Check engine light came on.. Catalytic converter
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PetitFrereArmada
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Where I live we do emission testing. So I cannot do that.
As for maintenance cost on the QX, I must say I am not too happy about my own things I have had to fix on my car. I bought my car with 79,000 miles on it. I have 119,200 miles today after about 20 months of ownership now. Since I bought the car, my extended warranty has paid over $12,000 of repair cost on the car. And I have personally spent about $6,000 on repairs on the car.
I will say I am not too happy about such cost and I may just not be Lucky with my own QX. But I am glad I have extended warranty and I also do take good care of my car or cars I have ever owned. The way this QX is acting just makes me love my Maxima a lot more as I will still say it has been the most reliable car I have ever owned and I will not sell that car until it breathes its last.
All fully loaded top of the line QX of its year when new costs up from $75,000. This is a luxurious car. Even the base models. So if anything goes bad, the repair bill is bound to be very high. So if you are good at working on your car, then you are better off than most of the owners of this car that just take it to the dealership with every single problem.
Also, if you are buying any QX that has about 90,000 miles or higher, then be ready for some expenses because if the former owner did not take car of a lot of things, then it is but normal that things may start falling apart from then on. I mean, the car is getting old from there. So keep that in mind. And know any repair bill or quote from Infiniti for any repair for this car is very high. My first repair bill from Infiniti if I remember well was $12,000. Yes. First ever bill from Infiniti for my first service on my QX. I paid about $1,300 of that cost. My warranty paid the rest. And Infiniti paid some.
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All,
This might be long, but I figure it needs to be for a proper update. Back on page 2-3, I'm the dude that brought up seafoam and the old "italian tune up". Those tricks worked, but only for about a month. In the end, I opted for replacing the cats with OEM replacement parts from Davico. One side in January of '16, and the other side in November of '16. Flash forward to this weekend, and the CEL lights up, and P0420 gets displayed AS I'M DRIVING AWAY FROM AN OIL CHANGE! Went back, they cleared the code, and now I'm playing the waiting game. If the code comes back, that will mean that the earlier of the two replacement cats will have gone bad in just about 21 months. The truck currently has 115,000 miles on it (roughly). We've owned it since 73,000. So in 42,000 miles of driving, we've replaced: high pressure fuel pump, low pressure fuel pump, timing chain, left catalytic converter, right catalytic converter, power steering pump, transmission coolant lines (rupture that left us stranded on the highway, and had to be towed to the dealer), rear suspension pump, new battery (replacement Infiniti battery was put in just before we bought it based on manufacturer sticker, and lasted maybe 11 months) and put on some new tires.
Quite literally, I will never buy anything made by Nissan ever again.
This might be long, but I figure it needs to be for a proper update. Back on page 2-3, I'm the dude that brought up seafoam and the old "italian tune up". Those tricks worked, but only for about a month. In the end, I opted for replacing the cats with OEM replacement parts from Davico. One side in January of '16, and the other side in November of '16. Flash forward to this weekend, and the CEL lights up, and P0420 gets displayed AS I'M DRIVING AWAY FROM AN OIL CHANGE! Went back, they cleared the code, and now I'm playing the waiting game. If the code comes back, that will mean that the earlier of the two replacement cats will have gone bad in just about 21 months. The truck currently has 115,000 miles on it (roughly). We've owned it since 73,000. So in 42,000 miles of driving, we've replaced: high pressure fuel pump, low pressure fuel pump, timing chain, left catalytic converter, right catalytic converter, power steering pump, transmission coolant lines (rupture that left us stranded on the highway, and had to be towed to the dealer), rear suspension pump, new battery (replacement Infiniti battery was put in just before we bought it based on manufacturer sticker, and lasted maybe 11 months) and put on some new tires.
Quite literally, I will never buy anything made by Nissan ever again.
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PetitFrereArmada
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Wow. Just wow. Sorry about your cat getting bad again. And sorry about the list of things you have had replaced on your QX. I hope your extended warranty paid for most of those things on your list. Did your extended warranty cover a lot of it? Or did you have to pay out of pocket?
I see you used the aftermarket cat manufactured by Davico. I personally had wondered about the longevity of that cat. I heard they will not last as long as OEM. And I have been hoping to see someone who will provide a long term road use update. You are the first person I am seeing so far that the cat seems to be failing.
