to get a new cat from german and sweedish or pay £630 from bmw??

cheerz m8 

-if you have a misfire, or a dodgy lambda sensor, or an intermittent contact somewhere in the engine management system you may get unburnt fuel going down the tailpipe. This is what will hurt your cat if it has a ceramic matrix (which is probably does). The fuel burns in the cat and this gives it an unwelcome thermal shock.

-although you can get the car's fuelling checked at a garage this won't necessarily help if you have an intermittent fault of some kind, hence the suggestion that you drive around for a bit without a cat fitted, and see if it behaves itself. If it does (no odd spasms), it is no guarantee (I'd still have a diagnostic done if you have not already) but it could save you from ruining your new cat if you just go ahead and fit it.

-most cats are double-skinned, but can still be broken by being bashed. If the matrix has shattered it is typically either this or a big thermal shock (hence fuelling worries).

-re the parts I am not able to say. Sometimes you get what you pay for with OE parts, other times you don't. Maybe talk to Motormec or another BMW specialist and see what they say. Like I said before, if there is part of the matrix still in there the cat may still work well enough to pass an emissions test once the loose pieces are removed. Some well set up engines without cats will actually pass the cat emissions tests we have- they are not that tough.

hope this helps

You can get a secound hand cat from a breakers yard there are no dos and donts of 2nd hand cats as long as the cat passes a mot test or roadside test (which will be very very more frequently from summer this year) then its legal,cat life can last anything from 3yrs to 12 years,if you want to know if its blocked(which i am pretty sure it is)take it off and fill one end of it with water and see what the flow is like,if it trickles out then you have a blocked cat,if it comes out as quick as you pour it in then its fine.

jon