well noted

We learn every day..I almost ignored this post o..@op thanks for this insightful post..my car serves me well sha even without the indomie doesn't consume fuel

And most times when going to buy a Tokunbo car,if you notice the Check engine light on it you better run or/and after starting the car and you notice that the exhaust sound is louder,there's a possibility that the akara or indomie is no longer there. Car dealers in nija will never allow you diagnose the car or allow you loose the exhaust before payment.

I have noticed a different sound in the ml I drive I just hope it is not wat the op is saying here

@OP nice one...I have been a victim of this theft but fortunately for me a good citizen rescued me because he was also servicing his car in the same garage and saw when the guy removed it..He kept them quite and when i started complaining of the sound the dude denied it but my very good fellow citizen went to where the Dude kept it, brought it and simply told him to fix it back...Mehn that guy won my mouth watering price award for that year " A handshake and very big thank you Sir".. Now i want to buy a Nissan Pathfinder SUV, i have not been able to get one because they all refused to allow my technician diagnose their vehicle before payment...Hope to meet an NL guy at Ikeja hope he will allow me do the diagnosis.

Very informative post though a pity the post is getting to me rather late because I read a lot from NL car talk and autos forums for over a month before I eventually picked up a 406 Peugeot at Cotonuo two weeks back only to discover women hair weave on coming out of my exhaust while cruising my new pug in 9aija, summoned my mechanic who laughed my anger off that my car's Indomine or Demarche i.e. Cat converters, have been stolen at Cotonuo. I was mad, called my Cotonuo agent and demanded for it but he claimed ignorance and promises to get it from the car dealer, up till now no feed back. I have planned to visit Ladipo next week to get replacement only God knows at how much though now am wiser and such will never be my portion again as will look out for it in my cars like I do my gsm. Guys everybody shine your eyes o, that I learned in a hard way.

the mechanic i took my car to stole mine! the sound of the car changed drastically from being silent to being very noisy! he denied it till date even when its obvious he stole it! the annoying part is that i bought the car in march this year and the car was so clean when i bought it that people think i bought it brand new!

Since then, the car is so noisy, consumes a lot of fuel and gives me various engine problems like overheat!

They called it INDOMIE!

TO REPLACE ANOTHER ONE, THE DEALER THEY DIRECTED ME TO IN APO SAID ITS N28K!

I TOLD THE MECHANIC THAT IT WILL NEVER BE WELL WITH HIM! and so shall it be!

This is the reason why majority of the unscrupulous mechanics are sooooo pooor! believe me, majority of the mechanics are worst than the police!

Insightful. My first time of hearing about this Ankara of a thing.

It's AKARA and not Ankara

rabzy01: Insightful. My first time of hearing about this Ankara of a thing.

I have known this fact for a long time,the name that panel bitters , mechanic, auto electrician,car wash attendant call the metallic converter is biscuit.If the theives want to remove the converter,they will delibrately delayed the work on your car till the next day.If they notice that you are smart,they will delibrately hit the pot containing the metallic catalyst in the converter with hammer, if you drive the car for two days the metal will block the exhaust pipe and hence the sound of the engine will worsen.The theives will then be expecting you to bring the car back for repair. If you go back to them, they will remove the metal converter and repair it.

No wonder many vehicles are busy polluting the environment. The kind of poison they release makes one wonder how long we will all live.
Most times if you don't have you car windows wound up,you can hardly breathe on the roads.
Why do people not think before acting?

And they don't know that by so doing,they are indirectly hurting themselves too. Because we all suffer the pollution together
That's what greed and immediate gratification leads to.

