[Martinacan]

My 2006 G6 with a 2.4 engine had a catalytic converter issue. The catalytic converter internal melted & causes a 7.5 psi back pressure on the exhaust system. This caused the engine to loose power & use a large amount of fuel.

A new catalytic converter was fitted by the dealer. The service manager reported that my car was the 7th G6 that required a new catalytic converter. All units had melted & plugged up.

 

[inspector2]

Bad cat?

my engine light is on and has been for a little while now. Thought it was the 02 sensor. However, just recently I've notice a slight loss of power. The mpg is still ok but, while climbing a grade, I stomped on the accelerator and the rpms went up as it downshifted, but it was like a clutch was slipping. I gained very little speed, so I let off on the accelerator and the engine light started to flash. I thought the fuel contributing to the problem cause a got a pinging noise too. I use 87 octane. My car has over 80k, so it is out of warranty. I commute 120 miles day. Anyway, the car feels like the cat might be the problem. So, did you say the dealer replaced yours at no additional cost? I can't afford buying a car every two to three years. I'm not sure I can afford a new cat. From what I have read, the defective cat seems to causing a lot of problems.

 

[Martinacan]

Inspector2
Sounds like you are having the some problems as me with the catalylic converter
Your symptoms are the same as mine when I first noticed the problem. Eventually, your engine service light will stay on & there will be a number of cylinder miss-fires.

Re the Service Manager - He did not commit to state there was a recall on this item. I believe the issue is GM is waiting to see how many cars have this problem before a recall is implemented.
However, you could use the fact that a number of people are having problems with the cat convertor.
There was no charge to have my cat converter replaced.

For your info, the cat convertor is covered by a separate warranty, under the "specified emmissions control warranty" which is for 8 years 130,000 kms

 

[inspector2]

Inspector2
Sounds like you are having the some problems as me with the catalylic converter
Your symptoms are the same as mine when I first noticed the problem. Eventually, your engine service light will stay on & there will be a number of cylinder miss-fires.

Re the Service Manager - He did not commit to state there was a recall on this item. I believe the issue is GM is waiting to see how many cars have this problem before a recall is implemented.
However, you could use the fact that a number of people are having problems with the cat convertor.
There was no charge to have my cat converter replaced.

For your info, the cat convertor is covered by a separate warranty, under the "specified emmissions control warranty" which is for 8 years 130,000 kms

Wow, thanks for the info. did not know about the emissions warranty. I was going to surf the net, regarding recalls to see if there was any mention about it. Thanks again

 

[Jakeman17]

mine also had that problem

 

[inspector2]

at the dealer

Barely made it home last night. Took the car to the dealership. Service dude said it sounds like the cat. I'll find out later today. He also mentioned that I was not alone. GM should recall. Accepting the embarassment today, is better than loosing future customers. I'm having doubts about domestic cars again. I have been faithful so far but, being stranded on the roadside is no fun.

 

[Martinacan]

Sorry to hear about your problems

Hi Inspector2
Sorry to hear about you being stranded
However - at least the repair should be free since the part is still under warranty.
GM is not the only car manufacturer with problems with the cats. Ever since the cats were move closer to the exhaust manifold by various manufactures, the cat internals have been melting.

So - you may not be better off with an import

 

[inspector2]

Well, the G6 should be ready today. It has spent three days in the shop. The part was out of stock. Which means not enough inventory because either they do not have enough of a need or they used up what they had.....I believe the latter. Though, there is no cost for the repair,(thank God), I still had to find alternate ways to get to work. That was not real easy. I have a part time job that I could not go to because, i car pooled with a friend at my full time job. Thanks for all the input. This forum is great. Funny how we find friends / comrades by way of misfortunes (at least in my case). Thanks again

 

[inspector2]

06" G6 4 cyl. all good

Ok....my baby runs great now. I warn anybody that has not yet reached the 80k point to have the cat checked, replaced,... whatever. I said before, GM should replace these defective cats, regardless of mileage. They also did a software/firmware update, per recall. My clock and other e-gadgets were acting weird. I hope that this will fix it. Funny thing though, I never received any recall notices on the software thing. I like my car again. Thanks forum members for all your input.

 

[punki3]

my cat also needs replacing for my g6. guess you can count that as four on this list.......

and thanks to martinacan for all the useful info

 

[stephcorleone]

Is that emissions warranty for every newer car? for every G6? no matter what warranty you may have chosen?

 

[Martinacan]

Is that emissions warranty for every newer car? for every G6? no matter what warranty you may have chosen?

Yes - for all G6 cars. Check your warranty book. The emissions warranty is listed in the book.
Actually - all cars have this warranty. The distance/time values are slightly different but are close.

 

[TECH946]

other then ca. emissions car(ny and others use it)
emissions warrenty is 8yr, or 80k

 

[stephcorleone]

great to know about that warranty. thanks guys.

 

[hotkarl92]

cat converter

if my cat is bad where online can i buy one oem for the g6?

 

[LionKeith]

I'm currently waiting for a catalytic converter for my wife's 2006 G6 with a 2.4L engine. The dealer does not have one in stock. She told me a bunch of trouble lights came on and she lost engine power. Unfortunately, she drives the wheels off of it and it has 100k+ miles on it, so it won't be covered by the emissions warranty. I found this place while poking around looking to make sure that the catalytic converter hadn't been recalled. No luck there, but I'm glad to see this isn't the only 2006 G6 with the problem. Hopefully all it needs is the new cat converter.

 

[inspector2]

A response to Lionkeith

lionkeith,
I hear ya. I think that GM should of considered this a recall of sorts. I am sure that if not a defect in the cat itself, it might or should be considered as a design error. It should cost little over a grand to fix. I was looking into an aftermarket cat. but because GM did cover it, I discontiuned the search.
Yes, I think that it should fix your problem, till the next one comes up.
Good luck

 

[LionKeith]

The new catalytic converter fixed the problem. No more trouble lights and the wife says it runs like it did when it was new. It came to a little over $700to get it done. About $475 for the part and the rest in labor. It could have been worse. The dealer tried to convince my wife that the best thing she could do was get a new car instead of getting the cat replaced...thanks, but no thanks, buddy!

 

[inspector2]

Not bad

Wow,
Not too bad on the $$. I am glad to hear it all worked out. I have over 88k miles on my G6. A new car sounds good. I am not sure if I'm going to buy another Pontiac or not, even though I like my G6.
Car sales along with everything else, is pretty sad.
Well, the best to you and I hope nothing else goes wrong for a long time.

 

[05 Maryland G6]

I have a '05 3.5L V6 G6 with 102K miles on it. The engine light came on and the P420 trouble code came on. I had to replace both of the catalytic converters. The front one was $450 and the back was $360. They don't make aftermarket cats specifically for the G6, so I had to go with cats from the dealer. Add in the gaskets and labor and the bill rang up to $1300. I'm definitely not a happy camper. I've drove my S10 to 200k miles before, and that didn't need catalytic converters replaced.

One of the things my mechanic told me that may help some of the others on this forum is that even though the sparks plugs are "supposed" to last to 100k miles, it may be a good idea to replace them at around 70k-80k (FYI- same goes for the Dexcool antifreeze that's "supposed" to last 100k miles. Definitely change that stuff out every 2 years). Now maybe he was blowing smoke, but I'm already past that mileage point so I don't think he was trying to sell me anything. Also, if you don't use a fuel additive like Techron Concentrated (my personal favorite), it may be a good idea to use that every 6 months to keep your fuel system clean. It looks like the best options for us are to keep up with regular engine maintenance and start pressuring GM for a recall. Not too great of a chance of that happening though!