Scoochiro

I wouldn't diss anybody trying to give me free car advice! But, I will note that the fanatics on Miata.net rack up, some of them, 7 - 10 thousand posts before they're really considered "in." By which, I only mean to say, that particular forum is one of the most-supported, heaviest-used of nearly any car-forum I know of. We're good now, aren't we???

I have to say, this is a great place for advice. Almost as good as my other hangout, Miata.net. I think the above post gets at something I really wondered about. My start-then-stall problem really isn't too commonly assocaited with an O2 sensor failure, is it? I mean, just because the dealer touched the cat and, probably, the O2 sensor, doesn't rule out something else going on. Correlation doesn't mean causation. So, what else does start-then-stall, with a little rougher idle, sound like? I'll read the codes this weekend, of course, but I'm just wondering if these symptoms point to some kind of well-known problem? Thanks much

I think you are probably about right -- the car ran fine before their work. I guess it may be hard to replace the cat and not run a risk of damaging an already-old O2 sensor, especially if they're physically right next to each other. Still, I'm not sure I should have to pay the full deal. Does a damaged O2 sensor always trigger a CEL, or create a code? I guess I'll just have to check it out, so that I'm not replacing things for no reason, but I'll be that's what's going on here.

'02 Forester with 65k miles. Got a CEL and the dealer says replace catalytic converter under warranty. I'm a little bit suspicious because of this particular dealer's reputation, but why wouldn't I let him give me a free cat if that's what the codes indicate? Well, the car now idles rougher and has a tendency to stall out immediately after being started. Sounds possibly like oxygen sensor problem -- could that be related to the catalytic converter work? No new CEL and I'm not sure if the start-then-stall could be related to the sensor or something else. But, I really don't want to just go back and put myself at the dealer's mercy. I want to be armed with some info, if there's any likelihood that they damaged the sensor during the cat install. Thoughts?