Abajoo had a very nasty episode with a road side mechanic in lafia like two years ago, i was travelling from jos to ogoja when suddenly the car i was using then (mercedes C230 kompressor) refused to pull as it should so i stopped there for it to be checked. After pleriminary investigations the guy said i need to remove the contents in the exhaust chamber cos it was weak alread and thats why is not pulling well. I almost wanted to agree intially but on second thought i called my mechanic in Jos and he said i should not do that as it was not the issue and that the guy wanted to cheat me this lead to a face off. Finally had the fuel pump checked and the car was as good as new. Learnt my lesson well.

moshd: Very informative post though a pity the post is getting to me rather late because I read a lot from NL car talk and autos forums for over a month before I eventually picked up a 406 Peugeot at Cotonuo two weeks back only to discover women hair weave on coming out of my exhaust while cruising my new pug in 9aija, summoned my mechanic who laughed my anger off that my car's Indomine or Demarche i.e. Cat converters, have been stolen at Cotonuo. I was mad, called my Cotonuo agent and demanded for it but he claimed ignorance and promises to get it from the car dealer, up till now no feed back. I have planned to visit Ladipo next week to get replacement only God knows at how much though now am wiser and such will never be my portion again as will look out for it in my cars like I do my gsm. Guys everybody shine your eyes o, that I learned in a hard way.

That is not the Cat Converter problem. It is the back box (silencer) disintegrating and that 'hair weave' is the sound deadening material.

@op
This issue of catalyst is becoming unbearable. Out of every 10 cars bought either from Lagos ports or cotonou, 9 must have been removed. It's so sad. My dealer friend claimed that my car catalyst is intact while a panel beater said it has been removed. I went for a scan and Catalyst error came up. It's sad. A friend told me that I shouldn't bother cos he has been using his DC like that.
Pls where is your workshop in abuja. Pls u can contact me on 0802849204 to meet. Pls u can send sms.
Thanks

I have the same problem wit my 2002 European Honda accord that I just bought. I noticed d car consumes a lot of fuel which is so unfair from a 1.8L engine. I visited my Mechanic and after scanning we got d P0420 code. We discovered d catalyst had been stolen and stuffed wit some rubbish. My Car is very clean but its fuel consumption is so annoying. Pls I need help on where I can get it replaced and won't be cheated. Whoever that stole my catalyst converter will never experience happiness in his/her life. Amen.

I am posting this with a heavy heart. I just came back from my mechanic where after inspection it was confirmed that the 'catalyst' in my exhaust pipe has been removed! Just acquired this toyota car some days back from a car dealer somewhere in Maryland area of Lagos and had been wondering at the rate at which it guzzles fuel, even much more than the old mercedes I used to have. Then off to the mechanic I went this afternoon only to be told the bitter truth(catalyst converter stolen) and to replace it will deplete my account by N18,000. This is very sad indeed.

specco: I am posting this with a heavy heart. I just came back from my mechanic where after inspection it was confirmed that the 'catalytic' in my exhaust pipe has been removed! Just acquired this toyota car some days back from a car dealer somewhere in Maryland area of Lagos and had been wondering at the rate at which it guzzles fuel, even much more than the old mercedes I used to have. Then off to the mechanic I went this afternoon only to be told the bitter truth(catalytic converter stolen) and to replace it will deplete my account by N18,000. This is very sad indeed.

So sorry about that Specco. Did you notice any sign of this immediately you purchased the car? Because if you did,then it must have been removed before you bought the car.

Eyop:

So sorry about that Specco. Did you notice any sign of this immediately you purchased the car? Because if you did,then it must have been removed before you bought the car.

I have just used the car for the sixth day(today). I noticed a 'check' sign on the dashboard after the third day of driving the car but the fuel awareness came when my friends,having knowledge of my former car, started telling me how much I would be saving now ie fuel-wise now that I have moved over to a Japanese car. It was then that it occurred to me that I was not saving anything as they emphatically believed. Then the search for an explanation led me to the mechanic this afternoon and behold the bad news.

specco:

I have just used the car for the sixth day(today). I noticed a 'check' sign on the dashboard after the third day of driving the car but the fuel awareness came when my friends,having knowledge of my former car, started telling me how much I would be saving now ie fuel-wise now that I have moved over to a Japanese car. It was then that it occurred to me that I was not saving anything as they emphatically believed. Then the search for explanation led me to the mechanic this afternoon and behold the bad news.

Then it was removed before you bought the car. I had similar problem and after i confirmed that from the mechanic workshop i vowed never to buy a car with the check engine light on even though some car dealers have another method of handling this which is to clear the codes(by doing this the check engine light will not display so far the vehicle is not driven). It is so rampant now by brother.

