New Catalytic converter?

[Till Krueger]

Hi,

i've been gone for a while (medical emergency that required me to sell my beloved 911 Targa), and have recently (last year) gotten back into the Porsche saddle by means of a 2001 Boxster, which a friend of mine let me have for cheap ($6k) when the dealership he was buying a new Audi A5 Convertible from was low-balling him on the trade-in offer.

Long story short, the Check Engine light has been on for him (and now me) for a while now (possibly 2+ years), and it appears that the Oxygen sensor(s) are what continues to be the culprit...my local mechanic (Aldo's Performance Motors here in SF, who also services my 911 for 10+ years) fears that it might require a new cat (which comes as *two* cats, really, left and right), which here in CA can only be legally done using factory parts, which cost about $1800 per side, plus labor (which he said he could do me a huge solid on)...still, my medical emergency has wiped me out financially, and now that i have to move into a new neighborhood here in SF, that is much less safe than the one i am in now, yet way more expensive than what i am paying at my old place, i am probably forced to sell the car.

my questions are this:

> could anything else cause these error codes that isn't a multi-thousand dollar repair?

> if it is the cat, what do cat repairs cost outside of CA (should that be the problem)...the car, as it is right now, will only pass smog by all sorts of trickery (resetting all the error codes, driving it for half an hour or so, then going to Testing Station of someone the previous owner knows, so that the fact the error codes were recently clears doesn't get noted down as a red flag, etc.)...so since i believe in full disclosure and wouldn't want to "play dumb" with a potential buyer (it does have a current smog, but would need to be re-done after the purchase and before re-registering), what would a potential purchaser *outside* of CA need to know when considering a car like mine?

> in the condition the car is in right now (Tiptronic, 123k miles, but has been garaged its entire life, with a few "SF parking scratches" in the front/rear bumpers...not mine, his...new better-than-factory soft-top with heated glass rear-window...IMS bearing has been changed to the ceramic one after i bought it, brand new set of high-performance *super* quiet Nitto tires - paid almost $800 for the set), what could i expect to get for it...it really drives like a dream and has been well-maintained, so for someone with a garage, it could be a dream come true.

as always, thank you all for your help and brain-share!

here's comp of 4 pix i took after buying it off my friend:

[JFP in PA]

Without the exact codes the car is throwing, anything would be a guess............

[Till Krueger]

yeah, i thought that it is too vague a scenario to really be answered, without more info...let me see whether i can get them to read out the codes for me and note them down...it's been a few months since we last did it, and they are usually really busy, so i'll have to wait until there's a window.

will post when i know.
thanks!