whats up guys im new to dodge forums.. my name is ryan and i own a 2001 black neon R/T only modification at the moment is an AEM cold air intake... now my check engine light has been on for a while and i code read it and it came back as a catalytic insuficiencies.... now the dealer i bought it off of told me that the cat may be clogged which rarely happens.... i was about to drive back to PA from maryland and my neon would barely break 40MPH so i parked it at my construction companys office and got a ride home with a friend... any suggestions other than a fuel filter or new cat? suggestions are greatly appreciated.. thanks

 

Sounds like you have the right idea. My bet is a clogged cat. And as far as being money pits...your answer is how much of a money pit do you want it to be?

 

only way to fix a clogged cat is to just buy a new cat.... personally i'd suggest buying a high flow cat and just gain some horses while you're at it....

 

ok so my car finally shut off so i had a mechanic that i know pretty well i had him gut my cat for me and it is running better than a rape date..... thanks for the help guys

 

I have had the same problem, but i live in california, and they are strict with emissions. Did you get your work done at a shop or what? I want to get my cat either replaced or removed, but it was estimated at about 1000 bucks. Do you have the original one still on your car?

 

yeah all my work was done by a mechanic... they wrote me a reciptand said that my cat was clogged and they had thouroghly cleaned it.. (gutted)... i mean the cat is still there but it serves no purpose anymore because they knocked all the honeycomb out of it... but yeah i still have the original cat on my car...... you could buy a high flow cat off of ebay and a test pipe.. you could run the test pipe until time for inspection and just swap it for your high flow cat...

 

I was looking at those already, but some arent up to california specs, so I dont know if a mechanic would do that, or gut my cat because of the regulations. I guess I will ask around and see. If not, modernperformance.com has a replacement for around $250. I would like to go with the high-flow if it made a difference.

 

Kevo I don't know if it will work but swap out for a complete SRT-4 exhaust. I don't know if it will pass emissons because I haven't taken mine yet.

 

I have thought about it, but I have heard that it would be too loud. Is it super loud or does it sound like a neon with an upgrader exhaust? I dont need it to pass emissions unless I sell it, and I am not planning on doing that for a while. It is just finding a mechanic who would look the other way on the emission issues. Would the SRT exhausts on ebay work?

 

It not super loud but it sounds good. Mine does have two resonators on it though. There is no cat also. It should pass because the SRT's are even louder. E-bay should work but I got mine off a SRT-4. The shop next to the stereo shop that I go to, put an aftermarket exhaust on a srt and I found out and got it for 80 bucks. If you are interested I'll sell it the catback at least toyou when I do my bodykit hopefully this summer.