Based on this thread from page 2, and from this your recent post, it seems you have had the new aftermarket cats on your car for about 20,000 miles and now it is throwing a SES code like your OEM cat did a while back. So, it is very possible that your aftermarket cat is toast! So your aftermarket cat lasted only about 20,000 miles. Now others with aftermarket cats will have to watch out for that mileage of use to see if their lights too will come up or not.
I remember when I was going to change my cat and wanted to buy the same aftermarket cat you bought. My mechanic told me not to buy aftermarket. He said for a car like this QX he does not trust that the aftermarket will last as long as oem. He had said if the oem is failing just after 60,000 miles for some and say 80,000 for others and me failing at 100,000. He said that for this car, he strongly recommends I make the sacrifice and buy OEM. So, I did that.
I hope you replaced your oxygen sensor when you replaced the cats. I am just going to assume that you replaced the oxygen sensor on each cat that you had to replace since it is expected to do when we replace a cat.
I must say that it cost me $1,350 to replace my bad cat with a OEM catalytic converter. I bought the cat, gaskets, oxygen sensor, all new nuts and bolts and paid for installation. Everything cost me $1,350 out the door.
It seems another member here posted his estimate of how much he spent to replace his cat using that aftermarket cat. I think he wrote he spent about $1,350.
He spent $1,350 to get aftermarket cat.
I spent $1,350 to get OEM cat.
So, if anybody wants to replace their cats, try to get an estimate of the cost and go with OEM if the cost is almost the same or not too far off from each other to justify going with aftermarket. Go with OEM which will be more peace of mind and most likely last longer than aftermarket.
As for you, I do not know how much was your total cost to replace that cat that failed you recently. If you spent about $1,350 to replace that cat, then I say I wish you had gone with OEM instead.
Well, I wish you luck and keep us posted with another update again if you finally figure out if the aftermarket cat is toast for real or not. That was some very useful information you just shared. I hope others can always share like this to help others.
And don't feel bad about your Nissan. There are just some bad seeds in every make and model of vehicle car out there. Maybe you picked a bad one. I have not been too lucky with my own QX either. BUT I have been lucky with my own Nissan. I have my 2008 Maxima which has had its own problems, but it is the most reliable car I have ever owned and it is my pride and joy for cars. Car treats me great and at 219,000 miles, it is just as fast and maybe even faster than my QX and let us not even talk about how it handles on road trips. All I say to others is "Catch me if you can". Nobody can keep up. Be it Porche, Mercedes or BMW.
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I'm hoping that it's a sensor as well. Those were within spec when they were tested before we replaced the cats, but they're also a 100K part, so I'm going to replace both of the downstream sensors soon.
As for the rest of this stuff, everything was covered by the extended warranty (MaxCare) from Carmax. I'm actually still really happy with my Carmax experience, just not with how Nissan has supported this particular platform.
I'm crossing my fingers that a few sensors will solve this problem, and that the cats aren't toast. I'll keep everyone updated.
Also, I don't have receipts in front of me, but I seem to remember each side being about an $700 - $800 repair between parts and labor. Just wanted to throw that in there.
Minor Update: had a chance to drive the truck this weekend, and also happened to have my bluetooth OBDII adapter plugged in. (SIDENOTE: If you don't have own an adapter and have Torque installed on your smartphone, you should leave this forum right now and go buy both. I use this adapter, and haven't ever had an issue with it.) Turns out that the bank one sensor is doing some weird shit, which makes me think that it's actually the issue, not the CAT. Voltages on both sensors seem stabilize at .75V when everything is warm, but then every 10 seconds or so, the bank 1 sensor will drop to .1v and then bounce back up. It does this repeatedly. I would think that if the cat wasn't doing it's job, I would be seeing a stable reading of something other than the .75v instead of the bouncing. I'll be buying a pair of sensors here shortly and will swap them out this weekend. Anyone have an idea how long the connectors need to be? Looks like most replacement parts vary in length...
UPDATE: POSITIVE NEWS!