Eyop:

Then it was removed before you bought the car. I had similar problem and after i confirmed that from the mechanic workshop i vowed never to buy a car with the check engine light on even though some car dealers have another method of handling this which is to clear the codes(by doing this the check engine light will not display so far the vehicle is not driven). It is so rampant now by brother.

Very annoying walahi. It shouldn't be hard for them to just add 12k or whatever to the price of the vehicles they put on sale and leave the catalyst converters intact. However, greed and a weird need to do (unnecessary) evil won't allow them. If I buy a car from you with such problems, I'm definitely not coming back to buy another and I'm not going to refer you to anyone either. Bad for biz in the long run.

i'm battling the Catalyst issue for about four months now.

olamega: i'm battling the Catalyst issue for about four months now.

This catalyst issue almost ended my life when it happen to a 2007 Toyota Matrix i bought from Cotonou. Even when i went to the market to get a replacement (which you cannot get a new one but rather the old one except you order for it from the United States) i bought a complete exhaust for #35,000 because i never wanted cut and weld but rather coupling it but after it was mounted,it became worst and the vehicle was struggling to drive. It was then they noticed that it was a worked exhaust and i was advice by even the seller that the best thing i should do is to drive the car like that or order it from USA because most of them in Ladipo are worked by his brothers.

Eyop:

This catalyst issue almost ended my life when it happen to a 2007 Toyota Matrix i bought from Cotonou. Even when i went to the market to get a replacement (which you cannot get a new one but rather the old one except you order for it from the United States) i bought a complete exhaust for #35,000 because i never wanted cut and weld but rather coupling it but after it was mounted,it became worst and the vehicle was struggling to drive. It was then they noticed that it was a worked exhaust and i was advice by even the seller that the best thing i should do is to drive the car like that or order it from USA because most of them in Ladipo are worked by his brothers.

You can order it from any foreign country where they dont tamper with things like that.

If not for the weight l would have helped you order one from Europe/UK and get it sent it to you but its damn heavy!
I think there is someone in Auto section who helps in ordering parts, as a business?
Check it out.

Lastpage!

lastpage:
You can order it from any foreign country where they dont tamper with things like that.

If not for the weight l would have helped you order one from Europe/UK and get it sent it to you but its damn heavy!
I think there is someone in Auto section who helps in ordering parts, as a business?
Check it out.

Lastpage!

Yes Lastpage,I guess siena is the person you are referring to? Although the vehicle is presently in Abuja but if i have need to order sensitive parts like that,i will definitely contact him. It's rather unfortunate that i got his contact after the mess because i would have ordered it straight away via his assistance. Thanks once again for your concern.

This is some worth following thread..thanks OP for this and to others for sharing their experiences..

Fellow Nairalanders
This is true , sad and a real victim
I bought my clean 2005 Honda pilot EXL from Cotonou through my uncle a car dealer. This is the 1.5 yrs of ownership until I learnt my catalyst (3 way) has been removed. The SUV has always sounded trucky and always has the CEL.
Went to Ladipo November 9th this year to replace swaybar and serpentine belt which I bought from Honda USA, then told my mechanic to diagnose the deep trucky sound.
Behold no catalyst , the exhaust was packed with wire mesh and gauze in it. Finally ended spending 80k to replace the 3 way catalytic converter . Since then No more check engine light and sound is softer.
Please note , I replaced all 4 O2 sensors( 2 in Bank 1 and 2 in Bank 2)
I own a Honda Diagnostic tool called HIM, which I bough from Ebay.com. Use it to scan all my systems. No lights , no DTC . Car is perfect

The theives nickname the metallic converter buscuit

The heart of man is desperately wicked. God help us!

olaayodele: The theives nickname the metallic converter buscuit

It's also called Indomie or Chin-Chin. I bought a Honda Car from Cotonou in 2011, from the first day i drove the car, i noticed that the fuel consumption was very high, and that the sound of the car is somehow noisy. My mechanic would always assure me that the 'Chin-Chin' is intact, cos the pot didn't carry any welding mark on it. It was January this year, when i didn't know what he was looking for, when he noticed that the stuff was cleanly removed, and was replaced with well packed net-like material and wire gauze, without breaking any part of the exhaust. I've since replaced it at the cost of 15k.

Eya!!