OE cross Over pipe/cats with 100k or replace with aftermarket Walker equivalent

[Jeff d]

So, I had a bad O2 sensor heater on my '03 Yukon XL 4x4. Pre-cat, driver's side. Easy fix and I've changed them on other vehicles before without issue. Well, this time the threads for the bung came out with the O2 sensor.

I need a helicoil or a new bung because there's too much thread missing in the bung to just chase or re-tap. Called around a bit today and no shops in the area are capable of doing this (or at least they don't want to take over my failed attempt).

I think the cross pipe will have to come out to get good access to drive a drill and tap in straight. The helicoil kit is $135 and another $15 for a drill bit. So, $150 and I'd have the same 13 year old, 100k mi cats.

I can get a whole new cross pipe with cats from Walker for $315 though. I can also sell my used OE cats to the local scrap yard for $80-100 or so. So, cost of that fix would be $215ish. In either case I'd replace all 4 O2 sensors while I've got easy access to everything given the age, mileage and inexpensive price on the sensors ($35 each for OE).

By all accounts on Amazon reviews the Walker is very close or equal to the quality of the OE part. What's my best option? Keep the factory pipe and spend $150 to put in one helicoil and hopefully be able to get the other sensors out without issue? Or spend another $65 and get new (although aftermarket) cats and not have to deal with removing the old sensors at all?

The extra money isn't an issue if it saves me time and frustration. I just don't want to swap in an inferior pipe/cats vs OE (mileage and age considered). The 20 reviews on Amazon are all positive except for one where it seems it was bent in transit.

FWIW I've already let the penetrating lube spraying begin on all fasteners involved in the process. I'll do that at least daily for the next few days while I decide what I'm going to do and wait for parts/tools to arrive.

 

[ezdaar]

http://www.speedengineeringlsx.com/...gtube-headers-y-pipe-1999-2006-25-101225-1014

 

[01ssreda4]

You're way over-thinking this. You damaged the bung, replace the bung. Whatever part the bung is on...manifold perhaps, remove it and take it to the welder and get a new bung welded in its place. Simple. If you decide to remove the cats, you wouldn't want to replace the rear sensors as they are just cat monitors and nothing else.

 

[Mister H12]

http://www.amazon.com/AEM-30-2355-300-No-Weld-Sensor-Mount/dp/B003ISEFKW

This would be pretty quick and you could probably do it yourself.

 

[Jeff d]

I ended up ordering the Walker pipe to have on hand. Once the OE pipe was removed I was able to get a good angle and good torque on the thread chaser to get the treads in good enough shape to hold the sensor with appropriate torque. I removed the remaining 3 sensors without incident with my impact wrench, put the pipe back in, replaced all the sensors with new ones and everything has been good for a thousand + miles now (in the middle of a road trip with the family at the moment). CEL went away and no leaks.

The Walker pipe was ok but wasn't really OE quality. The cats were smaller, the tubing was smaller by 1/4" diameter in many areas. The bends were crush bent vs. the smooth mandrel bends of the OE pipe. It probably would have worked fine if I needed it to but Amazon took it back without issue.

---------- Post added at 02:16 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:07 AM ----------

Removing the pipe was a bit of a pain but only took 20 mins or so with an air impact wrench and the Yukon front on ramps. I had to support the transmission with a jack and lower the transmission crossmember. The moral of the story is I should have just done this the first day instead of working myself up into a panic. I had the thread chaser on hand but there were just too many angles and parts in close proximity interfering to run it in there straight with the pipe in the vehicle.