So, I'm still keeping an eye on things, but I replaced the downstream oxygen sensors this weekend. Prior to the replacement, monitoring of the voltage on the sensor showed that the values were all over the place. Specifically, I used torque to show a graph of the voltage over the last 10 seconds, and it looked like a rollercoaster, no matter the driving conditions. After replacing the sensors (both bank one and bank two), there are still fluctuations in the voltages, but they're infrequent. More importantly, when driving under load, bank 1 and bank 2 sensors mirror each other pretty regularly. I'll put some more mileage on the truck in the next month or so, and I'll keep everyone posted, but I'm feeling pretty confident that I've got this issue resolved for the time being.
As for the rest of this stuff, everything was covered by the extended warranty (MaxCare) from Carmax. I'm actually still really happy with my Carmax experience, just not with how Nissan has supported this particular platform.
I'm crossing my fingers that a few sensors will solve this problem, and that the cats aren't toast. I'll keep everyone updated.
Also, I don't have receipts in front of me, but I seem to remember each side being about an $700 - $800 repair between parts and labor. Just wanted to throw that in there.
Minor Update: had a chance to drive the truck this weekend, and also happened to have my bluetooth OBDII adapter plugged in. (SIDENOTE: If you don't have own an adapter and have Torque installed on your smartphone, you should leave this forum right now and go buy both. I use this adapter, and haven't ever had an issue with it.) Turns out that the bank one sensor is doing some weird shit, which makes me think that it's actually the issue, not the CAT. Voltages on both sensors seem stabilize at .75V when everything is warm, but then every 10 seconds or so, the bank 1 sensor will drop to .1v and then bounce back up. It does this repeatedly. I would think that if the cat wasn't doing it's job, I would be seeing a stable reading of something other than the .75v instead of the bouncing. I'll be buying a pair of sensors here shortly and will swap them out this weekend. Anyone have an idea how long the connectors need to be? Looks like most replacement parts vary in length...
UPDATE: POSITIVE NEWS!
So, I'm still keeping an eye on things, but I replaced the downstream oxygen sensors this weekend. Prior to the replacement, monitoring of the voltage on the sensor showed that the values were all over the place. Specifically, I used torque to show a graph of the voltage over the last 10 seconds, and it looked like a rollercoaster, no matter the driving conditions. After replacing the sensors (both bank one and bank two), there are still fluctuations in the voltages, but they're infrequent. More importantly, when driving under load, bank 1 and bank 2 sensors mirror each other pretty regularly. I'll put some more mileage on the truck in the next month or so, and I'll keep everyone posted, but I'm feeling pretty confident that I've got this issue resolved for the time being.
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jeffrbco
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Infiniti QX56 Catalytic Converter issues
I owned a 2005 Infiniti QX56 and about a year and a half ago had the dreaded CEL showing catalytic converter failure on bank 1 (passenger). I tried to get some assistance from Infiniti Customer Relations to no avail. Purchase the exhaust manifold/catalytic from Infiniti of Gwinnet and shipped to CA to have it installed by Cerritos Infiniti. I purchased my part online due to the fact Cerritos wants $1250 for the catalytic, and Gwinnet Infiniti selling it for $850. I had it installed and paid $1300 for labor cost. Few weeks ago another CEL popped up and again its catalytic converter failure, and surprisingly i thought it would be the driver side but it is again bank 1 (passenger). Cerritos Infiniti suggested that I replace both due to the fact the left side haven't been replaced and bound to fail.
After few nights of thinking out my options, I ordered both sides since i found a deal for a genuine Infiniti/Nissan catalytic converter set (part#14002-7S00C (left) and 14002-7S01C (right) for $1600 which is way cheaper than most Infiniti dealerships. Later told that labor would push me back another $2800 plus gaskets/bolts etc. Long story short, I traded the SUV at almost no value and ended up leasing a Lexus LX. I loved the QX56 but cannot keep on forking out $$ for this ill designed exhaust system that they didn't want to take any sort of responsibility. So there you go, if anyone here needing these parts please pm me and i'd be glad to save you money since it was a loss for me already.
