Performance of genuine vs aftermarket cat

[sparky Paul]

Who is gonna check except at MOT time, and car is at least 3 years old then. As long as the vehicle passes emissions MOT test in UK are the French going to haul your vehicle onto ramps at Calais for a 'CAT scan' before they allow you into EU.

Exactly, there are thousands of cars driving around with non type approved cats that were fitted before the legislation was brought in, happily passing MOTs.

The point is that all the aftermarket cats are now type approved and stamped with an approval number, so if you buy a new replacement cat like a BM, it has to be type approved for its purpose, by law. Unless you can find an old non-approved cat, or cut one out of another exhaust, you're not going to be fitting a non approved cat.

[E27006]

In addition there are the two sensors to consider, do you buy the cheapest or middle price? There are many on Ebay and the price some are only £40 the pair for unbranded or universal
My car had two green box Lucas sensors,parts LEB 455 and LEB 456 for the Jazz, about £70 the pair, Honda OEM are nearly £600 the pair, so far no issues with the Pattern Cat and Lucas sensors.
We should post such information to help decide the parts which work and those that do not

[E27006]

Thank you Jocko. I'm trying to understand why the OE honda cat has significantly more valuable material within if there is no functional difference. My initial thought was that the extra platinum etc allowed it to be a more effective catalyst whilst being less restrictive. Maybe so in 2002, but technology may just have caught up almost 20 years later for the cheap BM ones etc.

The mechanic told me the Honda Jazz Euro 4 cat contains a lot of the precious metals than for Euro 3 version,to incorporate the transition from Euro3 to Euro 4, Honda loaded up the Cat  with more of those metals rather than  redesign the engine.

[E27006]

Presumably, all of the cat designs that they manufacture will be tested, and in their submission, the actual cat used in the manufacture of each replacement unit will have to meet or exceed the manufacturer's original spec.
https://www.klarius.eu/type-approval-automotive-components/

Useful link. However, there is a key paragraph which kind of puts a question mark on things. It sort of reflects what was in the back of my mind when I posted earlier, wasn't sure of things.

"While type-approval is mandatory for exhausts, CATs and DPFs in the EU, in the UK exhausts are exempt from certification. It is currently illegal to sell non-type approved CATs for vehicles that were registered after the 1st March 2001, while all Euro 5 and most Euro 4 DPFs must be type-approved to be legally compliant. In the UK it is not currently illegal to fit a non-type approved exhaust, but fitting such a part to a vehicle that is under warranty could void it. It will also be illegal if driven abroad."

Who is gonna check except at MOT time, and car is at least 3 years old then. As long as the vehicle passes emissions MOT test in UK are the French going to haul your vehicle onto ramps at Calais for a 'CAT scan' before they allow you into EU.

and who were the culprits in swindling the public over type approval emission standards?  The European car makers, Renault Fiat, VW etc with their "clean diesel" cars with software defeat devices which switched on pollution control for the 20 minute official test, switched off for all other driving conditions

[E27006]

Thank you Jocko. I'm trying to understand why the OE honda cat has significantly more valuable material within if there is no functional difference. My initial thought was that the extra platinum etc allowed it to be a more effective catalyst whilst being less restrictive. Maybe so in 2002, but technology may just have caught up almost 20 years later for the cheap BM ones etc.

A good part of the £1200  for a Honda OEM cat at the dealership is probably just a massive markup for profit.