Questions for Car Experts

tirolski · Feb 2, 2023

Campgottagopee said:
Ahhh, in those years Subie definitely was not without their challenges regarding the issues you had. They have improved by leaps and bounds regarding those.

Regarding converters. Generally speaking, what will make them plug is lack of maintenance. ie plugs, wires, ignoring that CEL that may indicate you need an O2 sensor, etc, etc. A converter has an ideal temp it needs to run at to be efficient. Any number of things, bad wires, bad plugs, bad injector, and so on, will make a converter have to burn hotter to get rid of the excess, "whatever". it's trying to burn. Enough of those instances will make the converter so hot that it will start to break down the "guts" of the converter and plug it.
Bottom line --- if that CEL comes on get it checked out. A few bucks could save you big bucks to replace a converter.

Yup.
Looks like the bastards aren’t stealing the old Outback converters as much.
The old Foreseters are on the list though.

Catalytic Converter Theft: 10 Most Targeted Vehicles

The number of catalytic converter thefts has exploded over the past three years. Carfax details which vehicles are the most frequent targets.

www.carfax.com

Peter Minde · Feb 2, 2023

Campgottagopee said:
Ahhh, in those years Subie definitely was not without their challenges regarding the issues you had. They have improved by leaps and bounds regarding those.

Regarding converters. Generally speaking, what will make them plug is lack of maintenance. ie plugs, wires, ignoring that CEL that may indicate you need an O2 sensor, etc, etc. A converter has an ideal temp it needs to run at to be efficient. Any number of things, bad wires, bad plugs, bad injector, and so on, will make a converter have to burn hotter to get rid of the excess, "whatever". it's trying to burn. Enough of those instances will make the converter so hot that it will start to break down the "guts" of the converter and plug it.
Bottom line --- if that CEL comes on get it checked out. A few bucks could save you big bucks to replace a converter.

I've always kept up on the maintenance of my automobiles. CEL light goes on, I go to the mechanic. In one instance, I replaced an O2 sensor. Every other time, the cat went bad.