99 S70 NA - Cat replaced, dispose of old?

krenekj · Post by **krenekj** » 08 Sep 2015, 11:16

The noise I documented in a previous post:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=63509

finally got bad enough that no one would drive the car. I narrowed my choices down to two catalytic converters: OEM or DEC. I went with the latter because it is less than half the price and I installed a DEC cat on my 93 240 so I saw the quality was good. I picked it up from FCP with an OEM gasket.

Cat: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-catalytic-converter-s70-v70-vo73539

Gasket: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/volvo-exhaust-pipe-to-manifold-gasket-850-s70-v70-9135122oe

The job was one of the easiest things I've ever done on the car - very straight forward, just use some penetrating oil before trying to loosen the exhaust bolts. Some observations:

- the cat arrived with only plastic wrapping, direct shipped from DEC. That was surprising.
- I swapped O2 sensors with the cats off the car - much easier
- the aftermarket cat does not have a muffler chamber on it - the exhaust note is much more 'throaty' - sounds pretty cool.
- my son swears there is more power in the 2800 RPM range

Question: what should I do with the old cat? Other than taking it to the local recycler, would anyone pay money for an old cat with rattling honeycomb?

Any questions, let me know. And because everyone loves pictures, scroll down for some eye candy.

Thanks

-------

Here's how it arrived:

And side-by-side with the ORIGINAL cat:

Post by **cn90** » 08 Sep 2015, 13:04

Junk yard pays money for old catalytic.

Post by **cn90** » 08 Sep 2015, 13:05

- How many miles in your car when the cat failed?

- Thanks for the comparison photos, I can tell the DEC cat is much smaller than the OEM cat. Maybe modern technology says smaller is better...LOL?

krenekj · Post by **krenekj** » 08 Sep 2015, 13:28

The S70 has 167k miles. The rattling started about 2 years and 20k miles ago. It got progressively worse, and I never got a CEL. I would have let it go longer, but the noise became such a distraction that no one in my family would drive it.

Post by **RussB** » 08 Sep 2015, 18:01

My local recycler gave me $50 for the old cat from my 850

Post by **Ozark Lee** » 08 Sep 2015, 19:56

I'm not sure what the spot price on Platinum is these days but I saw old (bad) OEM Volvo cats going for over $100.00 on eBay a couple of years ago.

...Lee

Sommerfeldt · Post by **Sommerfeldt** » 09 Sep 2015, 02:37

"Legal and proper for Calif Emm. and Federal Emm. in all states except CA."

So it's legal and proper for CA. Except not.

- S

dux02v70 · Post by **dux02v70** » 09 Sep 2015, 11:06

Recycler is your best bet. I had a cat rust off of a 1988 Toyota 4Runner. I put on a new one then took the old one to a scrap yard and they gave me $55 for it. I wasn't in the mood to haggle so I took it. The cat off a 1988 4Runner is about the size of a coffee can so a Volvo cat should be worth significantly more.

TWMn · Post by **TWMn** » 29 Dec 2019, 14:17

How's the DEC holding out? Any issues or CELs since you've installed it? Looking for an aftermarket cat for my 850 Turbo. DEC and Davico seem to be the ones available. Question fit even though they say direct bolt on. Anyone try either of these?

Post by **BEJinFbk** » 29 Dec 2019, 15:01

FWIW, I thought I had a cat rattle that turned out to be gravel
trapped between the heat shield and the cat. I blew it all out
with a little piece of hose on the end of a blowout nozzle.
Kind of a pain, but now it's quiet as a church mouse.