K04 seals died - does this mean my catalytic converter is likely dead too?
 

Hello,

My '13 MS3 had the stock turbo die a couple weeks ago. blue smoke clouds and all.

I got my corksport turbo and accessport and fuel pump upgrade in the mail yesterday.

Now the question:

-is my cat probably ruined by all the oil?
-Is there a danger of hurting my new turbo with the clogged up catalytic converter?
(I don't know that it's clogged, just guessing)


If I do decide to replace the cat is there a good option that is well known in the forum?

Thanks everyone!

you can replace it with a Catless Turboback Exhaust.

Missouri has emissions testing.

I didn't really want to get aftermarket exhaust due to sound volume concern. I used to drive MR2 turbo with no cats and 3" pipes and just want to go a different direction with this car now that I've got kids and all lol.

Maybe if there's a really quiet exhaust system I'd consider it but mainly just wondering if anyone has had similar experience and could advise.

Oh and I won't have problems passing smog test due to knowing people but still feel bad about polluting and so would rather run a cat.

Probably really depends on how much oil it was puking out/how much you drove it like that. I think a solid option would be to get an aftermarket downpipe with high-flow cat in it. It's one of those things that if you're going to be swapping turbos, that's the perfect time to change downpipe as well. Of course this option costs the most money but you get performance and no worry/hassle either. Downpipe with cat + stock exhaust should be pretty tame.

You might be interested in Cobb turbo back exhaust if your looking for performance without being loud. expensive but I rememeber reading somewhere that it keeps the decible range within the legal limits and sounds great as well.

How many miles did you get out of your stock turbo?

If your going for more power (ie. Corksport Turbo) then you probably wanna remove 1 of your cats.

Car has 19k miles on it. Purchased about 2 months ago from private seller.

It has a salvage title. I thought I did a pretty thorough amount of checking out the car beforehand and it looks and drives like new... but then the clouds of blue smoke.

Probably drove less than 100 miles on it after turbo seals died so I may just leave the stock cat and see if it's okay...

But I dunno I'm worried about trying that due to concerns about hurting my new turbo.... ugh

Damn,19000, bummer man.
Probably not the best solution but there are plenty of guys here running gutted stock DP's and RP's. Its worth a search to see the positive results. Definitely the cheapest route=$0 and only a slight increase in sound.

Probably wasn't enough to cause any real damage. I would just roll with it personally. OEM downpipe is a nice unit and not as restrictive as people around here would have you believe.

I wouldn't upgrade the downpipe unless you were going catless. It's going to make the turbo spool faster and there's no point in paying more money (for a cat) to remove some of the benefit of replacing the downpipe, IMO.

FWIW my car isn't too loud with my catless downpipe. On the exterior, it's definitely a little louder, but I haven't gotten any complaints from anyone and my car is by far the quietest one at any car meet that I attend. On the interior, there's no difference, really.

That many miles shouldnt have damaged the downpipe; you should be fine there.

I would be more concerned about your o2 sensors being gunked up from all the burning oil.

wow... I hand't even considered the O2 sensor...

I got the car up and running today with the accessport installed. I haven't done any "logs" yet and I still have to learn more about that.

The car seems to run fine, little smoke from the exhaust still (I think due to all the oil in the exhaust from when the seals on the K04 died)

If the O2 sensor was gunked up --- would it run fine or would it not idle? how woudl I know?


thanks for everyone's tips! really appreciate it.


-Bruce

Youll throw a code if your 02 sensor has been affected. A buddy of mine literally just went through this.

Keep an eye on AFRs too, if you want.

I have probably one of the quietest aftermarket setups out there. CS catted DP paired with COBB CBE. Quiet when I want to just cruise around town but opens up when you mash on the throttle. I too have the kid now, my 18 month old is with me all the time and the added minimal exhaust noise isn't a big deal with her or the wife.

He is correct. Mine has p0421 code right now and I'm not building boost after mazda replaced the turbo. [emoji17] not sure if cat is clogged or what

thought I would update:

installed corksport turbo and it seems so far (still in the tuning process) that my worries about the catalytic converter clogged with oil never came to pass. It appears my concerns were unfounded, and the car is quite fast with the new turbo.

Good to hear that, when you get tired of that CS turbo I got a ko4 in excellent shape,even swap!

@brucetopping;
If it eases your mind, mine k04 did the same thing. Here is a pic of the O2 sensor. This was after 5 miles of driving. I never received a code, cleaned it with MAF cleaner and it is still running after another 11K miles with no issues. I did, however replace the stock DP with another stock DP donated by a nator member. Glad to hear you are back up, running, and having fun.

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