New Member, Some queries

[skullbox]

Hello from Pakistan,

I have been a follower of this forum for a while now. I have a JDM import Mitsubishi Mirage 1.0l 2013 Model.

I love the car and bought it at 42k kms now it has roughly clocked 120k km with routine maintenance and all. However there is one issue that I need member's input on. At roughly 90k my old catcon gave up. Now since the car wasnt launched here in Pakistan i had no option of getting a new one but only limited options from the scrap here. I bought one and it worked for roughly 20k kms after which it went kaput too. It was pretty costly here too and going for such a catcon again wasnt cost effective for me. I tend to get OEM stuff from GCC or USA but bringing in a catcon is difficult. So i researched a bit and ordered the following from Ali express along with a new O2 sensor:

Fowler : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3304...27424c4dx8pWCl
O2 Sensor : https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000...27424c4dnQgV8W

Now this solution worked fine for over a month which the error P0137 started to come up. I cleared the error few times but it would come up again after every 200-300kms usually when driving slow in the speed range of 20-30 KPH.

Can somebody guide on this? I will definitely look around for a new CAT but it would be a long shot due to availability.

Options are following:

1. Use another car's cat con in place of this which is readily available new. Issue is the space in the cat con area as its very tight.
2. Make the above solution work somehow, though i have my doubts.

Input from the members would be highly appreciated. I love the car and would probably keep it for a longer time since car's have gone insanely expensive here. I am using Total Quartz 9000 5W-30 and have been constantly getting a fuel average of 19-20KMPL over the last 3 years.

Thanks in advance

[Eggman]

Hello skullbox and welcome to the forum.

From what you've shared, it sounds like your catalytic converter is being fouled, either by bad fuel or by loss of engine oil. Since you don't mention losing oil, it might be dirty fuel. Replacing components won't fix that. And I'm not sure if better quality fuel is an option for you.

[skullbox]

Hello skullbox and welcome to the forum.

From what you've shared, it sounds like your catalytic converter is being fouled, either by bad fuel or by loss of engine oil. Since you don't mention losing oil, it might be dirty fuel. Replacing components won't fix that. And I'm not sure if better quality fuel is an option for you.

Sorry forgot to mention that when i had the 2nd catcon, I had it removed altogether and the fouler was put in its place along with a new O2 sensor. Like i mentioned i dont have the option buying this as a new part here. So removed it from the housing since it had already broken off from the sides inside the housing.

[AtomicPunk]

Welcome, skullbox! I did a little quick research, and sounds like there may be a fuel quality problem there, or at least there was in 2018. Manganese additives choking out catalytic converters...
Do we know if this has stopped yet?
https://www.brecorder.com/2018/03/13...damaging-cars/

[Dirk Diggler]

Wow, the catalytic converter is the last thing I thought would go out in a Mirage! These engines are known to leak fill, they're pretty basic.

[skullbox]

Welcome, skullbox! I did a little quick research, and sounds like there may be a fuel quality problem there, or at least there was in 2018. Manganese additives choking out catalytic converters...
Do we know if this has stopped yet?
https://www.brecorder.com/2018/03/13...damaging-cars/

Yes that was the case last year, thats what probably caused the converters to conk out too soon. However cant get new cat here hence removed it for now. But need to find a way around that check engine which comes up after 200-300 kms. Otherwise car behaviour is fine no issues, pickup has increased obviously mileage has been pretty much the same. Its just the engine light that annoys me. I understand that the post cat O2 sensor is only for monitoring and wouldnt do any harm to the engine.