I owned a 2005 Infiniti QX56 and about a year and a half ago had the dreaded CEL showing catalytic converter failure on bank 1 (passenger). I tried to get some assistance from Infiniti Customer Relations to no avail. Purchase the exhaust manifold/catalytic from Infiniti of Gwinnet and shipped to CA to have it installed by Cerritos Infiniti. I purchased my part online due to the fact Cerritos wants $1250 for the catalytic, and Gwinnet Infiniti selling it for $850. I had it installed and paid $1300 for labor cost. Few weeks ago another CEL popped up and again its catalytic converter failure, and surprisingly i thought it would be the driver side but it is again bank 1 (passenger). Cerritos Infiniti suggested that I replace both due to the fact the left side haven't been replaced and bound to fail.
After few nights of thinking out my options, I ordered both sides since i found a deal for a genuine Infiniti/Nissan catalytic converter set (part#14002-7S00C (left) and 14002-7S01C (right) for $1600 which is way cheaper than most Infiniti dealerships. Later told that labor would push me back another $2800 plus gaskets/bolts etc. Long story short, I traded the SUV at almost no value and ended up leasing a Lexus LX. I loved the QX56 but cannot keep on forking out $$ for this ill designed exhaust system that they didn't want to take any sort of responsibility. So there you go, if anyone here needing these parts please pm me and i'd be glad to save you money since it was a loss for me already.
For anyone interested... I would be the man to bargain more on "aftermarket" Header / Catalytic converter assemblies vs stock, as the aftermarket assemblies clearly have a better track record than the flawed Nissan / Infiniti part.
I have access to Nissan Consult III and ran scans on my wife's 2012 QX56, which has just under 100k (more than 80k, less than 100k). The timing re-call was done probably about 6 months ago sometime in June, and the CEL light came on about 1.5 weeks ago. I cleared the codes, and it came back. Bank 1 and Bank 2. The Cat / Header assembly is just a bad design #1.
Now back to my aftermarket discussion. I am debating purchasing the following:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/11-13-For-...ash=item2c9d7cf018:g:nxoAAOSwk1hZ8eWo&vxp=mtr
I have no affiliation with the seller, just came across the link this evening while conducting some research. The brand is MAC auto parts which is a brand no one has listed above so far. It's $710 for both sides, and comes with the gaskets you need, leaving only the O2 sensors and replacement bolts to the job in addition to the manifold parts themselves.
Having worked on everything from Porsche, VW, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Nissan's, Infinitis, Jeeps, you name it.... this is something up my alley.... although I hate exhaust work because bolts tend to ALWAYS break.
For anyone interested.... the "official Infiniti Workshop manual" for model years 2011 - 2015 states that you MUST perform all of the following steps before gaining complete access to the removal of the manifold on both sides.
1. Drain Engine coolant from radiator.
2. Remove the coolant reservoir tank.
3. Remove drive belt
4. Remove radiator
6. Remove front under cover
7. Remove front wheels and tires
8. Remove A/C Compressor
9. Remove alternator and alternator bracket
10. Remove exhaust front tube (bank 1 and bank 2)
11. Remove front propeller shaft
12. Disconnect steering lower joint.
13. Remove air fuel ratio sensor 1 using the heated oxygen sensor wrench: (SST: KV10117100 (J-44626)]
14. Remove exhaust manifold cover
15. Remove oil level gauge guide.
16. Remove exhaust manifold.
17. Remove exhaust manifold gaskets and cover engine openings to avoid entry of foreign materials.
18. Clean exhaust system threads using oxtgen sensor thread cleaner, then apply anti-seize lubricant
19. Install everything back the way you found it.
20. Clear the codes.
I have access to Nissan Consult III and ran scans on my wife's 2012 QX56, which has just under 100k (more than 80k, less than 100k). The timing re-call was done probably about 6 months ago sometime in June, and the CEL light came on about 1.5 weeks ago. I cleared the codes, and it came back. Bank 1 and Bank 2. The Cat / Header assembly is just a bad design #1.
Now back to my aftermarket discussion. I am debating purchasing the following:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/11-13-For-...ash=item2c9d7cf018:g:nxoAAOSwk1hZ8eWo&vxp=mtr
I have no affiliation with the seller, just came across the link this evening while conducting some research. The brand is MAC auto parts which is a brand no one has listed above so far. It's $710 for both sides, and comes with the gaskets you need, leaving only the O2 sensors and replacement bolts to the job in addition to the manifold parts themselves.
