Catalytic Converter has gone bad on bank 2

baleman · July 1, 2020

Hey Guys,

I just purchased a 2006 Sierra 1500 5.3L SLT Flex-Fuel . Apparently, my truck has no badging, or yellow gas cap, so I had no idea.. Anyways, my bank 2 catalytic converter has gone bad. I called the dealership and they want $1600.00 for the part (part no: 19208464) or $1864 installed. This part includes the pipes, and two cats (bolt-on). Being the cheapskate that I am, I took to ebay, and Amazon, and I have found numerous cat systems also bolt-on. They are running about $190 - $250. But none of them seem to be an exact match for FLEX-FUEL 5.3L. Do any of you know if it really matters? Can I get away with purchasing this instead and just installing it myself? Or do you know of a website that DOES carry the cat system for these trucks that you could send me?

WilliamBos · July 1, 2020

The Y pipe ships with cats welded on as one piece unit. Avoid the ebay/amazon crap, becauae if your state has emissions, you will have to replace them every year.

Buy 4 new O2 sensors while you are at it.

CamGTP · July 1, 2020

It doesn't matter if it's flex fuel or not.

I'd be leery of ebay/amazon stuff if it's that cheap. I've bought several cat systems from Napa in the past with no problems. I don't know the price off hand but it's going to be 1/4th the cost of the dealership cost plus install. They have good warranty's on the parts too.

If you can do the work yourself, it'll take you a few hours maybe to remove and install the new y-pipe with cats.

davester · July 1, 2020

The very cheap cat's are just that cheap. They don't have as much of the very expensive metals inside that do the actual work, so they don't last as long.

You can buy them, but don't expect them to last more than a couple years if you drive the truck much.

Colossus · July 3, 2020

Use top tier fuels, oil changes every 5000 miles, and don't cheap out on the cats if you want to hang onto the truck for more than a year. Cats can go bad as early as 100,000 miles, but many will let go in the 150,000+ mile range.

swathdiver · July 3, 2020

On 7/1/2020 at 6:43 PM, baleman said:

Hey Guys,

I just purchased a 2006 Sierra 1500 5.3L SLT Flex-Fuel . Apparently, my truck has no badging, or yellow gas cap, so I had no idea.. Anyways, my bank 2 catalytic converter has gone bad. I called the dealership and they want $1600.00 for the part (part no: 19208464) or $1864 installed. This part includes the pipes, and two cats (bolt-on). Being the cheapskate that I am, I took to ebay, and Amazon, and I have found numerous cat systems also bolt-on. They are running about $190 - $250. But none of them seem to be an exact match for FLEX-FUEL 5.3L. Do any of you know if it really matters? Can I get away with purchasing this instead and just installing it myself? Or do you know of a website that DOES carry the cat system for these trucks that you could send me?

Chicom cats last a year if you're lucky. Walker makes a system as does Magnaflow. I put a Magnaflow Y-Pipe and cats on mine 31K miles ago and so far so good.

There are Federal Emissions, California and New York and the only difference I can see is that the California cats have CARB numbers stamped on them. My truck has California emissions but I forgot and put Federal cats on it.