How To Replace Catalytic Converters 2008-12 Ford Escape

Disconnect the negative terminal on the battery. Use an 8-millimeter wrench, and wiggle the terminal off. Put that to the side. Take this crossmember out. I'm going to use a 15-millimeter socket. There's two bolts on this side, two bolts on the other side. That out. Now we're going to separate the exhaust right here. Take a 13-millimeter socket. Take these two nuts off. Be careful, there is springs so they're going to snap back a little bit. That one wasn't too bad. And take this one off too.

Disconnect this O2 sensor right here. Just push down on the tab and slide that off. Now I'm going to take the two nuts off right here. Use a 12-millimeter socket. And then also over here, there's two nuts that go to this flange. Take those out. Make sure you support this pipe when you're taking those out, and just slide this off out of the way. Now I'm going to disconnect this O2 sensor. Push down on the tab. There we go. And slide this wire out just like that. There's three nuts up here. You're going to use a 15-millimeter socket. It helps to use a swivel socket, and you can pry this heat shield back a little bit so you can access them. Take all those down, and just slide this down just like that.

Now we're going to remove the wheel. Use a 19-millimeter socket. Take the lug nuts off. Take the wheel off and remove this panel. Take this push pin out right here. Just use a trim tool. Use a 10-millimeter socket. Take these two bolts out. There is a bolt right here. Take that one out and also right here. I'm gonna use the same 10-millimeter socket. And there's one more right here, and slide this panel out of the way. Now take a serpentine belt tool or a half-inch ratchet and slide it into the tensioner. Take the tension off the belt and slide the belt off.

Disconnect this connector right here. This goes to the AC compressor, and just push down on the tab and wiggle that out. You want to make sure you leave the AC compressor lines attached. What we're going to do is just take these bolts out, these three bolts, and swing the compressor over. So use a 13-millimeter socket. Take those bolts out and just swing this over here. You can use a bungee cord to keep it out of the way and keep some of the tension off the lines and just attach it to the coil spring. That should be okay right there.

Now you may not have to take the alternator out to access the bolt, but it's going to be easier for the video and a little bit easier. I'll be able to reach in there a little bit more, and we already disconnected the battery, so we'll just take the alternator out. Use a 13-millimeter socket. Take this nut off and disconnect the cable. This connector is a little bit tricky to get off right now, so we're going to take the bolts out first, lower it down a little bit, and then try to disconnect it. Use a 15-millimeter socket. Take the bolt out up top first and slide that bolt out. Now we're going to loosen up these two nuts. I'm going to use a 15-millimeter socket. I don't have to take them off completely, just loosen them.

Now we're going to take a star socket, an E8, and we're going to take these studs out. Make sure you support the alternator when you've taken that last one out. We still have this connected, and now just twist this a little bit and just try to disconnect this connector. There we go. Just push down on that little tab and you can release that and slide the alternator out. I want to remove this O2 sensor right here and I'm going to reach up and disconnect the connector. It's a little bit tricky to see. If you have to, you can remove this panel and reach up over there. Now just take a O2 sensor socket like this, slide it over the O2 sensor and loosen up the O2 and slide it up. Now I'm going to remove this shield. I'm going to use a 7-millimeter socket. And there's three bolts that are holding this shield on, one down here and there's two up a little bit higher. You're going to have to reach for them. Really can't see them. Just gonna feel for them.

I got those three bolts out. Most of them broke, which is okay. I'll just take the shield. You might have to bend it a little bit and just slide it down. That's where the bolts go. Now we're going to take these nuts off. There is six of them. You can take a look at your new converter and judge where the holes are. So take these off. Use a 13-millimeter socket and just grab it and slide it down. We're gonna remove the old gasket. Just clean this up a little bit. You can take a scraper or a razor blade. Be careful with the razor blade, and just scrape some of the carbon off. Take the new gasket and slide it in position. Take the new converter and slide it in position and put the nuts back on. Now go around and torque these to 177 inch-pounds. Make sure you're in inch-pounds, not foot-pounds, and you're going to go around twice. Do it one time and go back around. Now take the shield and slide it in position. Take the three bolts, get those started and snug them up. And just snug these down.

Take the O2 sensor and install it. Just line it up just like it came out and take the O2 sensor socket and tighten it down. And it doesn't have to be too tight. Just snug it up. And take the O2 sensor plug, and this one goes further up here, and plug it in. Take the alternator and line it up. You can take this bolt. It goes on the top. Get that started first and put these studs in. Just make sure the wires are out of the way. You can plug this wire in up top. Lock them in place and tighten these nuts down and that upper bolt up top.

Now reattach the alternator tower feed wire and the nut and snug that down. Not too tight. That's good, and put this cover over the nut. Take the AC compressor, take the bungee cord off and slide it in position. Get the bolts lined up and tighten the bolts down. Just snug them up. Connect the connector, lock it in place. And take the belt, go around the alternator. Come around the backside of the pulley right here and around the AC compressor and take your belt tool or your ratchet, loosen the tension on the tensioner, and slide the belt around the crank pulley. Make sure all the pulleys are lined up, and it looks good.

Take the shield, slide it in position, and put the bolts back in. Get them all started first and tighten them all down. Now take the push pin and push it in right there. Just clean up this area right here. You can use a scraper or a razor blade. If you have to, you can reuse the O2 sensor. Just use a 7/8 wrench and take the old one out. If not, replace it and use the 7/8 wrench and snug it up. Take the new gasket or a seal, put that in place and slide it up in position and tighten these down.

Now wrap the O2 sensor around the backside of the heat shield. Clip it in and then plug it into the connector. Put this gasket on. With this pipe, you should replace the seal, the donut seal right there and slide this into position. You can use a pry bar and just pry this back and get this lined up. Make sure it's lined up up here as well and put the nuts on. Get those started, and get these all on before you tighten them down and start by tightening these ones slightly. You don't want them too tight. Just get them loosely snug, and then you can tighten these ones and snug these down, and then go back and tighten these down.

And take these nuts with the springs. Get these started and tighten them down. That's good. Now take the O2 sensor and plug it in right here. Lock it in place. And take this crossmember, line it up and put the bolts back in, and tighten these bolts down. And put the tire back on. Put the lug nuts on and torque the lug nuts to 100 foot-pounds. Do that in a star pattern so that you tighten the wheel down evenly. Just go back around again, double-check. Connect the negative battery cable and tighten down the cable. Just snug it up and make sure it's not loose.