Having worked on everything from Porsche, VW, Audi, Mercedes, BMW, Nissan's, Infinitis, Jeeps, you name it.... this is something up my alley.... although I hate exhaust work because bolts tend to ALWAYS break.
For anyone interested.... the "official Infiniti Workshop manual" for model years 2011 - 2015 states that you MUST perform all of the following steps before gaining complete access to the removal of the manifold on both sides.
1. Drain Engine coolant from radiator.
2. Remove the coolant reservoir tank.
3. Remove drive belt
4. Remove radiator
6. Remove front under cover
7. Remove front wheels and tires
8. Remove A/C Compressor
9. Remove alternator and alternator bracket
10. Remove exhaust front tube (bank 1 and bank 2)
11. Remove front propeller shaft
12. Disconnect steering lower joint.
13. Remove air fuel ratio sensor 1 using the heated oxygen sensor wrench: (SST: KV10117100 (J-44626)]
14. Remove exhaust manifold cover
15. Remove oil level gauge guide.
16. Remove exhaust manifold.
17. Remove exhaust manifold gaskets and cover engine openings to avoid entry of foreign materials.
18. Clean exhaust system threads using oxtgen sensor thread cleaner, then apply anti-seize lubricant
19. Install everything back the way you found it.
20. Clear the codes.
12/21/17 - The QX is gone. CEL came back after being off for the better part of a month. Same issue, same side, same shit. This is after replacing the O2 sensors. Best guestimate.... whatever fouls the official Nissan cats also fouled the replacement aftermarket cats as well. Decided that if I was going to spend another couple grand, I might as well try to do that on something that will be a little more dependable. Took the car to Carmax, traded it in on a 2012 Highlander Hybrid with 80k. Paid about 5k out of pocket on the difference, and now I have an SUV that fit's 95% of the use case scenario as the QX (3 rows of seating, all wheel drive, etc.) and also get's 28MPG in the city (which is where the wife does 90% of her driving). I wish you all the best of luck with the QX. It was the "nicest" car that I've ever driven, but in the end, it was also the least dependable. Food for thought.
Sorry to hear this... however, if the O2 sensors are either "under torqued" or "over torqued" when placed back into bank 1 / bank 2 slots.... they will eventually result in a read failure. They must be positioned "precisely to the correct torque of 50.0 NM or 5.1 Kg/m or 37 ft/lbs.
They are not re-usable, so if they are overtorqued, they will absolutely throw a CEL / MIL, and they will have to again be replaced with new sensors which will need to again have the threads cleaned, and anti-seize lubricant applied.
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PetitFrereArmada
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Wrong information you provided. I highlighted it in red above.
1- MAC Auto Parts is no brand. So, it is wrong that you mention as a brand.
2- People have already mentioned and used that particular brand of cat. So, yes it has been mentioned here before. This thread has been for long and people have exploited a lot of alternatives to this problem.
I will support with details.
Go to post number #110. I personally mentioned the only 2 companies I know so far that manufacture aftermarket cats for our QX. The cat you are looking at are manufactured by DAVICO, not MAC Auto Parts. And that is the most popular cat that many people have gone with.
Look at the part numbers listed on the ad. They are Catalytic Converter 17220 & 17225. Those are the numbers DAVICO uses on their website to identify each cat. And the pictures on that ad are the DAVICO cats.
Let me get the post from post #110 and post here again to give you the 2 only companies I know so far that manufacture aftermarket cats for our QX here in the USA.
It is definitely a great bargain. A lot more people have gone aftermarket than OEM. I went OEM.
Here they are...
(1) Diversified Environmental Catalysts
http://www.deccats.com/catalytic_search/index_other.php?cal=Federal
(2) Davico
http://davicomfg.com/catalogstate.html
O2 sensors were installed with a torque wrench, following the procedures from ALLDATA. It was done 2 months ago, but the 37 ft/lbs number is ringing a bell, so I'm sure that was what was used. Either way, it's of no consequence now. Like I said, the QX is gone. In a week of driving the Highlander Hybrid, I can honestly say that we're all happier. Good luck to everyone!
Yep... after posting, I went back and realized that MAC Auto Parts was just a company reselling the Davico. But I read a post saying Davico doesn't seem to fit right.
I'm actually more curious about which elements need to be taken out to gain access to both sides for removal (I have to do both bank 1 and bank 2). The official Infiniti workshop manuals state you have to even take out the A/C compressor which involves draining the a/c lines, the power steering resoivoir (again draining), the radiator (again more draining), the serp belt, the alternator, the oil pump.... Do you seriously have to remove ALL of that?
I read a post from someone stating they didn't have to remove anything, just had to bend parts and force em through the tiny spots. I'm all for removing "necessary" parts as I don't want to "bend" anything or spend hours fighting the car to get it out... but the workshop manual seems overkill...
Soo..... now I'm a bit perplexed.... After wanting to verify that indeed my wife's 2012 Infiniti QX56's Cats had gone bad, I ran Nissan Consult III, verified the codes which had indicated that the frequency of both banks being detected as bad was greater than 6 instances....
I cleared the codes, and wanted to see if they came back.... Sure enough, the Check Engine Light came back and the faults came back the next day after she drove to work and home (about a 20 mile commute round-trip).
That "was" the moment in time, I figured I was going to have to do the replacement procedure which prompted my posting on the forum....
However..... yesterday morning, when we were loading up the kids and getting ready to go grocery shopping.... the CEL was gone and I am completely mystified... Since I last cleared the codes and the CEL came BACK on, she's done a few longer haul trips on the highway to grandmas for Christmas, and some other stuff, but not like 1000s of miles, more like 100s of miles. Either way, the CEL is gone, and I have no idea why....
Could the errors have been a fluke?? (i.e. Since it's only been driven on very short trips, garage kept, etc, it just needed to get out on a longer haul and have some stuff burned off?). I've not done any additives, we drive on regular octane (Premium is not necessary unless you want to run the car with better performance, and less mileage.... despite what anyone else has told you).
Again... miffed as to why it would just "disappear?" Makes no sense....
I cleared the codes, and wanted to see if they came back.... Sure enough, the Check Engine Light came back and the faults came back the next day after she drove to work and home (about a 20 mile commute round-trip).
That "was" the moment in time, I figured I was going to have to do the replacement procedure which prompted my posting on the forum....
However..... yesterday morning, when we were loading up the kids and getting ready to go grocery shopping.... the CEL was gone and I am completely mystified... Since I last cleared the codes and the CEL came BACK on, she's done a few longer haul trips on the highway to grandmas for Christmas, and some other stuff, but not like 1000s of miles, more like 100s of miles. Either way, the CEL is gone, and I have no idea why....
Could the errors have been a fluke?? (i.e. Since it's only been driven on very short trips, garage kept, etc, it just needed to get out on a longer haul and have some stuff burned off?). I've not done any additives, we drive on regular octane (Premium is not necessary unless you want to run the car with better performance, and less mileage.... despite what anyone else has told you).
Again... miffed as to why it would just "disappear?" Makes no sense....
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PetitFrereArmada
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From your first post #150, you sound very knowledgeable and handy with cars. You listed 20 steps to change the cats and it sounds very labor intensive. But you sound like you can tackle it. I think that is great.
When my cats got bad, my mechanic changed both. Unfortunately, I was there to witness him doing the job, but he did not disconnect that long list nor did he have to drain so many things on your list. He disconnected a few things, but did not drain anything that I remember. Well, he did not tell me if he did drain anything. But I remember him telling me it was tough to get it out of the tight spaces.
You mentioned your wife's car has an average of about 90,000 and the check engine light said it was the cat. You cleared it and it came back and later on disappeared. That is very fine. Just be glad it is off now, but know that if the cat is truly bad, the light is guaranteed to come back.
Your wife has a 2012. I have a 2012. My bank 1 cat was replaced at 107,000 miles. Bank 2 at 119,000 miles. I was on a 9,000 miles road trip when my check engine light came on after some serious offroading that day, where I put my QX to some real work. I cleared it myself by battery disconnect. Then light came back on like 4,000 miles later, just at the end of my road trip. I have used premium gas 90% of the time I have owned this QX.
You know there are many reasons why a check engine light may come on. But one thing I know is that whenever I have read someone post that this car diagnosed a bad cat then it is a guarantee that it will keep on telling you that till you change it. I will not be surprised when the light comes back on. But if it does not, be glad about it since this is an expensive part to replace.
As for Davico, there are tons and tons of people who have bought and used it. It is the most widely sold aftermarket cat for our cars and trust me, they have sold a lot as so many of these cars have had their cats replaced. I have only read from one person here about having problems installing it. He is the only one that I have read from on this forum who has worked on his car to change his cats. If my memory is right, he said he bought Davico and tried to install and had problems so, he went and got oem.
I was going to buy Davico and install, but my mechanic advised me that based on what I am driving, the aftermarket may not last as long as oem and that if I can make the sacrifice, let me get oem. That is the only reason why I went with oem, if not, I would have gone with Davico.
When you first posted about your cat, you mentioned Davico and it seems you were leaning towards purchasing both cats for the excellent price of $710 shipped. But now that you mention that it does not fit well, I guess you may be leaning towards oem, if you have to change your cat. I know cost matters a lot when it comes to replacing these cats, so it is good to do what you feel comfortable with.
Please, feel free to update if the light ever returns and you go to replace it. And if you do it by yourself, would be really great to see some pictures of the car torn apart. I will be looking forward for an update from you. Do not forget pictures, if you tear down your car to change them. Would be nice if you do not mind sharing. I am sure it will be so helpful to the forum.
Here is a link to my thread to show you all that I bought to change both of my cats. It may give you some ideas.
http://www.clubarmada.com/forums/18-infiniti-qx56/56441-major-maintenance-2012-infiniti-qx56-9.html Changing bank 1
http://www.clubarmada.com/forums/18-infiniti-qx56/56441-major-maintenance-2012-infiniti-qx56-10.html Changing bank 2
And the first page of my maintenance thread which shows all what I have done on my car to try to keep it in top shape. May give you some ideas since you are close to 100,000 miles.
http://www.clubarmada.com/forums/18-infiniti-qx56/56441-major-maintenance-2012-infiniti-qx56.html
Thanks - Yes I have a long very well known / successful history of high-end automobile repair / tinkering
(www.vwvortex.com for my plethora of posts on VW / Audi / Porsche tinkering). I've got most of the tools to do just about any job no matter how complex (minus A/C drainage... lol, I'm not an HVAC guy 
hence why I was a bit hesitant on why the manual calls for draining the whole system.... seemed overkill. I've posted a MANY a DIY on these kinds of projects. It just all comes down to how much time I'm willing to block out to do the job. I've quite literally gotten down to the EEPROM chips on the immobilizer, read them out in HEX code, and modified the code myself before burning / chip writing the code back to the vehicle.I'll for sure post a detailed DIY write-up with pictures when (as I'm sure it's a matter of time) I go ahead and replace. I'm actually more leaning towards the other aftermarket guys vs the OEM ones. I agree with the group that there's pretty much no reason a CAT or group of CATS should fail before 200k miles if even then. So that tells me it's a flaw either in the Air/Fuel & O2 sensors, or the design of the Cat itself, which would tell me that OEM is NOT the way to go.
Davico Cats
Just an FYI. Davico Cats are what went on my QX56 when the OEM cats failed. This is a super small sample size, so keep that in mind, but the Davico warranty is for 25k miles. My first side (which was replaced first) lasted about 26k miles before we got rid of it. Had we kept it longer, I would have put money on the passenger side going about 3 months later. I'm not saying that the Davico Cats aren't a quality part. I'm just relaying my experience....
Just an FYI. Davico Cats are what went on my QX56 when the OEM cats failed. This is a super small sample size, so keep that in mind, but the Davico warranty is for 25k miles. My first side (which was replaced first) lasted about 26k miles before we got rid of it. Had we kept it longer, I would have put money on the passenger side going about 3 months later. I'm not saying that the Davico Cats aren't a quality part. I'm just relaying my experience....
Rizzo
New member
Hi everybody. First time QX owner here. Just bought it this weekend and drove 44 kms and got the dreaded 0420 code. Im sure one of the cats are probably screwed but my questions is this. Has anybody just gutted the cats and put in a 02 simulator? I have done this on other vehicles before and it works great. Just wondering if this is an option on this engine and if anybody has had success doing it?
Thanks everyone.
Thanks everyone.
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